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The Pacific Maritime Association( PMA), which represents ocean carrier and terminal operator employers in negotiations with the ILWU, said that is not the case.

In a statement issued the day after Olvera’ s speech, the association said it is“ focused each day on promoting strong and efficient West Coast ports that support the nation’ s supply chain,” highlighting the thousands of jobs it sustains across port terminals, as well as millions throughout the national economy.

The role of private equity

Former shipping company executive and Journal of Commerce contributor Ted Prince noted that the phenomenon of ocean carriers dominating terminal operators in a vertically-integrated operation developed decades ago, but that model has been changing due to investments by private equity and infrastructure funds in ports and marine terminals.

“ How do you deal with this silent force of private equity that— in my mind— is going to increasingly call the shots?” Prince asked Olvera during the event.

“ It starts and stops with the ports, with our public port authorities,” Olvera said.“ I think we fail to recognize that they’ re owned by the citizens. They’ re owned by the communities. The port authority has an obligation when they execute 30- and 40-year leases on the terminals to ask the right questions.”

“ They should not be operating our terminals here in the US. That should be American stevedoring companies.”

Seattle-Tacoma evolving toward hybrid landlord-operating port model

By Bill Mongelluzzo

The Northwest Seaport Alliance of Seattle and Tacoma( NWSA) wants to take a more active role in managing cargo handling, a move that would allow it to perform some functions as an operator at some of its terminals while maintaining its traditional landlord role at others.

NWSA CEO John Wolfe said such a hybrid model, a mixture of operating and landlord-leased terminals, would allow the port to be more responsive and help standardize its two container terminals in Seattle and three in Tacoma. Seeing its import market share bleed to Southern California and over the northern border to Canada, the port complex is looking for new ways to set itself apart on the competitive West Coast of North America.

“ There is an opportunity for us to draw closer to the operation, so we can get a more consistent, reliable import and export operation, and that’ s what our customers expect of us,” Wolfe told the Journal of Commerce.

Containerized imports through Seattle-Tacoma tumbled 15.2 % year over year in the first five months of 2026, compared with a 4.6 % decline in Oakland and a 1.9 % increase in Los Angeles-Long Beach, according to PIERS, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S & P Global. By contrast, inbound volumes through the British Columbian ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert,

Those“ right questions” involve how to make their facilities more responsive to port users and the need for sufficient gate hours and efficient operations, he added.

A California-based agriculture exporter told Olvera that the lack of trust between the PMA and the ILWU has hurt the supply chain by imposing higher costs on shippers, which has resulted in a diversion of cargo to East and Gulf Coast ports. The exporter suggested that some forms of technology that are now common at marine terminals are designed to reduce costs and improve efficiency, not to eliminate longshore jobs.

“ That’ s where the technology comes in: to move more cargo,” the exporter said.

Olvera responded that he was not going to talk about automation at the ports. The West Coast longshore labor contract allows for automation, but anticipated union resistance has resulted in a new dynamic in which port authorities are working with terminal operators and the ILWU to ensure that future projects move forward with the cooperation of both parties.

email: bill. mongelluzzo @ spglobal. com

18 Journal of Commerce | July 6, 2026 www. joc. com