Good news for West Coast ports

News that the 20,000-member International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) plan to meet again in early November should be welcomed by West Coast shippers who can recall cargo slowdowns that occurred over a nine-month period before being settled in the contract agreement of February 2015.

As reported here last August both parties announced in San Francisco that they would try to get an early start on contract extension talks well before the current agreement expires on July 1, 2019.

While no other details were forthcoming, the timing of the meeting could not be better. All of the major West Coast ports have been reporting robust container throughput this year, despite the fact that the Panama Canal was finally expanded this past summer.