Last year, owners of shipping terminals on the West Coast and dock workers became embroiled in a contract dispute that slowed business for six months. Now, the Washington Council on International Trade, an advocacy group for for global trade in the state, has quantified the losses at more than three-quarters of a billion dollars.
Taking into account containers of goods that were never shipped, other containers that Washington businesses never received, and fees associated with idle containers and trucks, the WCIT estimates that the state lost $769.5 million due to the slowdown. The loss would have been around $150 million higher if some businesses hadn’t shipped goods by air. The impacts of the slowdown may go beyond just the short-term monetary loss: Some supply chains were rerouted as a result of the delays.
Agriculture was hit particularly hard, according to the WCIT. For example, the Washington State Tree Fruit Association estimated that the apple industry in the state lost around $95 million in exports to Asia and the Middle East. At the time, a fresh fruit sales and marketing firm in Chelan County laid off 250 employees, who have not been rehired.
The slowdown ended a year ago today when the dock worker’s union — the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) — and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), came up with a mutually agreed upon five-year contract.
