Truckers protesting a brand new California regulation that toughens the definition of nonemployee drivers shut down some operations on the Port of Oakland on Tuesday, including new disruptions to already fragile U.S. provide chains.
Ed DeNike, president of SSA Containers, which handles about 70% of the cargo coming into and leaving the Port of Oakland, mentioned truckers blocked truck gates into and out of the corporate’s container terminal.
DeNike mentioned container ships couldn’t be loaded or unloaded as a result of dockworkers with the Worldwide Longshore and Warehouse Union refused to cross the picket line. “The factor that hurts probably the most is we’re full,” DeNike mentioned.
The non-public corporations that run cargo-handling services on the port say the protests started Monday and sharply in the reduction of operations. By Tuesday, because the variety of protesters swelled, the power to maneuver bins was nearly at a standstill.
Andrea Connolly, a spokeswoman for cargo-handler TraPac LLC, mentioned protesters on Tuesday barred short-haul truckers from coming into the ability and solely allowed long-haul drivers in at a fee of three vans per half-hour. Connolly mentioned TraPac’s operations had been decreased Tuesday by 95%.
The truckers are protesting a new California regulation, generally known as AB5, that units restrictions on the usage of outdoors contractors moderately than firm workers throughout a spread of companies. Impartial owner-operators make up a big share of the trucking sector, significantly in port operations ferrying containers between docks and distribution facilities.
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