The labor union representing 22,000 U.S. West Coast dockworkers in contract renewal talks said it has reached a tentative agreement with their employers on “certain key issues.”

Despite a significant slowdown in the second half of 2022, two major West Coast ports approached the record-setting pace they had in 2021.

As 2022 comes to a close, a significant shift is taking place at America’s ports. Until late summer, Los Angeles’ was the busiest in the nation, but that honor now belongs to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The White House is monitoring labor talks in the logistics industry as unions representing 115,000 rail workers and 22,000 West Coast dockworkers negotiate fresh contracts, but won’t get directly involved in either bargaining process now, its supply chain envoy said.

The union representing about 22,000 West Coast dockworkers and their employers will continue negotiations for a new labor contract past the July 1 expiration of their current pact and said the ports — among them the U.S.’s busiest — will keep functioning.

Employers and the union representing more than 22,000 dockworkers at 30 U.S. ports on the West Coast are unlikely to reach a wage deal by the time the current contract expires next month, but neither side foresees disruptions that would hobble supply chains.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, seaport officials on the West Coast, International Longshore and Warehouse Union negotiators and leaders with the Pacific Maritime Association are talking optimistically that a long-term contract with workers can be negotiated this summer.

One day after announcing the Port of Los Angeles will begin operating 24/7, port officials said they were working feverishly to get ready for what promises to be a busy stretch.

More than 60 containerships sat in San Pedro Bay on Feb. 18, at the entrance to the sprawling ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The vessels are waiting for a slot to sail into those facilities to begin unloading their cargo and then start the nearly two-week trip back to China.

The nation’s ports continued their breakneck pace in November as imported products arrived and unloaded at a record or near-record rate at facilities on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts.