There’s Agreement on Chassis, But No Details

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

The Pacific Maritime Association announced Jan. 26 that there was a tentative agreement on the issue of chassis — a key sticking point of the contract negotiations latest impasse.

“We are hopeful that this will allow us to move toward conclusion of an agreement in the near term,” said PMA spokesman Wade Gates, at the time.

There’s only been silence since then. At least not until Feb. 4, when the PMA released a statement announcing that they “made an “all-in” contract offer that would significantly increase compensation to members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.”

ILWU spokesman, Craig Merrilees said the PMA statement isn’t anything the union hasn’t already heard.

“The parties have made progress and get through the final stage and will get [there] if the focus remains on a fair contract.”

However, it’s still unclear how an agreement on chases could be reached considering that the shippers no longer own the majority of the chassis and that the companies that do own them aren’t members of the PMA.

In any case, neither side has spoken about the agreement since the announcement.  But that hasn’t kept Fred Johring, the chairman of the Harbor Trucking Association, from speaking out. Harbor Trucking Association represents drayage companies in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area. He has been quoted by the Journal of Commerce as saying that if the PMA allows the ILWU to “inspect every chassis before it goes out the gate, the trucking industry is going to have a problem with that.”

Johring said that at five of the 13 major container terminals at the twin ports have mandatory road-ability inspections and suggested that truckers have been chafing at the high cost and strictness of the longshore inspection process.

The ILWU Local 13 spokesman, Adan Ortega, noted that the union will provide a level of service that will best protect truckers, motorists and the roads.

Eighty members of Congress, led by Reps. Kurt Schrader (D-OR) and Dave Reichert (R-WA), sent a letter to the union and the PMA, calling on them to put aside their differences and quickly resolve the contract negotiation that has bogged down the operations of West Coast ports.

“As trade supports over 38 million jobs across the country, we strongly urge your organizations to reach an agreement, because the inability to reach consumers outside our borders impacts jobs here at home,” the letter read in part.

The Congress members expressed alarm at the growing prospect of a shutdown. Citing recent studies by the National Retail Federation and National Association of Manufacturers a 10 day shutdown would be worse than the 2002 shutdown, costing more than $21 billion and impacting 169,000 jobs within a 10-day period. In 2002, the 10-day shutdown cost the economy $15 billion.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said that he used his weekly memo to President Barack Obama and the White House staff to highlight the labor situation at the West Coast ports.

“Our hope is that the mediator will bring the sides closer together,” he said, in a Jan. 29 audio recording of his address at the Port of Houston that was provided by the Agriculture Department.

The reported agreement comes as congestion at ports on the West Coast has continued to grow. The Marine Exchange of Southern California said there were 22 containerships waiting for berths outside the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as of Feb. 4.