Paul Berger of The Wall Street Journal reports that labor peace and canal disruptions are helping bring back supply chains to California ports that previously drifted to the Gulf Coast and East Coast gateways. He writes:
U.S. importers are rediscovering the lure of Southern California ports.
Trade is swinging back to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach after a period in which pandemic-driven shipping disruptions and broader shifts in manufacturing pushed supply chains more heavily toward Gulf Coast and East Coast ports.
The Southern California ports in September, October and November recorded year-over-year increases in containerized imports of between 17% and 31%, according to ports data. At the same time imports fell at East Coast gateways such as Georgia’s Port of Savannah and the Port of New York and New Jersey. […]
Importers are concerned about labor disruptions across the region as the ports now take their turn on contract talks. The leader of the union that represents dockworkers has threatened a strike if his union fails to reach agreement with employers on a new multiyear contract before the current agreement expires at the end of September.
Read more here.
