PRESS ROOM

According to a report on the Seatrade Maritime website, talks between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) have broken down over the key issue of automation bringing the threat of a renewed strike at US East Coast ports closer.

With our portfolio of international ocean freight operations to and from the US East and Gulf Coasts, which include LCL and FCL import and export operations, this is of concern to the U-Freight Group and we will monitor the situation and advise customers of further developments.

In a statement issued yesterday (13 November) ILA said, that the first day and half of talks had been productive. “However, late yesterday, talks broke down when management introduce their intent to implement semi-automation – a direct contradiction to their opening statement where they assured us that neither full nor semi-automation would be on the table. They claimed their focus was on modernisation, not automation."

The USMX similarly said initial talks had been positive but were unable to make progress on a range of technology. “Unfortunately, the ILA is insisting on an agreement that would move our industry backward by restricting future use of technology that has existed in some of our ports for nearly two decades – making it impossible to evolve to meet the nation’s future supply chain demands,” USMX said.

The full article can be read here: https://tinyurl.com/r64e356k

The U-Freight Group remains committed to helping clients manage the difficult situations facing container shipping at present and mitigate where possible additional costs incurred. Our ocean freight teams will endeavour to keep in close contact with all clients to provide updates on this situation.

For more information about our ocean freight forwarding and logistics services, please visit the relevant pages of this website, or contact your local office, which can be seen here: https://www.ufreight.com/en/location