Dateline: Seattle/Tacoma

Exposed: Seattle Port Shipping Industry Endangers Lives

November 1, 2011

So let’s say you work in one of America’s most dangerous industries, like trucking at the ports. You see faulty chassis, overweight containers, unlabeled containers full of hazardous chemicals, et cetera.

But what if industry schemes prevent professional drivers from blowing the whistle on safety violations even when it’s their job to safely command 80,000 pounds of truck and cargo? For starters, you could leak it to the press.

Seattle’s King TV 5 News sent investigative reporter Chris Ingalls to the docks to find out more.

Ingalls’ report, Container trucks near Port of Seattle most dangerous in the state turned up Washington State Patrol records showing chronic safety violations so serious that officers pulled 32% of the container haulers they inspected off the road — a rate twice as high as for trucks throughout the state. When specially trained officers conducted more thorough inspections this year, 58% of Port of Seattle container haulers were put out of service because they were too dangerous.

These problems are not confined to Seattle. Safety violations are rampant all across the country. The Los Angeles Times detailed “a shadowy economy of risk-taking drivers and discount mechanics, body workers, welders and junkyards – legal and otherwise” who keep port trucks on the road. When a llantero, the Spanish name for those who regroove worn tires with a hot knife, pointed out a potentially deadly bulge in a client’s rubber tire, the driver shrugged and told the reporter:

“It’s dangerous and irresponsible … But I don’t have money for new tires. I’m behind on my bills. As long as the California Highway Patrol doesn’t stop me, I’ll keep doing it.”

Why is this happening? The reason is simple. Wealthy shippers and cargo owners rig the port trucking system for their own profit without regard to the safety of others.

Mile after mile and heavy loads take a toll on big rigs. Tires, brakes, brake lights, anything that moves on a truck needs to be repaired and maintained. And when they’re not, truck drivers and the public are put in danger.

Just ask Bob Kentner, whose windshield was shattered by a flying port truck brake part. He was lucky. He wasn’t hurt, but he could have been. ”Had it been three or four more inches to the left or right I could have had my head decapitated,” said Kentner.

In a follow up segment, Behind the Scenes: Who has to fix the dangerous truck?, King 5’s Ingalls explains that cargo trucks typically have three different owners: the driver owns the cab; a terminal operator owns the chassis; and a shipping company owns the container. But guess who pays when a part breaks or a shipper packs a container over the legal weight? You got it. Not the terminal operator. Not the shipping company. It’s the port driver who typically makes about $29,000 and cannot afford the repairs and fines.

Shippers and trucking companies force these costs onto drivers through a scheme known as illegal misclassification. They pretend that the drivers are ‘consultants’ or ‘independent contractors’ responsible for all their own business costs while maintaining tight control over how they do their work. With the costs of doing business put on the backs of port drivers earning poverty-level wages, it’s no wonder necessary repairs don’t happen. And it’s the drivers and the public whose safety is put at risk.