Date: December 6th, 2021

Dear valued customers,

As we’ve updated you about the market in our last advisory, Labor contract negotiations at
West Coast ports between the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the International
Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) are looming. The current coastwide contract, which was
signed in 2015 after four months of work slowdowns that led to gridlock at West Coast ports, is
scheduled to expire on July 1, 2022. In past contract years, negotiations would normally begin
in early May. In the previous four negotiations dating back to the late 1990s, negotiations went
past the July 1 deadline, and in three of those contract years, work slowdowns or an employer
lockout ensued.

In late November 2021, ILWU has officially rejected one-year contract extension offer from PMA.

Looking at 2022, the Chinese New Year holidays will be in the first week of February and it’s
expected factories will slow down the production from mid-January and it’s likely it will not be
back to 100% normal until mid or even late of the month. It means the normal shipping will
resumes from March, but it might also be facing a slowdown starting from May due to the
contract negotiation between ILWU and PMA. It poses a danger to shippers for your shipment
for next peak season cargo, as the shipping window is short – importers might need to arrange
your peak season shipment a lot earlier next year in April or even March to avoid the potential
slowdown.

Starting from mid-November, we’d started to see the booking volume was increasing; however,
the space to both US west coast and east coast are extremely tight owing to the serious port
congestion, especially in LAX, LGB, NYC and SAV ports. Shippers are encouraged to book as
early as possible for their shipment before the CNY and it’s even encouraged for importers to
arrange your 2022 cargo even earlier from now, so that you can plan early to avoid the possible
work slowdown in LA/LB and to make sure have a smoother supply chain for your products next
year.

As always, we are pursuing all options to minimize the impact to your supply chain. We will
keep doing all we can do for your cargo smooth moving as always. Should you have any
question, please contact your in-charge sales representative or operations PIC.

USPTI thank you for your support!