Eastway Express Line Sdn Bhd

Happy Independence Day Malaysia! Selamat Hari Merdeka Malaysia!

Now we are hiring !!

Interested Candidates please call or email your resume to :
Eastway Express Line Sdn Bhd
Tel : 607 557 8398 / 6016 7748398
E-mail : [email protected]

Eastway Msia

Documentation Executive at EASTWAY EXPRESS LINE | Hiredly Malaysia Apply now for Documentation Executive at EASTWAY EXPRESS LINE on Hiredly Malaysia. Find the right job for you.

Wishing you and your loved ones a very happy and blessed Eid-ul-Fitr. Eid Mubarak to all!!

We are Hiring!!

Account & HR Assistant
Location: Senai Airport City
Job Description:
• Day to day accounting operation activities and functions such as data entry accounting system.
• To handle Account payable / Account receivable, statement and other accounting functions.
• Maintain AP/AR account and generate analytical report.
• Maintain up to date Accounting & HR records and administer efficient filing systems
• Assist and handle any ad-hoc assignments when assigned by management.
Qualifications:
• At least LCCI or Diploma in Accountancy
• Fresh graduates/ entry applicants are encourage to apply.
• Required skill(s): MS Office and high competency in MS Excel is a must.
• Required language(s): Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin, English. Prefer Mandarin speaking candidates (SPEAK, READ and WRITE in MANDARIN.)
• At least 1 year(s) of working experience in the related field is required for this position.
• Computer literate familiar with UBS System will be added advantage.
• Able to communicate with all level of people.
Interested Candidates please WhatsApp Aries 6016-7748398

Wish you good luck, good health, great success, and good cheer in the new year. Happy Chinese New Year 2023!

We wish you the light of this New Year and bring a new sense of energy to your family and friends. Happy New Year, 2023!!

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS!!!🎄🎁☃️❄️

Thank you COSCO Shipping 🍎🍎🍎

🔥💥⚡️❤️

Congratulations Eastway Express Line Sdn Bhd is the one of the winner for 2022 SME100 Fast moving Companies.🎊🎉🎊🎉🥳Eastway Msia

We are Hiring!!

Sales Representative (Indoor & Outdoor)
Location: Senai Airport City

Job Description:
- To grow and build new customer database via personal sales visits and effective networking.
- Maintain consistently positive interactions to nurture customer relationships.
- Maintain a close working relationship with the relevant support departments.

Qualifications:
- Candidate must possess at least SPM/STPM/Diploma or Degree qualification or equivalent.
- Computer Literate, Self-Motivate, Aggressive, Independent, Creativity, Prospecting Skills, Meeting Sales Goals, and Sales Planning
- Fresh graduates with good attitude are welcome
- Basic Salary + Allowance + Commission

Interested Candidates please WhatsApp Aries 6016-7748398

Attend JPSFA’s 30th Anniversary Eastway Msia

Farewell Dinner Eastway Msia

Company gathering lunch and celebration September birthday gal Eastway Msia

Company Trip last day - Sport Activities & Lunch Eastway Msia

Team Building Award Dinner Eastway Msia

Company Trip day 2 - Mangroves Tours & Team Building Eastway Msia

Company Trip Day 1 - Free and Easy Eastway Msia

Annua Dinner YE2022 at Sand & Sandals Desaru Resort Eastway Msia

Now we are hiring :

Account Cum Admin Assistance 会计兼行政人员

- Candidate must possess at least a SPM/LCCI/Diploma in Accountancy, or equivalent.
- Required language(s) : English/Chinese
- Required Skill(s) : Microsoft Office / UBS
- Account / Admin experience preferred. Fresh graduates are also encouraged to apply as training will be provided.
- Good interpersonal & communication skills.
- Independent, highly organized with pro-active attitude.
- Positive and willing to learn in a face paced enviroment.

Interested Candidates please call or email your resume to :
Eastway Express Line Sdn Bhd
Tel : 607 557 8398 / 6016 7748398
E-mail : [email protected]

Port of Oakland Keeping Extended Night Hours

Following their successful three-month pilot program, the Port of Oakland will continue to operate with extended night hours. After the unexpected closure of the Outer Harbor Terminal operated by Ports America, the port required a solution to manage cargo movement with one less terminal available. Operating hours were extended to increase efficiency for trucks, reducing congestion and long queuing lines. This initiative has been supported by contributions of $1.5 million each from the Port of Oakland and SSA Marine. As of July, the port will implement a flat fee of $30 to trucking companies for each incoming and outgoing container from the terminal to continue offering this option. In addition to the extended hours, the port has also created a free smartphone app, DrayQ, which tells truck drivers how long it will take to enter a terminal gate while also calculating how long drivers must wait to complete transactions.

