From the Los Angeles Business Journal:
As contract talks have begun between shipping businesses and port workers, importers are stepping up the pace in anticipation of a possible port shutdown. But industry experts believe that both sides are motivated to reach a deal without a repeat of the disastrous lockout of 2002.
In 2002, labor talks between the two sides broke down, resulting in a lockout that shut down the West Coast ports for 11 days before then-President George W. Bush invoked the Taft-Hartley Act and ordered the ports to reopen. In 2008, negotiations, though contentious at times, resulted in a six-year agreement without a port shutdown.
This time around, with talks that began May 12, shippers are hedging their bets. They are hoping for the best but placing orders early so they don’t get caught shorthanded if a shutdown occurs at the height of the traditional holiday shipping season in midsummer. Indeed, those early orders were a factor behind a 10 percent surge in container volumes at both the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in April.