Swift port operations closed in LA

I reported a complaint about two years ago shortlly after leaving the Swift port division in Wilmington CA. I was tierd of working for birds feed and decided to go.

I probably should'nt have been supprised when I discovered the port terminal had shut down , after all, like myself, Im sure there were many others who got tired of it and decided to turn there keys in. Its hard enough having to deal with the ports ,all the wait and problems it takes to just get a load out. If the company decides to short you its worthless.

I complained and argued to management ,complaining about the loads and the money, I had a family to support and bills to pay and it just wasnt getting it done.
I had worked six months while on the lease program and decided it was time to go. Dont get me wrong I wasnt a new driver, I had 6 years of experience and was comming back to a company I had once already worked for. At the time I was having a hard time finding a job the economy was bad so I decided to take the lease. Big mistake.

Any ways I got hired by another company and Im doing pretty good, I get home enough to live a normal life and Im doing ok on pay.

I hope that some of these companies will read this and be moved to make some changes for the better. That goes for you company supporters as well. Im no newbie, you might be doing fine right now but you never now when it'll be your turn this economy has hit alot of good people.

The last things I remeber while I was still there was that the union was trying to find some people to organize with and alot of the drivers were getting tired of the situation.

I just found out about the terminal being closed yesterday when I tried to call one of the managers there Id known for a long time. I was about to tell him about my new job and how I was doing, Instead I found out the place was closed.

 

I dont really see how that addresses the post. but rather an issue you have with nationality and security. Port Hueneme is about 100 miles away, LA ports have far more valume coming in and out and the amount of head ache you haft go through to get a load is even farther. The ports of LA consist of San Pedro, Wilmington and Long Beach. Home to shipping companies like K-Line, China Shipping, Evergreen, Mersk, Hanjin,Matson,APL,C-PACK, ITS, LBC,COSCO, Yang Ming and many other supper companeis making the port the biggest in the world with more mechendice moving through there than any were else.

Its a magor shipping hub with none like it, but if you must, for the most part they have alot of hispanic drivers, and yes you need a twic card to go inside. Readers please try not to turn this post into a racial issue.

 

Slim, I hear what your saying and you never know, and Im sure thats what alot of people would like to see, but I'll tell you, it'll be along time before anthing like that ever happens.

These companeis have already spent billions boulding there port piers and would be reluctant to just get up and go, the city of LA has also spent lots of money building around it making it more effeciant to tranport freight, building the LA corridor. Its a rail line with several tracks surrounded by great big walls from the ports to the LA rail yards, making it easier to transport across the nation and what not.

 

Yeh like I said you never know, I always say na thats not going to happen and then the next thing you know everything changes.

I hear you on all that wasted money with all that clean filterization and def cr@*. A frend of mine owned an old Pete and told me it would cost him $5,000 or more just to have his truck equiped with the new filterization sytems.

The biggest impact will be the wharehousing and freight comming out of the area especially that Wall-Mart type of freight shipped all over the country to stores like Doller Tree, Target, Costco and department stores everyware.

I dont think I'll be shedding any teers for the Long Shore Men though. Ive been through so much hell down there with their BS its not even funny. I always new something like that would happen sooner or later. They've been trying get around them for years.
The shipping companies probably just want to get around all the bull they haft do deal with, with all that that union hagle. They probably want to just get away from them clowns down over there at the docks lol.