Americas News
U.S. West Coast Ports Expect Return to 'Normal' by End of May
Although U.S. West Coast ports are reporting that operations are expected to return to normal by the end of May, some shipping companies are still grappling with delays stemming from the months-long labour dispute, JOC reports.
Voxx International is apparently one of the companies who is still experiencing delayed shipments, though the company reported that it expects to recover most of the sales losses it incurred in the fourth quarter last year during the next quarter.
Renewable energy company Rec Silicon has also reportedly been hit in the second quarter of this year due to the labour dispute.
"We will see some slowdown in (the second quarter) compared to what we planned for, because, due again to this slowdown of the port, some of our customers chose to sign up with our competitor in the short term because they were uncertain that we were able to deliver silane," said President and CEO Tore Torvund.
According to another JOC report, ports are still struggling with having to accommodate multiple large containerships at the same time, which require more machinery and increased worker productivity.
While cargo flows at Los Angeles and Long Beach are not yet optimal, they are "getting there," according to Weston La Bar, executive director of the Harbor Trucking Association.
However, the improvement is expected to be threatened in the coming months during peak container season, when container volumes are typically 20 percent higher than during below-peak seasons.
So far, cargo volumes at the ports of Seattle, Tacoma and Oakland appear to almost be at pre-dispute levels, though experts say that some business has already been permanently re-routed to other ports of call.
By contrast, the Port of Portland has appeared to struggle in the aftermath, with two major shippers having announced their exits in recent months.
The U.S. West Coast dispute officially ended in February 2015 after more than seven months of negotiations.
