After a sudden walk off at the ports of New York and New Jersey Friday, the Port Authority said full service has been restored.
But after the move that nearly froze all operations at the ports that receive nearly 30 percent of all East Coast cargo, things are backed up Monday and the port has been issuing intermittent alerts citing “heavy gate volumes.” Some trucks have even been temporarily restricted from entering.
Longshoremen reportedly stopped working around 10 a.m. Friday because the Waterfront Commission has been interfering with a collective bargaining agreement the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) is negotiating with the New York Shipping Association (NYSA), which represents terminal operators, ocean carriers and stevedores.
During further discussions, the ILA and NYSA agreed to continue talking about outstanding issues, which according to NBC New York, include jurisdiction, hiring and technology.
The Port Authority said in a statement Saturday that full operations were being restored, and all terminals opened at regularly scheduled times Monday morning.
Saturday’s statement also advised truckers not to queue on the roads before 5:30 a.m. to keep traffic flowing and to plan accordingly, staggering their arrivals to limit congestion.
Since the advice either went unheeded or congestion was unavoidable, the Port Authority said at 10:31 today that free time for containers that aren’t already being detained for loading and unloading will be extended for one day.
Ports that were affected include Port Newark, the Elizabeth-Port Authority Marine Terminal, Port Jersey in Bayonne, Staten Island’s Howland Hook Marine Terminal and the Brooklyn Marine Terminal.