Hanjin Shipping bankruptcy !!

Hanjin Shipping filed for bankruptcy protection Aug. 31, 2016, after months of trying to raise liquidity and restructure its debt, triggering a mad scramble by shippers to locate and gain control of their containers. Hanjin vessels have been arrested and ports are refusing to work Hanjin ships for fear they will not be compensated. Hanjin Shipping's collapse is by far the largest container shipping bankruptcy in history and the consequences will continue to reverberate throughout international supply chains and the transportation sector.

Now we are hiring :

1. Indoor Sales
Candidate must possess at least a STPM/Diploma
Good command of spoken English/Malay/Mandarin
Pleasant personality with good people communication skills
Ability to work independently in a fast-pace environment

2. Documentation Clerk
Candidate must possess at least a SPM /O level
Required language(s) : Bahasa Malaysia / English
Computer literate
Able to work independently

Interested Candidates please call or email your resume to :
Eastway Express Line Sdn Bhd
Tel : 607 557 8398 / 6016 7748398
E-mail : [email protected]

Oakland work stoppage foreshadows more ILWU contract uncertainties

Cargo interests are hoping that maverick work stoppages at the Port of Oakland, such as the one that shut the port down on the Sunday night shift, will cease now that the new five-year International Longshore and Warehouse Union contract is in effect.

But uncertainties over implementation of the contract are bound to occur in the weeks ahead at all West Coast ports until the ILWU and Pacific Maritime Association provide clarity on important provisions in the contract covering work rules and related issues such as mandatory dockworker inspections of chassis at marine terminals.

The ILWU and PMA reached tentative agreement on Feb. 20 on the new contract after nine months of sometimes contentious negotiations and four months of work slowdowns at West Coast ports. The ILWU membership officially ratified the new contract on May 22.

As normally happens after a contract is ratified, implementation of new contract provisions is accompanied by uncertainties as employers and ILWU locals take actions each believes are appropriate in the new environment. Disagreements sometimes occur, and area arbitrators are called in to adjudicate the specific issues. That is what happened Sunday night in Oakland.

Sunday’s incident centered upon a disagreement between terminal operators and ILWU Local 34 over a new provision covering the dispatch of marine clerks for the night shift on Sundays. In the past, terminal operators had to inform ILWU Local 34 by Saturday morning as to its need for marine clerks for the Sunday night shift. Employers said they often had difficulty ascertaining their needs until the day of the dispatch, so the new contract stipulates that the terminals must file their dispatch needs on Sunday mornings for the Sunday night shifts.

The PMA, in a release, said ILWU Local 34 on Sunday “failed to adhere to the new dispatch procedures.” The PMA submitted the matter to the area arbitrator who ruled that the ILWU took unilateral action in violation of the contract and that the union refused to work with employers to resolve the dispute peacefully.

ILWU spokesman Craig Merrilees gave a different account of what happened. Local 34 officials charged that the PMA itself did not follow all of the provisions in the new contract concerning the dispatching of marine clerks, but rather “cherry picked” the provisions it wanted to enforce. Nevertheless, the ILWU worked with the PMA to ensure that dispatching for Monday’s day shift worked smoothly, Merrilees said. The port reported that cargo handling returned to normal on Monday morning.

Although Sunday’s disagreement was a one-and-done incident, the PMA said this was the third work stoppage in Oakland in recent weeks. The ILWU locals in Northern California have a reputation for militancy. “By sanctioning illegal work stoppages, the local ILWU leaders are not just violating the new contract, but are disrespecting the truckers, local residents and small businesses whose livelihoods depend on the efficient and reliable movement of cargo through the port,” the PMA stated.

Cargo interests and truckers are also concerned about issues and disagreements that could cause problems at all ports up and down the coast. For example, another provision in the new contract requires inspection by ILWU mechanics of chassis before they are pulled from the marine terminals. Trucker-owned chassis are exempt.

