Article by: Rick Walker, Vice President, TradeInsights, LCB, CCS

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU) strike enters its second week continuing to affect cargo and marine terminals in British Columbia. About 7,400 workers with the International Longshore & Warehouse Union Canada’s Longshore Division went on strike on July 2 after negotiations with the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association failed to reach a new labor contract.

The talks between the BC Maritime Employers Association and the ILWU Canada resumed on Saturday July 8th, with support from federal mediators. According to the BCMEA statement issued on July 8th, the Association tabled “a revised proposal to resolve skilled trades shortages and address ILWU Canada’s demand to expand their jurisdiction over regular maintenance work on terminals. This revised proposal included additional language that opened the door for ILWU Canada to perform new work outside of the union’s jurisdiction.”
Business organization and some politicians continue to call for the federal government to bring in back-to-work legislation. The forestry industry also raised its concerns over the strike as forest products represent approximately 15% of the cargo flowing through Vancouver.

According to the Journal of Commerce, “Trans-Pacific carriers are changing schedule rotations so that US-bound cargoes can be unloaded in Seattle-Tacoma rather than Vancouver and will divert even more vessels as the strike by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Canada enters its second week, sources said Monday. Meanwhile, vessel backlogs are building outside of Vancouver and Seattle-Tacoma, although the backlog changes constantly because additional vessels are arriving in the Pacific Northwest almost every day”. According to the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority website, 14 container ships were at anchor or offshore of Vancouver on Monday.

Forwarders and a terminal operator told the Journal of Commerce at least six container ships that had been scheduled to call in Vancouver had been diverted to Seattle-Tacoma as of Monday. The ocean carriers make the final decision as to where vessels will rest at anchor as they await resumption of cargo handling in Vancouver.

Now, to complicate matters, in a show of solidarity with their Canadian counterparts, US West Coast dockers are refusing to handle cargoes diverted from the Canadian west coast, where port workers have staged industrial action. In a statement to CNBC, International Longshore & Warehouse Union US West Coast president Willie Adams said, “The ILWU will not be unloading Canadian bound cargo in solidarity with our Brothers and Sisters in ILWU Canada.”

We will continue to monitor this situation and provide updates as necessary.

Please contact your V. Alexander account team, or you may also contact our Trade Compliance team at tradeinsights@valexander.com with any questions.