The International Longshoremen's Association members set to vote on new master contract covering East and Gulf Coast ports on Feb. 25.

The ILA's wage scale committee approved the tentative six-year agreement the union reached with the United States Maritime Alliance in early January allowing the ratification vote to move forward.

Proposed agreements from the ILA in the contract include the following:

• There will be no fully automated terminals and no fully automated equipment during the term of the agreement.
• Port operators now will have to engage with the ILA earlier prior to purchasing any software, hardware or equipment to discuss potential impacts and negotiate agreements.
• No new technology will be implemented until the parties mutually agree to manning levels and workforce protections. There will be no reduction in manning or hours due to implementation of technology.

This vote comes in response to the expiration of the previous master contract which was previously extended to Jan. 15 in response to the tentative deal struck after the three-day strike in October disrupted port operations.

Carriers start to see some indicators for a better LTL Market in 2025.

For the first time in two years, freight volumes are expected to grow in the U.S. by an estimated 1.6 percent per the American Trucking Associations projections on Jan. 16. The freight market is expected to normalize after years of stagflation thanks in large part to the pickup in the industrial economy in terms of shipment count and increased tonnage as well improvements seen in the macro backdrop and pricing, according to ArcBest Chief Financial Officer, Matt Beasley, over on Transport Topics.

Analysts are also anticipating more carriers will exit the market rebalancing the supply-demand equation. Rates are expected to go up in the later part of the year as well.

Furthermore, LTL carriers will have less to worry about with incoming tariffs compared to the truckload sector due to lower cross-border exposure.