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US oil workers’ strike may extend to Long Beach crude oil terminals

Los Angeles: The US port of Long Beach could be hit with more vessel congestion if workers at one of the port’s crude oil terminals join a nationwide oil worker strike.

Members of the United Steelworkers union working at crude oil terminals operated by Tesoro Logistics in California will decide today if they will join a nationwide strike by oil industry workers and stage a walkout.

Union members will meet with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union to discuss the stoppage.

A spokesperson for Tesoro Logistics told Bloomberg the company has a contingency plan that would allow it to operate the terminal should a strike occur.

The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are already congested with vessels waiting to load and discharge containers. Longshoremen at the ports have been staging a “work slowdown” in protest to an ongoing labour dispute.

Thirty-two vessels were waiting to dock at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach early yesterday morning, Bloomberg reports.

Since February 1, workers have walked out on nine US refineries, which account for 13% of the country’s fuel capacity, reports say. This is America’s biggest oil worker strike since 1980, when work stopped for three months.

Holly Birkett

Holly is Splash's Online Editor and correspondent for the UK and Mediterranean. She has been a maritime journalist since 2010, and has written for and edited several trade publications. She is currently studying for membership of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers. In 2013, Holly won the Seahorse Club's Social Media Journalist of the Year award. She is currently based in London.
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