Eastern U.S. Port Strike Threat Looms, Negotiations to Restart

As a Jan. 15 deadline approaches for Eastern U.S. dockworkers and their employers to avoid a possible strike, speculation is rampant that a contract agreement won’t be reached by then and shipment disruption is likely. Both sides appear to be willing to return to the bargaining table, reportedly as early as Jan. 7. Pessimism regarding avoiding a strike grew in the days prior to the New Year, when A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S urged customers to remove cargo from East and Gulf Coast ports.

Maersk, the world’s No. 2 container carrier, encouraged customers Dec. 30 to pick up their laden containers and return empty containers at U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports before the deadline. “If no agreement is reached by that date, a coast-wide strike on Jan. 16 is possible. However, the negotiations have had no new developments since our last communication (Dec. 19),” the advisory said.

Farm Policy News, forecasting the impact of a strike on grain production and exporting of frozen or chilled food products such as meat and pork, indicated Jan. 2 a “high likelihood” of a strike. The trade publisher reported that ports and terminal operators are preparing for a possible strike; they are likely to stop accepting refrigerated cargo several days before the strike date.

The union (International Longshoremen’s Association, ILA) and employers (United States Maritime Alliance, USMX) are scheduled to resume talks; however, Freight Waves, a price reporting agency focused on the global freight market, reported Jan. 1, that one Freight Waves source confirmed Jan. 7 as the resumption date; another indicated it could be a week later.

A third source, identified by Freight Waves as an individual close to the negotiations, said the decision to resume negotiations was unexpected and came together quickly, and that the sides had been talking informally for some time. President-elect Donald Trump publicly backed the union following a Mar-a-Lago meeting with ILA President Harold Daggett and Executive VP Dennis Daggett in mid-December (photo).

A three-day strike by 45,000 ILA workers in early October shut down container handling and vehicle unloading at dozens of ports. The Biden administration stepped in and an agreement was reached for a 62% pay raise over a new six-year master contract and current contract extension while resuming negotiations. Talks broke off in November when ILA reported that “USMX introduced language in their proposal for semiautomated equipment to be used at ILA ports, which this union outright rejected. The ILA recognized this as a renewed attempt by USMX to eliminate ILA jobs with automation.”