Automation of US ports threatens lucrative longshoremen jobs

The push over the last decade by international maritime ports to fully automate operations has sparked the ire of many U.S. longshoremen whose high-paying jobs and way of life are at stake. The trend also sets up a battle between their unions and companies and governments who see automation as a cleaner, more efficient and more cost-friendly alternative to the current system. "This may be the most difficult and complex challenge we've ever undertaken,'' Dan Sperling, professor of civil engineering and environmental science at the University of California, Davis and a member of California's Air Resources Board, told Bloomberg. "We're trying to change the entire freight system.'' California is on the frontlines in the battle over automation as the ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles and Oakland handle 40 percent of U.S. container traffic and that number is expected to increase with the expansion of the Panama Canal.