Problems occurred last week in Northern and Southern California when ILWU locals began to implement the inspection requirement by pulling over certain truckers and requesting proof of ownership of the equipment. Truckers charged that the ILWU demands are illegal because their employers, the shipping lines and terminal operators, no longer own the equipment. The verifications delay truck drivers and reduce their earning power because most drivers are paid by the load and earn nothing when sitting in lines.

Trucking company executives in Northern and Southern California reported Monday that the ILWU has since backed off on its verification demands.

This period of uncertainty in interpreting the new contract and adding clarity to disputed provisions could drag on for awhile. ILWU international officers are leaving this week for the union’s once-every-three-years convention, which will be held the week of June 8 in Hawaii. Those conventions normally result in the passage of resolutions on a number of issues and the nomination of officers for the next three years.

During the coming weeks, individual incidents will be addressed by local arbitrators in the various ports, but coastwide guidance on important issues could take longer to develop..

The new contract calls for a totally new arbitration system in which each port range will have a panel of three arbitrators -- one nominated by the ILWU, one nominated by the PMA and a third, professional arbitrator with no previous affiliation with either the union or the PMA. However, the new arbitration system has yet to be implemented.

Cargo is moving? Not so fast.

The Port of Oakland was recently quoted on JOC.com as saying, “Cargo is moving and the backlog is shrinking.” Such a statement doesn’t tell the complete story and causes a great deal of confusion and resentment on the part of cargo owners. Importers and exporters are hearing from their motor carriers that the backlog is growing, but the port declares it is shrinking. How can a cargo interest reconcile these two opposing points of view? Who do they believe? Or, maybe we are not talking apples to apples? It certainly wouldn’t be the first time.

For years, the trucking community disputed the marine terminal operators’ claims of stellar productivity while we experienced a loss of productivity and longer truck turn times. As it turns out, we weren’t talking about the same thing. The terminal operators’ definition of productivity is vessel operations and how many moves per hour each crane loads and unloads containers from a ship — that is, how quickly they can get a ship in and out of berth.

Motor carriers and many others in the supply chain define productivity as how quickly a driver can get in and out of the terminal with the desired container — truck turn times. Now that we’re on the same page and no longer bogged down or bickering about “productivity,” we’re addressing the dismal truck turn times.

When it comes to the “cargo is moving” quote, are we working off different sheets of music again? Is the decline in idle ships in the Bay Area the progress that the Port of Oakland references? If so, the “complete” story needs to be told to include the status of turn times and efforts to improve this situation.

Sure, the line of container ships awaiting berthing slots at the Port of Oakland is shrinking. It’s an inevitable outcome of longshore labor being called to work more shifts. But the net effect of the shorter ship queue is longer truck queues. All the containers that were once on ships in San Francisco Bay are now on the dock in Oakland, with more on the horizon as ships quickly free up from San Pedro and make their way north. Oakland doesn’t have the space, labor or trucks to keep up with demand and serve these containers in a fluid manner.

Containers are indeed backing up on the marine terminals. It was inevitable. To work through the congestion, we need flexibility on the part of marine terminals to offer extended gate hours, flexibility on the part of labor to provide the workers needed, flexibility on the part of the ocean carriers to extend free time, and flexibility on the part of cargo owners to accept the fact that, for the time being, containers won’t always be delivered as desired. In the case of Oakland, we need to take a page out of the Southern California ports’ book and admit it is going to take months to clean up the mess.

'We want ships to come here,' Southern California ILWU leader says

International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 13 President Bobby Olvera told the Long Beach Harbor Commission that dockworkers are committed to clearing out the worst container backlog to hit the Southern California ports in more than a decade, and wants to see the reputation of the ports restored.

“You have my commitment. We will do everything we can to get the cans out the gate,” Olvera told the commission’s regularly-scheduled meeting Monday.

Although he did not directly address the Feb. 20 tentative contract that was reached with the Pacific Maritime Association, shippers have a cause for optimism based on Olvera’s comments. As president of the largest ILWU local on the West Coast, he has significant influence on whether the tentative agreement gets ratified by the union. The ILWU will hold its coastwide caucus on the contract beginning on Monday, and if the caucus recommends approval, the union membership will vote by secret ballot later in April.

