FMA has been informed that the mediator-arbitrator, Mr. André G. Lavoie, has met separately with the MEA and CUPE and that the first mediation session is scheduled for Tuesday, May 25.

On May 19, the Port of Montreal published the following news release on the recovery.

STATUS OF THE SITUATION: BACK TO BUSINESS: MAY 19

Less than three weeks after the end of the dockworkers’ strike and the resumption of activities at the Port of Montreal, our efforts are well underway to fully clear the backlog and ensure a return to normalcy as fast as possible.

At present, about 7,000 TEUs to be shipped by rail are still on the terminals, considerably fewer than last week. The container dwell time has also been notably reduced from an average of 7 days last week to an average dwell of 5.4 days this week.

We thank our supply chain partners, including the trucking and rail companies, CN and CP, for their cooperation in this effort to turn things around despite the considerable challenges involved.

Rest assured that our teams, same as our partners’ teams, remain completely mobilized to fully restore the situation as soon as possible, a process that could take a few more weeks.

We will continue to keep you informed of all developments.