The "Catastrophic Shutdown Of America's Supply Chain" Begins: Photos Of West Coast Congestion

So, It appears MY ATS Friends and Family, that it's going to get a bit harder to get our fix of Cheaply Made Chinese Trinkets, Gadgets and Doo Dads from Walmart/99 Store/Dollar General and the likes. What are we going to do without our cheap swag?

Though looking at what these dockers make in this Bad Economy, it's hard to have much sympathy for these guys. With Base Pay. Overtime, Health Care and an $80,000 Fat Pension are pulling nearly 250K a year. These guys are doing better than anyone I know. So, don't these guys realize the pain that the rest of us are going through in This Rebounding Economy of ours (Sarc)? Can our Economy take any more Slaps in The Face?

What's your take Girls and Boys? Are these people just being Greedy Whiners or do they deserve a raise in overtime pay?
Anything you Guys and Gals have to add to this is as always most appreciated and we do stick around to host our own threads. Thanks Again for takin' a Peek and Peace Arjunanda.

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One week ago, when previewing what may be the first lockout of the West Coast Ports since 2002, we cited the Retail Industry Leaders Association who, realizing that failure to reach an agreement between the dockworker union and their bosses, the Pacific Maritime Association representing port management would lead to devastating consequences for the US retail industry, had several very damning soundbites:

"a work slowdown during contract negotiations over the past seven months has already created logistic nightmares for American exporters, manufacturers and retailers dependent on an efficient supply chain. A complete shutdown would be catastrophic, with hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk if America’s supply chain grinds to a halt."
"A west coast port shutdown would be an economic disaster."
"A shutdown would not only impact the hundreds of thousands of jobs working directly in America’s transportation supply chain, but the reality is the entire economy would be impacted as exports sit on docks and imports sit in the harbor waiting for manufacturers to build products and retailers to stock shelves."
And the punchline: "The slowdown is already making life difficult, but a shutdown could derail the economy completely."

Just so readers have a sense of what is at stake, this is what the average dockworker makes: $147,000 a year in salary, plus $35,000 a year in employer-paid health care and an annual pension of $80,000 (according to an association press release). It is the overtime compensation to the total shown here, which grosses to over a quarter of a million dollars, that dockworkers are negotiating to raise or else the key US supply-chains gets it.

www... .zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-12/catastrophic-shutdown-americas-supply-chain-begins-stunning-photos-west-coast-port-c

It doesn't matter, the free market will take care of it. There are other ports besides West Coast ports. Robots can do some of the work. Or maybe, just maybe, retailers can buy U.S. products instead.
a reply to: arjunanda

Hey Parthin, A Star for you just for retailers buying US Products Thanks for your reply , Arjunanda a reply to: Parthin

Other small coastal ports would mess themselves to have just a handful of those ships docking to offload, it would be a boom for them. It's not the end of the US economy, other ports will pick up the business, you watch. Take Florida for example. I bet places like the Port of Tampa, Jacksonville Port, etc would end up with a nice little boom for imports & distribution.

Zerohedge made a complete fool out of themselves when they posted the pictures of carmageddon. Not saying it's untrue but I'm skeptical. Anyways, I cant believe what some of these dock workers are supposedly making. I say supposedly because there was an idiot on Foxnews one time saying how well nurses are paid and he quoted something like well over 6 figures. He was an idiot because most RNs make nowhere near that. So I take articles like these with a grain of salt. Especially considering how ant-Union the mainstream establishment media is.

originally posted by: Nyiah
Other small coastal ports would mess themselves to have just a handful of those ships docking to offload, it would be a boom for them. It's not the end of the US economy, other ports will pick up the business, you watch. Take Florida for example. I bet places like the Port of Tampa, Jacksonville Port, etc would end up with a nice little boom for imports & distribution.

I doubt its that easy. The logistics having Chinese ships having to cruise around through the panama canal, then through the gulf all the way to FL? What a nightmare. Plus I'm sure there are binding contracts with shippers and many of these ports.

Florida is definitely the place that will take over i mean you have the entire east coast for petes sake honestly it would take all the ports in us to shutdown to have a eco collapse this situation is definitely overhyped..a reply to: Nyiah

And yes buy American is great! Unfortunately American made is quite expensive for the average middle class American family of 4 making $45k a year. Take clothes for example. Yeah Filson is great, talk about American quality, but who can afford $209 for a flannel when Carhart made in China has them for $30.

Please i make 50k a year ill take half thier pay and not complain i work 80hrs a week please those guys have no idea how blessed they are!!!a reply to: arjunanda

originally posted by: ATF1886
Please i make 50k a year ill take half thier pay and not complain i work 80hrs a week please those guys have no idea how blessed they are!!!a reply to: arjunanda

That's quite sad. Your making barely minimum wage after taxes if you add up all those hours and divide them. What do you do? Why can't you find a new job? Why do you have to put in 80 hours?

Any one who actually thinks east coast ports will take up the slack....have another think coming.....
West coast ports like prince Rupert, Vancouver, and some Mexican ones will be the ports of choice for shipping.
The goods will be shipped by rail and truck into the US from there.....
It seems to me that the entire US will be paying higher prices to cover transport costs....
Besides which,...once other ports get used for this period....the chance of business returning get slimmer as logistics will improve at the alternates......
Its a case of those who already have decent wages wanting even more while the rest of us struggle to pay for our already deteriorated standards of living................on a depressed wage scale that stops just short of economic slavery.....

Its not a perfect world,....but it gets worse by the day.....

To be honest, if they don't want to work, even with those fat salaries, can them all and send their families out to the streets. Enough with these clowns, they're getting tons of money they should keep their mouths shut and continue to get fat off of their salaries. They don't deserve overtime or anything else. There's people in this country working at McDonald's to feed children and these apes are crying.

I posted this in another thread but I thought it would be relevant here. The port strike isn't hitting just the U.S. It's hurting countries that import goods from America as well. My company here in Japan had to find another seller for a shipment of beef we were expecting from Texas.

Ok, I didn't think of that. A NICE POSITIVE TAKE ON IT ARJUNANDA
















a reply to: Nyiah

Sorry not all of us are born with a golden spoon in our A$$ and i actually work 60hrs a week if i want i control the hours i work the 80hrs was used to dramatize a reply to: MiddleClassWhiteBoy

I can only agree with you,I can't believe these guys would want to bring attention to themselves with what they're making. Good Point and A Star Arjunanda a reply to: Yeahkeepwatchingme

This picture was sent to us by our operations manager who went out to Long Beach to personally handle logistics with our drayage companies.

We import 60% of the product we sell and this has been going on since November.




Notice all the container vessels in the background waiting for a dock to open.

Hi Railgun, as other posters have pointed out there are alternate ports in Both Mexico and Canada. It sounds like our Asian Friends will be busy diverting cargoes to these ports. Good reply and a Star Arjunanda. a reply to: ScientificRailgun

That Photo is insane Agustus! A Good addition to the thread and Thank You Arjunanda a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

a reply to: arjunanda

Thanks. The big issue right now is the lack of chassis for the containers as the teamsters are also having sympathy slow downs with the longshoremen.

We discuss this everyday at 10AM and it has gotten somewhat better than last month however it is still not that great.