Dockworkers close to an agreement

February 19, 2025 | Jeff Hutton

It looks like it could be smooth sailing for soybean shipments overseas.

Earlier this month, the International Longshoremen Association’s (ILA) Wage Scale Committee provided unanimous approval for a new six-year contract between the ILA and the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX).

The next step is a ratification vote on Feb. 25 by the ILA membership. Assuming the ILA rank-and-file approve the contract next week, the final step will be for the USMX membership to vote on the proposed contract. It is therefore likely the new contract will be finalized by the end of February or early March.

If approved, the contract and all its benefits will be retroactive to Oct 1, 2024, and will be in effect until Sept. 30, 2030.

“I believe our work moves us to the ratification vote on Feb. 25, when ILA rank-and-file members will vote on what I believe is the greatest ILA contract, and the greatest contract negotiated by a labor organization,” says ILA President Harold J. Daggett. “Our collective strength helped produce the richest contract in our history.”

Soy Transportation Coalition (STC) Executive Director Mike Steenhoek says this is good news for the soybean industry.

“We welcome the positive news that the ILA and USMX remain on course to approve a new six-year contract,” he says. “In the midst of so much uncertainty confronting soybean farmers, it is encouraging that a future disruption of service along our East and Gulf coast ports is increasingly unlikely.”

Potential concerns

The export of soybeans and other ag products were in jeopardy of reaching their destinations after thousands of dockworkers along the East and Gulf Coasts hit the picket lines briefly back on Oct. 1, 2024.

Besides wages, the ILA was at odds with the USMX over a ban on the automation of cranes, gates and container movements that are used in the loading or unloading of freight at 36 different U.S. ports.

While bulk exports of soybeans and other agricultural products were not directly compromised by the strike, containerized cargo was impacted for the three days the strike occurred, Steenhoek says.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in 2023, 5.8 million metric tons of soybeans were exported via containers.

Of that, 5.8 million metric tons, nearly half of that was exported via the East and Gulf coasts. The other half was primarily exported via Los Angeles/Long Beach and other West Coast ports.

“Therefore, we were looking at approximately 5-6% of total soybean exports that could have been impacted by a strike on the East and Gulf coasts,” says Steenhoek.

But for now, he says soybean producers can exhale a bit as the ILA and USMX nears an agreement.

“Of all the occupations in the world, farmers are among those who experience the highest degree of unpredictability and uncertainty. Despite these challenges, farmers show a remarkable ability to provide food predictably and reliably for U.S. and international customers,” says Steenhoek. “It is therefore reasonable to insist that port workers and port operators provide a similar degree of reliability to agriculture and the many industries that depend upon them. We continue to not pick sides between the ILA and the USMX, but we most certainly are on the side of the American farmer. Having a reliable system of ports is clearly in the best interest of the American farmer.”

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