UNION, EMPLOYERS RESUME WAR OF WORDS IN EAST COAST PORT CONTRACT DISPUTE
The war of words resumed this week between port employers represented by the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), and the International Longshoremen’s Association union and their 45,000 workers at East and Gulf Coast ports. The sides had agreed to a media blackout when contract negotiations resumed following a three-day strike by the union that shut down container handling in early October. But that ceasefire was apparently abrogated after the ILA broke off talks Nov. 13, accusing employers of trying to force automation technology language into a new master contract. The union on Monday renewed its efforts to sway public opinion by reposting on its Facebook account an image of an ILA flag with the message, “If it’s a fight they want, it’s a WAR they’re going to get.” The image was seen frequently online and on picket lines during the strike. Also on Monday, ILA Executive Vice President Dennis Daggett, son of President Harold Daggett, in an email wrote that the union was at a “crossroads” in contract negotiations over employers’ “push” to use semiautomated rail-mounted container gantry cranes (RMGs) on the docks.
HOUTHIS ATTACK US CARGO SHIPS
The American military said its warships fought off attacks by Houthi militia on three U.S.-flagged merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden. Destroyers USS Stockdale and USS O’Kane successfully defeated a range of Houthi-launched weapons while transiting the Gulf of Aden Nov. 30-Dec. 1, according to a statement Monday from United States Central Command (CENTCOM). CENTCOM said the warships were escorting three U.S.-owned, -operated and -flagged merchant ships in the Gulf south of the Red Sea where Houthis have laid siege to commercial shipping they claim is linked to Israel. There were no injuries and no damage to any vessels. “The destroyers successfully engaged and defeated three anti-ship ballistic missiles, three one-way attack uncrewed aerial systems, and one anti-ship cruise missile, ensuring the safety of the ships and their personnel, as well as civilian vessels and their crews,” CENTCOM said. The U.S. forces, along with those of the European Union, have been deployed to the region to protect against attacks by Iran-backed Houthis, a Muslim fundamentalist militia based in Yemen. The Houthis said “the strikes were accurate and direct,” but they offered no further details.
CONTAINER RATES BUOYED BY TARIFF, STRIKE THREATS
The dual threats of tariff hikes and port strikes continue to buttress ocean freight rates through what is historically a post-peak trough. Asia to U.S. West Coast rates fell 4% to $4,905 per forty-foot equivalent unit while Asia-U.S. East Coast prices climbed 13% to $6,095 per FEU for the week that ended on Friday, according to the Freightos Baltic Dry Index. Some frontloading ahead of a possible strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association after an extension of the coastwise master contract expires Jan. 15, “and expectations of tariff increases next year have kept transpacific ocean rates elevated to start December, with rates to the West Coast – even before the Lunar New Year 2025 rush – already above their pre-Lunar New Year 2024 highs seen back in January at the start of the Red Sea crisis,” wrote Judah Levine, head of research for Freightos, in analysis commentary to clients. “Some carriers are reportedly introducing significant general rate increases (GRI) to try and push rates higher to start the month.” Longer lead times due to ongoing shipping diversions from the Red Sea put a premium on shippers ensuring necessary orders to the Mediterranean are moved before Lunar New Year.
MONTREAL PORT TERMINAL HAS FIRST DIRECT CALL FROM CHINA
Supply chain issues brought together a Dutch-operated ship chartered by a U.S. forwarder to make a historic call at a Canadian port. Montreal Gateway Terminals Partnership, a terminal operator at the Port of Montreal, announced its first vessel call originating directly from China. The heavy-lift vessel Happy Rover arrived in Montreal Nov. 14 under charter agreement with Houston-based forwarder Fracht FWO Inc., MGTP said in a release. The 453-foot ship had departed Taicang, China, on Sept. 29 and transited the Panama Canal on Oct. 29 after calling Busan, Korea. It was operated by Biglift Shipping B.V., a heavy-lift specialist headquartered in Amsterdam. The call marked the first time in its 50 years that MGTP had received a direct China call.