Now that negotiators in a west coast ports dispute have reached a tentative labor deal, the local trucking industry can get back to work and clear a backlog of shipping containers.
An agreement between dockworkers and their employers is bringing a sigh of relief for trucking companies here at home.
NevCal Trucking says their company will need to do a lot more business in a shorter period of time to clear the log jam of shipping containers. They also say they are thrilled that there will now be a whole lot more work for drivers to get imports in and exports out.
Long time driver Jerry Cruse, says he's never seen a labor dispute quite as bad as this one.
“They've had strikes down there and they've had slowdowns, but other than that this is probably the worst," says Cruse.
The recent news of a tentative contract taking care of the cargo backup in California, has NevCal Trucking excited to get drivers like Jerry back on track.
Operations manager Brad Meyer had heard the drivers concerns and hopes the new agreement relieves their frustrations.
“Now they can get back to a normal day's work, they know their hours, they know when they can get down there, they're going to get things done in a normal amount of time, versus six eight hours of sitting their doing nothing,” says Meyer.
A back log of hundreds of containers could keep drivers busy till late summer.
Much of the backed-up inventory will be handled at the 29 west coast ports that take care of about one-quarter of all U.S. International Trade. A five-year deal must still be approved however, by the 13,000 members in the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. The agreement allows the ports to resume full operations.
