Shipping Associations band to present unified lobbying front. (Up Front).

For decades, steamship lines serving West Coast ports have been represented by two trade groups sporting the similar agendas but often taking a different tack on maritime issues. Their opponents on many disputes -- whether trucking firms or dockworkers -- have presented a united front.

That dynamic is about to change.

The Pacific Merchant Shipping Association and the Steamship Association of Southern California will merge on June 30 to create a single voice and a stepped-up political lobbying fund to benefit shipping lines, terminal operators and stevedoring companies (which employ dockworkers).

Consolidation of the two groups follows contentious negotiations with dockworkers last summer that led to a contract only after 10-day lockout at West Coast ports. Trucking companies, too, have promoted legislation that places the financial burdens on shippers for long lines of idling trucks and late returns of equipment.

"It helps us in developing a coordinated public affairs program, weighing in on legislation in Sacramento," said John McLaunn, president of the Shipping Association. "We have been (targeted by) a number of bills in Sacramento dealing with port operations."

The shipping groups' decision to keep the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association's name and maintain its San Francisco headquarters effectively puts an end to the Steamship Association, formed 75 years ago in L.A.

There has been talk of a merger for at least three years, with first indications of serious progress being shown around the beginning of the year. At that time, the Shipping Association began to add terminal operators and stevedoring companies to a membership list that had mostly consisted of about 30 vessel operators.

Seeking clout

Maritime labor -- particularly longshoremen and truckers -- have long been at odds with vessel and terminal operators. The shipping companies, mostly headquartered in Asia, are considered to have more financial clout by virtue of their size and control of operations at the ports.

But after a series of labor victories over the past year, management is looking for the economic pendulum to swing back to its side.

One of the consolidated group's priorities will be to derail the California Trucking Association's Intermodal Reform Act bill, which received 16-1 approval by the Assembly Transportation Committee on May 4.

If passed, vessel operators would have to refund millions of dollars to trucking companies, most locally based, for the $44-per-day fees they were charged on late returns of containers and chassis for a five-month period ending in February.

That span includes the 10-day lockout, which trucking companies claim caused many of the late returns. Port operators said truckers in many cases haven't shown the claim is true.

"We would prefer to have business-to-business solutions rather than something being imposed on us," said McLaurin, adding that many faulty invoices have already been rectified. "The bill makes a blanket waiver for detention fees assessed."

The trucking group argues that since vessel operators closed the ports, they have no right to bill for late returns.

"It would be wrong for Blockbuster to charge you a late fee if it taped up its drop box," said Stephanie Williams, the trucking association's vice president.

A hot debate has also arisen over the Shipping Association's decision last year to restart its political action committee fund -- a move labor officials said might be illegal because most of the donations would come from vessel and terminal operations owned by foreign companies.

"The intent is to buy legislators," Williams said.

The PMSA, however, said the donations are voluntary, with the money derived from domestic operations and donated by U.S. citizens or permanent residents -- all in accordance with state law.

"It's part of (truckers') strategy to says it's the foreign corporation versus the domestic trucking company," said McLaurin. "They're just trying to generate support for their legislation."

Besides the Intermodal Reform Act bill, authored by Assembly Majority Leader Marco Firebaugh, D-South Gate, terminals are already dealing with a new law that fines them $250 for every truck left idling outside the gate for more than 30 minutes.

End at era

The merged group will have about 45 members, most of which also belonged to the Steamship Association. There will not be any significant cost savings in annual dues, which total $2,000 per member for the Steamship Association and a higher, unspecified amount for the PMSA.

"Money was not the overriding issue," said Tim Parker, the Steamship Association's executive secretary. "All we're trying to do is make this a more coordinated effort. It's something whose time has come."

Parker will shed his ports role, which is part of a broader job at a non-profit association, when the merger is completed.

The new group just hired Tom Teofilo, former chief executive of the World Trade Center Association of Los Angeles-Long Beach, to serve as vice president overseeing Southern California operations.

They include the ports of L.A. and Long Beach, which handle more than $200 billion in container traffic per year.