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Negotiators for port clerks have reached an impasse in contract talks with shippers and other employers that threatens to prompt a strike and shut down the flow of container traffic at the nation's largest port complex. "The union declared an impasse," Steve Berry, lead negotiator for the marine terminal operators who employ the office clerks, told The Associated Press on Thursday. "We tried several different ideas to break the logjam, all of which were rejected by the union. They stuck to their last, best, final position they communicated last Saturday." he said. Workers were ready to strike, according to John Fageaux Jr., president of the Office Clerical Unit, Local 63, of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.