Largest port on East Coast begins preparations for a strike

Port of New York/New Jersey executives tell CNBC they have begun preparations for a potential complete work stoppage by the International Longshoreman’s Association, the largest union in North America. The ILA represents over 85,000 longshoremen and a strike would shut down five of the 10 busiest ports in North America, and a total of 36 ports along the East and Gulf Coasts, on October 1. Between 43%-49% of all U.S. imports and billions of dollars in trade monthly are at stake as the union moves closer to the Oct. 1 deadline for a new contract. Cruise operations would continue.

Talks with port ownership broke down over the summer and it remains unclear how much progress, if any, is being made between ILA leadership and ports ownership. The ILA rank-and-file recently voted unanimously to authorize a strike and the group which represents port management, the United States Maritime Alliance, recently stated that it believes the union has already made the decision to strike.

Beth Rooney, director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, told CNBC on Thursday that individual ocean carriers and terminal operators are announcing their ramping down of operations to avoid a pile-up of containers. The Port of New York/New Jersey has been involved in discussions with ocean carriers and terminal operators about managing cargo leading up to an interruption, ensuring appropriate measures are in place to complete cargo movements off the terminals before any shutdown.

“A number of ocean carriers have announced their plans in terms of embargoing export cargo coming to the East Coast from the Midwest,” said Rooney. “So the further afield that the cargo might be coming to us from within the hinterland, the earlier that it would be embargoed,” she said. “If there is a strike and operations cease, the vessels would either wait in a designated area or slow steam as they did during Covid to delay their arrival. Once the strike is over the Coast Guard would lead the charge in an orderly flow of vessels entering the port.”

In a recent blog post, Jim Mancini, CH Robinson‘s vice president of North American surface Transportation wrote that not only U.S. companies and suppliers would be impacted, but also supply chains across Europe, Oceania, Latin America, and Asia.

“While the APAC region typically has more options to shift freight to the West Coast, over half of the automotive freight coming in today is heavily dependent on the East Coast. For example, the Germany to Charleston and Savannah corridor is crucial for European automakers which would be shut down in the event of a strike. Currently, there are only two container service loops operating between Europe and the U.S. West Coast.”

The Biden administration has said it will not invoke powers under the Taft-Hartley Act to force union members to go…