West Coast ports working after day-time strike

By Jill Serjeant and Bernard Woodall

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Ports along the U.S. West Coast, including the country's busiest port complex in Los Angeles, were shut most of Thursday as some 10,000 dock workers went on a one-day strike to protest the war in Iraq, port and union officials said.

Twenty-nine ports from San Diego to Washington state that handle more than half of U.S waterborne trade ground to a halt, but shipping experts said the economic costs of the walk-out would be limited.

As a new shift started late in the day, workers were showing up at ports, effectively ending the conflict.

"At ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach, longshoremen are reporting in," Steve Getzug, spokesman for the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents all 29 ports. "We've been told by the union local leadership that things will be returning to normal this evening."

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union said all 29 ports are back at work and spokeswoman Jennifer Sargent called the stoppage "just an eight-hour break from work."

By not showing up for the day shift, more than 1,000 longshoremen brought the normally bustling port of Long Beach, a hub for trade with Asia, to a complete standstill.

Paul Bingham, an economist with Global Insight, which tracks container volume and congestion at U.S. ports, said labor officials had alerted shippers and carriers.

"If this had come as a surprise it would have been a lot more serious in its impact," said Bingham, also noting that it was not peak season for shipping.