ILWU Canada, BCMEA Reach Tentative Agreement to End West Coast Strike

The British Columbia Maritime Employers Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada have reached a tentative agreement after accepting settlement terms from federal mediators on July 13, according to a tweet from Canadian Minister of Labour Seamus O'Regan Jr.

The BCMEA said in a statement confirming the news that the tentative agreement is "subject to ratification by both" parties, and that as a result, details of the agreement would not be released at this time. The BCMEA also said that the tentative agreement is a four-year deal. "In partnership with our member employers, the BCMEA is committed to working closely with ILWU Canada and their Locals and supply chain partners to safely resume operations as soon as possible," the association said.

The strike began on July 1 after a 72-hour notice was given by ILWU Canada on June 28 (see 2306290038). The contract between the two parties expired on March 31 (see 2306290038). O'Regan on July 11 asked federal mediators to intervene, the BCMEA said.

Nathan Strang, director of ocean freight for Flexport, said during a webinar July 13 that any return to normal operations would result in a backlog. "Even if they open up the terminals again tomorrow, there is still going to be several weeks to several months of delays before normal operations can resume," Strang said.

The ILWU has said that its members will not handle containers that were diverted from Canada to Seattle or Tacoma, in a statement given to CNBC. ILWU has not immediately responded for comment on whether that would change with the tentative deal.

Prior to the announcement, no rail cargo was "moving out of Vancouver or Prince Rupert," Strang said during the webinar. Strang said that it will take a long time for rail to recover, and brought up a previous example from 2021 regarding mudslides in British Columbia. Rail was out then for "about two weeks" and Canada did not "recover from that until about the next April," Strang said. "It’s very difficult to go through there."