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A six-year contract covering thousands of West Coast dockworkers is set to expire Tuesday, but both sides insist they want to keep the ports running smoothly ? even if they have to keep talking after the deadline. That would be a welcome break for the already teetering U.S. economy, since the billions of dollars in cargo handled by those ports represents about 11 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. In addition, neither side wants a replay of the bitter, 10-day lockout in 2002 that caused an estimated $15 billion in economic losses. "The hope is we can reach an agreement without the kind of disruption that we've seen in the past," said Steve Getzug, spokesman for the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents 72 shipping companies.