The three-day partial strike by longshoremen at the Port of Montreal is already having an impact on supply chains, says the Port of Montreal.
The Montreal Port Authority “has noticed an accumulation of containers on the ground, including temperature-controlled containers of food, pharmaceutical and medical products,” it said on Tuesday.
Some 320 of the 1,300 longshoremen who are members of a local of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, affiliated to the FTQ, were on strike for three days, from Monday morning to Thursday morning, affecting Termont’s Viau and Maisonneuve terminals.
This partial strike comes amid a tense situation between the Maritime Employers Association and the union, with the employers’ association having tried in vain to prevent the work stoppage by going to court on Sunday.
But already, after just one day of partial strike action, the Montreal Port Authority – which is not the employer negotiating with the union – is reporting 11,549 containers of goods delayed, 1,300 containers of general cargo on the ground and five ships on standby.
In addition, the Port of Montreal has not yet recorded any increase in traffic or forecast traffic, despite the strike affecting some thirty ports on the American east coast. This strike in the United States had already been planned for several days, and companies could have chosen Montreal as an alternative. The Port of Montreal is the largest port in Eastern Canada.
-This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 1, 2024.