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July 26, 2022 08:20 AM

Kickstart: With some luck, there won't be a strike at West Coast ports

Rhoda Miel
Managing Editor
Plastics News Staff
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    With some luck, there won't be a strike at West Coast ports

    Because it's the 2020s, manufacturers and retailers are holding their breath about yet another potential hit to their business: a possible strike at U.S. West Coast ports.

    The contract between the Pacific Maritime Association and members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union expired July 5, and while negotiations and work continue, our sister paper Automotive News writes that automakers are making plans for what they will do if dock workers go on strike.

    PMA represents 29 ports from the Canadian border to the border of Mexico. In 2021, those ports accounted for 37 percent of all imports into the U.S.

    We've already seen how the U.S. supply chain was impacted when work slowed at those ports. The potential damage if work stops has automakers and suppliers creating contingency plans such as shipping to ports in Mexico and Canada, flying important parts into the U.S. or rerouting to Gulf Coast or East Coast parts. Those plans, however, can't cover everything, Gary Silberg, global head of automotive for consulting group KPMG, said.

    "Even though they can have contingency plans, that's a lot of goods to get through, and if the whole thing shuts down, it would be painful," Silberg said.

    A PMA representative told AN that the ports are "optimistic" they can reach a contract settlement without a strike, but if these past few years have taught us anything, it's that we can always expected the unexpected.

     

    Giving suppliers a break

    At least one group of auto suppliers may be able to get some relief this year. Toyota Motor Co. has said it will not seek a traditional price reduction from its suppliers for the second half of its fiscal year.

    "As other automakers are drastically reducing production, there are many suppliers whose sales and operations are supported by Toyota's volume, so I believe it is necessary to respond to the voices of such suppliers," Toyota purchasing group chief Kazunari Kumakura told reporters, according to a July 25 report from Reuters.

    If you're wondering why it is that Toyota always ends up on the top of the list of suppliers' most preferred automakers, there's one example.

    A beach-cleaning robot

    When the Council of the Great Lakes, a U.S.- and Canada-based organization, announced an action plan to reduce plastic waste in the Great Lakes, it mentioned an array of actions, including bottle bills. But in addition, part of the plan will involve beach-cleaning robots.

    Beaches, of course, aren't easy to clean. While you can spot items on the sand, a lot of small pieces like cigarette butts can hide.

    The BeBot robot was developed by the groups Searial Cleaners, 4 Ocean and Niketo and is made by Poralu Marine, a French company that  provides "support for eco-innovative startups."

    The robot sifts through the top 10 centimeters of beach sand and can collect items as small as 1 square centimeter and can clean up to 3,000 square meters of beach every hour.

    The robot is just one small part of the council's Great Lakes cleanup plan, of course. You can find more from PN's Bridget Janis here.

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    Kickstart: Artificial? Yes. Intelligence? Not so much.
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