Disclaimer The articles excerpted on this site report on the state of the industry as seen by mainstream media, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the officers of the ILWU Coast Longshore Division.
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 The new weekly Matson service to Long Beach will begin in mid-August and be in full deployment by early October. Matson Navigation Company announced Thursday that it is expanding its service between China and the Port of Long Beach by adding a second string of vessels.
The new vessels will provide service from the ports of Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Shanghai to Long Beach and add an estimated 234,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) to trade volume at the Port. The deployed ships will have an average capacity of 3,500 TEUs.
From a Port of Long Beach news release
 Puget Sound longshore workers are experiencing a strong rebound. This photo was submitted by Seattle longshore worker Curt Treadwell. Submit your waterfront photos to longshorenews (at) gmail.com. Containerized imports at the Port of Seattle exploded last month, increasing 93.3 percent compared to June of 2009. The 88,763 TEUs recorded in June were the highest tally for imports so far this year, and were far higher than any monthly total recorded in 2009. Contributing to the unusually large increase was a new service by CMA CGM and Maersk Line that was introduced last summer.
Imports are increasing strongly at the Puget Sound ports. Tacoma recorded a 21 percent increase in imports in June.
From the Journal of Commerce
 This Port of Grays Harbor photo shows longshore workers driving imported autos off a ship. The port has also gained export business, including exporting Jeeps to China that formerly passed through East Coast ports. The Port of Grays Harbor, WA, says its first-half export activity has more than doubled over the same period last year. … Credit new niche businesses in soybean meal and auto exports for that volume increase. The log business is reviving as new companies are exporting logs to China and Korea.
Grays Harbor doesn’t expect its newfound business to threaten existing business at Columbia River or Puget Sound ports, Nelson said. The exports are new businesses that have been handled elsewhere or not at all.
From the News Tribune
 El IDC (Consejo Internacional de Trabajadores) es una asociación formada por organizaciones de trabajadores portuarios de todo el mundo. [This Spanish article is based on a news release that can also be read in English.]
La ILWU, sindicato afiliado a IDC y que representa a 25.000 trabajadores portuarios en la Costa Oeste de Estados Unidos, ha presentado formalmente una reclamación contra el gobierno de Costa Rica conforme al Tratado de Libre Comercio entre Estados Unidos, Centro América y Republica Dominicana por “graves incumplimientos en repetidas ocasiones de las leyes laborales de Costa Rica por el gobierno de ese país” tales como la imposición de una junta directiva sindical controlada por la patronal y respaldada por el mismo gobierno; la congelación de las cuentas bancarias del Sindicato o la militarización de los puertos como preparativo para la toma completa del Sindicato.
Published on the International Dockworkers Council web site
Joel Valenzuela has been named director of maritime operations at the Port of San Diego. Valenzuela was previously the department manager of maritime industry and trade relations at the Port. He assumed his new role July 19.
Valenzuela will direct the operations, maintenance and development of the Port’s maritime facilities and infrastructure, including the Port’s cargo and cruise terminals, public piers, wharves and docks.
Charles Wurster, president and CEO of the Port, said, “Joel’s experience with terminal management and international trade will help us rebuild our cargo numbers and increase revenue.”
Published in Port World
This opinion piece is by Tom Chamberlain, president of the Oregon AFL-CIO, regarding the development of West Hayden Island, directly across from Portland’s container terminal 6.
 Tom Chamberlain, Oregon AFL-CIO president, says Portand must respect West Hayden Island's designation as industrial land and support port use as well as preservation. Sustainability is two-pronged: it must address both our pristine natural areas, and support a middle class. … The 1,200 good jobs that could be generated on this land will not be generated elsewhere in our region.
