LOS ANGELES, CA – The head of the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) warned that West Coast ports could shut down in as soon as five days if dockworkers and their employers cannot reach a new contract.

PMA CEO, James McKenna, says that operators of port terminals and shipping lines do not want to lock out longshoremen, but that would be inevitable if cargo congestion persists at ports that handle nearly $1 trillion in trade annually.

The Associated Press quotes McKenna as saying that the congestion crisis has reached a tipping point, and it would make no sense to pay crews if there is no way to move cargo containers.

“The system can only take so much,” McKenna told reporters. “At some point, this will collapse under its own weight.”

Reuters reports that Union officials have downplayed the potential for shutdowns, suggesting that management was exaggerating a crisis as a negotiation ploy, and countered that the two sides were already close to a settlement.

“We’ve dropped almost all of our remaining issues to help get this settled – and the few issues that remain can be easily resolved,” Union President Robert McEllrath said in a written statement.

As we previously reported, federal mediators have been assisting in the negotiations between the West Coast dockworkers and their employers. The recent talks, however, have coincided with protracted cargo backups that have hampered freight traffic through waterfront that handle almost half of U.S. maritime trade, according to Reuters. 

There has been a continuous back-and-forth where the companies have accused the International Longshore and Warehouse Union of deliberately orchestrating work slowdowns at the ports for leveage, and the union has denied this and blamed the carries themselves for the congestion.

According to Reuters, L.A. Port Spokesman Phillip Sanfield called the levels of congestion unprecedented, and said it would take weeks to clear the cargo backlog once operations returned to normal.

This very public mudslinging has taken place for 9 months now, with the dockworkers working without a contract since July.

For now, negotiations are still ongoing. Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for the latest on this very volatile situation.