Goods 'held hostage’ at the Port of Oakland, merchants complain

The various entities operating at the Port of Oakland — shippers, terminal operators, truckers — aren’t the only ones tangled in a logjam that’s resulting in lost business, higher costs, frayed nerves and potentially lasting effects on Oakland and other West Coast ports.

What of those on the (non-)receiving end, merchants stranded without the goods they were expecting at the height of the holiday season?

“Right now we have a container at the port of Oakland that is being held hostage by this situation,” the owner of a small home furnishings business in the Bay Area e-mailed me after reading my column Saturday about the situation at West Coast ports. He was reluctant to give his name, he said, because he had been advised by his shipping agent that “things are so dicey right now, it’s better not to.”

Aware of the mounting concern, Port of Oakland officials announced measures Monday that are designed to alleviate at least some of the congestion plaguing ports from Southern California to Seattle. “We’ve got to do a better job of managing the flow,” said port maritime director John Driscoll in a statement. “We’re working every day with the marine terminals, truck drivers and shippers to pick up the pace.”

The measures include opening a Sunday gate at the most congested terminal — Ports America Outer Harbor — and daily updates “sent to hundreds of harbor truckers, ocean carriers and shippers to improve supply chain planning.”

Port officials claim that Oakland has the capacity to accept additional containers. They attribute some of the increased volume to marketing efforts, but said the congestion is largely due to “off-schedule ships and recent labor-management disputes on the docks,” plus increased traffic at the Port of Oakland — some diverted from other congested ports. “The result has been a slowdown in cargo movement and long lines of trucks waiting to enter terminals,” according to the statement.

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The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which is negotiating with the Pacific Maritime Association to end the six-month contract standoff, praised the Port of Oakland’s latest moves.

“The decision to increase night work at the Port of Oakland is a smart strategic decision, because it helps address the congestion crisis here,” said Craig Merrilees, communications director for ILWU Local 10. “Oakland is now in a stronger position to help customers and dockworkers by helping to address the frustrating and dangerous congestion crisis.”

However welcome, for some it may be too little, too late.

“The loss of having the goods to sell is one hit, but we can take it,” continued said the home furnishings proprietor. “The one that is crippling us is the daily fee (the terminal operator) charges for 'storage’ of our container. We are not allowed to pick it up ourselves, yet they are allowed to charge us a daily fee for keeping it there.”

An importer of Italian foodstuffs in San Francisco said her shipment was diverted from Oakland to Vancouver, British Columbia, this month. It returned to Oakland more than a week later, she said, her goods stowed in a holding area, where they remain.

“We’ve sold out of everything we have, and can’t deliver to our restaurant customers,” she said. “The delay has cost us $90,000. We’re in very serious trouble.”

Andrew S. Ross is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: asross@sfchronicle.com Blog:http://blog.sfgate.com/bottomline Twitter: @andrewsross