Dive Brief:

• In a sign of recovery from work slowdowns during protracted labor negotiations last year, U.S. West Coast ports say they’ve handled more than half of the imports coming in for the first time in a year.

• In September, the ports brought in 50.7% of imports into the U.S., measured by the value of goods, according to a Beacon Economics analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. East Coast ports’ share, which had grown as the negotiations stalled, dropped to 42.6%.

• Throughout this year, several retailers have continued to cite the West Coast slowdowns as hurting their bottom lines.

Dive Insight:

Though there was never a labor strike or official work stoppage, the long, drawn out contract dispute between the International Longshore & Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association caused major work slowdowns from last summer to this past February that each side blamed on the other.

The 29 ports from Washington state to southern California handle almost half the sea trade in the country, and more than 70% of Asian imports, putting severe kinks in retailers’ supply chains whenever there are slowdowns.

The situation underscored the economy’s and retailers’ dependence on imports manufactured elsewhere; there are now twice as many goods coming into the West Coast ports since the last work stoppage in 2002. Indeed, in recent quarters several retailers have continued to note the negative impact that the West Coast ports have had their bottom lines.

Several companies had also shifted their import operations to Gulf Coast and East Coast ports. But the West Coast’s convenient gateway is apparently bringing them back, and it looks like that trend back has momentum.

“Shippers are gravitating back to the West Coast” with high-value goods in particular returning, Beacon Economics analyst Jock O’Connell told the Wall Street Journal. “As the word gets out, other importers of less valuable goods will follow.”