As was reported in the WSJ,

West Coast port operators reached a tentative deal with dockworkers on a new contract, thereby averting the risk of any further work disruptions at 29 ports in California, Oregon and Washington.

The two sides reached the agreement after what they labeled “a marathon weekend bargaining session.” The deal comes more than three weeks after the 26,000 dockworkers’ last contract expired July 1.

The deal will come as a relief to shippers who had watched with increasing worry as the dockworkers engaged in a series of work slowdowns in recent weeks at the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland.

The agreement is subject to ratification by both the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents the dockworkers, and the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents terminal operators, ocean shippers and stevedores at the 29 ports.

In a press release late Monday, leaders from the two sides said they wouldn’t reveal details of the tentative six-year agreement for the time being.

If ratified, the agreement will avoid a repeat of what happened in 2002, the last time the union’s contract expired, when a negotiation impasse and a series of slowdowns at the docks eventually led to a 10-day lockout, snarling the nation’s supply chain and costing the economy billions of dollars.