West Coast imports up amid dock worries

By Edvard Pettersson
Bloomberg News

LOS ANGELES — Imports through West Coast ports jumped in April amid concern about possible labor unrest next month, as talks between ocean carriers and dockworkers on the U.S. West Coast entered a fourth week.

Imports through the Port of Los Angeles increased 22 percent in April from a year earlier and rose 13 percent at the Port of Long Beach, according to the ports' Web sites. The main imports include clothes, furniture, household goods and toys made in Asia for many of the largest U.S. retailers.

Three years ago, longshoremen in Los Angeles and Long Beach, the two busiest U.S. container ports, slowed down operations when the two sides failed to reach an agreement in time. Imports rose in April in part because importers are taking precautions against another slowdown, Robin Lanier, executive director of the West Coast Waterfront Coalition, an industry organization, said in an interview.

"Retailers are making sure that they have their back-to-school merchandise in stock," Lanier said. "They are also starting to get Halloween and Christmas merchandise, which they normally wouldn't start receiving until later in the summer."

Representatives of the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents carriers and other terminal operators on the West Coast, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents about 10,000 workers, have been meeting since May 13 to work out a new three-year contract. The current agreement expires July 1.

The carriers' association and the union have agreed not to disclose information about the negotiations other than through joint statements. The two sides were expected to discuss the schedule for future negotiations yesterday. Representatives of the association and the union declined to comment beyond that.