Water Damage Restoration in Mobile, AL

A strike involving 45,000 longshoremen spanning ports along the East Coast and Deep South that could create chaos in the U.S. economy and infuse an October surprise into next month’s presidential election, has its origins in Mobile.

To be more specific – at a gate leading into the APM Terminals south of downtown Mobile.

“Machines don’t pay taxes,” said Mark Bass, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1410, which consists of approximately 1,500 workers in the Mobile area. “They are not subject to what we do.”

The automated processing gate, which Bass described as an entry point for trucks at APM Terminals, represents one of the key sticking points in negotiations that are capturing national attention during the first day of a strike through some of the busiest ports in the U.S., including Mobile.

The New York Times, in an article almost one month ago, described the gate as the main negotiation problem between the union and the United States Maritime Alliance, a group of companies that move cargo at ports. It’s unclear exactly how the gate operates, but according to the Times it uses a combination of digital scans and checks performed by I.L.A. members.

The negotiation sticking point, while born in Mobile, is resonating nationwide as port districts grapple with emerging technologies aimed to improve operational efficiencies and cut costs. Economists say the issue is not unlike what other industries face amid worries that technology will eliminate jobs. But supply chain experts also claim that in order for U.S. ports to stay competitive with their international counterparts, they must be open to utilizing technology.

“There are two issues holding everyone back, wages and automation,” said Margaret Kidd, a supply chain expert at the University of Houston.

“The issue of automation is very concerning,” she added. “There is no industry that hasn’t change over the last 130 years. Technology makes our jobs easier and more efficient and safer in many cases. The U.S. is undermining our competitiveness by not embracing technology in critical transport modes.”

For now, the issue in Mobile is creating differences of opinion between the local ILA union head and the Mobile Chamber.

Bradley Byrne, president & CEO with the Mobile Chamber, said he felt automation is a “red herring” in the contract talks, even if Harold Daggett – the union’s president and chief negotiator – has vowed to “never allow automation” to come into the union and push out workers.

Byrne said the auto gate at APM Terminals, a division of Danish-based shipping giant Maersk, was included in the construction of the company’s Mobile container port in 2008. The company has since expanded several times and encompasses 134 acres south of downtown Mobile.

“There were two collective bargaining agreements since 2008, and this issue was never an issue before,” Byrne said about previous ILA contracts approved in 2013 and 2018.

A representative with Maersk has not responded to requests for comment.

The union’s existing contract, which expired Monday, allowed for semi-automated machinery but barred equipment that did not allow for any human interaction.

The “auto gate” at APM Terminals is considered semi-automated and has been at the Port of Mobile for 16 years. The technology has also not changed since the terminal opened, and only became an issue since existing contract talks were broken off by the union in June.

“(The ILA) is using (automation) as part of their negotiation tactic,” Byrne said. “The automation is there for safety of the workers more than anything else. It keeps them from being in the line of traffic trailer (trucks). I don’t buy that it’s the real issue that is part of these negotiations.”

Bass, in response, invited Byrne and others to come to the docks and “learn the docks before he can speak on the docks.”

“(The Chamber) is in business and they are trying to solicit work here,” Bass said. “I’ve heard them say this, ‘We’re the fastest growing port in the nation.’ I’ve yet to hear him say why. You know why? All of those workers that are here. How can we be the fastest growing port without complimenting the workers? Anyone with common sense recognizes that it’s the workers.”

Byrne agreed with Bass, saying that people operating the machinery with the port “deserve to be paid a fair wage.”

But he said that the opening demand of 77 percent pay raises over six years was simply “too much.”

“The port operators offered a 50 percent increase over three years and that’s pretty darn generous,” Byrne said, acknowledging what the U.S. Marine Alliance reportedly offered the union on Monday before the strike began at midnight Tuesday.

Daggett has since said that he would be open to a 61 percent wage increase over a six-year contract. U.S. West Coast port workers ratified a contract last year, retroactive to 2022, that included a 32 percent pay increase over six years as well as a one-time bonus for working through the early days of the pandemic.

The West Coast ports have since allowed fully automated machinery dating back to 2008. West Coast dockworkers also receive better pay and pensions than union workers on the East and Gulf Coast ports, according to the New York Times reporting.

