West Coast ports face cargo backlog and labor disputes.
A bottleneck at West Coast ports due to labor disputes has caused a significant surge in the average number of containers waiting outside of port limits, with $5.2 billion worth of cargo stuck off the ports of Oakland, Los Angeles, and Long Beach. The slow pace of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union workforce has slowed ground port productivity to a crawl, with skilled labor not showing up for work. Shippers are becoming increasingly concerned about the potential need to find alternative supply chain options, and the longer this drags on, the more severe the consequences will be for shippers and terminals.