Truckers Protesting Over Cargo Loading Times At Port Of Baltimore
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Business at the Port of Baltimore is booming but not everyone is enjoying the ride as truck drivers have been protesting long wait times for cargo to be loaded onto their trucks.
They were out in force during the bitter cold that settled over Maryland for much of the week, voicing a cold economic fact.
"We don't get paid by the hour. We get paid by the load," said truck driver Richard Costin.
Those loads are more often containers and the Port of Baltimore is handling record numbers.
New super-sized ships can carry 11,000 containers and according to protesting truck drivers, that volume has led to hours of waiting for containers to make it onto their trucks.
"We used to do five, six loads a day easy," said Costin. "but now we're down to one load a day, depending on those loads. Now some people can't even pay their mortgage."
Ports America Chesapeake manages the port and last January brought in six new loading cranes for one purpose.
In 2018, port administration spokesman Richard Scher told WJZ that the cranes were needed "to get trucks in and out of port quicker. This infrastructure is needed to accommodate significant container growth we've had at the port over the past 18 months."
But now, one year later, the drivers who are independent owner-operators say there's still not enough manpower and equipment to reduce long waits between loads.
Although Costin said there is a glimmer of hope.
"They came down and met with us earlier this morning and yesterday and they want to work with us on this," he said. "So we're going to see how it goes."
But drivers said they don't have forever to wait, not when sitting and waiting for a load is upending their business and family finances.
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