According to foreign media reports, recently, the negotiations of dock workers in the United States and the West have hit the rocks. ILWU, which represents the labor side, requested for the first time to suspend the negotiations. Some industry insiders pointed out that this strategy is suspected of "preparing for a strike", which may lead to the biggest crisis of port congestion since the epidemic.

At present, China is about to resume work in an all-round way, but the US-Western dock workers have called for a halt to the negotiations, dropping another bomb on the already scarce global shipping capacity. Therefore, the Shanghai Container Index (SCFI) ended a 17-day losing streak last week, and the European line rose in an all-round way; among them, the "China Export Container Freight Index" (CCFI), which is the leading indicator of mainland exports, took the lead in rising sharply. The increase of the west line reached 9.2% and 7.7%, indicating that the pressure of rising freight rates has increased greatly.

Some global freight pointed out that the domestic epidemic situation has gradually eased recently, and the resumption of work and production in ports has led to a recovery in freight volume. Previously, the two major shipping giants, Hebrood and Maersk, expected a sharp drop in freight rates in the second half of the year. "It should not come so soon." The point is that the impact of the U.S.-West Dock Workers Agreement was not taken into account. The industry estimates that from this week, the spot and long-term freight rates of containers are expected to enter the golden cross point.

Since May 10, the two sides have failed to negotiate on the exchange of workers' contracts. The relevant person said that there was "almost no progress". ILWU does not seem to be in a hurry to have a result before July 1, and the dock workers have experienced slowdowns or even strikes.

The International Terminals and Warehousing Union (ILWU), which represents U.S. West Coast dockworkers, has requested a suspension of labor negotiations until June 1, according to JOC, the shipping media owned by IHSMarket, for reasons that remain unclear. But Labor is apparently in no rush to seal the deal before the current contract expires on July 1, people familiar with the matter said.

In the past, the ILWU has wanted to let existing contracts expire because the "no strike" clause would then expire. During this year's negotiation, ILWU has already started to slack off work in the summer, and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), which represents the management, responded by not allowing workers to come to work. ILWU's unhurried attitude is obviously to gain more bargaining chips. But there are risks to this strategy: At a time when supply chains are being disrupted, the U.S. government has made it clear that it can no longer tolerate labor sabotage or management refusing to show up for work this year. But obviously, ILWU did not buy it.