The looming dockworkers’ strike on the East and Gulf coasts has diverted freight to the West Coast, but representatives of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach said it shouldn’t be problematic for consumers here.  The 47,000-plus-member International Longshoremen’s Association is set to strike at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, should they not come to an agreement with the United States Maritime Alliance. According to Port of Los Angeles Spokesman Phillip Sanfield, the Port of L.A. has been aware of the possible walkout for months.  “This is not a surprise — this labor disruption,” Sanfield said in an interview Monday morning. “Importers have been watching this closely and have been fractionally moving cargo to the West Coast for the last six, seven months. So, we’ve had an uptick in cargo here.”  He said the Port of L.A. has actually had several very strong months. Monday was the end of quarter three, and the port is reporting its busiest quarter on record in its 100-plus-year history.   “But the good news is,” Sanfield said, “we were moving these record volumes efficiently. We’re not experiencing the backups that occurred during the pandemic, and we’re prepared to handle additional cargo if it comes our way.”  He added that the port typically operates at 70% to 80% capacity. It’s currently at 80% capacity.  “Based on what we’ve learned during the pandemic and on better data and more efficient operations,” Sanfield said, “we can handle another 20% or so. So, that would take us well over a million containers a month, which, you know, we’re already the busiest port in the Western Hemisphere, so, we think we could take on more.”  Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero was equally confident in that port’s handling of the issue, according to a statement on the port’s website.   “Despite the record container volumes over the past few months,” the statement read, “operations at the Port of Long Beach container terminals remain fluid. The port is handling just as much cargo as we did in 2021 and 2022, but without any of the pandemic-era backlogs, delays or congestion that arose due to issues outside the port.”  As for any potential walkouts on the West Coast in solidarity with the International Longshoremen’s Association, Sanfield seemed to feel that that wasn’t too much of a concern.   “The longshore union on the West Coast — the ILWU (International Longshore and Warehouse Union) — signed a long-term, six-year contract, and that was about a year and a half ago,” he said. “We have no evidence that there would be any kind of a walkout or a solidarity support on the West Coast.”  Sanfield addressed other concerns, such as ships out at sea rerouting to the West Coast.  “The way the shipping industry works,” he said, “these ships — these vessels — are not just going to make left-hand turns and go around the world and come up through L.A. There may be, as I mentioned, some cargo that already is destined for the West Coast, ships that might be more fully loaded coming from importers making those decisions, but ships are not being diverted here.”  Asked if West Coast ports should be concerned about a lengthy strike if the two parties can’t come to an agreement, Sanfield seemed hopeful such a scenario still wouldn’t cause any real issues, though he expressed a need for a resolution sooner than later.  “The U.S. economy works best when all of our ports in America are operating fully,” he said. “The bigger issue is for these two parties on the East Coast — labor and management — to sit down and hammer these (issues) out, because every day that they’re not on the job — if that begins (Monday night) at midnight — would cause a backlog of ships.”  He said such an outcome could cause a ripple effect, but he’s confident in West Coast ports’ efficiency to move cargo as they’ve been doing.  “That’s been what’s happening,” he said, “and that’s what we foresee in at least the near future.”  The post Spokesmen: Ports of L.A., Long Beach prepared for dockworkers’ strike  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.