HomeMy WebLinkAbout08262024 City Council Laydown - Jesse Groom ILWU LetterGood evening community and council members. My name is
Jesse Groom and I live out of city limits. I am the President of
ILWU Unit 60. As most of you know the ILWU is the work force
for the cruise ships at the end of Port Ave on the Alaska Railroad
Facility, but we also offload a number of other vessels and barges
on the freight dock. The ILWU has had a presence in Seward
working the docks for 80+ years. We employ Seward residents,
as well, our employers are long time Alaska based. On any given
day we employ over 100 people. The last couple years the Port
of Seward has received numerous cargo vessels at the freight
dock discharging thousands of tons of pipe and fracking sand
heading to projects on the North Slope. From Oct.1st 2023 till
April 30th 2024 the ILWU payroll was $1.3 million and a
substantial portion of that was put directly into the community of
Seward. We picked that specific timeline for payroll to help you
understand the type of revenue that the ILWU is bringing to the
community without cruise ship vessels in the port. The vessels
worked by ILWU on the freight dock are in serious jeopardy of
going elsewhere due to the inefficiencies of the Alaska Railroad.
The ILWU and our Employer became aware of a ship that was
destined for the Port of Seward with pipe that has been
redirected to Houston, Texas to be offloaded. Those cargoes will
then be discharged and loaded out onto rail cars and trained
across the country, and finally loaded onto a Matson ship to dock
in Anchorage all because the customer will get their cargo to the
final destination faster than the vessel coming directly to the Port
of Seward. The timeline for the vessel going to Texas will take
approximately 5 months and this is still quicker for the customer
than bringing their cargoes to the Port of Seward and the AKRR
transferring the cargoes from Seward to Fairbanks which is the
customers preferred method. This is a direct result of the
Railroads inefficient operations. As an example, we offloaded a
vessel this past June and as of Aug.1st only 6 railcars of cargo
have made it to their destination. Due to the Railroads
inadequate rail operations more and more cargo vessels are
looking to go elsewhere which will result in the community of
Laydown 8/26/2024 CC meeting letter from Jesse Groom
Seward losing work opportunity and revenue. Over the last
couple years when the port has been at it’s busiest the Railroad
repeatedly promises cargo customers railcars to move their
cargo and then either does not or cannot provide them with any
of the necessary equipment. Once they finally do bring railcars
down, the railcars will sit in Seward for weeks and sometimes
months on end fully loaded with the customers cargo.
The ILWU has learned recently that the AKRR has even gone as
far as telling customers to take their vessels to other ports in
Alaska. The railroad has the luxury to say these types of things
because regardless of what Alaska port the vessels dock at the
Railroad will still make a profit. The community of Seward is the
only one that loses in this case. Working on the waterfront with
the Railroad for decades we have been told by AKRR employees
numerous times that the Railroad is not interested in moving
cargo out of the Port of Seward, they only want to cater to the
cruise ships and passenger trains. We are aware that in 2018 a
$20 million grant was awarded to expand the freight dock and
that the City of Seward is partnered with Alaska Railroad on this
expansion, that is why we are here today voicing our concerns.
ILWU Unit 60 Seward’s officers, members, families and the
Alaska Longshore Division officers and members are prepared to
be apart of a proactive solution to ensure the Port of Seward is
the fully operational cargo port it has been for over 80 years into
the next 80+ years.
I have so much more to say about the Railroad and it’s facilities
beyond the freight dock but due to time constraints I encourage
every community and council member to reach out to me with
any questions. I will gladly make the time for a conversation to
expand further and in more detail on everything.
Thank you for your time.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions.
ILWU Unit 60 Executive Board
President
Jesse Groom
ilwu60_groom@yahoo.com
907-362-1823
Vice President
Caleb Adelmann
caleb_adelmann@hotmail.com
907-362-7969
Sec./Treas.
Sonya Hibbetts
stravis4662@gmail.com
907-362-2660
ILWU Unit 60
ilwuunit60@gmail.com
907-224-5515