It will take several months for West Coast ports to return to normal and catch up on a backlog that has piled following a nine-month labor dispute. The two sides reached tentative agreement February 20 on a new five-year contract.
All kinds of agricultural commodities, including produce, were affected by the dispute, which began after the last contract expired July 1. Though the terms of that contract were extended and there was never an official strike, there were many disruptions caused by work slowdowns or the closing of the ports by the terminal operators.
Ag groups and other experts say the dispute cost the U.S. economy more than $7 billion. No numbers on the cost to the trucking industry was given. While $7 billion is a significant number, it pales in comparison to the estimated $2.1 billion that would have been lost each day if the ports would have been closed by a strike or a lockout.
The Chilean produce industry, which exports fruits and vegetables to the United States to ports on both coasts, report the west coast port problems cost its industry $50 million. The port work slowdown had delayed the unloading of ships from a two-day average to 7 days and was expected to get even worse before the agreement was reached.
It was reported last week there are approximately 1.8 million boxes of fruit from Chile at the ports. If the dispute had not been resolved, the situation would have become dramatically worse. In mid March, 5 ships are scheduled to the ports with a combined total of 2.5 million boxes of fruit.
Southern California fruit – grossing about $4200 to Chicago.