March 2/9, 2015; Volume 28/Number 18
By Ken Ryan
To the relief of many flooring companies that import products, West Coast ports have settled their dispute and are back to work. However, it may take months for the backlog to clear.
Full operations resumed at West Coast ports Feb. 22 after the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents employers, reached an agreement.
A day later, the number of ships at anchor waiting to get into the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., had increased to 31 from 27. Another couple dozen ships were either nearby or on their way to the ports.
Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, told Reuters, “Just based on the mathematics, it will be about three months before we return to a sense of normalcy.”
For companies like MaxWoods, the settlement is welcome news despite the weeks of inconvenience that remain. Josh McGrane, executive vice president, said terms such as “gridlock” are being used to describe the current conditions at West Coast ports. “It could be anywhere from eight to 12 weeks before the ports are caught up,” he told FCNews. “They were not equipped to handle that many containers all at once.”
Peter Spirer, CEO of MaxWoods, added, “I am hoping that the vessels will be brought into port and off loaded on the basis of their arrival date. That being the case, we would be in the first couple of dozen ships, which might be taken in within a couple of weeks. That would be the fair way to do it. Beyond that, there is only speculation.”
Russ Rogg, CEO of Metroflor Corp., said while it is difficult to know how long the backlog will last, “the resolution is undoubtedly good news. Hopefully, in another month to two months, we will be back to a state of normalcy, but that’s just a guess.”
In the meantime, flooring executives are urging their distributors and retailers to be patient as the logjam gets sorted out.