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Subscribe to RSSSnow covered containers create a pattern in the port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on Jan. 15. Most of Holland is covered by a thick white layer after one night of snow.
Robin Utrecht / AFP - Getty Images
Clerical union strike idles LA ports
Photos by Jonathan Alcorn / Reuters
Anchored container ships sit offshore near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach during a strike by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit in Los Angeles, Calif., Dec. 2, 2012. The strike by clerical workers at the twin ports idled most of the busiest U.S. cargo shipping complex for a sixth day on Sunday as container-laden vessels waited to be unloaded and marathon contract talks stretched into the night.
Union members walk a picket line during the strike near APM Terminals in Los Angeles, Calif., on Sunday. Some 10,000 members of the local union were refusing to cross picket lines of some 500 striking clerical workers, effectively shutting down 10 of the two ports' combined 14 container terminals.
The Los Angeles Times reports that a small union is causing big problems for giant Southern California ports.
The small band of strikers that has effectively shut down the nation's busiest shipping complex forced two huge cargo ships to head for other ports Thursday and kept at least three others away, hobbling an economic powerhouse in Southern California.
The disruption is costing an estimated $1 billion a day at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, on which some 600,000 truckers, dockworkers, trading companies and others depend for their livelihoods.
A road normally crowded with trucks is seen empty during the strike at the Port of Los Angeles on Sunday.
USS Porter collides with oil tanker in Strait of Hormuz
Jonathan Sunderman / US Navy via Reuters
Guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) is seen after a collision with the bulk oil tanker M/V Otowasan in the Strait of Hormuz, Aug. 12. No one was hurt and shipping traffic in the waterway, through which 40 percent of the world's seaborne oil exports pass, was not affected, officials said.
The collision nevertheless left a gaping hole in the starboard side of USS Porter, a guided-missile destroyer, but no one was injured on either vessel, the U.S. Navy said in a statement. The collision with the Panamanian-flagged bulk oil tanker M/V Otowasan occurred at approximately 1 a.m. local time.
The cause of the incident is under investigation, the Navy said, adding that there were no reports of spills or leakages from either the USS Porter or the Otowasan.
Reported by NBC News wire services
Jonathan Sunderman / US Navy via Reuters
Ahoy! Historic Cutty Sark clipper ship set to open after restoration
Leon Neal / AFP - Getty Images
General view of the newly-restored "Cutty Sark" tea clipper in Greenwich, east London on April 24. The clipper was closed to the public in 2006 ahead of a major restoration project but suffered major damage during a fire in 2007. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is set to officially re-open the Cutty Sark on April 25.
Leon Neal / AFP - Getty Images
Rigging crews look towards the mast as they work on the newly-restored "Cutty Sark" tea clipper in Greenwich, east London on April 24. The clipper was closed to the public in 2006 ahead of a major restoration project but suffered major damage during a fire in 2007. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is set to officially re-open the Cutty Sark on April 25.
Hulton Archive via Getty Images
This 1914 photo of the 212 foot long Cutty Sark clipper ship which was launched in taken in 1869 from Dumbarton, Scotland.
Dan Kitwood / Getty Images
A general view of the figurehead on the newly refurbished Cutty Sark on April 24, in London, England. The restored Cuttty Sark, a 19th century tea clipper, is due to reopen to the public on April 26, after an extensive restoration which was severly hampered buy fire back in May 2007 at a cost of more than GBP 50 million.
Oli Scarff / Getty Images
Conservators work to restore the Cutty Sark on April 4, 2012 in London, England. The restored vessel will include the largest collection of merchant navy figureheads in the world and features the Cutty Sark's own original figurehead 'Nannie'. The Cuttty Sark, a 19th century tea clipper, is due to reopen to the public on April 26, 2012 after an extensive restoration following a severe fire in 2007.
Heading to London this summer? Here are five free way to see the city.
Union conflict flares at Longview, Wash., terminal
AP reports:
LONGVIEW, Wash. — A conflict over Longshore jobs at a new grain terminal in Longview, Wash., flared Wednesday with the arrest of protesters blocking railroad tracks.
Several people were arrested for trespassing, said Cowlitz County sheriff's spokesman Grover Laseke. At least two people were treated after being hit with pepper spray.
A dozen officers in riot gear stood guard along the tracks as a grain train finally entered the terminal at the Port of Longview.
