East, Gulf Coast port strike averted, for now

A container ship is docked at the Port of Miami on December 27, 2012 in Miami. / Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Last Updated 12:15 p.m. ET

NEW YORK The union for longshoremen along the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico has agreed to extend its contract for 30 days, averting a possible strike that could have crippled operations at ports that handle about 40 percent of all U.S. container cargo, a federal mediator announced Friday.

The extension came after the union and an alliance of port operators and shipping lines resolved one of the stickier points in their months-long contract negotiations, involving royalty payments made to union members for each container they unload.

Negotiations will continue until at least midnight on Jan. 28. Some important contract issues remain to be resolved, but the head of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, George Cohen, said the agreement on royalties was "a major positive step forward."

"While some significant issues remain in contention, I am cautiously optimistic that they can be resolved in the upcoming 30-day extension period," he said.

The terms of the royalty agreement were not announced.

• Unionized dock workers threaten to strike at 15 ports
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The master contract between the International Longshoremen's Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance, a group representing shipping lines, terminal operators and port associations, originally expired in September. The two sides agreed to extend it once before, for 90 days, but it had been set to expire again on 12:01 a.m. Sunday.

As recently as Dec. 19, the president of the longshoremen, Harold Daggett, had said a strike was expected.

A work stoppage would have idled shipments of a vast number of consumer products, from electronics to clothing, and kept U.S. manufacturers from getting pars and raw materials delivered easily.

Major ports that would have been frozen included the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Savannah, Ga., Houston and Hampton Roads, Va.

Other ports that would have been affected by a strike are Boston; Delaware River; Baltimore; Wilmington, N.C.; Charleston, S.C.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Port Everglades, Fla.; Miami; Tampa, Fla.; Mobile, Ala.; and New Orleans.

The ports handle nearly 50 percent of all ocean-going container shipments to the United States, reports correspondent Anna Werner.

Some estimate a shutdown could cost a billion dollars a day in delayed shipments and lost work along the supply chain.

The Port of Houston - which handles 42 million tons of cargo every year - extended its hours this week to try and get shipments in and out before a strike could bring the port to a standstill.

[Blintz]

Dock workers are not unskilled workers. They get paid so much because of the danger involved in their job. Considering they are using cranes to carry tons of cargo off a ship and loading them onto trucks, it's a large scale job. A couple of years ago someone at a local port at a 16.5 ton garbage truck fall on them and kill them. Now multiply that risk by lets say anywhere from 600 to 1000 containers per ship and I would want to be paid $124,138 too. Not to mention moving cargo through The Panama Canal would solve nothing because you would still need DOCK WORKERS to unload the ships.

[cawaltz]

So can we assume you are a heavy equipment operator or that you're an idiot that doesn't actually understand what the term "unskilled" means?

[aceman0724]

well I am a longshoreman at the port of baltimore. And yes all of my brothers are very skilled in every aspect of theyre job duty. And we deserve every cent we get and some. Yes it it probably one of the most dangerous jobs around having to watch your back as well as our brothers every second of the day. You have heavy machinerycranes with containers fork lifts vehicles tractors tractor trailers top loaders fith wheels etc etc around you every second. I have watched 3 ofm brothers die in the past 2 years. Far as skill goes. We have to be trained to operate the cranes , we have to be trained to operate 5th wheels we have to be trained to lash cars heavy equiptment we have to be trained to lash tons of steel slabs and trained to keep workin if one of our brothers get killed in front of us . we dont stop working they cover you up and get a replacement man right away and we keep working as we see our brother dead next to us. as they say the show must go on. So CAWALTZ if thats not skill enough for you i dont know what skill is. I.L.A Local 333 half evil baby

[WiseAsOwl]

One big reason that things have been put on hold is that Obama has told the union he needs a few days to handle other things, before he can get around to doing political favors for the unions that bought his election... He's too busy right now orchestrating the going over the fiscal cliff, that he want so bad to happen....

[ThisIsCourtneyBlack]

The Longshoremen are extortionists. $124,138 for unskilled laborers is INSANE, and adds to the price of everything we normal people buy. They make as much as many doctors, and do almost nothing. Only in a loony union would this happen, but soon they will just unload elsewhere and these ports will close. The Panama Canal widening will be done next year, and blood-sucking ports will be passed by.