Olvera, who fought hard during the contract negotiations for concessions that would benefit his membership, spoke Monday about cargo-handling efficiency and the reputation of the largest U.S. port complex. “We want ships to come here,” he said. Dockworker leaders will meet with terminal operators over the next few weeks to see what they can do to achieve crane productivity of 35 moves per hour, Olvera said.

U.S. ports, especially those on the West Coast that regularly handle vessels with capacities of 8,000 to 14,000 20-foot container units, have no choice but to increase vessel, yard and gate productivity if they are to remain the gateways of choice for the big ships operating in the trans-Pacific today. The big ships must be worked in three to four days in order to remain on schedule.

West Coast ports generally report productivity numbers in the range of 26 to 30 container moves per crane, per hour. While 35 moves might seem like a stretch, it doesn’t have to be. Terminal operators at Oakland say longshoremen there regularly achieve 35 moves per hour, and sometimes reach 40. Oakland, however, is known as a “one shift wonder” because the big ships that generate as many as 10,000 moves per vessel call in Southern California proceed to Oakland where their total container moves are only about 1,000 to 2,000. Crane operators in Oakland have an incentive to maintain productivity because they can go home after completing work on a vessel, even if they do so in less than eight hours.

Olvera indicated that a key development in the union’s commitment to improve productivity in Southern California is the increased training of skilled equipment operators that has taken place since the tentative contract agreement was reached. Local 13 for months had been pushing the PMA for additional training of workers. The issue became part of the union’s bargaining strategy when, according to the PMA, the ILWU in early November informed employers that the union hall was immediately reducing from 110 to 35 the number of skilled equipment operators that would be dispatched each day. That move sent the container backlog on the docks soaring, and the PMA contributed even further to the congestion by cutting back on night and weekend work on the vessels.

Going a step further, Olvera encouraged the Port of Long Beach to use its influence to convince terminal operators to remain open round the clock. “We’re not an 8 to 5 and 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. port. We’re a 24-hour port,” he said, in reference to the demands placed on the Southern California ports by the big ships. The port complex handles about 15 million TEUs a year, or more than two and one-half times the volume of the next largest port complex, New York-New Jersey.

Running 24/7 gates would be good for trucking and intermodal rail operations, and would help to relieve traffic congestion in the region by pushing more port traffic to the off-hours, he said.

Supply chain optimization will only happen, however, if all of the stakeholders work together from where the shipment begins in Asia, through the Southern California port complex and on to delivery of the freight in the interior U.S., Olvera said. The ILWU will participate in trade missions to Asia to encourage the stowing of containers on vessels there so that the containers can be discharged in a logical sequence in Los Angeles-Long Beach in order to move seamlessly to destinations in the eastern half of the country.

Port of Long Beach Chief Executive Jon Slangerup, who has been preaching improved supply chain efficiency since he became port director last summer, praised the ILWU for wanting to be part of the solution. “The ILWU has to be at the table,” he said.

While the Southern California ports do damage control to repair their image that was seriously harmed during nine months of ILWU contract negotiations, the last four months of which were especially rancorous, Olvera pledged the support of the union in measures that will result in improved productivity. “We want this port to be number one in the world,” he said.

LA, Long Beach working to speed cargo flow from docks to inland sites

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are partnering with cargo interests, terminal operators, harbor truckers and the railroads to hasten the day when marine terminals become transit facilities rather than storage sites for containers.

The two largest U.S. ports are serving as facilitators for several projects designed to increase the velocity of containers moving from vessels to inland locations. The projects include expansion of container dray-offs to near-dock yards, further development of the free-flow concept to rapidly transfer the containers of pre-vetted importers to distribution facilities, and a longer-term goal of using of rail shuttles to move large volumes of intermodal containers to staging areas 50 miles from the harbor.

Although the ports for the past decade have been looking for ways to reduce container dwell time, they are now acting with a sense of extreme urgency. The port congestion and labor problems of the past four months have crippled terminal operations and tarnished the reputation of the Southern California ports as the premier gateway for U.S. trade with Asia. Even when this prolonged period of congestion is over, the ports will still face the logistics challenges generated by today’s big ships that are operated by carrier alliances.
According to the Port of Los Angeles, the Southern California port complex experienced increasing container dwell times in 2014, but the average dwell time for the port complex last month actually declined to about 64 hours from 79 hours in January, indicating that efforts by the ports and their tenants to reduce dwell time are starting to pay off.

