Local News in Brief : Truckers Protest at Port

A union of independent truck drivers staged a work stoppage Tuesday at container terminals in the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to protest waits of up to eight hours to pick up loads.

Leaders of the Waterfront/Rail Truckers Union said truck service was more than cut in half to the container terminals, but terminal spokesmen said the impact was not that severe.

“We’ve had less traffic in here today (than usual),” acknowledged Scott Maelin, superintendent at the Long Beach Container Terminal. A spokesman for the operators of the Evergreen Terminal on Terminal Island said the number of containers being returned to the busy yard was cut by about 20%.

Tony Molino, president of the union, said that the truckers will stage a rally and continue the protest today. The union wants to force truck brokers to form a committee to negotiate with container terminal officials on ways to cut waiting time.

Terminal officials say there have been occasional backups caused simply by the arrival of a large number of shipping containers holding goods in preparation for the Christmas shopping season.