A dockworker strike impacting ports from Maine to Texas is set to begin on Tuesday, October 1st.

The looming strike has massive implications for the U.S. economy, costing billions of dollars each day.

“A shutdown of the ports would cost the economy up to $4.5 billion each day, according to a report from JPMorgan senior equity analyst Brian Ossenbeck,” ABC News noted.

“I warned about this days ago. Longshoremen voted to strike, they walk out Tuesday. 85,000 dockworkers from Maine to Texas. Will impact 36 ports and all imports & exports from Maine to Texas! This could get rough,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said.

WATCH:

“The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) said in a statement on Monday that its wage demands were still not being met and blamed ports management for a strike that will start at 12:01 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Oct. 1,” CNBC wrote.

A port strike will compound the dire supply chain scenario caused by Hurricane Helene.

ABC News reports:

The East and Gulf Coast ports account for more than half of U.S. container imports, facilitating the transport of everything from toys to fresh fruit to nuclear reactors, Ossenbeck found.

A strike lasting only a handful of days would wreak little damage, but a prolonged work stoppage of several weeks or months could drive up prices for some goods and cause layoffs at manufacturers as raw materials dry up, experts said.

“The supply chain will start to get shocked after a couple of weeks,” Adam Kamins, a senior director of economic research at Moody’s Analytics, told ABC News. “If it gets beyond that, we’ll start to see some much more significant implications.”

The International Longshoreman’s Association, the union which says it represents 50,000 East and Gulf Coast dockworkers under the contract at issue, did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment. The U.S. Maritime Alliance, or USMX, an organization bargaining on behalf of the dockworkers’ employers, declined to respond to a request for comment. The USMX claims that only 25,000 workers will be impacted by the work stoppage.

Per CNBC:

Based on data from ImportGenius, which tracks the bills of lading — the digital receipts of cargo containers — a total of 54,456 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) arrived on Friday at the 14 ports operating under the master contract between the International Longshoremen’s Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) which expires at midnight Monday. The approximate value of that freight was upward of $2.7 billion, based on an MDS Transmodal estimate of $50,000 per container. For the weekdays between Sept. 23-27, a total of 273,417 TEUs were imputed through customs at these ports with a value of approximately $13.67 billion.

Alan Baer, CEO of OL USA, said the enormity of the freight volumes arriving Friday alone shows the scramble logistics companies are in to get the containers off the dock by close of business Monday. “Importers, in coordination with their logistic partners, should try to clear as many of their containers off open terminals where possible to avoid possible delays in acquiring their inventory,” said Baer.

On average, it takes one week to clear out one day of a port closure. As much as 43% to 49% of total containerized goods entering the U.S are processed through ports on the East Coast and Gulf Coast.

Michael Kanko, CEO of ImportGenius, tells CNBC the economic importance of the ports impacted by an ILA strike is profound. “As our data shows, a strike of even a week will block the flow of hundreds of thousands of containers into the U.S.,” he said. “These ports are also a major gateway into the U.S. for refrigerated produce. Time isn’t on the side of importers.”

 

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.


We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.