Previous PhotoBlog: The Port of Seattle is silenced by a longshoremen strike
Bill Wagner / AP
Law enforcement personnel wrestle ILWU Local 21 longshoreman Kelly Muller to the ground as they arrest protesters and try to clear the tracks so a Burlington Northern-Santa Fe grain train can pull in to the EGT grain terminal at the Port of Longview Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011. A dozen officers in riot gear stood guard along the tracks as a grain train finally entered the terminal. International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 21 President Dan Coffman says two Longshore officers and about 10 wives and mothers of Longshore workers were arrested.
Don Ryan / AP
Police in riot gear walk along railroad tracks to protect an incoming train carrying grain at the port facilities in Longview, Wash., Wednesday, Sept. 21. A conflict over Longshore union jobs at the grain terminal is flaring up again with the arrest of protesters blocking the railroad tracks today.
Don Ryan / AP
Two unidentified longshoreman receive attention after being maced and detained at port facilities in Longview, Wash., Sept. 21.
Don Ryan / AP
Police in riot gear move to another location at the port facilities in Longview, Wash., Wednesday, Sept. 21.
The Port of Seattle is silenced by a longshoremen strike
Jim Seida / msnbc.com
Cranes are at a standstill as they loom over full container ships in the Port of Seattle on Sept. 8, 2011 in Seattle, Wash. The longshoremen who work at the port reportedly walked off the job Thursday at 1:30 a.m., and their union hasn't said when they'll return.
On a typical weekday, the Port of Seattle is a buzz of activity. Cranes pull containers off container ships that are tied to the piers and drop them on trucks. The truckers, like Paul Bauermeister of Shelton, Wash., deliver the full containers to warehouses all over Washington, Oregon and Idaho, and return with empties or with containers filled with a different product for export. Today is not a typical weekday at the port. At 1:30 this morning, the longshoremen who run the port walked off the job, and the port's been closed ever since. Bauermeister has parked his truck with its shipping container outside the gate, because it would cost him too much in fuel to drive it home and back tomorrow, when he hopes the port will be open again.
Paul Bauermeister for msnbc.com
Truck driver Paul Bauermeister has been waiting outside the locked gate at the Port of Seattle since early this morning, Thursday, Sep. 8, 2011. The longshoremen walked off the job at 1:30AM today, and Bauermeister has lost a day's wages waiting for it to reopen.
"It's not just us truckers, it affects everybody else," Bauermeister says. "The brokerage firm that hired me is affected. The people that hired the broker are affected. The warehouses that are inventorying the commodity are affected because they have to hold or back up the commodities in their warehouse. Because remember, it's not just one truck, it's hundreds of trucks. The receiver that's expecting to have this load on a boat tomorrow morning is affected because it never gets there…it never got loaded and it never makes its destination. So if this load was going to Hawaii or Hong Kong, there's going to be an effect on the other side where this goes as well. The stores are affected because they never got the products they expected."
Paul Bauermeister for msnbc.com
Truck drivers (from left to right) Jefferson Davis-Lester of Washougal, Wash, Erik Anderson of Keizer, Wash, Jesse Gamet of Yakima ,Wash.,, and Miguel Garcia of Pasco, Wash.,, wait outside the locked gate at the Port of Seattle on Thursday, Sep. 8, 2011. They're hoping the port will be back open for business on Friday.
For most of the day, Bauermeister was the only one in line, the other truckers were parked under overpasses, or at home. But as the day wears on, a few more trucks are trickling in, getting in line fourteen hours before the Port of Seattle is supposed to open again tomorrow morning, hoping that the the longshoremen show up and the wheels of commerce can turn again.
Jim Seida / msnbc.com
Loading cranes are at a standstill in the Port of Seattle.
Related stories:
Manish Swarup / AP
People watch a grounded Sri Lankan scrapped ship at Juhu beach, in Mumbai, Monday, June 13. The ship MV Wisdom, which broke free of its tug on Saturday and due to strong winds and high currents came dangerously close to a sea link bridge, has become a major tourist attraction, according to local news papers.
Cocoa loaded on ships for export from Ivory Coast
Odds are good that if you eat chocolate, you've had some that passed through this port in Ivory Coast. For more on recent political turmoil there, see this story.
LUC GNAGO / Reuters
Workers stand on a ship, with cocoa beans loaded, at the port of Abidjan January 17, 2011. EU-registered vessels have been barred from all new financial dealings with Ivory Coast's two main cocoa-exporting ports, EU sources said on Monday, as part of sanctions imposed after November's contested election.
LUC GNAGO / Reuters
Workers gather bags of cocoa at the port of Abidjan January 17, 2011.