The Oregon AFL-CIO puts a tremendous amount of effort into sustainability and “green jobs.” We believe that jobs and a serious ecological ethic can coexist, and in fact can be mutually supporting. But if we are to have “green jobs” and (presumably) green products, and if we are committed to keeping those good, green, jobs in Oregon, we will need to export our green products. In a state that needs more exports and trade activity, where we have a shrinking middle class with steadily falling wages, it is bewildering that facilitating port development and job creation could be considered optional.
Read the rest in the Oregonian
 Los trabajadores portuarios de SINTRAJAP “Los estadounidenses quieren creer que Costa Rica es un paraíso,” dijo Robert McEllrath, Presidente Internacional de ILWU. “Pero Costa Rica se está transformando en un país en el que la policía rompe ventanas y puertas en los locales donde los trabajadores realizan asambleas pacíficas, en el que el gobierno hace propaganda para interferir en las elecciones sindicales, y en el que el bienestar de los trabajadores y sus familias queda relegado a segundo plano después de las ganancias de las empresas transnacionales.”
La Sección de Estibadores del Sindicato Internacional de Trabajadores Portuarios y Almacenistas (ILWU Coast Longshore Division) se ha solidarizado con SINTRAJAP, el sindicato de estibadores costarricenses, desde poco después de que el gobierno sustituyó a la dirigencia legítima, a la mitad de un mandato de dos años, con un grupo afín a sus intereses en febrero. Dicha Sección ha colocado anuncios de plana entera en los periódicos de Costa Rica para informar a los costarricenses de los abusos del gobierno y ha enviado una delegación a Limón para entrevistar a los trabajadores, reunirse con los funcionarios públicos, y documentar los abusos. Los estibadores estadounidenses trabajan para muchas de las mismas navieras y empresas de estiba que realizan operaciones comerciales en Costa Rica.
Click here to see the SINTRAJAP web site
 High fuel costs, slow steaming and other global factors have made going the extra distance through the Panama Canal less enticing. West Coast ports have fast rail connections to the east – considerably faster than going south to Panama, transiting the canal, and then steaming back north to the East Coast. Although ships ton-for-ton and mile-for-mile offer the most environmentally friendly way to transport cargo, the greater distances involved with a ship using the all-water route through the Panama Canal erodes much of that advantage. … The current practice of slow-steaming will only magnify that time difference.
Read the full analysis at the Cunningham Report
After a five-year lull, construction restarted this week on the final phase of the Main Channel deepening project at the Port of Los Angeles, which will eventually allow larger cargo vessels to access harbor terminals, officials announced Friday.
“The Main Channel deepening project is a lifeline to maintaining our competitive edge during the critical years ahead as we face increased competition on a number of fronts,” said Geraldine Knatz, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles.
Port officials said work will be completed in time to coincide with the ongoing expansion of the Panama Canal, which will allow larger cargo ships to make stops at Los Angeles and other West Coast ports by 2014.
From the Daily Breeze
CMA CGM SA, the French shipper reorganizing 5.4 billion euros ($7 billion) of debt, is seeking to put together a new investor group by a July 26 court deadline, said people with direct knowledge of the matter.
CMA CGM, which began talks with creditors in September, needs the reorganization to avoid insolvency after breaching covenants on most of its debt.
It remains unclear whether CMA CGM will be able to reach an agreement with investors before a hearing next week at the Paris court overseeing the reorganization, the people said. CMA CGM could also seek to extend the deadline.
From Bloomberg News
 Port of Long Beach The long-planned $1 billion Middle Harbor Project redevelopment project will create a facility capable of handling twice as much cargo (up to 3.3 million TEUs a year) while cutting air pollution in half from current levels. This will be possible because ships will use shore power, and the facility will feature a greatly expanded rail yard, clean cargohandling equipment and other advanced technologies.
An $800 million project for International Transportation Service (ITS) is now underway at Pier G to improve facilities, clean the air and support thousands of jobs. Ocean carrier “K” Line and its subsidiary, ITS, now have a second deep-water berth so that newer, larger, cleaner vessels can dock there.