Bass said in Mobile, longshoremen earn anywhere from $20 an hour to $39. On an annual basis, they can earn as low as $41,600 to $81,120, but those salaries can fluctuate based on the hours that are worked.

“This is my 35th year. I tell people ... come to work on the docks and live in my shoes and see how you like it,” Bass said. “The average person cannot do it. We miss birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and all the normal things like the Alabama (Crimson Tide football) games. We miss all of that because guess what, when a ship pulls in, we are here 24 hours, 7 days a week.”

Pete Simonson, an assistant professor in the Marketing, Supply Chain Management and Analytics department at the University of South Alabama, said he is sympathetic toward the plight of the union workers fearful over how automation might threaten jobs.

“We can say, ‘yeah, it has to happen and it’s better for the overall economy,’ and then we say, ‘too bad, you’re out of a job and good luck with something that doesn’t pay a fraction of what you’re making now,’ it just doesn’t sit well with people,” Simonson said. There has to be and there will be automation. But I’m sympathetic of people saying, ‘How do we make this work for everybody?’”

Kidd, the supply chain expert at the University of Houston, said automation should be viewed favorably in that it can create “new and modern” high skill jobs and improved working conditions.

“They should be looking at the long haul to negotiate for guaranteed jobs and upskilling and training so they can be the workforce for the future at a modern terminal,” Kidd said, noting that international ports – such as a port in Singapore – are becoming highly sophisticated and fully automated.

Container terminal operator ECT opened the world’s first automated container terminal in Rotterdam in 1993.

John Dove, a professor of economics at Troy University, said there are tradeoffs over automation.

“It’s an efficiency argument that will lower costs but, in the short-term, that leads to labor layoffs and things of that nature,” Dove said. “That’s really become one of the sticking points we are seeing right now.”

More port strike 2024

A tropical depression in the Caribbean Sea strengthened into Tropical Storm Rafael on Monday.

The National Hurricane Center thinks Rafael (pronounced rah fah ELL) could become a hurricane by tomorrow, and it is on a path toward the Gulf of Mexico. A tropical storm watch was issued for part of the Florida Keys earlier today and hurricane warnings are in effect for the Cayman Islands and Cuba.

Rafael could be in the central Gulf by the end of the work week, but forecasters expect it to weaken as it moves into more unfavorable conditions near the northern Gulf Coast.

What happens after that is very uncertain, according to the hurricane center and the National Weather Service. However, the hurricane center’s official forecast track suggests Rafael could track in the general direction of Louisiana. The so-called “cone of uncertainty,” however, also includes the Alabama coast.

As of 9 p.m. CST Monday, Tropical Storm Rafael was located about 120 miles south-southwest s of Kingston, Jamaica, and was tracking to the north-northwest at 12 mph.

Rafael had winds of 45 mph, making it a minimal tropical storm. “Steady to rapid” strengthening is expected, and Rafael could become a hurricane by Tuesday, earlier than previously expected.

On the hurricane center’s forecast track, Rafael is expected to move near Jamaica tonight, be near or over the Cayman Islands on Tuesday and approach Cuba on Wednesday.

Forecasters said hurricane conditions will be possible in the Cayman Islands by Tuesday afternoon.

The longer-range track, which is very uncertain, suggests that Rafael could still be hanging around the Gulf on Saturday, which is when the forecast period ends. It is expected to be a tropical storm at that point.

“It is too soon to determine what, if any, impacts Rafael could bring to portions of the northern Gulf Coast. Residents in this area should regularly monitor updates to the forecast,” the hurricane center said late Monday.

The storm could bring 3 to 6 inches of rain to parts of Jamaica and Cuba through the middle of the week.

More rain will spread to parts of Florida and eventually the Southeast U.S. later this week.

Here are the watches and warnings as of late Monday:

* A Hurricane Warning is in effect for the Cayman Islands, Cuban provinces of Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, La Habana, Mayabeque, Matanzas and the Isle of Youth.

* A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Jamaica and the Cuban provinces of Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spiritus and Ciego de Avila.

* A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the Cuban provinces of Camaguey and Las Tunas, the Lower and Middle Florida Keys from Key West to west of the Channel 5 Bridge and the Dry Tortugas.

