MIAMI -- The strike by independent truckers has "effectively closed" container operations at the port of Miami for the past two days, according to port director Chuck Towsley.

He has been organizing meetings with independent truckers, trucking lines serving the ports and the Port of Miami Operating Company in an attempt to resolve the dispute.

Towsley said that most trucking companies with union employees are also staying away from Miami and Port Everglades, "not necessarily in support of the independent truckers but for safety reasons, to protect themselves and their trucks."

Towsley said the strike "for the last two days including today we are effectively shut down with less than 20 containers moving each hour compared to the usual 1,700 gate moves." He said it was "impossible" to say when the protest might end.

The port executive said there have been threats against truckers who show up to work and "some vandalism," including one incident where a truck was hit by fire from an air gun. This could not be independently corroborated.

At a meeting Tuesday, Towsley said leaders of the independent drivers demanded a 40 percent increase in gross fees for freight over the road paid to drivers by trucking companies. The drivers also want a fuel surcharge to be assessed by the trucking companies and passed on to independent drivers. The truckers also demanded an investigation of insurance fees deducted from some independent truckers' checks by trucking companies.

The truckers' only beef that can be solved directly by the port, Towsley said, is a demand for $50 each hour they must wait longer than an hour to secure a load. Towsley conceded that it often takes several hours for truckers to secure a container and move off the port, limiting the truckers' earning potential.
He said the average compensation for independent truckers is about $50 for each turnaround.

Towsley said he agreed to ask the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the truckers' charges that the trucking companies are breaking state insurance laws by assessing the drivers for insurance without proper justification.

He said the other issues must be resolved among the trucking companies and their employees. The trucking companies might then just adjust their fee relationships with the steamship lines and freight forwarders.

"This isn't going to be solve quickly or easily," Towsley said, "because the independent truckers are not a union and they have no real bargaining organization. It is not like the spokespeople have the power to call a vote, even if they got some of what they want."

Towsley said that in addition to union workers avoiding the port, drivers working at the Seaboard terminal and the APM Terminal are also avoiding the port.

Mediterranean Shipping Co. Senior Vice President, John Mullaney, said he was not surprised by the strike and expects it to end next week.

"These things are winding down and we expect it to be over after the holiday," Mullaney said. "We have not altered our schedules because of the strike at Miami."

By Rick Eyerdam