Labor negotiations are imminent, and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), which represents shipping companies and terminal operators, has released a research report that counts the benefits of port automation, but the trade unions (ILWU, International Longshore and Warehouse Union, American International The Terminals and Warehousing Alliance) argues that productivity gains from port automation have exacerbated employment imbalances.
The study, commissioned by PMA and conducted by UC Berkeley public policy professor Michael Nacht, was released on May 2. According to Michael Nacht and Larry Henry, founder of Container Trac, automation is good for the competitiveness and growth of ports on the U.S. West Coast. At 13 container terminals in the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, automation benefits trade, the environment and workers, providing more jobs, the study said.
On the employee side, ILWU workers have increased their paid hours at automated terminals in Los Angeles and Long Beach by 31.5 percent since 2015, the last year of the transition to automated operations, more than double the rate at non-automated terminals, the data shows. ILWU's registered labor force in Los Angeles and Long Beach grew 11.2 percent, compared with 8.4 percent at the other 27 West Coast ports.
In trade, automation has halved container handling time since 2019. Terminals can handle 44 percent more containers per acre than non-automated terminals because automated vehicles and cranes can stack containers higher and denser and transport them more efficiently by trucks and trains. Michael Nacht said: “Higher terminal throughput can provide more port-related jobs and increase employment across the supply chain. If the trend of automation is not kept up, cargo will be diverted to other ports, resulting in terminal and Job losses across the region.” PMA chief executive Jim McKenna said in an interview last month: “The Covid-19 pandemic and the surge in cargo have proven that automated terminals are much more efficient than traditional terminals. As these terminals With a lot of cargo being handled, they actually provide more jobs for dockworkers as well.”
However, these conclusions were not endorsed by the ILWU, and union representative Frank Ponce De Leon responded that the report did not take into account workers who lost their jobs due to the introduction of automated machinery, and that the increase in container throughput at automated terminals was also reflected in the apparent decline in throughput at other terminals. costly and will result in job losses.
The PMA has long campaigned for the introduction of automation in the terminals but has been criticised by the international terminal ILWU. Negotiations between the PMA and the ILWU will take place on May 12 to develop new labor contracts for the 22,000 West Coast dockworkers due July 1.
