US West Coast port managers complained on Thursday it was taking longer than hoped to clear a massive cargo backlog after President George W. Bush ended a 10-day lockout which meant big losses for American companies.
Less than 24 hours after longshoremen began unloading thousands of containers that had piled up, a spokesman for the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents port employers, described the pace of work as "measured."
Union officials said they were doing their best, but had been asked to put in extra shifts by desperate carriers and did not have enough dockworkers to fill them.
PHOTO: AP
"That's what happened in Seattle, they asked for more people than we even have in the local [union branch]," International Longshore and Warehouse Union spokesman Steve Stallone said. "In Oakland we are having the same problem. They are ordering up more people than are available for work."
Steve Sugerman, a spokesman for the maritime association, said he was being careful not to describe work at the terminals as "slow."
The Pacific Maritime Association locked out 10,500 ILWU dockworkers at 29 West Coast ports from San Diego to Seattle on Sept. 29 after accusing them of an illegal slowdown that cut productivity in half. Union officials denied it and said they expected management to make the charge again when work resumed.
"Things are going OK," Sugerman said. "The work last night was adequate, but a lot of it was just getting the yards back in shape given how they were left in disarray on the 29th."
He added: "The work is proceeding at an adequate pace but we are certainly not up and running at the point were hoping to be."
Sugerman said the backlog has snarled roads in and around ports, causing more delays. At the Hanjin terminal at the port of Long Beach, he said, trucks were lined up for over 1.6km by noon. The combined ports at Los Angeles and Long Beach are the nation's busiest.
The West Coast port lockout, the most disruptive port dispute to hit the region since the 1970s, was estimated to cost the US economy up to US$2 billion per day as mountains of cargo sat stranded on the docks and ships.
That toll was already being felt across America, as firms predicted lower earnings based on port closures.
Gap Inc said its fourth-quarter earnings could be as much as 50 percent below estimates because merchandise would be arriving weeks late during the crucial Christmas season. And Payless Shoes Inc cut its third-quarter profit outlook, citing fallout from the labor dispute.
Analysts said clothing retailers like Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch Co and Limited Brands Inc were expected to suffer because they import heavily through the West Coast.
Car manufacturers have also been hit hard, with Honda Motor Co Ltd halting production on Thursday at an Ohio plant that makes Civic sedans and coupes. Honda expected to stop making Odyssey minivans at an Alabama plant yesterday.
Toyota Motor Corp said the lockout, which caused the Japanese automaker to temporarily suspend some car and truck production due to parts shortages, could hurt its sales results for October by 10 percent to 15 percent.
"It will certainly put a crimp in sales this month," said Don Esmond, general manager of the Toyota division for the company's US arm.
Perishable food was expected to be unloaded first, followed by the toys and electronics that retailers desperately need for the holiday season.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday said that China using armed force against Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, allowing the country to mobilize the Japanese armed forces under its security laws. Takaichi made the remarks during a parliamentary session while responding to a question about whether a "Taiwan contingency" involving a Chinese naval blockade would qualify as a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, according to a report by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. "If warships are used and other armed actions are involved, I believe this could constitute a survival-threatening situation," Takaichi was quoted as saying in the report. Under Japan’s security legislation,
RSS