Last week's decision by Maersk Line to eliminate some services to several West Coast ports will have a substantial impact on volumes at those ports and will undoubtedly result in a loss of work for longshore laborers, port officials say.

The Port of Tacoma stands to lose the most due to the restructuring of Maersk services in response to a new vessel-sharing agreement with CMA-CGM. Maersk is eliminating the Pacific Northwest from its TP6 service that now calls in Tacoma and Metro Vancouver after leaving the APM Terminal at the Port of Los Angeles. In the future, the TP6 service will call only in Los Angeles before returning to Asia.

A spokeswoman for the Port of Tacoma says that Maersk Line's two Tacoma services account for eight to 10 percent of the port's overall container volumes. Port officials had estimated that Maersk would handle about 170,000 TEUs next year at the APM Terminal in Tacoma. Although it is not yet clear how much cargo will be lost due to the elimination of the TP6 service, Maersk's volumes through Tacoma could presumably be cut in half if one of two services is eliminated.

"We do know that some local jobs will be lost, but we don't know how many," said Tacoma spokeswoman Tara Mattina. The jobs that will be impacted belong to longshore workers who work for Local 23 in Tacoma.

The Port of Los Angeles also stands to lose substantial volumes due to Maersk's restructuring. In its announcement last week, Maersk said it is rerouting its TP9 service out of Los Angeles and into Seattle and Port Metro Vancouver to avoid potential congestion in Southern California. The change is expected to take place in mid-May 2009.

A company source said that Maersk's TP9 service accounts for one of eight weekly services through the terminal. He said losses due to the rerouting would be "substantial." Each of the weekly ships in the service carries more than 6,000 TEUs.

"It absolutely will have an impact on longshore labor," the source said, indicating that an average of 600 to 800 longshore people work at LA's APM terminal during any 24-hour period.

The only West Coast port that stands to gain from Maersk's restructuring is the Port of Seattle. When the TP9 service is rerouted out of Los Angeles and into the Pacific Northwest, it will call in Seattle rather than at the APM terminal in Tacoma. The move to Seattle comes at the apparent request of CMA-CGM, which is reportedly negotiating with SSAT for part ownership in Terminal 18 in Seattle.

Port of Seattle officials said they did not know what impact the new service would have on their volumes. Any increase in volume from Maersk will presumably help to boost Seattle's container counts, which have dropped by 11.2 percent so far this year due to the economic downturn.