The National Retail Federal commended International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit and the Los Angeles / Long Beach Harbor Employers Association for resolving their contract dispute (see ITT's Online Archives 13022107). NRF Vice President-Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said in a statement the new contract will bring stability to the supply chain and better position the ports for future growth.

Union longshoremen at the Port of Montreal endorsed a new six-year collective agreement with the harbor shippers association, in a Feb. 20 vote, said the Canadian Union of Public Employees. The new contract was approved by 56% of the members, in a vote two months after the old contract expired. "Never in the history of our working relationship we managed to reach an agreement so quickly," said Denis Wolfe, president of the Longshoremen Port of Montreal. The new agreement provides wage increases of 1% for the first year, 2% for the next four years and a maximum of 2% to 3% CPI for the last year, the union said.

In an attempt to alleviate the Port of Portland’s financial strain related to ongoing labor disputes, the city’s Port Commissioners voted last week to approve a rent rebate for terminal manager ICTSI Oregon. The $3.7 million rebate will come directly from ICTSI’s annual rent of $4.7 million, according to a press release. Port Commissioners voted 6-1, with one abstention, for its approval. ICTSI manages Terminal 6 under a 25-year lease, the release said.

Cargo volume grew 17.5 percent at the Port of Long Beach in January, including a 19.5 percent jump in imports and an 8.2 percent rise in exports compared to the same month one year ago. Port terminals moved 536,263 TEUs (or twenty-foot equivalent container units) in January, including 273,918 TEUs of imports, the highest volume of import containers for a January since 2007, the port said. Exports rose to 126,714 TEUs, and empties were up 23.1 percent to 135,631 TEUs. The port authority said the Port of Long Beach is "Big Ship Ready," and the cargo increases in recent months are in part due to the more frequent use of larger ships and the addition of service lines to Long Beach.

The National Retail Federation is "extremely disappointed" that the International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s Local 63 Office Clerical Unit rejected a contract agreement with the Harbor Employers Association, said NRF Vice President-Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold. (See ITT's Online Archives 13021121). An eight-day strike in November and December shut down most terminals at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach before the parties agreed on a tentative new contract.

As local negotiations for East/Gulf Coast longshoremen continue, the International Longshoremen's Association released the details of its agreement with the U.S. Maritime Exchange, which avoided a Feb. 6 strike. Key details are that the contract expires Sept. 30, 2018, and includes $1 per hour pay raises in 2014, 2016 and 2017. The ILA noted that the agreement is "subject to the drafting of final contract language and acceptance by the ILA membership." Other agreement details, confirmed by the USMX, include:

It remains unclear what happens next after clerical members of the longshoremen's union rejected a contract for the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Port officials were reporting no work disruptions following the Feb. 6 vote, in which all 16 unions of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit voted against the contract that was agreed to Dec. 4 (see ITT's Online Archives 12120534).

The latest speaker additions to the spring conference of the American Association of Port Authorities, March 18-19 at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C., are: U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; Lt. Gen. Thomas Bostick, commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and former CBP Commissioner Ralph Basham, now a principle with Command Consulting Group. Other program speakers include Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, chair of the Senate Environment & Public Works Subcommittee on Oversight, CSX Transportation Vice President Derrick Smith, Morgan Stanley Executive Director Ira Smelkinson, Fitch Ratings Senior Director Seth Lehman, William Craft, the State Department deputy assistant secretary for trade policy and programs, and Marcus Sachs, Verizon Communications' vice president for national security policy.

Haier America will build a logistics hub for the southeast U.S. near the Port of Savannah, port officials said. Larry Monaghan, Haier senior vice president-administration, cited "the already approved work on deepening the Savannah port and the opening of the new Panama Canal." The company also cited the flexibility due to the number of shipping services calling on Savannah. Monaghan said Haier will move an annual volume of 4,500 twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) through Savannah. The appliance maker chose third-party logistics provider Kenco to run the Black Creek warehouse operation.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp. said it received a $41.4 million contract to deepen the Arthur Kill channel in the Ports of New York and New Jersey. The contract is from the Army Corps of Engineers New York District and involves the excavation of silt, glacial till and seabed material requiring subaqueous drilling and blasting, it said. Work is expected to begin before the end of the first quarter. Another $27.3 million in work on this contract is expected to be awarded this year. The project is the last phase of a comprehensive plan by the Army Corps of Engineers to deepen the Port of New York and New Jersey to 50 feet.