LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Thousands of additional dockworkers are needed at the nation's largest port complex to cope with a crush of cargo traffic that has caused delays and threatens to undermine security inspections of cargo containers, labor leaders said Thursday.þþDespite a tentative agreement between shipping operators at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the International Longshore & Warehouse Union, a final agreement on how to add more workers has not been reached.þþThe union and the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping companies, have yet to agree on terms of expanding the ports' work force. So far, local union and shipping company officials have agreed to hire 2,000 so-called casual workers and establish a pool of more than 10,000 others.þþDuring a conference call with reporters Thursday, ILWU leaders said hiring thousands of workers would not help alleviate a logjam of cargo that has developed at the ports over the past month.þþ``The real problem is the infrastructure, the rails being backed up, lack of equipment, particularly chassis and trucks, limitations of land space, questions of security,'' said David Arian, president of the ILWU Longshore Local 13. ``Even if we fill all the jobs ... we still have to look at all the questions if we really want to move cargo through the ports.''þþAs of Thursday afternoon, there were nine ships at the outer anchorage awaiting access to the port. Normally, between three and four ships are forced to wait entry, but the average since the beginning of the month has been between 14 and 15, said Dick McKenna, deputy director of the Marine Exchange, which monitors ship movements at the ports.þþThe cargo logjam stems from insufficient manpower at the ports, problems with the rail lines and an increase in cargo from the Far East. The size of the ships and the number arriving, particularly from China, has also contributed to the cargo delays.þþThe PMA had projected a cargo increase this year of 5 percent, but it's turned out to be about double that, PMA spokesman Steve Sugarman said.þþCrews normally need between one and four days to unload and reload a ship docked at the port. This month, the ship turnaround has been five to six days, McKenna said.þþArian also charged that the shipping companies had not fully implemented federal port security measures required as of July 1, including adequately searching individuals entering the ports and checking cargo container seals.þþ``You got truckers coming through the gate where security doesn't check them at all,'' Arian said. ``There's a real security breach in these ports.''þþPMA spokesman Steve Sugarman dismissed Arian's account, and said all PMA-member shipping companies were meeting the new security regulations. þþþþ
Source: NY Times
