Longshoremen picketed the Port of Montreal on Tuesday. (Canadian Press)The maritime association that locked out hundreds of longshoremen at the Port of Montreal this week has asked for an injunction to keep them away from the site.

The Maritime Employers Association requested an injunction to move longshoremen at least 10 metres away from the port's entrance, where they have been walking a picket line since being locked out on Monday.

The two sides and the mediator are scheduled to meet Thursday and Friday, a spokesman for the Maritime Employers Association said.

"The employers are ready to sit and get it solved as soon as possible," Gilles Corriveau said Tuesday, adding the talks could extend into the weekend.

The lockout of about 900 longshoremen will cost the employers themselves about $800,000 per week, Corriveau said.

Unpacked shipping containers are piled up at the port. (CBC)However, there are fears that the lockout could be much more costly for businesses that use the port to get imported food and consumer goods.

Corriveau said containers full of goods, some of which could be perishable, were still sitting at the port.

At issue for the union is job security, as well as keeping guaranteed payments when longshoremen are on call and waiting for work.

The longshoremen, who unload shipping containers, have been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2008.

Corriveau said businesses that depend on the port to get their goods in or out of Canada will have to decide how long they want to wait.

"Are they going to wait before shipping or are they going to reroute their stuff and have it shipped by another harbour or by another way. It could be airlines, for instance, for certain companies."

Wine from Europe and sofas are among numerous imported consumer goods affected by the lockout that began Monday.

The Port of Montreal, the country's second-largest after the Port of Vancouver, says it generates spinoffs of some $2 billion annually, and creates more than 17,600 direct and indirect jobs.

With files from the Canadian Press