Check out the bird’s eye view of the congestion at the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex, captured by aerial photographer, Michael Kelley. Kelley noted that he saw “30 to 40 ships” waiting to discharge their cargo, the result of the ongoing US West Coast port labor dispute.
Just over two weeks ago, it appeared that the Pacific Maritime Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union had reached agreement on a major issue — management of truck chassis — a key point of contention in the dispute.
That consensus, however, seems to have evaporated as shipping lines have announced that they will suspend the loading and unloading of cargo ships over the next four days. The move is an attempt to avoid paying holiday/weekend overtime wages, a response to a perceived “chronic” work slowdown by dockworkers, which their union disputes.