SPOKANE, Wash. — A record harvest of Washington state apples is moving out of the country slower than usual due to bottlenecks on the West coast.

Usually about one third of Washington apples are exported out of the country, according to Rebecca Lyons, international marketing director of the Washington State Apple Commission. This year, the state’s growers will need to export 50 percent of their crop because it is so large. Washington is the country’s number one producer of apples.

The harvest this year is 35 percent bigger than last year’s, and last year’s is the second largest crop on record.

According to a Nov. 11 Associated Press article, the bottleneck is at West coast ports, probably because of labor slowdowns. The longshoremen’s union, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), denies a deliberate slowdown.

“Shipments are going out, but there are a lot of delays,” Lyons said. “It’s been a challenging situation to locate shippers and related problems. I’ve heard there have been some (shipping) diversions. It’s coming in a year when we’re having a record crop in Washington state.” 

Lyons noted that Washington state growers have also been affected by the Russian ban on fruits and vegetables from the West.

Facilities that store apples have sophisticated ways to refrigerate and store apples today, so there’s little chance of apples rotting in the warehouse. It’s more a matter of “maintaining marketing momentum,” she said. “Now is really the peak time for some of these markets.”

About 50 percent of apples that go to Central America are shipped before Christmas. Still, growers aren’t completely dependent on shippers. Canada and Mexico are big export markets for U.S. apples, which can be reached by truck.

The root of the problem is a contract dispute between the longshoremen and the Pacific Maritime Assoc. (PMA), a group representing shippers, terminal operators and others. The contract between PMA and ILWU expired July 1. According to PMA, since Oct. 31 members of the ILWU are working slowly at the ports of Tacoma and Seattle. It says these slowdowns are having a dramatic impact on products such as apples, potatoes, Christmas trees and other perishable produce.

In addition, it says longshoremen on several shifts have walked off the job in Oakland, shutting down their terminals for the remainder of the shift. In the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, where growing congestion has been an issue for some time, PMA says ILWU continues to short-shrift crews by withholding qualified yard crane operators.

“These actions – slowing down, walking off the job and not sending the crews that are needed – will continue to push the West coast ports closer and closer to outright gridlock,” PMA spokesman Wade Gates said Nov. 13. 

ILWU rejected these charges, issuing its own statement about the causes of the slowdown at West coast ports. It said that documented causes of congestion at the ports in question include chassis shortage and dislocation; rail service delays, including a shortage of rail cars nationwide; the exodus of truck drivers, who “cannot make a living wage”; long truck turn times; record retail import volumes; larger vessels discharging massive amounts of cargo; container terminals pushed to storage capacities; and the peak shipping season. 

In addition, the Port of Los Angeles experienced a major fire Sept. 23, forcing the evacuation of 850 workers and resulting in the temporary closing of six cargo terminals, causing delays in the movement of cargo that reverberated down the supply chain, the ILWU statement says.

“The numerous, non-labor related causes of the congestion problem up and down the West coast are well documented,” ILWU spokesman Craig Merrilees said.

Michigan next?

It’s not clear to what extent the problems on the West coast will affect the shipment or marketing of Michigan apples. Michigan, another major apple growing state, has also had a bumper crop of this year, but much of its apples that are exported are shipped on the East coast, said Diane Smith, executive director of the Michigan Apple Committee. 

She added the U.S. Apple Assoc. is doing what it can to help speed up negotiations between the parties on the West coast to help get apples moving again as quickly as possible.