Problems continue for Port of Oakland after settlement

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Work may be back to normal after last month's labor disputes but the problems the disputes created continue to plague Bay Area business owners waiting on international shipments.

Coffee is life to Dave Weber and lately, life tastes bitter.

Weber's company, The Annex, distributes thousands of pounds of coffee throughout the Bay Area, but ripple effects from the port labor slowdown has brought production to a crawl.

"The frustration is hard to describe," said Weber.

Weber doesn't expect to back to normal for another 6 to 8 weeks.

Even though the port dispute ended last month, Weber is still operating at about half of capacity. As a result, he's had to lay off some workers.

The Port of Oakland says longshoremen are working nights and weekends to catch up with the backlog.

Mike Zampa, a Port of Oakland spokesman, says, "Right now you have containers, trucks and vessels in places we don't want them. We need to get everything back on schedule."

He says things at the port are slow.

Truckers, like Bill Aboudi, are feeling the pressure and pain. The logjam of cargo containers still waiting to be picked up is staggering.

"Normally it takes 45 minutes to offload. Now it's taking 5 to 6 hours," said Aboudi.

The game of catch up could take weeks and many have run out of patience.