West Coast Ports Dispute Dragging on Economy

WASHINGTON - Federally mediated talks to end a grinding labor dispute at U.S. West Coast ports entered their third day Thursday as complaints mounted from businesses feeling pain on both sides of the Pacific.

Massive container ships were backed up around key ports from Long Beach in southern California to Tacoma, Washington as some 20,000 longshoremen continued their work slowdown to pressure port owners to agree a new contract.

The port of Oakland, the key container terminal for the San Francisco Bay area, was completely closed for the seventh day this month as dockworkers held a union meeting.

The overall cost to the U.S. economy has not be totted up. But Tom Derry, chief executive of the Institute for Supply Management, which surveys a broad range of industries, said the impact remains limited because businesses were better prepared than in previous port labor disputes.

"Most companies already had contingency plans in place," he said.

On top of more choices for shipping, including routing items to Gulf and East Coast ports, "Companies have more resources in terms of sourcing opportunities," like buying supplies from Mexico.

While it still adds overall to costs, he said businesses could handle a slowdown for another six to eight weeks.

"We are much more resilient as an economy to these kinds of disruptions than we were before," he said.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2015