Author: Lisa Baertlein
(Reuters) – Contract negotiations covering 45,000 port workers in the eastern U.S. and Gulf Coast are set to resume on Tuesday in a labor dispute that will help determine the pace of automation at ports stretching from Maine to Texas.
The International Longshoremen’s Association wants to eliminate concessions from past contracts on automation – particularly the use of semi-automated cranes that stack containers on the docks – arguing they pose a threat to jobs.
Meanwhile, the United States Maritime Federation (USMX) employers’ group argues that these rail-mounted gantry cranes are key to remaining competitive as ports, particularly in China, are leading the way in automation.
If the two sides do not reach a deal by Jan. 15, workers at container ports that handle more than half of U.S. ocean imports could go on strike just days before President-elect Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.
A three-day strike by the ILA in October last year caused a spike in shipping rates and backlogs at the 36 affected ports.
The union and the employers, who have issued two-tone statements in recent weeks, did not comment separately for this article.
PAST REGRETS
Nearly two decades ago, port employers convinced an earlier group of ILA leaders that the use of semi-automated cranes at what is now known as Norfolk International Terminals would eventually help create thousands of new jobs, the union said.
These cranes replaced equipment such as specialized human-operated forklifts known as top loaders, and have since been introduced at several other US port terminals.
The cranes can handle larger stacks of containers than traditional equipment, expanding dock capacity, and can operate overnight stacking containers for pickup the next day, with little human involvement. Placing containers on truck trailers waiting to be hauled away is still managed by human operators with joysticks.
“What appeared to be a victory for one port turned out to be a project that is becoming a model for automation that could potentially eliminate many jobs at nearly every other terminal along the Eastern and Gulf Coasts,” Dennis Daggett, ILA executive vice president, said. in December.
Union President Harold Daggett, Dennis Daggett’s father, called for “absolutely airtight” contract language stating that there will be no automation or semi-automation at the port terminals.
Employers, who recently fought the ILA over the installation of automated truck gates, say the country’s economic growth relies on faster and more efficient ports.
“Modern technology has been shown to dramatically increase the amount of cargo that can be moved through the port,” a group of maritime employers said in December. “It can, and will, be done in a way that not only protects jobs, but also adds new jobs as our business expands.”
The group includes terminal operators such as APM, owned by the Danish container carrier Maersk, as well as the US branches of other major carriers such as China’s COSCO Shipping and Switzerland’s MSC.
They agreed to a 62% pay rise over the next six years to end the strike in October and stressed that the pay rise was dependent on finalizing all outstanding issues – including automation.
IS AUTOMATION THE SOLUTION?
U.S. port executives and unions say there are many other ways to increase port efficiency, including sharing data on cargo arrivals to match staff to demand and installing cranes that can pull two containers off a ship at once instead of one.
While automation has boosted productivity in factories that make cars and other goods, early results suggest the benefits for seaports may be much more limited.
The main export ports in China have relatively stable cargo flows that are more suitable for automation, but the largest US ports in Los Angeles/Long Beach and New York/New Jersey have large fluctuations in volume.
Fixed automated systems cannot expand and contract with freight flows like human crews and may not reduce labor costs enough to justify the huge equipment costs, the authors of a 2021 report by the International Transport Forum at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said.
There are only 53 container port terminals worldwide, or about 4% of global capacity, with some form of automation, they said.
“Automated ports are generally no more productive than their conventional counterparts.”
