Strike at Canada’s Pacific Ports Ends with Tentative, Four-Year Deal
Excerpted from Reuters.com, By Chris Helgren, Updated 3 hours ago.
Vancouver, British Columbia, July 13 (Reuters) – Dock workers at ports along Canada’s Pacific coast and their employers accepted a tentative wage deal on Thursday, ending a 13-day strike that disrupted trade at the country’s busiest ports and risked worsening inflation.
“The British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) and International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Canada are pleased to advise that the parties have reached a tentative agreement on a new 4-year deal,” the BCMEA said in a statement.
The ILWU also said there was an agreement, which must now be ratified by both sides.
Canadian West Coast ports strike is over, but it will take weeks for supply chain to recover
Excerpted from CNBC.COM, Jul 13, 2023, 2:45 PM EDT Updated Thu, Jul 13 20233:42 PM EDT,
By Lori Ann LaRocco @loriannlarocco.
Key Points
- Canada’s Labor Minister and Transport Minister announced on Twitter the end to the 13-day labor strike at the West Coast ports in Canada.
- The current West Coast ports strike has significant implications for both the Canadian and U.S. economy, and potential supply chain congestion from ocean cargo to inbound rails and sectors from chemicals to oil, lumber, and construction minerals.
- ILWU Canada union workers were expected to be back on the job for the 4:30 p.m. Pacific time shift on Thursday, but delays will plague the supply chain for weeks even with the strike over.
It’s over: Labor deal ends strike at Vancouver, Prince Rupert ports
Tentative labor agreement reached after federal mediator intervenes
Excerpted from FreightWaves.com, by Greg Miller, July 13, 2023.
After being shuttered for 13 days, the key container shipping ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert in British Columbia, Canada, will open “as soon as possible” after a new labor deal was reached, the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) announced Thursday.
The tentative agreement has a four-year term and is subject to ratification by both parties. No details were disclosed. The announcement of the end of the port labor impasse came after a federal mediator delivered recommendations to both sides with a tight deadline to respond.
Impact on US imports
The near-two-week strike led to a virtual shutdown of containerized rail moves from Vancouver and Prince Rupert to the U.S. Even though the British Columbia ports will reopen soon, the effect on the flow of U.S. imports via the Canadian gateways will linger. Canadian railway CN told FreightWaves that disruptions could take weeks or even months to correct.
Data from FreightWaves SONAR that tracks rail moves of loaded international containers from Vancouver and Prince Rupert shows a near-total collapse in volumes as a result of the strike.
That said, the two Canadian ports’ contribution to total U.S. imports is relatively small, so the strike’s effect on the U.S. was much less significant than on Canada.
