Anacortes Cancels 17 American Cruise Lines Calls in Labor Dispute
Local 25, which has roughly 10 members in Anacortes, initially handled American Cruise Lines line work in 2013 and later stepped aside while the business developed.
The Port of Anacortes will stop accepting American Cruise Lines berthing reservations beginning Sept. 7, 2026, canceling 17 scheduled calls through October after the operator declined local labor terms for mooring-line work. The cutoff interrupts a 13-year relationship that has recently brought about 50 ACL day calls to Anacortes each season.
The dispute centers on whether ACL crew members or International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 25 dockworkers should handle ships’ lines. The port said ACL would accept neither the terms of its marine terminal tariff nor a union proposal to perform the work with fewer workers than typically assigned.
American Spirit called at Curtis Wharf on Aug. 30 and is scheduled to return Sept. 6, the final reservation before the cutoff. ACL declined to comment on the port’s decision or explain how the canceled Anacortes visits would affect its cruises.
Port backs ILWU line-handling claim
Local 25, which has roughly 10 members in Anacortes, approached the port early this year seeking to reclaim the work of tying up and releasing ACL vessels. Union members initially performed the work when the cruise line began visiting in 2013. They stepped aside voluntarily while the business developed.
“We have been clear since the beginning that if it started picking up and more ships started coming out, we would want those jobs back,” said Johnny Decker, a 20-year dockworker who represents the local chapter.
ACL deckhand job descriptions assign line handling to crew members when its vessels arrive at and depart from ports. At public ports along the West Coast, however, the ILWU has long claimed that work under its contract with the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents maritime employers.
“The labor standard on the West Coast is ILWU,” said John Dumas, executive director of the Port of Anacortes. The port also has a labor agreement with the union.
Marine Terminal Tariff No. 22, effective July 1, 2024, allows the port to provide and supervise labor for line work at rates specified in the tariff. Dumas cited that authority in an Aug. 24 letter notifying ACL that the port would no longer accommodate its reservations under the company’s existing line-handling practice.
“We offered to use minimal manning to keep that cost down,” Decker said. “We’d been working with them, trying to resolve this, but it didn’t seem like they were interested in that.”
Informational pickets spread to other ports
The union had warned the port that its members would begin picketing ACL calls unless the parties reached a quick agreement. Decker and other Local 25 members held an informational picket near Curtis Wharf on Aug. 16.
Other ILWU chapters have staged informational pickets involving ACL this summer in Seattle, Tacoma, Port Angeles and Port Townsend. In Anacortes, union members also load petroleum coke and prilled sulfur from nearby refineries, but Decker said that work has become less regular and contributed to the local’s effort to regain cruise-ship line work.
“If your management decision regarding line services changes, please do not hesitate to contact me to discuss feasible berthing arrangements,” Dumas wrote.
