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Post by pier2 on Dec 28, 2012 13:18:07 GMT -5
ILA, USMX agree to 30-day contract extension
Friday, December 28, 2012
The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and the employers of their members, represented by the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX), have agreed to extend their contract 30 days until midnight Jan. 28. George H. Cohen, director of the U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, made the announcement Friday morning , saying "the container royalty payment issue has been agreed upon in principle by the parties, subject to achieving an overall collective bargaining agreement.
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Post by cabover on Dec 28, 2012 22:21:19 GMT -5
good now i can get past the holidays into the new year. ths strike would have hurt us bad with flatbed because the rates on outside work would've plunged with every truck that pulls of the port going for the same freight. these container companys have already cut the heck out of flatbed rates just like they do their container rates. i will be glad when work picks back up this spring. maybe we can make up for the past few poor months. i don't think the ila will strike now that the shippers know they will go to the end. they may settle before end of this month with new contract hopefully.
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Post by toppepper on Jan 4, 2013 12:23:18 GMT -5
How could Rates Drop, There arnt enough trailers to rent, try renting a dry van and see howlong it takes.
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Post by rabbiteye on Jan 4, 2013 23:23:14 GMT -5
i pull flat & stepdeck. the rates are crap now& hav been that way since middle of last year. i agree if a major dock strike had come they would have been worse. we have a lot of cutthroats out here now that will haul for peanuts so a strike would have narrowed the choice of loads with no port flatbed freight mixed in. the less freight the cheaper customers get their freight moved. lumber & other commodities have gotten to point its best park truck at house then pull tarps ,chains,straps and break even end of day. these guys are wearing ther trucks out going no where.one of the companies who moves flatbed,vans,containers is upi. everywhere they broker loads from they are twenty percent less or more then anyone else. i don't think they own any trucks but they move large amount of freight big time. they get fools to do it everyday so the shippers love using them. i pulled a load the other day & three other guys going to same place left four hundred dollars each on same load pulling for upi. go figure.
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Post by midnight husler on Jan 5, 2013 7:52:51 GMT -5
Face the facts o/o are slowly being put out of business. CHEAP FREIGHT. I have to find another source of income. I haven't seen a raise in years. You can talk about shippers cutting rates but drivers are still hauling the freight. That the main problem. We as drivers are to blame nobody else
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Post by glideride on Jan 6, 2013 16:13:48 GMT -5
bottom line. containers suck. i/m thankful my tractor is paid for. i also have a flatbed paid for. thats what i do now and for the past three years. i started during the slow down but stil way better then containers. after seventeen years -of wasting my time- hauling containers at va ports i wised up. containers are for beginner truckers or drivers who are not willing to spend a few nights in their truck. thats funny because they are going to spend nights in their truck anyway on these so called home every day runs.flatbed rates are cheap too in some locations but flat bedding is a lot more flexible. these container companies have the rates drivers will accept down to a science. forty cents above cost of fuel will get you all the idiots that can pull your boxes every day. the companies know most drivers are happy campers living week to week with a few bucks of pocket change over truck expenses. thats truck expenses nothing more. no extra for next weeks expenses or the next breakdown. hand to mouth is the norm. seventeen years i spent in this and i dont know any drivers in hampton roads making a decent living moving containers. i/m not talking a few good weeks once in a while . i/m talking a year or monthly average. anyone says they are is a company person or agent not an owner driver. i hav been with a couple dozen companies around here in norfolk its not happening.
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Post by largecar on Jan 9, 2013 22:52:01 GMT -5
It's a paycheck to paycheck sort of deal driver for many. I don't know where all these new drivers keep coming from wanting to have their clock cleaned but the line seems never ending? I should have sold this old truck years ago and become an agent. By now I would be driving a new suv pulling my fancy boat to the ocean every weekend instead of servicing trucks on Saturday. Life is cruel ;D
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