It’s been no secret that change is coming to the waterfront.
Automation and zero-emissions equipment are already changing the way some longshore jobs are done. And in coming years, new technologies are expected to transform some parts of how cargo is loaded and unloaded.
In response to those anticipated changes anticipated, officials from the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union joined together on Friday, May 31, to open a new Maintenance and Repair Training Center at the Port of Los Angeles.
The $16.4 million, 20,000 square-foot facility, located on a 4-acre parcel adjacent to Pier 400, comes out of an agreement struck between the employers and workers to establish a way to help dockworkers learn new and relevant industry skills, including maintaining and repairing emerging technologies.
It’s a temporary spot while construction of a more permanent facility is underway on the Wilmington side of the twin port complex. The PMA and ILWU provide the workforce for both the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The first training classes are expected to begin this summer.
The new center, PMA Chief Operating Officer Chad Lindsay said in written remarks, will give workers “the skills needed to expand into a cargo-handling maintenance and repair role that we expect will expand significantly as the terminals continue to modernize.”
Included in the facility are classroom spaces and on-the-job training areas for heavy equipment such as forklifts, column lifts, welding stations and truck chassis.
Concern has long been expressed about losing local, high-paying union waterfront jobs as new technologies come in. Pier 400 is among the terminals becoming early adopters of the changing technologies and the training facility is among the agreements struck for the changes planned at the terminal.
The facility’s origins began in 2019. Following a period that saw terminals in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach follow a path toward more…
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