Maersk Urges Customers to Remove Cargo Amid Possible Dockworker Strike

By Brendan Murray (Bloomberg) —

The world’s No. 2 container carrier urged customers to remove cargo from East and Gulf Coast ports in the US before a Jan. 15 deadline for dockworkers and their employers to avoid a possible strike just days before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

“If no agreement is reached by that date, a coast-wide strike on Jan. 16 is possible,” Copenhagen-based A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S said in a customer advisory posted Tuesday. “However, the negotiations have had no new developments since our last communication.”

In its previous advisory on Dec. 19, Maersk said “the situation remains dynamic as we await further developments but the possibility of a strike increases each day that passes without a settled contract.”

The International Longshoremen’s Association, or ILA, is a 47,000-member union that represents cargo handlers at every major eastern and southern port from Boston to Houston.

The ILA in recent months has tried negotiating a new contract with the United States Maritime Alliance, known as USMX, a group of shipping lines and terminal operators that employ them to load and unload container ships.

Wage Deal

In early October, the two sides reached a deal on a 62% wage increase over six years, suspending a three-day strike but leaving unresolved the issue of automation.

Talks on that issue don’t appear to be advancing, and neither the ILA nor USMX have indicated plans to return to the negotiating table before mid-January.

Trump, whose inauguration is set for Jan. 20, has voiced his support for dockworkers in their fight against automated machinery that they view as a threat to their jobs.

Maersk’s latest statement said considering the stalemate, “we strongly encourage our customers to pick up their laden containers and return empty containers at US East and Gulf Coast ports before Jan. 15.”

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