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 Cargo that normally takes two to three days to flow through the
affected ports, accounting for nearly half of U.S. maritime trade
and over 70 percent of imports from Asia, now faces lag times of up
to two weeks, the National Retail Federation said.
The congestion has been most pronounced at the twin ports of Los
Angeles and Long Beach, the nation's two busiest cargo hubs, where
marine officials reported 11 ships anchored on Thursday waiting for
berths to open.
The number of freighters kept waiting outside the two ports has
fluctuated from about eight to 18 on any given day since the
slowdown began there around mid-October, said port of Los Angeles
spokesman Phillip Sanfield.
Smaller backups have hit other West Coast ports, including Seattle
and Tacoma in Washington state.
The slowdowns have coincided with prolonged labor talks between
20,000 dockworkers and the Pacific Maritime Association,
representing terminal operators and shipping lines at 29 West Coast
ports. Their latest contract expired June 30.
Management has accused the International Longshore and Warehouse
Union of orchestrating some slowdowns on the docks to bolster its
leverage at the bargaining table.
Union officials deny organizing protest delays but acknowledge
individual dockworkers may have acted out of frustration over the
pace of contract talks.
They point to other factors that port officials cite as the main
reasons for gridlock. Chief among them has been a shortage of
tractor-trailer chassis used for hauling cargo containers from the
ports, a situation created when shippers decided to sell off their
chassis to equipment-leasing companies.
Union and port officials also cite record import levels at the peak
cargo season, rail service delays and the advent of super-sized
container vessels delivering greater cargo volumes.
BOBBLEHEADS, YOGA WEAR AND RICE
Port slowdowns have rippled through the commercial supply chain.
Vancouver-based retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc blamed West Coast
port congestion for its lower sales forecasts on Thursday. The yoga
wear seller said about 1 million of its garments were stuck in port,
delaying shipments to stores for up to 10 days. [ID:nL3N0TV3PN]
Similar shipment lags were reported by Ann Inc and Ascena Retail
Group Inc, parent companies of women's apparel chains Ann Taylor and
the Loft, and Lane Bryant and Justice, respectively.
Even professional sports have felt the pinch. The Oakland-based
Golden State Warriors earlier this month had to hand out vouchers to
10,000 basketball fans after shipments of the team's Sarunas
Marciulionis bobblehead figures were delayed for weeks.
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Exports have been squeezed as well. Among the hardest hit are
Washington state apple growers, who posted a record harvest of 150
million cartons this year but have been thwarted in selling as much
of their surplus as hoped to Asian markets. Port delay-related
apple losses since October have run in the tens of millions of
dollars, according to Mark Powers, an executive of the Northwest
Horticultural Council.
Fast-food giant McDonald's Corp said its Japan outlets are among
that country's eateries grappling with a french-fried potato
shortage blamed on port backups.
Most U.S.-processed frozen french fries bound for Japan and other
Asian countries are shipped in refrigerated containers through
Seattle-Tacoma, said John Toaspern, chief marketing officer for the
U.S. Potato Board.
Japan is the biggest Asian market for U.S.-made frozen potato
products, importing $336 million worth last year. Toaspern said port
jams have at least doubled transit times for french fry shipments to
Japan from two to four weeks.
Container shipments of California-grown rice bound for Japan, South
Korea and Taiwan have likewise been delayed two weeks or more at the
height of growers' winter shipping season.
"You start running short on warehouse space. It's a mess," said Tim
Johnson, head of the California Rice Commission.
Container shipments of corn and soybeans also were being held up,
forcing the Illinois-based Prairie Creek Grain Company to offer some
Asian customers discounts of up to 6 percent.
 A roughly $700 discount per $12,000 container of soybeans is the
difference between making a profit and breaking even, said Robert
Briscoe, Prairie Creek president.
(Additional reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago; and Solarina Ho and
Euan Rocha in Toronto; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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