Port Workers News

X-Press Feeders has signed of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with six European ports: Port of Antwerp Bruges (Belgium), Port of Tallinn (Estonia), Port of Helsinki (Finland), Port of HaminaKotka (Finland), Freeport of Riga (Latvia) and Klaipeda Port (Lithuania).The agreement signifies a joint commitment to accelerate the establishment of green shipping corridors and the broader decarbonization of the marine sector in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea.X-Press Feeders and the…

Talks in Pacific Canada between striking dock workers and their employers have resumed after four days away from the negotiation table, a statement on Saturday by the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) showed.The BCMEA and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU Canada) met on Saturday, supported by federal mediators, the statement said. The talks had stalled on Tuesday and the two sides broke off negotiations.Some 7,500 port workers went on strike on July 1 for higher wages…

PMA says US West Coast port workers shut down Port of Seattle; workers' union denies claimThe Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), which represents terminal operators, said in a tweet on Saturday that coordinated and disruptive work actions led by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) have shut down cargo operations at the Port of Seattle."On the first shift today, the ILWU refused to dispatch any longshore workers to container terminals, the PMA said, resulting in the shutdown of the port.The ILWU…

U.S. President Joe Biden has urged both sides in the West Coast ports labor dispute to continue collective bargaining, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday, adding acting Labor Secretary Julie Su was actively engaging with the parties.The largest terminal at Southern California's Port of Long Beach closed for the day shift Monday as dock workers rallied for better pay. Monday's temporary closure followed similar disruptions on Friday in Oakland, California.

Groups representing major retailers and manufacturers urged the White House on Monday to intervene in contentious West Coast port labor negotiations, citing worries about shipping disruptions during critical holiday shopping seasons.The call came after the largest terminal at Southern California's Port of Long Beach closed on Monday as dock workers rally for better pay. Monday's closure followed similar disruptions on Friday in Oakland, California.More than 22,000 dockworkers…

A shortage of West Coast port workers has forced the busiest U.S.

A major joint operation organised by the Australian Border Force (ABF), World Customs Organization (WCO), the World Shipping Council and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has led to 43 arrests and more than 100 drug seizures, including 98,734 kilograms of cocaine and 314 kilograms of cannabis.58 countries were involved, and the ABF worked alongside officers from German Customs, United Kingdom Border Force, US Customs and Border Protection and the Dutch Customs Administration to deliver a series of coordinated strikes on organised crime.The operation…

October volume at the busiest U.S. seaport fell to its lowest level since 2009 as shippers sent cargo to alternate trade gateways to avoid potential disruptions from ongoing West Coast port labor talks, Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said on Tuesday.The data comes as ocean trade activity returns to more normalized levels after booming in the early days of the COVID-19 crisis. Seaports like New York/New Jersey, Savannah and Houston have benefited from the uncertainty…

Around 600 workers at Liverpool port, one of Britain's busiest ports, will end strike action after agreeing a pay deal with employer Peel Ports, the Unite union said on Thursday.Unite said workers had voted "overwhelmingly in favor" of pay rises worth 14.3%-18.5% negotiated earlier this week, ending a wave of strike action that began on Sept. 19.The port in Liverpool, northwest England, handles more than 70 million tonnes of cargo from across the globe, according to Peel Ports.(Reuters - Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Workers at a Liverpool port, owned by Peel Ports Group, will go on strike from Monday for two weeks after talks with the port operating company broke down due to disagreements over increase in pay, UK's Unite union said on Friday.Peel Ports' board has continued to deny workers a pay rise while its profits soared, Unite said, adding that "any chance to halt the industrial action has been lost after Peel Ports board intervened to stop the deal, which had been agreed in principle, from going ahead."Nearly 600 dock workers at the Liverpool port went on strike from Oct. 11 and to Oct.

South African miners are losing 815 million rand ($44 million) in export revenue per day due to an ongoing strike at state-owned logistics firm Transnet which has hit commodity exports, an industry body said on Thursday.Transnet's freight rail and port workers earlier said they had rejected a revised pay offer and vowed to continue the strike which started a week ago.The Minerals Council of South Africa said major mineral export harbors were currently operating at between 12% and 30% of their daily averages due to the strike.