Also, the vessel backlog at anchor is slowly dissipating. The Marine Exchange of Southern California reported on Monday that 22 containerships were at anchor, which was one less than on Sunday. During the peak of the congestion crisis, vessels at anchor would spike into the high 20s over the weekends.

The ports expect further improvement in the coming weeks, especially if the tentative coastwide contract agreement that was reached on Feb. 20 by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association is ratified in April. Furthermore, on March 1 the ports, along with the three chassis-leasing companies that control about 85 percent of the approximately 100,000 chassis in Southern California, rolled out a gray chassis fleet that in the first three weeks of operation resulted in improved equipment availability, said Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles.

However, even if the ports are back to normal by mid to late-May, as they anticipate, the need to improve container velocity will be as great as ever. Each week vessels with capacities ranging from 8,000 to 14,000 20-foot container units call at the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex, discharging and reloading as many as 10,000 containers in a single call. These ships are operated by vessel-sharing alliances that carry the containers of four or five lines on the same ship, and this adds to the logistical complexity of moving containers through the terminals and on to distribution warehouses and rail-transfer yards in Southern California.

In this environment of weekly vessel peaking, terminal operators no longer have the luxury of being able to store imported containers on chassis for four or five days. Ideally, containers should be drayed off less within 24 hours of being unloaded from the vessel and cleared by Customs.

SSA Marine, which operates three container terminals in Long Beach, has actually been engaged in dray-offs for more than a decade. When container volumes in Southern California surged in the mid-2000s and began to strain the physical capacity of its terminals, SSA secured off-dock sites in the region. As containers are discharged and cleared, they are placed on chassis and trucked to the off-dock yards. Importers pick up the container-chassis combos, usually in less than 24 hours, for shipment to their distribution facilities. Dray-offs relieve congestion at SSA’s marine terminals, and beneficial cargo owners benefit as well because they don’t have to send their truckers into the congested harbor.

Earlier this year TTSI, a harbor drayage firm, carried the dray-off concept a step further through an arrangement with the Port of Los Angeles, Pasha Stevedoring and Terminals and the information services provider Cargomatic when it rolled out the free-flow program. Containers from several pre-approved importers are discharged from the vessel and block-stored at the marine terminal. When a sufficient block is formed,TTSI truckers are dispatched to the marine terminal where the ILWU equipment operator “peels off” the containers without regard to consignee. Truckers dray the containers to the near-dock site operated by Pasha. Either TTSI truckers, or truckers dispatched by BCOs, pick up the containers at the near-dock yard and transport them to their destinations.

Vic La Rosa, TTSI president, said the participating parties are pre-approved, the necessary equipment interchange agreements have been signed and an agreement is in place with the ILWU to provide a gate clerk and mechanic for the near-dock yard that is operated by Pasha stevedoring. At the marine terminal, an ILWU equipment operator is assigned to the block of containers to ensure there is a free flow of containers from the stack to the truckers. During the start-up phase in February at West Basin Container Terminal in Los Angeles, the average gate time was 42 minutes, La Rosa said. At that time, which was during the period of peak congestion, truck turn times at many terminals in the port complex were one to two hours, or longer.

It is clear now that the dray-off and free-flow concepts are feasible, but in order to have a meaningful impact on a port complex that handles 15 million TEUs a year, the ports emphasize that a larger universe of terminal operators, BCOs and trucking companies must be formed. This will require the cobbling together of vacant sites in a port complex where much of the land is already accounted for.

Jon Slangerup, chief executive of the Port of Long Beach, said the port has identified sites in its harbor that total about 150 acres. This would allow for the daily dray off of thousands of containers from marine terminals, considering that the 19-acre Los Angeles site operated by Pasha can process about 650 containers a day. The key to effective utilization will be to ensure that containers that arrive at the near-dock yards are drayed off in less than 24 hours.

Seroka said the ports are also looking to distant locations in the Inland Empire for larger sites. The trade-off for the truck haul of 50 miles or longer to the Inland Empire is that land is cheaper and the sites are located closer to many of the distribution facilities in Southern California.

