”Not only will the shipping costs to the West Coast ports be lower due to the shorter distance traversed, but also due to the increased efficiency of the vessels carrying the cargo,” the UCLA report found.
Excerpts from a Los Angeles Times article titled ‘Ports dispute to have a small effect on economy’:
The quarterly UCLA Anderson Forecast estimates that backlogs during the labor dispute between shipping companies and dock workers — resolved late last month — will cause slightly slower economic growth in the state for the first three months.
“We’re talking about tenths of a percent — very small stuff,” said Jerry Nickelsburg, a senior economist with the Anderson Forecast who specialized in the California economy. “California is a $2.2-trillion economy, so it’s hard to get any big numbers based on a relatively short labor dispute.”
But experts say that businesses that use West Coast ports will continue to focus on daily costs rather than fear of a port shutdown. While many are now upset about the delays, that will fade, said Jock O’Connell, an international trade economist with Beacon Economics.
“You get over your frustration and you pay more attention to your bottom line,” he said.
The risk of port slowdowns caused by labor strife is not confined to the Pacific. In late 2012, the East Coast longshoreman union authorized a strike that spooked retailers across the country. Canadian ports have been dealing with a labor dispute with the nation’s rail workers, and the Mexican military took over the Michoacan port in 2013 in a bid to drive out drug cartels.