Attacks on ports along the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico could threaten the supply of bananas to Americans.
According to the American Farm Federation, three-quarters of the country's bananas (more than 3.8 million tons) each year pass through ports managed by the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA).
In 2023, approximately 27% of U.S. banana imports would go through the Port of Wilmington alone. The Port of Delaware bills itself as the largest banana port in North America, and the Ports of Dole and Chiquita each call at the Port of Wilmington twice a week.
Tens of thousands of ILA workers at ports from Maine to Texas went on strike just after midnight Tuesday after the union and the United States Maritime Union (USMX) failed to reach an agreement on a new contract.
Jason Miller, a professor at Michigan State University who specializes in supply chain management, said many retailers have moved shipments forward or rerouted them to the West Coast in anticipation of the strike, but these are not viable options for banana imports. He said there was no.
The value per pound of bananas is “pretty low,” Miller explained, so it doesn't make sense to ship them by plane or reroute them to the West Coast and ship them across the country by train or truck. .
Bananas are a perishable item, he noted, so they cannot be loaded ahead of schedule, as is the case with holiday imports.
“This is basically one of those product categories where once the current domestic supply for the areas served by the East and Gulf Coast is exhausted, additional supply will be difficult to obtain here,” Miller said. told The Hill.
“Many Americans don't understand that there simply isn't a Plan B because it's not economical. This is an example of such a product,” he added. “There's no magical alternative to this.”
There are widespread estimates of the strike's potential economic impact. The Conference Board projects costs of about $540 million per day, while JPMorgan analysts estimate costs could reach up to $5 billion per day.
President Biden sent a senior official to urge both sides to “reach a just agreement fairly and quickly.” But he has so far refused to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act, which would allow the president to seek an 80-day “cooling off” period for strikes that “endanger the health or safety of the public.”
