MANILA's International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) expressed willingness to work on a fresh start with dockers in the feuding Port of Portland, Oregon.
"We stand ready to do our part. But we cannot do it alone. It's time for the ILWU [International Longshore and Warehouse Union] to put aside its petty grudge of the past regarding the reefer work and become a partner for progress," said a statement from ICTSI Oregon Inc (IOI).
"The question now is whether the ILWU will act in good faith with us and the port to restore the confidence of Hanjin and other potential carriers," said the statement.
This was a reference to Hanjin Shipping’s recent decision to quit the troubled port. The Korean container giant represented 78 per cent of the ICTCI terminal's revenue last year, and its departure will cost hundreds of jobs.
"Replacing lost business due to Hanjin's recent departure and ensuring the long-term viability of Terminal 6 will require more than a new contract. It will require the ILWU to end an almost three-year campaign to undermine ICTSI," said the statement.
Although the dispute is petty, involving two full time jobs plugging and unplugging of reefer boxes, it has all the complexities of the infamous Schleswig-Holstein Question that befuddled the courts of 19th century Europe.
The Portland dispute's roots lie in the overlapping and conflicting contractual obligations between ICTSI and the port authority on one hand and with the dockers union and the maritime employers association on the other.
At one time the dispute made such odd bedfellows that in one of the many court actions, it had the Pacific Maritime Association, the employers bargaining unit, on the same side at the ILWU and against ICTSI and the Port of Portland on the other.