The Port of New York and New Jersey is preparing for an all-out strike by unionized dockworkers on the East and Gulf Coasts, which handle nearly half of the nation's ocean cargo, potentially triggering a supply chain crisis that has upended the economy in the wake of the COVID pandemic.
The International Longshoremen's Association union, which represents 85,000 workers at 36 ports, vowed to strike The company will be forced to withdraw unless it can reach a new agreement before its current six-year contract expires at midnight on September 30.
Beth Looney, Port Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said: He spoke to CNBC on Thursday. The East Coast's busiest ports have begun scaling back operations to avoid container pile-ups.
Port authorities are discussing cargo management ahead of the expected work stoppage, Looney said.
“A number of shipping companies have announced plans to embargo export cargo coming from the Midwest to the East Coast,” Looney said.
“So the further inland the cargo is coming from, the sooner the embargo will be imposed,” she said.
If a strike were to occur and services were to be halted, “vessels would have to wait in designated areas or slow down and delay their arrival, as they have done during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Looney said.
“Once the strike is over, the Coast Guard will take the lead in directing ships entering the port in an orderly manner,” she said.
As of Friday, 147 ships carrying an estimated $34 billion worth of cargo were scheduled to arrive at East Coast and Gulf of Mexico ports through Oct. 1, according to data and analytics firm Kpler.
Of those, 38 were headed to the Port of New York/New Jersey.
The union is demanding significant wage increases and a total ban on automation of the cranes, gates and container movements used to load and unload cargo at 36 U.S. ports.
A prolonged strike would almost certainly have a devastating effect on the economy. Five of the nation's 10 largest ports are on the Gulf Coast or East Coast, handling between 43 and 49 percent of all U.S. imports.
Even a short strike would cause disruption: cargo would be diverted to West Coast ports, where workers belong to a different union that is not on strike, and vehicle traffic could become even more congested at key points around the country.
When longshoremen's unions eventually get back to work, there will likely be ship backlogs.
Experts say for every day of port strikes, it takes four to six days to resolve.
The highest-ranking dockworkers currently earn a base salary of $39 an hour, or just over $81,000 a year.
But with overtime and other benefits, some can earn more than $200,000 a year.
Neither the union nor the port authority would discuss pay levels, but about a third of longshoremen based there earn more than $200,000, according to a 2019-2020 report from the Waterfront Commission, which oversees the Port of New York.
The American Maritime Alliance, which represents ports, said it was committed to restarting talks and averting the first nationwide longshoremen's strike since 1977.
The company accuses the union of having already decided in advance to strike.
“A new agreement must be negotiated to avoid unnecessary and costly attacks that would be detrimental to both sides,” the alliance said in a statement.
With post wire
