BUSINESS
May 15, 2013 | By Ricardo Lopez, Los Angeles Times
Two truck drivers have sued one of Southern California's largest trucking companies, alleging they were denied breaks, lunch hours and overtime because they were treated as independent contractors rather than employees of Harbor Express Inc. The lawsuit filed this week is one of several complaints lodged against trucking companies in recent years and is seeking class-action status. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said it could affect as many as 400 truck drivers who worked for the Wilmington-based company since May 2009.
BUSINESS
December 3, 2012 | By Pat Benson and Ronald D. White
The strike at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach entered its second week Monday. The strike has pitted the 800-member International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit against some of the world's biggest shipping lines and terminal operators. It has shut down 10 of the 14 cargo container terminals at the nation's busiest seaport complex. Join us for a live video chat at 3 p.m. on the economic impact of the strike and prospects for resolution. Assistant business editor Nancy Rivera Brooks will be talking with Art Wong, a spokesman for the Port of Long Beach.
BUSINESS
February 15, 2012 | By Ronald D. White, Times Staff Writer
The nation's busiest seaport complex had its best January since the recession, moving more cargo containers in that month than all but eight other U.S. ports usually move in an entire year. The trade numbers from San Pedro Harbor also showed the increasing importance of exports at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which rank first and second in the U.S. for container cargo. As recently as five years ago, imports outnumbered exports by more than 3 to 1. But in January, the gap had shrunk to a little more than 2 to 1. There hasn't been a sharp decrease in the U.S. trade deficit, but Los Angeles and Long Beach have done well in luring more customers who ship goods overseas, according to economist Paul Bingham.
BUSINESS
August 23, 2009 | Ronald D. White
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are so busy that they move more cargo than the next five largest U.S. ports combined. They're so efficient that they process more international trade in one month than most North American harbors handle in an entire year. Now the friendly rivals are leading the way into unexpected waters: attracting, testing and funding cutting-edge technology to reduce emissions and fuel consumption at the ports. Even as their revenues declined and their budgets shrank in the worst global recession in more than 60 years, the twin ports have become accidental venture capitalists of sorts in the world of green technology.
BUSINESS
February 9, 2013 | By Ricardo Lopez and Ronald D. White, Los Angeles Times
Members of a small clerks union have voted down a proposed contract, which raises the prospect of restarting the strike that paralyzed the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for eight days late last year. Bargaining units of the 800-member International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit failed to ratify the tentative contract with harbor employers in voting that ended this week. The union and employers aren't talking about why some members went thumbs down on a settlement, which was celebrated by both sides at its Dec. 4 unveiling and initially appeared headed toward easy ratification.
BUSINESS
November 30, 2012 | Ronald D. White, Los Angeles Times
The small band of strikers that has effectively shut down the nation's busiest shipping complex forced two huge cargo ships to head for other ports Thursday and kept at least three others away, hobbling an economic powerhouse in Southern California. The disruption is costing an estimated $1 billion a day at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, on which some 600,000 truckers, dockworkers, trading companies and others depend for their livelihoods. "The longer it goes, the more the impacts increase," said Paul Bingham, an economist with infrastructure consulting firm CDM Smith.