Short Port Shutdown

Ocean shipping companies face a one-day West Coast port shutdown Tuesday as port workers intend to protest this week’s World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle. The International Longshore & Warehouse Union plans the action to protest WTO’s support of worldwide free trade, the Journal of Commerce first reported last week. A stoppage would halt port activity on the heaviest shipping day of the week in Southern California ports, the nation’s busiest. Long Beach and Los Angeles handled millions of import and export shipments of containerized cargo last year. The union and the Pacific Maritime Assn., which represents West Coast shipping lines, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.