Jobs on the docks are drying up, leaving many workers without steady work, as empty cargo containers stack up at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, officials said this week.
It’s all a casualty of an ongoing drop in ship calls from Asia as the coronavirus continues spreading. Factories in China have remained closed or operated at below-capacity levels for weeks now as the virus has taken its toll. About half of the cargo coming into the ports comes from China.
Forty-one ships have canceled cargo deliveries scheduled between mid-February and early April, Seroka told commissioners at their regular meeting Thursday, March 5.
“That accounts for about 25% of our normal ship calls here at the Port of Los Angeles,” he said.
“Stateside, we’re starting to see empty containers built up here at the port and at inland locations,” he added. The empties are usually sent back via ship so the decline in ship calls has impacted that usual rotation as well.
“Exports are beginning to dwell (in place) much longer than anticipated,” which is impacting the farming industry, Seroka said.
Seroka and Port Police Chief Thomas Gazsi gave the updates the day after the California, L.A. County and Long Beach declared states of emergency.
Public health officials Thursday confirmed four more cases of coronavirus in Los Angeles County, bringing its total to 11.
The impacts on the twin ports come on the heels of what already was a tough season of downturns during the tariffs and trade war with China.
Now, the coronavirus is taking a toll.
“Less containers mean fewer jobs,” Seroka said, though he added that he disputed some of the figures cited by the union.
Ray Familathe, president of International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 13, said the ports together have seen a more than 50% job loss over 2019. Pacific Maritime Association, Familathe said, provided input to help come up with that percentage.
“It’s a tremendous loss of cargo,” Familathe said.
Part-time workers, known as casuals, are not working at all, a union spokeswoman said in an email, and some steady, full-time longshore workers are being sent back to the dispatch hall in hopes of catching an open shift.
The contract between the union and Pacific Maritime Association provides at least some workers with 40-hour pay when jobs dry up temporarily. But those funds are limited, said one union worker who spoke at the commission meeting.
Seroka disputed the union figures for job declines, but acknowledged that in the past week, compared to the same week in 2019, ILWU longshore and marine clerk jobs were “down about 36%.” It was not clear whether that was for just the Port of L.A. or for both ports combined. The ILWU serves both ports.
“It is substantial, but we have not eliminated half the jobs at the port,” Seroka said referring to the union’s 50% figure
Figures posted on Twitter by the Pacific Maritime Association, the organization that pays the dockworkers, stated that work shifts at the combined ports during the first 10 weeks of the year have declined by 21% in 2020 compared to 2019 and by 15% compared to 2018.
YTD, work shifts at the Ports of LA/LB have declined 21% vs. 2019, and 15% vs. 2018. pic.twitter.com/l7pwuUA3eh
— Pacific Maritime Association (@WestCoastPorts) March 5, 2020
Gazsi said coronavirus test kits are now available to be taken out to arriving cruise and cargo ships where illness is reported. As has been the protocol under the U.S. Coast Guard for about a month now, ships where illness on board is reported are held at anchor outside of the port until they can be checked out.
A cruise ship this week was banned from docking in San Francisco after suspected cases of coronavirus were reported by passengers and crew.
Next week, Gazsi said, there will be a number of meetings to further discuss responses and how protocols might evolve as more is learned about the disease.
In the meantime, he said, discretionary travel at the port has been stopped and future responses could include employees working from home, installing anti-bacterial dispensers and new no-touch paper towel dispensers that operate by battery, and increasing cleaning schedules at elevators, doorways and other common areas.
“First and foremost, this is a public health crisis,” Seroka said of coronavirus, stressing that everything possible must be done to curb its spread.
But along with the medical challenges, it also is wreaking havoc on the economy, including business at the ports.
“There are a lot of goods that aren’t moving,” Familathe said.
Cargo business at the Port of Los Angeles in February, Seroka said, is expected to be down “25%-plus” and over the first quarter of 2020, it is anticipated to be down by more than 15-to-17% over last year.