The Port of Long Beach is proposing a $1.1 billion project to replace the aging, obsolete Gerald Desmond Bridge with a new six-lane cable-stayed bridge to ease congestion and improve safety.
Read the rest in Dredging Today
Six additional cruise ships due next year at the Port of Astoria include larger ships from Alaska heading for ports south. That according to cruise ship marketing representative Bruce Conner who says 15 ships are now booked here. “The economy has turned around for us in the cruise industry. Our cruise hosts have shown the cruise industry that this is a very important stop, a very rewarding stop. So, on your way to Alaska, you need to stop in Astoria.” The next cruise ship due here is on September 20th, with four ships this year to complete a total of thirteen.
From KAST 1370
 Chassis will no longer be provided by several major carriers due to new rules on safety. The ‘Roadability Law’ as it is often referred to, has cause several leading shipping companies to withdraw the provision of the trailer chassis’ required in intermodal movements. Previously hauliers could collect both their designated container plus the trailer on which to haul it from the same source, needing only to provide truck and driver.
Now with the new rules being implemented several of the larger shipping lines have ceased providing chassis or skeletal trailers as they are known, citing the stringent safety and bookkeeping requirements necessary under the regulations. Atlantic Container Line (ACL), Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) and CMA CGM have all stopped providing the service already or are in the process of doing so, and more companies may follow.
From the Handy Shipping Guide
Reclaman supuestas violaciones a TLC
Un reclamo por “graves violaciones” a leyes laborales presentó un sindicato de estibadores de EE. UU. contra el Estado de Costa Rica, en el marco del Tratado de Libre Comercio (TLC) con aquel país.
La gestión se hizo el 20 de julio en representación de Sintrajap (Sindicato de Trabajadores de Japdeva), la Asociación Nacional de Empleados Públicos y Privados (ANEP) y la International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU).
La queja se refiere al cambio en la cúpula sindical de Japdeva y a la modificación de la convención colectiva de la entidad previo a la concesión de puertos en Limón, a cambio del pago de una indemnización a los trabajadores. Los hechos se registraron entre abril y mayo.
“El sindicato (estadounidense) vino y se reunió con la ministra de Trabajo (Sandra Piszk y hablaron) sobre la forma en que el Gobierno ‘decapitó’ la junta directiva legítima. Las explicaciones que les dieron no fueron satisfactorias, por eso presentaron la denuncia”, dijo Liroy Pérez, integrante de la antigua junta directiva de Japdeva.
Para Édgar Morales, secretario general adjunto de la ANEP, aquellas actuaciones de Gobierno violentaron “el poquillo” que contiene el TLC sobre derechos laborales.
Ayer no fue posible localizar a la jerarca de Trabajo.
Entre tanto, Federico Valerio, director general del Ministerio de Comercio Exterior (Comex), aseguró que la gestión del sindicato estadounidense es una mera consulta para verificar el cumplimiento de condiciones laborales incluidas en el acuerdo comercial.
A su juicio, esta no prosperará pues uno de los requisitos para llevar el caso a un arbitraje o foros internacionales es haber agotado los procesos internos.
En este momento, dijo Federico Valerio, está pendiente la resolución de una demanda que fue planteada por los sindicalistas ante el Tribunal Contencioso.
From La Nación, July 22, 2010
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union filed a formal complaint against the government of Costa Rica under the Central American Free Trade Agreement, charging that Costa Rica is not enforcing its own labor laws.
The ILWU charges that the Costa Rican government has removed democratically-elected union leaders and replaced them with a government-backed, employer-run board of union directors.
ILWU President Robert McEllrath said a similar privatization effort in 2006 at the Costa Rican Port of Caldera resulted in 90 percent of the longshore workers losing their jobs. The remaining workers experienced a pay cut of two-thirds, he said.
The ILWU has been working with the Costa Rican unions since February and has run advertisements in the local newspapers calling attention to the government’s actions.
From the Journal of Commerce, July 22, 2010
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