The Port of Oakland was nearly at a standstill Friday after hundreds of dockworkers failed to show up for their shifts, according to port officials.

Terminal operators requested 354 dockworkers but only 35 showed up, officials said. As a result, one of the port’s four terminals was closed for the day, despite the three container ships waiting to be loaded or unloaded.

“Apparently some of the labor has decided to take the day off,” said Christopher Lytle, the port’s executive director. Officials said four ships departed the port on time Friday, and normal operations were expected to resume Saturday. The Port of Oakland is the ninth-largest U.S. container port by volume, and handles much of the nation’s agricultural exports. A spokesman for the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents the terminals that employ union labor at the U.S. West Coast ports, confirmed that the absentees in Oakland had affected port operations Friday. “An arbitrator held that this was an illegal work stoppage and ordered them to go to work,” PMA spokesman Wade Gates wrote in an email. It was unclear whether the labor shortage had anything to do with Donald Trump being inaugurated as U.S. president on Friday. International Longshore and Warehouse Union President Robert McEllrath has been a vocal critic of Mr. Trump and encouraged union members, in a memo in October, to vote for his opponent, Hillary Clinton. The ILWU originally endorsed Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders. Members of the ILWU denied the union had taken any official action Friday, attributing the low turnout to bad weather and other factors. Leadership of ILWU Local 10 in Oakland did not respond to several messages requesting comment. Write to Erica E. Phillips at erica.phillips@wsj.com

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