International sales of Washington apples spoiled in ports dispute

Hanjin Boston working at Port of Seattle's T-46, 31 July 2005. Port of Seattle image by Don Wilson.
Hanjin Boston working at Port of Seattle’s T-46. Port of Seattle image by Don Wilson.

This time of year usually would be great for exports of Washington’s apples, in demand in Asia through Chinese New Year, said Marc Spears, export sales manager of Chelan Fresh Marketing.

But the company, which represents 400 growers near Lake Chelan, is seeing fruit exports stalled as Washington state produce gets caught up in a container backlog at the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, two of the 29 West Coast ports in the middle of a contentious contract negotiations between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

“Basically, these first three months, that’s demand that’s pulling us through these trying times,”  Spears told a committee of state legislators Wednesday. “Everyone has been counting on these times.”

The contract between the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), representing the companies that manage work at the ports, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), representing the workers, expired in June. Both sides requested a federal mediator come to the negotiation table in San Francisco last week, according to the Journal of Commerce.

However, both sides are accusing the other of creating the backlog at the ports. The PMA cut night shifts, which organization leaders said was necessary to accommodate an intentional slowdown of work by the longshoremen, according to The News Tribune. But the ILWU counter that the cut in the night shift is creating the backlog, and told KING 5 TV this week that they want the night shift to return.

“It’s a mess right now,” said Dan McKisson, president of the ILWU’s Puget Sound District Council. “When we were working full shifts, we could clear it.”

McKisson spoke Wednesday before state senators in Olympia, at a joint meeting of the Commerce and Labor and the Trade and Economic Development committees on the effect of the backlog on state business.

The PMA declined an invitation to appear at Wednesday morning’s hearing, according to Senate Commerce and Labor Committee chairman Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, who called for the hearing. Baumgartner pointed out that the state Legislature is prohibited from getting directly involved in labor disputes.

Port officials told senators that business at the ports of Seattle and Tacoma generate about $138 billion in economic activity, which is about a third of Washington’s gross domestic product. The two ports are planning to merge container ship operations under the name Seaport Alliance, and together they would be the third largest port in North America. The Pacific Northwest ports are heavily reliant on Asian trade on the Pacific.

Port officials also told the senators that they have no direct say in the contract negotiations.

Spears of Chelan Fresh Marketing was one of a handful of businesses interests who testified at the hearing, including dairy cooperative Darigold and outdoor gear company Cascade Designs. They said that continued congestion at the ports could result in layoffs for growers, processors and packers, and lost long-term contracts.

Eric Schinfeld of the Washington Council on International Trade told the committees the state’s businesses who have no direct say in the negotiations stand to lose millions of dollars in the dispute.

“We are seeing hundreds of millions of dollars of lost economic activity in our state,” he said. “Frankly, those are international customers who are saying, ‘If you’re not going to sell us your goods in Washington state, we are going to find people from other countries around the world to give us their goods instead.’ ”

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