Ports along the US West Coast have closed after about 10,000 dock workers carried out a one-day strike in protest against the war in Iraq.

 

Twenty-nine ports from along the coast, handling more than half of US waterborne trade, ground to a halt on Thursday.

"We are hearing there is no activity taking place up and down the West Coast," said Steve Getzug, spokesman of the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents all 29 ports.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union said about 10,000 workers joined the anti-war protest, in part because, the union argues, that big shipping companies are profiting from the war.

 

The protest also takes place on the same day that George Bush, the US president, declared major combat operations in Iraq to be over five years ago.

 

Motives questioned

 

However, port officials cast doubts over the war as the reason for the protest.

 

Getzug said the action came two months prior to the expiration of an agreement on working conditions between the ports and workers.

 

"Today's actions raised the question of whether this was an attempt to leverage contract negotiations," he said in a statement.

 

Paul Bingham, an economist with the Global Insight group, which tracks container volume and congestion at US ports, said shippers and carriers were prepared for the stoppage.

 

"If this had come as a surprise it would have been a lot more serious in its impact," said Bingham, also noting that it was not peak season for shipping.