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.

Port of Astoria expects high of 23 cruise ships in 2013

Cruise ship season is coming up and it will be one of the busiest to-date with 23 massive people movers scheduled to come to the Port of Astoria in 2013.

For many establishments, it can be a boon… or a bust, if they are not prepared for thousands of people hitting the streets at one [...]

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A record cruise ship season in Seattle

Seattle is now the 7th largest port of origin for cruises in the nation, and number-one on the West Coast. Seattle Times photo

A record number of cruise ship passengers shoved off from Port of Seattle this year, according to Port officials. Hitting a new height of 933,900 passengers aboard 202 ships. Each of those [...]

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First of more than 200 anticipated cruise ships in 2012 arrives in Seattle

‘Each one of those ships means over $2 million for the local economy, and over 4,300 regional jobs during the cruise season,’ said Port Commission president Gael Tarleton in a statement.

On Saturday, the 2012 season’s first cruise ship arrived in the Port of Seattle’s Smith Cove Cruise Terminal. The Holland America Line’s MS [...]

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More passengers boarding Hawaii-bound cruises on the West Coast

More than 104,000 travelers arrived in the islands on cruise ships — mostly from the West Coast — in the first 11 months of last year, according to the most recent data available. That’s a 14.5 percent increase from the same period in 2010. There were 59 cruise liners that pulled into Hawaii ports during [...]

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Disney drops 4 Mexican cruises

Disney Cruise Line has scrapped its last four Mexican Riviera cruises out of the Port of Los Angeles for next December, but the carrier remained mum Tuesday about what’s coming next for the Disney Wonder.

Port officials said that they hope to find out by the end of the month whether the move signals [...]

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Seattle 2011 cruise season counts 196 ship calls, 885,000 passengers

The great majority of cruises starting and ending in Seattle cruise to Alaska.

The Port of Seattle’s 2011 cruise season numbers are in, and the port is reporting numbers more robust than expected.

The port expects even more ship calls next season as the Disney Wonder cruise ship moves to Seattle from Vancouver where [...]

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Log Exports To Expand At Port Of Astoria

Contrary to early concerns about exporting logs next to cruise ships, the Port of Astoria has learned that cruise ship passengers find the log handling operations to be an interesting sight. Photo by Jeff Smith, President of ILWU Local 8.

Reintroducing log exports has paid off big for the Port of Astoria, and more [...]

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Juneau longshoremen’s union pickets cruise ships

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union is set to picket today [8/28] over non-use of their union members by many of the major cruise ship companies that visit Juneau and other parts of Alaska.

“Basically there is an immigration law that basically defines U.S. longshore work when foreign hulled vessels are in U.S. waters,” Alaska [...]

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Port of Seattle: We are working for environment and jobs

Matson ship in Seattle

The following is excerpted from an opinion piece by Seattle Port Commissioner Tom Albro.

We’re committed to doing what we can to reduce our impacts on our neighbors.  We have been working directly for more than two years with Georgetown, South Park, and the city of Seattle to reduce [...]

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Report: Royal Caribbean eyes El Salvador as cruise stop

Port of Acajutla, El Salvador

Will Royal Caribbean ships soon be calling in El Salvador?

That’s the word this week from El Salvador’s El Mundo newspaper, which quotes the country’s tourism minister as saying negotiations with Royal Caribbean on a schedule of calls in well underway.

El Mundo says El Salvador’s tourism ministry is [...]

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Port of Seattle expects fewer cruises to Alaska, resulting in $53M loss for city

Cruise ships depart to alaska from both Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. Business has shifted back and forth between the two ports for the past several years.

Despite the crowded docks, the Port of Seattle expects to see about 62,350 fewer cruise goers this year than in 2010 — a $53 million drop in income [...]

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Groups aim to keep cruises out of Charleston

Regarding the lawsuit to keep cruises out of the Port of Charleson, ILA Local 1422 President Ken said, "There is a stigma in our community that won't be satisfied until every commercial maritime business has left this community."

Just hours after neighborhood, environmentalist and preservationist groups filed a lawsuit against Carnival Cruise Lines, [...]

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Princess, Holland America settle Seattle dockside power issue with longshore union

ILWU Local 19 will do all plugging and unplugging of cruise vessels in Seattle.

Holland America Line Inc. and Princess Cruises will be switching back to shore power June 25, after resolving a months-long struggle with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 19, over jurisdiction.

The essence of the issue was longshore union [...]

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Port of L.A. cruise business sinking

Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas is one of two massive cruise ships to pull out of the Port of Los Angeles this year.

For the first time in about 15 years, the usually vibrant, year-round cruise season will lie dormant this summer at the Port of Los Angeles.

Problems first appeared two years [...]

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San Diego losing another cruise ship

The Holland America liner, the Oosterdam, will cease its cruises out of San Diego in 2012.

The redeployment of Holland America’s Oosterdam, which makes seven-day cruises to Mexico, marks the third ship to leave San Diego waters in the wake of a prolonged economic downturn and rising violence in Mexico. The net effect has [...]

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