Shipping companies and dockworkers have reached a tentative labor deal after nine months of negotiating that has deadlocked the flow of cargo through 29 ports on the U.S. West Coast and disrupted maritime trades across the Pacific with Asia.

A joint statement between the two sides was issued, confirming the agreement. Just three days before. U.S Labor Secretary Thomas Perez had arrived in San Francisco in an attempt to broker a deal, bringing with him a federal mediator who had spent weeks trying to bring the two sides together, according to a Reuters report.

The massive labor shutdown will come as a tremendous relief to the economy and allow trans-Pacific trade to resume. During the dispute, cargo ships had sat idle, anchored off the West Coast in a standoff with shipping companies. Trucks arriving at ports to pick up their cargo were backed up endlessly.

With the agreement not yet finalized, President Obama in a statement urged them to work quickly to clear backlogs and congestion in the ports.

The dispute over a new five-year labor contract has left 20,000 dockworkers without any contract since last summer.

The dispute had a major disruption on the flow of cargo at the ports in question, which handle nearly half of U.S. maritime trade and more than 70 percent of the imports from Asia.

It resulted in shipping companies cancelling operations at the five busiest ports, suspending the handling of cargo for holidays, weekends, and even night shifts.

Under the new agreement, the Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Associate both agreed to restore port operations beginning this evening.

The dispute became so significant for the U.S. economy that it prompted Labor Secretary Perez to get involved, telling both the union and management negotiators that they need to get a deal done because “too many people and businesses are suffering,” according to the Retuers report.

Perez said in a conference call with the media after an agreement had been reached that he had given both sides notice that unless they came to terms quickly, they would be summoned to the White House to continue negotiations there.