Automation at the Long Beach Container Terminal and the Port of Los Angeles’ TraPac terminal has eliminated 535,848 hours and $41.8 million in wages annually for dockworkers, even as production at ports that are automated is typically lower than at those that aren’t, according to a new study.

The ports of L.A. and Long Beach, the two busiest in the nation, are also not fulfilling their legal mandate to provide economic and environmental benefits for Californians, according to that 130-page report, which came out June 30 and takes aim at foreign shipping companies and defends dockworkers against increasing terminal automation.

Some shipping companies, the report said, want to increase automation and reduce their reliance on American workers — even with doubtful benefits.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s International Transportation Forum, the report said, found “that the productivity of automated ports is 7% to 15% lower than for non-automated ports.”

Source: https://www.dailybreeze.com/2022/06/30/automation-at-ports-of-la-long-beach-hurts-local-california-economy-says-study-funded-by-longshore-union/