POSSIBLE ALABAMA IMPACTS

The National Weather Service offices in Alabama continued to watch the evolution of the storm on Monday.

The weather service in Mobile said that there is an “unusually large amount of uncertainty with the movement of this system later in the week.”

Forecasters said it is too early to know with any certainty what coastal areas could face as far as storm surge, rain amounts and wind potential.

What is more certain is that the storm will generate rough surf and a high risk of rip currents along the Alabama and northwest Florida coastline this week.

The weather service in Birmingham also said that there was considerable uncertainty about how the Gulf storm could affect the rest of Alabama later this week.

Forecasters said “forecast confidence decreases significantly for Thursday through Sunday and rain chances will hinge on the potential for isentropic lift and progression of the system in the Gulf of Mexico.”

Best-case scenario is a weak system that doesn’t cause any damage but brings beneficial rainfall to Alabama, which is mired in various stages of drought.

RECOMMENDED•al.com

Hurricane Rafael strengthens: Here’s the latest trackNov. 6, 2024, 7:39 a.m.

Rafael becomes a hurricane near the Cayman IslandsNov. 5, 2024, 7:32 a.m.

Here is the latest report on Alabama’s drought conditions:

Those along the Gulf Coast and through Alabama are urged to keep a close eye on the forecast through the week.

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U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will be in Mobile Tuesday to participate in the groundbreaking of construction projects needed before Amtrak service can return to the Gulf Coast for the first time in 19 years.

Buttigieg will join Federal Railroad Administrator Amit Bose, U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl of Mobile, Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson and representatives from Amtrak, CSX and the Southern Rail Commission for the ceremony that commences the construction of a layover track and platform to accommodate Amtrak’s return into downtown Mobile.

Once the layover track and platform are completed, Amtrak will resume passenger services from New Orleans to Mobile for the first time since 2005. The project is expected to be completed by early next year, though no time frame has been provided as to when the Mobile-to-New Orleans route will restart.

The ceremony will take place at 2 p.m. at the Amtrak legacy platform at 101 S. Water St. in downtown Mobile.

It will also be occurring 77 days since the Mobile City Council gave the go-ahead on the Amtrak project, approving on Aug. 6 the final bureaucratic step needed in order for the state-supported train route to restart. The twice-daily Amtrak service, once started, will connect Mobile to New Orleans with four stops in coastal Mississippi -- Pascagoula, Biloxi, Gulfport and Bay St. Louis.

There had bene hopes that that Amtrak’s Gulf Coast return would be in time for the Super Bowl following the council’s action in supporting a $3.064 million expenditure for the train’s operations. By Halloween, the public was hoping to know the name of the train. It’s unclear if that announcement will occur on Tuesday.

The Biden Administration has long backed Amtrak’s return to the Gulf Coast. In 2021, John Putnam, acting general counsel with the U.S. Department of Transportation, wrote a letter to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, urging them to “act expeditiously on Amtrak’s application” to restore the service to the Gulf Coast.

The STB had been adjudicating a case, filed by Amtrak in 2021 against the freight operators along the route -- CSX and Norfolk Southern -- to get the service restarted. The Alabama State Port Authority, once opposed the service, was also part of the case.

But a negotiated settlement was reached by all parties in late 2022, leading to a cooperation among all the parties as well as a major investment into the freight operations along the route in the form of a $178.4 million federal Consolidated Rail Infrastructure Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant.

Biden – a longtime proponent and user of Amtrak service -- has pushed for expanding passenger rail’s network in the U.S. The bipartisan infrastructure law, passed in 2021, that included $66 billion toward Amtrak expansion across the U.S. Amtrak has since said it would add 30 new routes and trains on 20 existing routes by 2035.

It’s been 43 days since the Mobile City Council gave the “All Aboard!” for a long-stalled and debated Amtrak project connecting the Alabama coastal city with New Orleans.

Hopes were high for Amtrak’s Gulf Coast return in time for the Super Bowl following the council’s vote to support a $3.064 million expenditure for the train’s operations. By Halloween, the public would know the name of the train.

But those dates seem elusive, and the return of the train remains largely unknown.