Over 500 dockworkers at the Port of Liverpool, one of Britain's largest container ports, have launched a two-week strike over pay, the Unite trade union said on Tuesday, adding to a wave of industrial unrest caused by soaring inflation.The Liverpool strike from Sept. 19 to Oct. 3, which was announced earlier this month, will overlap a second walkout by workers at Felixstowe, Britain's top container port, which starts on Sept. 27.More than 560 port operatives and maintenance engineers…

More than 560 dockworkers at the Port of Liverpool, one of Britain's largest container ports, will go on strike from Sept. 19 to Oct. 3 over pay, the Unite union said on Friday, adding to a summer of industrial unrest caused by soaring inflation."Workers across the country are sick to death of being told to take a hit on their wages and living standards," Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said in a statement."MDHC needs to think again, table a reasonable offer and fulfil its previous pay promises…

More than 1,900 workers at Britain's biggest container port are due on Sunday to start eight days of strike action which their union and shipping companies warn could seriously affect trade and supply chains.The staff at Felixstowe, on the east coast of England, are taking industrial action in a dispute over pay, becoming the latest workers to strike in Britain as unions demand higher wages for members facing a cost-of-living crisis."Strike action will cause huge disruption and will generate massive shockwaves throughout the UK's supply chain…

Key arrangements including procedures for ships still need to be worked out before empty vessels can come in and pick up cargoes from Ukraine using the new grains corridor, a senior London marine insurance market official said on Monday.Turkey and the United Nations brokered a grain-and-fertilizer export agreement between Russia and Ukraine last month - a rare diplomatic breakthrough in a conflict that is grinding on with no resolution in sight."The standard operating procedures for vessels still need to be worked out and there are issues about crewing that still need to be resolved…

The union and employers negotiating the contract for more than 22,000 port laborers on the U.S. West Coast on Tuesday said they are committed to reaching a deal and are not planning any work stoppages or lockouts that would worsen supply chain logjams.The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) employer group have been in negotiations since May.They said they do not expect to reach a deal before the high-stakes labor agreement…

The queues of container ships outside major Chinese ports are lengthening by the day as COVID-19 outbreaks in manufacturing export hubs threaten to unleash a fresh wave of global supply chain shocks, ship owners, logistics firms and analysts say.China is experiencing its biggest spike in COVID-19 infections since an initial outbreak in the central city of Wuhan was contained in early 2020.The spread of the highly-infectious Omicron variant this month has led to movement controls across China…

IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim issued the following statement regarding the crisis in the Ukraine and its impact on shipping and seafarers."As the humanitarian crisis continues to unfold in Ukraine, I fully support and stand with UN Secretary-General António Guterres' call for hostilities to cease immediately. I am gravely concerned about the spill over effects of the military action in Ukraine on global shipping, and logistics and supply chains, in particular the impacts on the delivery of commodities and food to developing nations and the impacts on energy supplies.

When the first cruise ship since the start of the pandemic sailed through the Venice lagoon last month, hundreds of people rallied on land and small boats in protest.A few weeks later, the government seemed to listen, announcing that to defend Venice's ecosystem and heritage, cruise liners would be banned from the lagoon from Aug. 1.The move ended years of political hesitation, apparently putting the demands of residents and culture bodies above those of port workers and the tourist industry."For us it's a big victory…

The government of Santa Fe province in Argentina late on Wednesday ordered port workers to suspend a day-old strike that had blocked grains shipments at the country's main agricultural export hub and mandated wage negotiations be resumed.Protests by port construction workers in Argentina's key grains hub Rosario had snarled exports, with roads blocked at some of the area's key export terminals, an industry official told Reuters earlier on Wednesday.The protest began late on Tuesday and on Wednesday spread to the districts of Puerto General San Martin and Timbues…

Argentine port workers said on Tuesday they would hold a 48-hour strike starting at midnight (0300 GMT Wednesday), after paralyzing agricultural exports from the country last week with an initial work stoppage over demands they be vaccinated against COVID-19.Cargo traffic at the ports hub of Rosario, from which about 80% of the country's grains exports are shipped, was snarled by last week's strike by tugboat captains and other maritime port workers. A group of 11 unions issued a statement late on Tuesday announcing the new work stoppage.They are asking to be designated as essential workers…

The Brazilian government will send the first doses of COVID-19 shots to immunize Santos port workers, with vaccinations slated to begin this week at Latin America's largest port, according to a statement from maritime agent Williams on Wednesday.Williams said Infrastructure Ministry Tarcísio de Freitas made a public commitment to vaccinate the workers, citing an audio message dated May 23 that was shared publicly by the National Federation of Port Operators (Fenop).The move is a response to growing pressure from the workers, who threatened to go on strike if the immunization did not occur by M

Seven grains ships stranded at Argentina's export hub of Rosario will be towed free and sent out to sea after they were loaded with more produce than could be carried on the port's increasingly shallow waters, local authorities said on Friday.Rosario traffic has been snarled in the aftermath of a 48-hour strike by tugboat captains and other workers managing the flow of agricultural cargo ships.Seven ships, six of them large Panamax vessels, loaded with soymeal, corn and other farm products were moored at Rosario during the work stoppage.