Strikes shut operations at Canada’s largest ports, US trade in limbo [Video]

Key ports on Canada’s West Coast, including its largest container port in Vancouver and the Port of Prince Rupert, were shut down by a labor strike on Monday.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Ship & Dock Foreman Local 514 began striking on Monday morning, stopping containers and cargo immediately. According to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, $800 million in trade flows through West Coast ports every day.

Approximately 20% of U.S. trade arrives in the Canadian ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert, where strikes broke out after union leadership and industry representatives failed to reach a deal before a cooling-off period expired. The ILWU Local 514 contract expired on March 31, 2023, with 96% of union members voting in favor of a strike in September.

This strike comes on the heels of a recent strike still impacting the country’s second-largest port, the Port of Montreal (Prince Rupert is …