Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 1/20/15


Stalled labor talks between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union that have led to work disruptions and massive congestion at West Coast ports are starting to seriously impact the meat industry, according to North American Meat Institute CEO Barry Carpenter.

Calling it “a crisis,” Carpenter told reporters meat and poultry companies that ship to the lucrative Asian market are missing sales opportunities because they can’t ship products. More immediately, some chilled beef and pork products are already loaded on containers that have become stranded at West Coast ports.

“We are starting to lose product,” he said, pointing to reports of product loaded since Christmas but unable to leave the port.
“This has serious consequences for the meat and poultry industry,” he said noting that if the labor situation were resolved today, it would still take 45 days to clear the backlog at the Port of Oakland. 

Carpenter estimated U.S. meat and poultry companies normally ship about 10,000 metric tons of chilled beef and 16,000 metric tons of pork products to Asian markets monthly and are losing millions of dollars as the labor dispute drags on.

The cost of meat and poultry companies losing sales or facing unanticipated port charges is in excess of $30 million per week on top of initial losses of over $50 million, said Carpenter, calling these estimates low due to a lack of industry-wide data.

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