Another Supply Chain Crisis Story: The 1958 Blockade of Catalina Island By Geraldine Knatz Ph.D.
Another Supply Chain Crisis Story: The 1958 Blockade of Catalina Island
By Geraldine Knatz Ph.D.
Photo of Avalon Air Transport taken by Richard Probert, 1967.
The flotilla of ships loitering off the coast of Southern California is not the first time a supply chain crisis has hit this region. And it won’t be the last. While the Port of Los Angeles is part of a vital global supply chain, few recognize it is a key link in a much shorter but vital 26- mile supply chain - one that services the island of Catalina Island.
While many today are just learning the term supply chain, residents of the Island have always understood the importance of their supply chain. Bad weather can often leave residents and visitors unable to ferry the 26 miles home. Weather had been known to delay the daily barge shipments of food and other necessities. A day or two is an inconvenience. Weeks of no deliveries is a crisis. It was just over 60 years ago that that supply chain between Catalina and the mainland was cut. A labor dispute, not bad weather, was the cause.
Freight was delivered to the island by the Catalina Island Steamship Company CISL), loaded on board ship by members of Local 13 of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union (Today known as the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, ILWU). CISL’s contract with the longshore union expired on October 20, 1958. On November 1, 1958, CISL proposed to switch its freight operation to a “piggyback” service. Rather than having longshoremen load freight on their steamship, pre-loaded truck trailers would be trucked to the harbor and then put on a barge to bring foodstuffs and other freight to the island. CISL contracted with the H-10 Water Taxi Company for this new service. There was no longer any need for the 14 men who loaded freight by hand.
The 14 men who lost their jobs were not going to go quietly. That same day, the ILWU threw up a picket line at the CISL’s terminal in Wilmington, California. As it was, their work was not steady as freight shipments to the Island dropped off in the winter. Many held other jobs, with some working in Island establishments. They picketed the steamship companies berth in Wilmington and the Teamster truck drivers bringing freight to the dock refused to cross the picket line. It didn’t matter that the freight was being loaded in a container on a barge instead of by man onto the Catalina Island steamship. A trucker still had to get it there and no trucker was going to cross the line. The result: no food or goods was crossing the dock.
Why the sudden change in how freight was being delivered? The CISC said it was losing money on the freight operation- especially in the winter when there was not enough work to keep 14 men working. A bigger issue was looming on the horizon - one that would forever change the way longshoreman worked at Los Angeles Harbor. Piggyback service was a portent of the future- the birth of intermodalism-the transport of goods in one contained unit carried on another type of transportation, such as a freight container on a barge. It was the transportation innovation that would lead the Port of Los Angeles to become the U.S. leader in handling containerized cargo.
Back in 1958, 1500 residents lived on the island and they depended on the freight service. No service, no food. Until a food air lift was started. Residents of the Island likened it to the 1948 Soviet blockade of all Allied supply lines into Berlin when U.S. and Britain forces flew food and vital supplies into Berlin. To the rescue came the six planes of Avalon Air Transport, a company whose primary purpose was flying visitors to Catalina Island. Just as today’s airlines filled empty seats during COVID to get vital medical supplies to their final destination, Avalon Air Transport, along with Catalina Airlines, were now carrying food and other vital supplies. Island merchants were meeting the planes with push-carts to carry the goods to their stores.
Prices for everyday items like milk started to climb. Newspaper headlines screamed the island was blockaded. Contractors were idled as they ran out of building supplies. After nearly a month, people were getting desperate. Neither side was willing to give.
The City of Avalon was caught in the middle. On November 27, the ILWU offered to work for free loading cargo on city-owned vessels up until Dec 15th when they expected to receive a new contract. Meanwhile Santa Catalina Steamship Company wanted out of the freight business. Even an ILWU plan to save the steamship line money on freight handling was not enough to convince Santa Catalina Steamship Company to continue.
The final arbitrator was a judge. The steamship company filed an unfair labor practice claim against the ILWU with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB sought an injunction to halt the picketing in late December which was granted. But the waterborne supply chain to the Island had been broken for 6 weeks. On March 12, 1959, the NLRB found the ILWU guilty of unfair labor practices. They had violated the “secondary boycott” prohibition in the NLRB Act by their actions to pressure other companies from doing business with Catalina Island Steamship Line. The CISL had first tried to establish its barge service with Pacific Rowboat and Salvage Company. Pacific declined the work after being threatened with a strike by the ILWU. The ILWU also picketed a site that H-10 Water Taxi was using for its barge, preventing the truckers from bringing freight to the barge but this public wharf was not a place of business for CISL and therefore should not have been subject to pickets.
Freight service to the Island has gone through many challenges and operators over the course of the island’s history. Today, a barge service, operated by Catalina Express and called Avalon Freight Services, still brings essential food items to Catalina from its base in San Pedro. One can often see Von’s trailers, riding “piggyback” on a barge, leaving the Port of Los Angeles to service the one grocery store on the Island. Four thousand people depend on the barge, aptly named the Catalina Provider.
For stories about the history of the Port of Los Angeles, see Geraldine Knatz’s new book, Port of Los Angeles, Conflict, Commerce and the Fight for Control.
With years of research and more than 200 maps and images, Geraldine Knatz shapes an insightful story of the Port of Los Angeles, from its early entrepreneurs to the city’s business and political leadership, and the inevitable conflicts that arose between them. Knatz digs into the back stories of the key players in a hardcore, well-documented piece of storytelling at its best. Port of Los Angeles matches a topic—the history of Los Angeles Harbor—with someone of unquestionable authority to tackle the subject. Knatz worked nearly four decades at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, her last eight years as Executive Director at Los Angeles. In this remarkable book, her expertise shows. Port of Los Angeles reads like a script for another Chinatown, only this time it's about saltwater and controlling the waterfront, not drinking water and controlling the land. Knatz takes readers on a journey that will educate and inspire, and fills these pages with real-life intrigue, masterminds, and politics extraordinaire. Port of Los Angeles will leave the world's maritime aficionados spellbound and historians in awe. A must-read for anyone who treasures the history of Los Angeles. "The Port of Los Angeles made this city. This very well might be "The Study" of what made modern Los Angeles." —William Deverell, Director, Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West
Related Articles
