About 250 watchmen represented by a local branch of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) have voted to authorize a strike at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach that could begin at 5pm PST on November 1, according to The Long Beach Post.

The news comes at a time when both ports are hampered by more than 13,000 containers experiencing dwell times of longer than nine days for containers waiting to be loaded onto on-dock trains, and a total of 35,000 containers waiting for loading, as of October 28.

International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s Local 26, represents about 2% of ILWU’s workforce, but their work is spread across terminals in the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. The watchmen work under a separate agreement from the coastwide six-year longshore contract that was brokered between the ILWU and the employers represented by the Pacific Maritime Association in summer 2023.

According to Women’s Wear Daily’s Sourcing Journal, eight terminals would be impacted — six container terminals and two non-container terminals — by the labor action. The container terminals are APM Terminals (Pier 400), Long Beach Container Terminal, Total Terminals International, SSA Marine’s Berth C60 and Berth A90 and Pacific Container Terminal. The non-container terminals are SSA Marine-operated: LB 206 and Outer Harbor Berth 55.

A Port of Los Angeles spokesperson told SupplyChainBrain, "The Port of Los Angeles encourages all parties to continue negotiating in good faith toward a mutually acceptable resolution. We recognize the importance of reaching an agreement that serves the interests of the parties involved while ensuring the continued movement of cargo through our port. We remain hopeful that an agreement can be reached without any disruption to operations."

Regarding the dwell times for rail loading, the spokesperson referred SCB to the rail companies, BNSF and UP.

The Port of Long Beach said average rail time remains under five days at the Port of Long Beach, some smaller inland rail hubs are experiencing longer delays than major destinations as the national rail network absorbs significantly more cargo. “In addition to handling record cargo volumes, we are processing more rail moves than ever before and some of our terminals are reaching 50% on-dock rail utilization," said Port of Long Beach CEO Dr. Noel Hacegaba. "We are committed to enhancing the efficiency of our operations with the Pier B On-Dock Rail Support Facility, which will reduce the time it takes to move cargo from ship to rail from four days to 24 hours. Our 2050 vision is to handle 20 million containers annually by midcentury, about double today’s throughput. Speed to market is the key to our success and rail connectivity is the key to our future.”

Regarding the threatened strike, Dr. Hacegaba said, “We are closely monitoring the negotiations between ILWU Local 26 and the Pacific Maritime Association, and we remain hopeful both sides will reach an agreement soon. While the affected watchmen provide security within individual terminals, port-wide security provided by the Harbor Patrol and the Long Beach Police Department continues uninterrupted during negotiations. Although the Port of Long Beach is not a party to the negotiations, we want to assure our customers that we remain committed to moving cargo through our port safely and reliably.”