Such aspirations aren't new in Baltimore, where men and women have survived on dock work for generations in middle-class neighborhoods like Locust Point and Canton. But Rhodes' path to the pier is far from certain.

She is one of 10 newly admitted members of the International Longshoremen's Association Local 333, the port's largest labor union, who recently filed a lawsuit against the Steamship Trade Association of Baltimore, which represents employers, alleging the group has blocked their attempts to work the docks. She's also among hundreds of new members at the local whose membership has been questioned internally within the union.

In the last year, landing a port job has become increasingly complicated, as shippers have butted heads with Local 333 leaders over a local contract that governs how jobs are filled. Turmoil within the ranks of the union has also spread confusion about new members entering the field. Last week, national ILA officials placed the local under trusteeship and launched an investigation into allegations that hundreds of new members have been brought into the union in recent months without proper approval from the local's existing membership.

Beyond leaving those aspiring longshoremen in limbo, the confusion has implications for existing members and for Baltimore's reputation as a reliable port of call, at a time when it is looking to ramp up business with the widening of the Panama Canal, said Anirban Basu, a local economist and founder of Sage Policy Group.

Though Baltimore has the 50-foot channel depth needed for the large ships scheduled to move through the canal, the port's labor situation isn't helping inspire confidence in shippers, Basu said. Instead, it adds to Baltimore's shortcomings for handling high volumes of international goods, including its lack of "double-stacking" capability for loading cargo containers two-high on outbound trains.

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