West Coast ports were inactive for a sixth day today as dozens of ships loaded with merchandise anchored offshore and a federal mediator urged longshoremen and shipping lines to return to the bargaining table.

About 72 vessels were idle late Wednesday around the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the two busiest U.S. ports, with more expected to arrive today.
Meanwhile, the National Retail Federation asked President Bush to open the 29 ports to prevent disrupting shipments of merchandise for the holidays. The dispute is costing the U.S. economy a little less than $1 billion a day, according to California Gov. Gray Davis, who joined a chorus of voices calling for talks to resume.
William J. Canary, president of the American Trucking Assns., sent a letter to the president on Wednesday, asking him to step into the port controversy. Canary asked Bush to urge the Pacific Maritime Assn. and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union to continue working on a new labor contract while extending the one that expired last summer.
"Failing that, we would strongly urge you to exercise your Executive authority to invoke the 80-day cooling-off period authorized under the Taft-Hartley Act," the letter said.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., also said Bush should order the ports reopened and impose the cooling-off period.
And the West Coast Waterfront Coalition, which represents retailers and transportation companies, urged Bush to take whatever steps are necessary to reopen the ports.
The Bush administration is closely monitoring the situation, according to spokesman Ari Fleischer. But he wouldn't say at what point the administration might take a more active role in helping to settle the dispute.
Representatives of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents 10,500 dockworkers, met with Peter Hurtgen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of federal mediation in the dispute, the union said.
The main bone of contention in the stalled talks is that the shipping lines want more computers at terminals, while the dockworkers won't agree unless it gets control over more of those jobs.
"It will take two to three weeks to unscramble this once cargo starts flowing," Lazard Freres transportation analyst James Winchester told Bloomberg News. He based his estimate on ships already delayed on the West Coast, future shipping schedules and cargo piled several containers high.
Carriers closed terminals late Friday, reopened them early Sunday, only to shut the ports later that day because workers reduced productivity by 54%, the shipping company association said. Frustrated truckers were backed up in two lanes for more than a quarter of a mile at terminals in Los Angeles and Long Beach, according to the LA Times. The union denied it engaged in slowdowns, saying that it only adhered to safety regulations.
The carriers won't reopen the terminals unless the union signs a temporary contract extension, which would make job actions illegal. The union has refused to sign.
The union and carriers have negotiated a new labor contract since May.