By Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno
HAGÃ
TÃA, Guam (October 1, 2002 - Pacific Daily News)---Even as West Coast cargo ports were shut down again yesterday over a labor dispute, an official for a major ocean carrier said ships still can make their weekly deliveries to Guam.
It takes about two weeks to move cargo by sea to Guam from the West Coast, where about 80 percent of Guam's food supplies and as much as 95 percent of all off-island merchandise pass through, island industry people have said.
Mar Labrador, Guam general manager for shipper CSX Lines, said with the two-week window, a brief work stoppage lasting two days, for example, gives an ocean carrier time to adjust so that a weekly port call isn't missed.
''So at this point there is no risk in missing a weekly call,'' Labrador said. The scenario to worry about, he added, is if the labor standoff drags on.
John Smith, store manager at Cost-U-Less, said island stores replenish perishable food items...