Striking port workers have been on the picket lines outside the Nanaimo Assembly Wharf since the strike began on July 1. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Jordan Davidson

job action

‘Effects being felt all over:’ port strike clogging cargo routes as striking workers hold steady

Jul 7, 2023 | 3:21 PM

NANAIMO — Striking port workers along Canada’s west coast entered their seventh day of job action, as talks between the two sides appear to be stalled.

More than 7,000 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU) walked off the job on Canada Day, after overwhelming voting in favour of a strike.

President of the Nanaimo Port Authority Ian Marr said this means there’s nothing coming or going from the their two deep sea docks, located at Duke Point and the downtown Nanaimo Assembly Wharf.

“Our anchorages are full from backup in Vancouver. Obviously, the effects being felt all over B.C., and further inland as well with respect to rail and things like that already starting to be clogged up.”

While Nanaimo’s ports don’t have the capacity for shipping containers as of yet, Marr said the strike is already having an effect on vessels carrying assembled vehicles to their processing centre at their downtown terminal.

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“We had one vessel that had to turn back to Asia after it had made its way here because it couldn’t get in, so that’s unfortunate because it was in our auto business which we’re trying to build up and things like that can hurt.”

Marr also said regardless of when the job action ends, there will be a backlog of inventory waiting to be unloaded which could cause further delays long after the strike ends.

“And there would be some (ships) either not leaving Asia or perhaps just slow steeming hoping that things will get settled before they make it here, but there will still be a backlog they’ll have to clear, and with the rail thing they have to leave them somewhere, you keep moving things and that’ll all have to be cleared too.”

This could mean further wait times for items coming from overseas, an issue which is all too familiar following supply chain issues and pandemic-related delays.

A vessel carrying containers sits in Nanaimo’s waters near the downtown Assembly Wharf on Friday, July 7. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

While the Nanaimo ports currently are unable to accept shipping containers, Marr said construction plans are in the works to make it a reality.

“We’re mainly exporting through the terminal in Vancouver, cause we just have a barging facility at this point, and we’re moving towards construction of an expanded facility that will allow us to import containers, but we don’t import them right now, so there are no ships coming into Nanaimo in relation to dropping off here.”

He said they can expect about 250,000 shipping containers to move through Nanaimo’s ports once their expanded facility is in full operation. $50 million was provided by the federal government in 2019 to help with the expansion, with construction delayed due to the pandemic.

The ILWU and the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) have been in talks since Feb to renew their industry-wide collective bargaining agreement, which expired on March 31.

The ILWU’s main contract concerns revolve around three main points: stopping the contracting out of work, the impacts automation will have on their industry, and protecting workers from inflation and the increasing cost of living.

The BCMEA represents about 30 ports along the west, while the ILWU has more than 7,400 members.

While calls continue to grow for the federal government to impose legislation to end the job action, federal labour minister Seamus O’Regan says the two sides should return to talks to find a solution which works for both sides.

— With files from The Canadian Press.

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