PRESS ROOM

The news that after more than a year of protracted talks and amid a recent spate of coast wide disruption, leaders from the PMA and the ILWU have reached a long-awaited tentative agreement for a new US west coast labour contract is good news for importers and exporters, as well as companies like U-Freight, which moves their container shipments through US West Coast ports via a comprehensive network of international container shipping services on the transpacific, including LCL and FCL import and export operations.

Earlier this week, maritime employers and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) announced they had reached a tentative agreement on a new six-year contract covering all 29 ports along the US West Coast.  

The deal, subject to ratification by both parties, ends 13 months of contentious negotiations marked by intermittent disruptions to port operations on the coast and the diversion of growing volumes of cargo to the East and Gulf coasts.

“We are...pleased to turn our full attention back to the operation of the West Coast ports,” the ILWU and Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) said in a joint statement, noting the new deal “was reached with assistance from Acting US Secretary of Labor Julie Su.”

The statement said the parties would not release details of the tentative agreement “at this time.”

The contract ratification processes normally takes at least one month.

In a statement, Su added: “The tentative agreement delivers important stability for workers, for employers, and for our country’s supply chain.”

You can find more information about the U-Freight Group’s ocean freight services through US West Coast ports by visiting the relevant pages of this website, or by speaking to your usual contact in our company.