Iata air cargo market analysis：

Any relief that the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach may receive due to stalled imports during the Lunar New Year period will be offset by labor shortages at terminals and local warehouses caused by the outbreak of the new coronavirus variant Omicron, port leaders have warned.

Employers of Southern California marine terminals and more than 1.8 billion square feet of factories and warehouses struggle every day to find enough labor.

In an interview with JOC, Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) president Jim McKenna said more than 1,800 dockworkers on the West Coast tested positive for Covid-19 in the first three weeks of January, exceeding the 1,624 confirmed cases in all of 2021.

There is a huge impact on the labor availability of dockers, especially skilled dockers driving container moving equipment in the yard.

In addition, J Mintzmyer (a well-known shipping analyst), founder and chief analyst of Value Investor`s Edge, warned in the latest interview that the strike crisis at the US West Terminal is likely to increase. "blow through the roof".

According to reports, Mintzmyer said in an exclusive interview with Fringe Finance that the big problem facing the supply chain this year is that the International Warehousing and Dockers Union (ILWU), which represents the West American dockworker, is about to renew the contract that expires at the end of June.

The contract was rolled over for three years in mid-2019, when market conditions in the shipping industry were far weaker than they are now. Labor now has enormous bargaining power and may seek more favorable terms.

The last round of negotiations, in 2014-15, did not go well and disrupted terminal operations. Backlogs in the first quarter of 2015 were similar to levels in early 2021, according to Flexpot.

According to reports, Mintzmyer said in an exclusive interview with Fringe Finance that the big problem facing the supply chain this year is that the International Warehousing and Dockers Union (ILWU), which represents the West American dockworker, is about to renew the contract that expires at the end of June.