The ports also look at these more distant dray-off sites as an interim step that could eventually lead to rail shuttles from the harbor to the Inland Empire. The ports floated the idea of rail shuttles a decade ago, but the railroads indicated they could not make money on short-haul services, and BCOs said the multiple handling of containers would add too much cost to the equation.

Slangerup, however, said times and logistics pressures have changed, so the ports are talking to the western railroads about resurrecting the concept of rail shuttles to the Inland Empire. The idea is centered around shuttle trains that can carry about 200 containers, possibly operated by Pacific Harbor Line, which provides switching services in the harbor complex. PHL could operate the shuttle trains to a yard in the Inland Empire where longer unit trains to major inland destinations would be built. The Class One railroads would then be able to do what they do best, which is to “hook and haul” the unit trains to destinations in the eastern half of the country.

Seroka said the ports and railroads have started a dialogue on the concept of shuttle trains, but it is too early to say if and when such a project can be initiated. Critical questions must be answered in terms of rail network capacity and the ability to locate sites where unit trains could be built.

Although locating sites for truck dray-offs and rail shuttles will take time and the cooperation of all of the stakeholders in the logistics supply chain, Seroka said the efforts in Southern California are attracting attention all of the way back to Washington, where Mario Cordero, chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission, has recognized the ports for seeking creative measures to reduce congestion and increase container velocity. “Nobody else in the industry has stepped up in the ways we are advocating,” Seroka said.

Slangerup added that the immediate development of the dray-off and free-flow programs, coupled with the newly-established gray chassis pool and the initial efforts to investigate the feasibility of rail shuttles, all send a clear message to BCOs that the Southern California ports are looking at every possible creative measure to increase cargo velocity in the port complex. “These are exciting developments and are very encouraging for our customers,” he said.

West Coast ports easing back into full production, PMA says

With a tentative contract in hand, West Coast ports are easing their way back into full production, although the performance of longshoremen Monday was not consistent up and down coast, according to the Pacific Maritime Association.

In Los Angeles-Long Beach, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union resumed full dispatch of skilled yard crane operators after reducing dispatches from 110 to 35 per day beginning in early November. These operators are crucial to dissipating the container backlog at the largest U.S. port complex because they transfer containers from the stacks to the truckers who dray the containers to distribution facilities and intermodal rail yards.

Employers in Seattle and Tacoma said crane productivity Monday was rapidly approaching normal. During the hard-timing of employers that the PMA said began on Oct. 31, the average container moves per crane, per hour, plunged below 20 from normal levels of 26-28.

Problems surfaced in Oakland over the weekend when ILWU Local 10 called a work stoppage because of a disagreement over dispatching procedures and break times. The area arbitrator was called in to issue a ruling -- the first time an arbitrator was allowed to adjudicate a dispute on the West Coast since the previous ILWU contract expired on July 1 — and the arbitrator ruled that Local 10 was engaging in an illegal work stoppage.

Longshoremen in Oakland were working the yards and gates normally on Monday, although the dispatching of crane operators was restricted, so operations at the Northern California port were still compromised. This was reportedly more of an intra-union disagreement between Local 10 officers and steady crane operators.

Nevertheless, the incident demonstrates that even though the new contract is tentative and must still be ratified by the ILWU membership, the grievance and arbitration process in the contract is back in effect. This should go a long way toward preventing local disagreements such as occurred in Oakland from dragging on endlessly as the incidents did in recent months.

Even with these improvements in productivity, however, the cargo and vessel backlogs at West Coast ports are expected to take months to clear. The ports and employers predict it could be two to three months before Los Angeles-Long Beach is completely back to normal, although the northern ports could require somewhat less time than that.

The Marine Exchange of Southern California reported Monday there were 27 containerships at anchor, or three fewer than on Sunday. Oakland reported five ships at anchor and 13 waiting outside of the Golden Gate Bridge. Ten ships were at anchor outside of Seattle and Tacoma on Monday.

The process of ILWU ratification of the proposed contract will begin in March. ILWU spokesman Craig Merrilees said the union will hold a caucus attended by 90 democratically-elected delegates. They will meet for one week and determine whether to recommend the agreement to the general membership. If they do recommend approval, the full text of the proposed contract will be submitted to the rank and and file, and membership meetings will be held at the individual ports. Voting will be held by secret ballot.

Merrilees said this process can take several months, but “during the process, work continues as normal at all of the ports.”