WC Ports Suspend Vessel Work For Holidays, Hanjin Leaving Portland

West Coast Ports to Suspend Vessel Work on Four of Five Days – The Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) will halt vessel operations on four of the next five days.  The PMA is aiming to avoid paying holiday wages for what it perceives as a “strike with pay” by the dockworkers.  The public feuding between the PMA and ILWU has intensified in the past week.  As of Wednesday, there are 22 vessels anchored off the coast of Southern California waiting to berth.

Read the official PMA press release here.

ILWU’s Colorful Response to Suspended Vessel Work – The ILWU released a video statement on Wednesday in which President Robert McEllrath urged union members to ignore the PMA’s “bullshit.”

 

Hanjin Leaving Portland – Hanjin confirmed this week that the carrier will halt its Port of Portland service in March.  The announcement comes after a bitter 2 ½ year dispute between the ILWU and the ICTSI terminal.  The original dispute centered on the handling of refrigerated containers and escalated from there.  Hanjin is currently responsible for 70% of Portland’s container traffic.

Read more from the Oregonian