Dockworkers Strike at BC Ports Scheduled to Resume on July 22nd

FreightWaves reported on Tuesday (7-18-23) that the dockworkers strike that had paralyzed shipments in and out of the Ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, for 13 days is set to resume on Saturday, July 22nd at 9:00 AM PDT. It was only last Thursday, with the help of a federal mediator, that both sides announced they had reached a tentative agreement. “Tentative” appears to be the key word.

On Tuesday, the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) said that the internal caucus of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) had rejected the agreement prior to a vote by the full union membership. ILWU Canada said that its caucus “does not believe the recommendations had the ability to protect our jobs now or in the future,” according to FreightWaves.

Ship-position data from MarineTraffic cited by FreightWaves showed six container ships waiting off Vancouver as of Tuesday afternoon but none waiting off Prince Rupert. However, seven more container ships are set to arrive at the two ports in the coming days. Around a dozen container ships waited off both ports combined during the July 1–13 strike.

Vancouver and Prince Rupert are important to American supply chains because containers are brought through these ports and shipped via rail to Chicago and other US destinations. Now that the strike has resumed, it is expected that this rail flow will be impacted again.