Overview
- A labor walkout by ILWU Local 6 that began in mid-June has kept warehouse workers at C&H’s Crockett refinery off the job and prompted longshore solidarity that slowed unloading.
- With local dockworkers declining to cross the picket line, C&H rerouted at least one ship of raw sugar to the private Levin Richmond Terminal and began unloading and stacking the cargo in early July.
- Aerial and on-site video show large piles of raw sugar stored beside uncovered coal, cement and petroleum materials, and union witnesses reported seeing hydraulic fluid, oil and powdered cement on the ground.
- C&H says storing raw sugar at bulk terminals is common and that raw sugar is not food-grade until it is refined at the Crockett plant, while union leaders warn some contaminants such as petroleum and cement cannot be removed by refining.
- Richmond city staff inspected the terminal, referred concerns to the county health department, and the unresolved strike leaves hundreds of tons of sugar stalled on the dock with possible supply and public-health follow-ups likely to unfold.