Amtrak says utility relocation and construction deployment updates are best answered by CSX Transportation, the freight operator along much of the Gulf Coast route including in Mobile. CSX has, in turn, said it won’t provide updates until after a variety of agreements and permits are finalized. And the City of Mobile says they are awaiting an executed agreement from Amtrak, while remaining in the dark over timelines.

“It’s very frustrating to work through it all,” said Knox Ross, chair of the Southern Rail Commission – the government agency that has long advocated for the state-supported Gulf Coast route that includes two daily trips between Mobile and New Orleans with four stops in coastal Mississippi. “I was a mayor for 16 years and I have some experience in dealing with federal bureaucracy and all of that. But this has kind of been bureaucracy on steroids. It’s been tough. You just have to be patient, and that’s been the hardest thing.”

A city spokesperson says CSX’s activity could begin by year’s end, but proponents say it could be by the spring of 2025 before the trains roll. If that happens, two significant events – Super Bowl LIX at the Ceasar Superdome in New Orleans on Feb. 6, 2025; and Mardi Gras celebrated by both cities culminating in Fat Tuesday celebrations on March 4, 2025 – could be a lost opportunity.

“We are still hopeful to get something done to run a train before the Super Bowl,” Ross said. “There is a lot going on under the surface.”

Council wants details

Council members are starting to wonder, and some are hoping an update is forthcoming. While no update is scheduled for the council, there could be details provided during a 9 a.m. SRC meeting on Friday.

“I’d like to know what it would be and to, at least, be given an idea on the construction schedule and the timeline on when we can expect to see the trains down the track,” said Councilman William Carroll, who represents downtown Mobile. “There are always details and things that have to be handled on the pre-construction side before you know your true start dates. I expect some delays. But I don’t know how long that will be.”

Councilman Ben Reynolds, who previously raised doubts about the viability of the Amtrak project, said it “makes sense” for an update to be given. He said he can understand why there might be delays in moving the project forward, given that the agreements need to be executed with also the states of Louisiana and Mississippi.

“I think it would be helpful for the citizens to have (Amtrak), at some point, come in and tell us what they should expect and when the routes will start. I know they have many boxes to check.”

Councilman Joel Daves, who voted to support the Amtrak operations but has also long been a skeptic of the passenger rail operations, added, “I’m confident that Amtrak will be moving as rapidly as they possibly can to initiate passenger rail service between Mobile and New Orleans.”

Progress

Indeed, small movements are occurring despite the lack of construction activity in Mobile.

Amtrak, in the STB filing, admitted that details need to be finalized with the Federal Railroad Administration and they are anticipating them to be reached this month. At issue is the release of $178.4 million in a federal Consolidated Rail Infrastructure Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant. The money will go, in part, toward the construction of a new Amtrak platform in downtown Mobile across Water Street from the Exploreum and the construction of the 3,000-foot layover track by CSX. The layover track will move the twice-daily passenger trains off the freight rail mainline.

Ross said the key advantage remains that all three entities with claims on the coastal rail line – Amtrak, CSX, and Norfolk Southern – are all in agreement in support of the project.

The Alabama State Port Authority, which is expected to be bolster with $72 million in rail improvements from the CRISI grant, is also backing the project. The authority’s board of directors voted in June to assist the city by appropriating $1 million toward the operations subsidy.

David Clark, president & CEO with Visit Mobile, said the Amtrak project has been discussed for so long that that having to wait “another month or two” for more details “is what it is.” He said that by November, the train’s name could be publicly released.

“People talk of a March start to be realistic, and it’s kind of right there,” Clark said. “With any luck, it could be sooner. Any bad luck, a little later. Once they start construction on the track or platform, it will be four or so months.”

Does that put an Amtrak train traversing to New Orleans in time for the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras in doubt? “There is opportunity there,” he said. “I still hold hope.”

Ray Lang, vice-president of state-supported services with Amtrak, said in July that he felt a Super Bowl return for Amtrak sounded a bit too ambitious. Lang said at the time that the utility relocation work will be challenging.

Amtrak, in its immediate past, hasn’t given precise timelines for the restart of its state-supported routes. The last time Amtrak started a similar route – the St. Paul, Minn.-to-Chicago Borealis – the operations began on May 21, and only 10 days after Amtrak announced an official start date, according to reports.

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