How are the Savannah and Brunswick docks affected?

A White House spokesman said the administration had told U.S. Maritime Alliance officials to submit a “fair agreement” that “reflects the companies' success.” Container shipping industry profits surged during the post-pandemic surge in 2022 and then peaked again in the first half of this calendar year. The port workers' association has been working under the same employment contract since 2018.

Wages and automation are the main points of contention in collective bargaining. Here's what you should know about the dispute and the strike.

Where does the Georgia Ports Authority fit in?

The state-backed Port Authority operates the terminals in Georgia but is not a member of the USMX and is not a party to the negotiations.

The authority's chief executive, Griff Lynch, announced a plan to close Georgia's ports last week out of respect for the Georgia Ports Authority's relationship with the International Longshoremen's Association. Approximately 2,500 ILA members work on the docks in Savannah and Brunswick, along with more than 1,400 GPA employees.

Lynch reported strong cargo volumes for the ports in the lead-up to the strike. He told the authority's board last Tuesday that shippers were “front loading” cargo in anticipation of the strike. Still, GPA is already losing business to West Coast ports, where unionized longshoremen have negotiated a new labor contract for 2023. The Port of Long Beach, California recently reported its best August ever.

The GPA has doubled its business in the last decade since the opening of an expanded Panama Canal in 2016, which gave larger cargo ships easier access to East Coast ports. Savannah and other East and Gulf Coast ports handle 56% of U.S. container traffic, up from 44% in 2003, as shippers shifted routes away from the West Coast.

“If you look at the numbers on the West Coast, there is no doubt that they are being distracted by us,” Lynch said. “We have worked very hard for years to gain market share and now we are losing it. Hopefully we can win it back.”

Photo credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution

Photo credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution

What do ILA members do in the Georgia Ports?

Dockworkers load and unload cargo ships and work alongside GPA-employed crane operators and other heavy lift personnel. Georgia Ports ILA crews perform duties in three key areas, each represented by a different union group.

The largest – the 1,600-member ILA 1414 – handles cargo at the Savannah terminals. ILA 1423, a 235-member chapter, does the same at the Port of Brunswick facilities. Separate union organizations, ILA 1475 in Savannah and ILA 1863 in Brunswick, perform the duties of clerks and inspectors, logging cargo as it moves between ship and shore, and inspecting trucks entering and leaving port properties.

Another ILA location, 2046, consists of mechanics who repair marine equipment such as containers, trailer chassis and refrigeration units.

What is behind the wage dispute?

The ILA wants a 77% pay increase for its members over the life of the next six-year contract, or a pay increase of $5 an hour each year. This would increase average wages to $69 per hour, or $143,000 per year, by 2030 – excluding overtime. US Maritime Alliance leaders have pushed back against that figure, pointing to West Coast port negotiations a year ago. Dockworkers there saw a 32% increase, reaching $60 an hour in 2027, or $124,800 a year.

Union members in Georgia say wage increases under the now-expired contract barely cover cost-of-living increases. Meanwhile, the Georgia Ports Authority saw profits rise from $148 million in 2019, the first year of the expired contract, to $371.8 million in 2022, at the height of the pandemic wave. The GPA reported a profit of $261.7 million in 2023.

Photo credit: NYT

Photo credit: NYT

What is automation all about?

As with most industries, innovations have drastically changed the shipping sector, particularly in the size and scope of its workforce. Development at the docks began in the 1950s with the introduction of containers to transport cargo, but has accelerated so much in the digital age that some ports, including one in the Netherlands and several in China, are fully automated.

Longshoremen's unions have worked to slow the introduction of efficiency-oriented technologies into port operations. The ILA particularly takes a hard line and opposes automation that eliminates jobs, such as optical scanners on facility gates and remote-controlled cranes in container warehouses.

The use of camera technology at the gates of the port of Mobile, Alabama, contributed to the breakdown of negotiations earlier this year.

And on the West Coast, automation has advanced since a 2008 labor agreement opened the door to technologies such as driverless trucks to transport cargo at ports.

The GPA has implemented some technological advances in its operations, but not at the expense of ILA jobs. GPA facilities use logistics software that tracks container movements. Members of clerk and control unions use tablet computers to monitor loading and unloading data.

Union members coordinate the process at the port gates. They say the importance of these tasks goes beyond monitoring cargo – the men and women on the ground look for damage to containers and truck chassis that could easily be missed by optical scanners.

With rapid advances in artificial intelligence, automation is critical in the next job. In the ports where automation is already used, people work with the software or remote control of devices. AI could also reduce these numbers.

Could the strike impact Georgia's port model?

The terminals in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina operate differently than other ports on the East and Gulf Coasts: Port authority employees work with longshoremen to load and unload ships, rather than the ILA handling all cargo movements. The GPA's Lynch credits this so-called hybrid model for Georgia's efficiency and success.

The ILA has long questioned the operational structure. The 2012 labor agreement between the ILA and the leaders of the US Maritime Alliance granted the ILA full control of all newly built container terminals in hybrid ports. A new terminal at the Port of Charleston, South Carolina, will be fully occupied by ILA, and Georgia is in the process of converting a facility, Ocean Terminal in Savannah, and building a new venue across the Savannah River from Ocean Terminal to plan out.

The collective agreement still to be negotiated could contain new wording on the future of hybrid ports.

What's next?

As the holiday season approaches and with it a surge in freight shipping, ILA and US Maritime Alliance leaders have reason to resolve the strike quickly. Lynch estimates that the increase in volume the state's ports have seen in recent months includes goods that would normally have come through the terminals in the first half of October anyway. However, he warned that a prolonged disruption would impact Georgia's supply chain.

If all East and Gulf Coast ports are taken into account, the strike is expected to cost the U.S. economy up to $5 billion a day, according to a JP Morgan analysis.