The new federal port envoy said he is “very optimistic” about the progress being made to unkink the nation’s seaports and supply chain.

LOS ANGELES — A contract between shipping companies and 22,000 West Coast dockworkers expired over the weekend. But both sides continued to talk and said they want to avoid a strike that could savage an economy already stressed by soaring inflation and supply chain woes.

The strong pace of imported goods to the nation’s ports continued in May.

Negotiators with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association are discussing a plan to allow all West Coast marine terminals to open an hour earlier, at 6 a.m., under what’s called “a double flex.”

The Port of Oakland, along with those in Seattle and Tacoma, Wash., and the U.S. Department of Agriculture said they are working together to provide financial incentives for U.S. growers to ship agriculture products through the ports.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — San Pedro Bay ports charge $10 per container for transport that isn’t by a zero-emission truck, but an environmental group wants to combine a higher fee with incentives to accelerate adoption of cleaner trucks.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Students from Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo High School watched transportation leaders at the Metrans International Urban Freight Conference, which met just a few miles from the sprawling Port of Long Beach.

The giant ports in Southern California and across the U.S. greatly lag their counterparts in Europe and other regions using digital technology to optimize operations. That was the consensus of a panel discussion at the Metrans International Urban Freight Conference.

Imports continue to dominate the cargo at the nation’s ports, and the nation’s busiest — the Port of Los Angeles — reported its second-busiest April in its 115-year-plus history,

China locking down key port cities because of a new outbreak of the coronavirus could have serious ramifications for trucking in the United States.