(Bloomberg) -- Several terminals at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach canceled their second shift Thursday and will close Friday after a big rig overturned on a vital roadway and the lithium batteries it was carrying caught fire.
“The batteries have been damaged, and are on fire and off-gassing (with reports of one battery exploding),” the LAFD said in an alert at 2 p.m. local time. The Southern California ports make up the busiest container hub in the US, handling roughly a third of the nation’s waterborne cargo.
“This fire cannot be extinguished and may burn for up to 48 hours,” the International Longshore and Warehouse Union said in a statement.
The dockworker union said it was working with the Los Angeles Fire Department, and that members would not report for work Thursday night or Friday at several affected terminals, including APM Terminals, Fenix Marine Services, Everport Terminal Services and Yusen Terminals.
No injuries were reported, according to the Fire Department.
The incident comes as dockworkers at every major container port on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts appear increasingly likely to go on strike when their labor contract expires on Monday. The backlog from a one-week work stoppage would take at least four weeks to resolve, according to analysts.
Importers have routed some of their goods to the West Coast to mitigate the risk of disruption of the East and Gulf coast ports, and to get ahead of potential tariff increases from escalating trade conflicts. The LA ports have so far kept up with surging volumes, which are approaching records pandemic records.
At this point, the Port of Long Beach doesn’t expect there to be an impact on overall cargo flow, according to a spokesperson.
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