NRF vice-president of supply chain and customs policy Jonathan Gold said the organisation had learned of chassis maintenance and labour shortage cases resulting directly from the absence of a contract and the relevant arbitration procedures.

The trade association argued that without an agreement on the new master contract, the two parties should at least extend the original contract to the end of November – thus restoring confidence to retailers worried by the prospect of empty shelves during the Christmas shopping period.

A letter to the ILWU and PMA, signed by NRF president and chief executive Matt Shay, highlights the impact that port congestion in Los Angeles and Long Beach is having on retail supply chains.

“Retailers are now in the midst of their heaviest shipping season of the year preparing for the upcoming holidays, which are ‘make or break’ time for retailers and merchants. While we recognise that there are many reasons for the current port congestion, there is no doubt that the lack of a new labour contract between the PMA and the ILWU is having a big impact on port productivity, particularly in Southern California,” it says.

Other factors are also at work however, not least demand growth which saw US containerised imports increase by 5% year-on-year to 9.1m teu in the first half of the year.

Moreover, the containers have arrived at US ports on ever larger ships from Asia, challenging ‘big ship-ready’ ports to deliver on their promised ability to handle container exchanges that are often a 30% higher than a year ago.

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