On Friday morning, West Coast port officials told CNN about a startling sight: Not a single cargo vessel had left China with goods for the two major West Coast ports in the past 12 hours. That hasn’t happened since the pandemic.
Tariffs bring shipping slowdown, threatening trucking jobs at L.A. ports
A 2023 report found that the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach contributed $21.8 billion in direct revenue to local service providers, generating $2.7 billion in state and local taxes and creating 165,462 jobs, directly and indirectly.
A decline of just 1% in cargo to the ports would wipe away 2,769 jobs and endanger as many as 4,000 others, the study found.
Last week, Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said arrivals could drop by 35% over the next 14 days.
This threat looms large for members of ILWU Local 13, a union representing longshoremen who unload cargo and support port operations.
“They’re just wondering what’s going to happen,” ILWU Local 13 President Gary Herrera said of his members. “Some of the workforce will not be getting their full 40 hours a week based on the loss of cargo. Job loss is definitely a concern.”
According to Herrera and port officials, there will be more than 30 “blank sailings” in May at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, which occur when cargo ships cancel planned trips. That will mean 400,000 fewer containers will be shipped through the ports, officials said.
The impending downturn at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles comes not long after the twin facilities reported booming activity, tied to a labor dispute that shut down major ports on the East and Gulf coasts. Nearly one-third of all cargo containers delivered to the U.S. travel through Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Navdeep Gill, who owns the Northern California trucking company Ocean Rail Logistics, said his business is already moving 60% to 70% less cargo as a result of the tariffs.
Gill’s truckers, who haul goods from the Port of Oakland, typically move 50 containers a week. Recently, they have been moving 10 to 15, Gill said.
“When we are not doing anything and the trucks are not working, then we lose money,” he said. His company hauls industrial goods, paper and food products.
“We have fixed expenses like insurance that we cannot bypass, so we’re losing money,” Gill said.
Over the three-day period ending Sunday, 10 container ships are expected at the Port of Los Angeles. That’s a decline from the 17 container ships that typically arrive every three days at this time of year, according to a memo from a trade group that represents shippers.
“That is going to have an effect on the work opportunities for not just us, but for truck drivers, warehouse workers and logistics teams,” said Herrera, the union president. “This is the ripple effect of not having work at the waterfront.”
US Dockworkers (Longshoremen) are not all in the same Union.
The West Coast and Hawaii are ILWU.
The Gulf and Atlantic Coasts are ILA.
The ILWU came out heavily against Trump before the election, endorsing Kamala.
The ILA on the other hand… basically decided to time their most recent strike with the latter stages of the 2024 campaign, snubbed Biden on multiple occasions, openly praised Trump on many occasions, both before and after he was elected…
… though I don’t think they formally endorsed Trump, its fairly clear which horse they backed.
Teamsters, on the other hand, represent… road maintenance workers, truck drivers, train operators, railway maintenance workers, construction workers, newspaper workers, police, warehouse workers… after over a century of union mergers, their represented industries are much more broad.
And they didn’t formally endorse anyone, but uh yeah, similar to the ILA, its very, very clear that leadership prefers Trump.
To be clear, it’s not going to be talking heads on TV or annoying people on the internet that can educate them. They’ll only listen if fellow workers tell them the truth.
It’s merely an opportunity for political education, someone still has to go out among the workers and do it.
I work in a factory. I know I’m going to remind my fellow workers of the consequences.
I mean, everyone is entitled to their vote, and my guess is that they’re probably going to take an economic hit, so I have a hard time dogpiling on top of that, but I don’t think that it was a move that was in their interests.
Six months back:
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/18/teamsters-favor-trump-harris-endorsement-00179879
Now:
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2025-05-03/trumps-tariffs-hit-truckers-and-port-workers
Just to give some context here:
US Dockworkers (Longshoremen) are not all in the same Union.
The West Coast and Hawaii are ILWU.
The Gulf and Atlantic Coasts are ILA.
The ILWU came out heavily against Trump before the election, endorsing Kamala.
The ILA on the other hand… basically decided to time their most recent strike with the latter stages of the 2024 campaign, snubbed Biden on multiple occasions, openly praised Trump on many occasions, both before and after he was elected…
… though I don’t think they formally endorsed Trump, its fairly clear which horse they backed.
Teamsters, on the other hand, represent… road maintenance workers, truck drivers, train operators, railway maintenance workers, construction workers, newspaper workers, police, warehouse workers… after over a century of union mergers, their represented industries are much more broad.
And they didn’t formally endorse anyone, but uh yeah, similar to the ILA, its very, very clear that leadership prefers Trump.
Don’t read over this line as if it isn’t one of the most important lines in the article:
“They’re just wondering what’s going to happen.”
People who voted for Trump are all doing this fucking “let’s wait and see” bullshit right now. It’s absolutely fucking idiotic.
Sounds like an opportunity for political education.
You know they won’t learn a damn thing from this
I know they won’t learn it on their own.
Political education is something that has to be actively done to them. Normal people don’t learn about politics by choice.
But they’ve been told to distrust anyone who could deliver that education!
To be clear, it’s not going to be talking heads on TV or annoying people on the internet that can educate them. They’ll only listen if fellow workers tell them the truth.
It’s merely an opportunity for political education, someone still has to go out among the workers and do it.
I work in a factory. I know I’m going to remind my fellow workers of the consequences.
I hope those stupid cunts starve to death.
The problem is that this is going to affect far more people than just these moronic Teamsters.
I mean, everyone is entitled to their vote, and my guess is that they’re probably going to take an economic hit, so I have a hard time dogpiling on top of that, but I don’t think that it was a move that was in their interests.
I’m on team dogpile.