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Source: USW
Source: WBNG
Longshore and Shipping News does not advertize. Any ads in the KING 5 newsclip below are placed by the station.
Still reeling from last month’s court ruling that the environmental study is not flawed, the Longshoremen’s Union will appeal.
At a news briefing on Tuesday, aside the Longshoremen’s Union, Seattle Mayoral candidate Steinbrueck slammed the study. “In short, the study is a sham,” he said. “It’s being fast tracked and it doesn’t comprehensively examine the true economic costs.”
“The rents will skyrocket in that area because now we have entertainment and retail,” said Peter Goldman, an attorney representing Longshoremen.
The economic study is being done by ProForma Advisors of Los Angeles. Critics say ProForma focuses on resorts and theme parks. They question the consultant’s expertise on maritime and industrial business.
“There are troubling signs here that someone selected this consultant or in manipulating the scope of the study so it gives them the answers they want,” said Goldman.
More at KING 5
Shipping companies that use the Port of Hueneme scrambled for a fix Monday as U.S. Customs and Border Protection cutbacks held up cargo inspections, causing 103 paid dockworkers to sit waiting.
That change was felt Monday morning when an auto ship arrived at the port. Unloading was delayed 40 minutes because the ship got there before CBP inspectors were scheduled to start working, so dockworkers stood idle.
Company officials say paying for a few CBP workers’ overtime would cost less than paying 100 longshoremen to stand around waiting for the inspections to be completed. Port administrators estimate Monday’s delay cost the shipping company at least $5,000 in labor alone, whereas overtime for the CBP officers would likely have cost a few hundred dollars.
Shipping lines are offering to pay overtime, said Kristin Decas, executive director of the Port of Hueneme, but, “Customs has come back and said that’s against the law.”
More at the Ventura County Star
From the Journal of Commerce:
Carriers in the eastbound Pacific look to 2013 as a year in which they will return to profitability. They also intend to avoid the extreme rate volatility that defined their relationship with customers last year.
This optimistic scenario could play out if carriers’ performance in January sets the tone for the rest of the year, said Brian Conrad, executive administrator of the carrier discussion group known as the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement.
“The signs are more positive than last year,” Conrad told the OrangeCounty chapter of Women in International Trade Thursday in Newport Beach, Calif.
The liner industry lost money in 2011. Most carriers last year had a strong third quarter, but after a week fourth quarter they ended 2012 with a flat to slightly negative bottom line. January, however, was a good month, especially in the eastbound Pacific.
Buoyed by strong cargo loads in the month leading up to Chinese New
Year, carriers operated with vessel utilization rates in the mid-90s.
Thanks to a rate increase in January that pretty much stuck, freight
rates approached the level that could be...
Source: WBAI's Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
Source: Solidarity Center
Source: Columbus Dispatch
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