Spotlight

go rush. Imports from Asia were up 31.3 % in Long Beach in January and 12.6 % in Los Angeles year over year, according to PIERS, a Journal of Commerce sister product within S & P Global. At the same time, US exports through Southern California are down, so most of the containers must be returned to Asia empty. Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said that exports in February from Los Angeles were down 18 % year over year, while empty containers were up 16 %.

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Empties piling up at LA- Long Beach

The surge in imports landing in Southern California during January amid a rush to beat new US tariffs and Lunar New Year factory closures resulted in a significant buildup of empty containers awaiting a return trip to Asia in drayage yards and marine terminals. The growing backlog also resulted in finger pointing among stakeholders over how to address the problem. The empties create a costly logistics problem for drayage operators in Southern California, according to Matt Schrap, CEO of the Harbor Trucking Association. Schrap said many of the empties are sitting on chassis at the yards of drayage operators, taking up space and inhibiting the return of the equipment before free storage time runs out at the marine terminals. One way to address the problem is for marine terminals to open more appointment slots for truckers so they can return the containers and chassis before detention and demurrage charges kick in, Schrap told the Journal of Commerce.“ If you can’ t get an appointment, you have to pay the late fees and demurrage fees,” he said. The threat of tariffs from the new Trump administration and an earlier-than-normal Lunar New Year that began Jan. 29 resulted in a car-

Montreal port talks at impasse

Canada’ s government is now going to arbitrate longshore labor negotiations at the Port of Montreal after an impasse was declared between maritime employers and the local dockworkers union after 18 months of talks for a new master contract. Montreal’ s Maritime Employers Association( MEA) said in a statement to the Journal of Commerce that the special mediator overseeing negotiations with Local 375 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees“ no longer saw any potential agreement between the two parties and has ended the mediation process.” The MEA and Local 375 both requested 90 days of mediated talks to negotiate a settlement after the Canada Industrial Relations Board( CIRB) said in November that it would force arbitration on both sides to resolve talks for a new master contract covering 1,300 dockworkers. The last master contract expired at the end of 2023. Following the initial mediation period, both sides requested a further 30-day extension from the CIRB, which expired last week. The CIRB intervened in the matter after multiple labor actions by Local 375 hit Montreal over the course of October, straining cargo flows and testing shippers’ trust in the gateway. Both sides can now either agree on an arbitrator or Canada’ s Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon can appoint one. Once appointed, the arbitrator generally has 60 days to issue their orders about terms for a new master contract.

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