MONTREAL PORT EMPLOYERS PRESSURE STRIKING UNION
Maritime employers at the Port of Montreal warned that they will suspend salary guarantees for striking union members in an escalation of the longshore labor dispute. Saying it has “no other choice,” the Maritime Employers Association (MEA) said in a statement posted to its website that it will suspend salary guarantees as of Tuesday “for all longshore workers not working,” as a means of mitigating “the cumulative financial impact of repeated strikes and lower volumes at the Port of Montreal.” The work stoppage comes as employers at Canada’s West Coast ports locked out union members represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. The strike over scheduling by Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 375 last Thursday against two of the port’s four box terminals halted 40% of Montreal’s container handling. The union rejected an MEA proposal for negotiations with a federal mediator. The employers have asked Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon to intervene to help restart bargaining.
HOUTHIS RENEW CAMPAIGN AGAINST MERCHANT SHIPPING
The Houthis from Yemen carried out their first ship strikes in 18 days on Monday with three explosions reported near the bulk carrier Motaro which was passing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The ship and its crew escaped unscathed. The attacks were the first since the US sent in bombers to take out Houthi infrastructure earlier this month. A Houthi spokesman also claimed last night that his group had also targeted two containerships yesterday, although there was no evidence to back these claims up. More than 120 vessels have been targeted by the Houthis in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in their 11-month campaign against merchant shipping in support of Hamas and their ongoing war with Israel. Data released this month from UNCTAD, the United Nations’ trade and development body, shows the effect the Houthi campaign has had on container shipping costs.
CMA CGM REPORTS FRAUD ATTEMPTS AGAINST ITS CUSTOMERS
French shipping company CMA CGM Group recently announced that several fraud attempts have occurred against its customers. According to the ocean carrier’s announcement, hackers are usurping CMA CGM identity in their conversation with the company’s customers by email asking them to pay CMA CGM invoices on their own accounts, pretexting a change of bank account details.
The operating process of hackers may be the following:
– Hackers might intercept a genuine conversation between you and CMA CGM and replace CMA CGM’s email with a fake email. Then they will continue the email conversation and at some point request a change in the bank account details.
– Hackers might call you directly or contact you via an unusual channel such as social network, requesting an urgent payment for their company due to personal sickness, emergency, financial distress, etc. CMA CGM stated, “We recommend the highest level of vigilance in this context and confirm that this is not a Group practice to communicate bank details at customer care level nor at any other channels.”
US SHIPPERS AVOID EAST COAST PORTS ON RISK OF SECOND STRIKE
Volumes at the dominant West Coast ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach touched new record highs this summer, when shippers like club store operator Costco COST.O and jeans seller Levi Strauss LEVI.N swapped coasts or moved extra goods prior to the original contract deadline on Sept. 30. “I’ve not heard anybody saying that they’re going to have a quick shift back in allocations to the East and Gulf Coast based on the tentative agreement,” said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka, who added that October is shaping up to be another strong month. Meanwhile, some strike-affected ports are still working to clear cargo ships that got stuck when work stopped. Retailers likely saved Christmas by rushing in goods early, said Matthew Shay, CEO of the National Retail Federation, which counts Walmart WMT.N and Target — the biggest users of container shipping — among its members. Still, the knock-on effects of the strike hurt communities across the country, Shay said. “We certainly don’t want to see that continue into the next year.”