Seven out of eight terminals at the Port of Los Angeles were closed yesterday according to Phillip Sanfield a spokesman for the port authority who spoke to Bloomberg. Meanwhile at the Port of Long Beach, three out of six are also shut following a strike by longshoremen and clerical workers over contract negotiations.
These terminals handle goods including clothes, furniture as well as electronic goods from Asia and Sanfield said that Los Angeles currently has 10 vessels waiting to be unloaded with more ships at anchor.
Antonio Villaraigosa, the mayor of Los Angeles, has called on both the International Longshore & Warehouse Union, which also represents clerical workers, and the Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor Employers Association, which negotiates for shippers, to come to an agreement quickly.
In a letter he said: “The City of Los Angeles needs both of you to get back to the bargaining table this week, to work with a mediator, and to hammer out a settlement before further harm is done to our local economy. There is no time to waste.”
The National Retail Federation, a trade group, said that back in 2002 when a strike hit the ports it cost the economy around $1bn per day.
