Excerpts from an article in the Journal of Commerce:

Even before they endured four months of embarrassing and costly work slowdowns during contract negotiations between the ILWU and the PMA in 2014-15, California’s landlord container ports knew they had a congestion problem. They are now addressing the main cause of port congestion, which is outdated cargo-handling processes.

Even though landlord ports do not employ dock labor and therefore can not get directly involved in the PMA-ILWU negotiations, Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said the port directors since late last year were in daily contact with President Obama’s economic team via conference calls. The President sent Labor Secretary Thomas Perez to San Francisco in early January to help broker an agreement, and the deal was sealed shortly after Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker attended the talks.

Seroka said the administration remains committed to improving West Coast port productivity, especially development of the port-related infrastructure that is needed to move cargo seamlessly to and from the ports. The ports must continue to work closely with the administration because it has only 18 months left in office, Seroka said. He added that Perez will visit the Port of Los Angeles on Monday to continue the dialogue.

More at the JOC