Posted on 10/24/2009 5:21:24 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
LOS ANGELES, Oct 20 - Foreman Danny Miranda remembers the days when the Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, ports were so jammed that ships waited in line to unload. Now the lingering recession has longshoremen waiting in line for work.
After a year of grappling with fewer shifts and falling wages, Miranda and other union port workers hope a surprise jump in September retail sales will fuel a late-season bump in holiday cargo.
"Out of seven days, only two we see work. The last quarter it would be four days out of the seven," said Miranda, a veteran port worker and president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 94 representing foremen.
"We're always hoping for that. But we don't see that," Miranda said of a pick-up in demand.
Major retailers, such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Target Corp and Nike Inc, use the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to pipe tons of clothes, televisions and other goods from Asia and the Pacific Rim to U.S. shopping malls for the holiday season.
Many of them have cut their store inventories by as much as 25 percent this year, fearing they could again get stuck with a glut of merchandise like the one that ate into profits in 2008.
The bulk of holiday shipping hits U.S. ports in August and September. This year, the number of manufacturers shipping to U.S. companies fell 5 percent from August to September, the steepest drop since February, according to research firm Panjiva.
While September usually brings an increase in holiday cargo, imports at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach sank last month, falling 16 percent and 19 percent from a year earlier, respectively.
Overall, import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to total 12.5 million containers in 2009, down nearly 18 percent from 2008 and the lowest since 2003, according to the National Retail Federation and IHS Global Insight.
"There are probably not a lot of companies that are expecting a real V-shaped recovery here given the continuing constraints on household perception of wealth," said Paul Bingham, an economist with IHS Global Insight.
ON THE WATERFRONT
There have been similar slowdowns at Southern California ports, where workers fear the holiday bump has come and gone.
Warehouse worker Anthony Mora, 30, has been looking for a job in California's Inland Empire, a major distribution hub about one hour east of Los Angeles, for more than a year.
"It's really slow ... We need the economy to get better," Mora said.
Unemployment of nearly 10 percent and tougher rules on credit cards and home equity loans likely will rein in splurges on holiday gifts -- even for some people who are working.
But some industry experts say the decision to slash orders is overdone, especially in the event of a holiday miracle in which shoppers feel bold enough to spend.
Sixty percent of chief financial officers at big U.S. retailers still fear that the biggest risk to holiday sales is excess merchandise, according to a poll from accounting and consulting firm BDO Seidman LLP. But 40 percent worry that shortages are the biggest concern.
It may be too late for many retailers to pull the trigger and order more inventory to cash in on any late surprise in demand, since it takes about six weeks for goods to get shipped and move through distribution systems.
For those looking to home-grown manufacturers to fill in the gap, few factories may be still available to cater to last-minute demand. ID:nN19381752
"If you haven't ordered something by early September you're running it really close," said Art Wong, spokesman for the Port of Long Beach.
Even when economic growth returns, economist Bingham doesn't expect port traffic to return to the levels seen before the global financial crisis. He expects post-recovery shipping to be more like levels seen around 2003, "before things got going in a heated fashion."
At the Port of Los Angeles, Kathryn McDermott, the port's deputy director of business development, agrees that the good old days of double-digit growth may be over.
"That's not part of what we're planning for," she said.
I guess hope springs eternal, but I wouldn’t bet the farm on an uptick......
Well, given that longshoreman are union for the most part, begs the question, hey Danny boy, hows that hope and change werkin fer ya, eh?
Offer to buy some Chinese air, and have it shipped to you.
What happened to the deal where they were going to bring the containers into Mexico and then by truck to the US to avoid the outrageous union wages and featherbedding on the west coast?
And we all know that US longshoremen are paid quite well.
Carry on.
Thats why i don’t tip cruise ship porters
I have no idea about that one. It is possible that the level of traffic won’t support it now.
Well, I guess congratulations are in order. Thank you obammy, you are well on your way to destroying our economy.
Why don’t you send some more of our tax dollars to your muslim friends—Oh wait, you already did.
Not under this administration.
America needs to send about 50 million foreigners home, and rehire all the American citizens who have been displaced from their jobs.
Then drill every feasible square foot for oil and natural gas. Then build refineries, storage, and transportation for all the petroleum. At the same time, we need to start building nuclear power plants across the nation.
While we're at it, we need to mine for every mineral needed and available, for every product used in the US; rebuild our steel mills and aluminum plants, and rebuild the factories to make every product used in the US.
In the process of doing all the above, we will be creating consumers for all the products, who will have the means and desire to purchase the products.
Of course, none of this is likely unless and until we rid ourselves of the commie Democrats and the commie RINO Free Traitors.
I don't think that the EPA would approve of the Chinese air. I probably couldn't afford the hazard taxes.
I hate to say it, but none of what you propose is likely, period. It doesn’t matter Dem. or Rep., Washington is owned lock, stock, and barrel by the US (sorry, International) corporations. What you propose is not in their interests, therefore has no chance of becoming reality.
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http://www.360mobileoffice.com/storage-container-quote.html
Lots of people are either out of work or scared for their jobs; many are living on pay cuts up to 25% of normal. So these union guys are fools if they think people are just gonna buy sh** just for the sake of the “economy” or keeping their butts working. We got own families to worry about.
Always keep the days and the seasons in consideration!
Revelation 18:11 (New International Version)
“The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more— cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble;
People all over are getting nervous that Christmas is turning into a religious holiday.
While this is a downer of an article, I do think there is a hidden upside, in that retailers have so far played this season pretty smart. It takes a long time to prepare the inventories for the Christmas season, and planning for this year started probably just after last Christmas. They did ignore calls of a V shaped recovery, and a “second half” recovery, which was a couple of halves ago now already, and forecasted that the consumer would be in no mood to spend.
With 20% unemployment in a consumer economy I doubt you’ll see an increase in spending by the consumer anytime soon.
These are the same union thugs that were making over $110K a year and blocking every attempt to automate the container handling. It can take weeks for a container to move around that port; meanwhile the fully automated Amsterdam port can completely unload an entire ship in 45 minutes.
No sympathy here...
It “ain’t” gonna happen. Christmas merchandise would already be moving in the ports now. Sears, JC Penney and lots of other stores still have unsold inventory from last Christmas.
These overpaid union thugs voted for Obama and deserve what they are getting.
Agreed. Start deporting the illegals who are bankrupting America.
Longshoreman are parasites and the workers in the CA ports make closer to $150 K. Let em eat cake. Atlas is shrugging and people with money are boycotting the Obama economy.
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