| There's less than a week until a dockworker strike could shutter every major container port on the US Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and cargo owners are trying to avoid the fallout.
The International Longshoremen's Association is threating to walk out if a deal isn't reached before Oct. 1, when their six-year-old labor agreement with the US Maritime Alliance expires. The USMX, as the group representing ocean carriers and terminal operators is known, and the dockworker union remain far apart on wages and, a potentially harder issue to resolve, automation.
The ILA hasn't gone on strike since the late 1970s, and there's a lot of uncertainty around what it would look like. Energy terminals wouldn't be affected, fresh fruit imports could be, but maybe not bananas. Generally, goods that arrive or depart in a container anywhere on the Gulf or Atlantic coasts are at risk of coming to a halt next week.
Dockworkers would continue working in some places even during a strike, ILA leader Harold Daggett said in a statement Tuesday, evoking a WWI-era "No Strike Pledge" for US military goods. He also confirmed the strike would not apply to passenger cruise vessels at ILA ports. A union spokesperson didn't reply to a question about US banana imports, which are heavily reliant on the affected ports.
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The strike threat is already impacting operations. East and Gulf ports are adding weekend hours and advising owners of refrigerated containers to remove them from the terminal docks before the clock runs out. Some ocean carriers have stopped taking export bookings and set up significant disruption surcharges for cargo moving to and from the at-risk ports later in October.
Weary of potential disruptions ahead of the all-important holiday season, many retailers brought their goods in ahead of time. That contributed to near-record trade volumes and an early peak shipping season, which may blunt the economic impact of a coast-wide port disruption.
"General retail goods may be the only category not as affected by a short or medium-term strike action," said Mirko Woitzik, Everstream Analytics' global director of intelligence. Most companies in the sector have an estimated three-to-four weeks of inventory stockpiled, he said.
For those importers and exporters who didn't — or couldn't— plan so far ahead, it may be too late to avoid significant delays and expenses, depending on how long any disruption lasts.
"We began advising customers in advance to delay any freight scheduled to leave after Sept. 20 and intended for an East and Gulf Coast port as it would likely arrive in October," said Josh Jungwirth, an executive at logistics firm GEODIS. "It's extremely challenging to redirect freight that is already on the water, and preventing or redirecting is a much better alternative."
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But some goods like perishable food imports, beef and pork exports, and auto parts can't easily be re-routed and aren't usually stockpiled. Pharmaceuticals are another category that's on the line.
The ports impacted by a potential strike handle more than 90% of the pharmaceutical products imported to the US in containers, and nearly 70% of those exported, according to Woitzik.
"The pharmaceutical and healthcare sector, which relies on a time-sensitive supply chain may see the biggest impacts," he said, which could mean disruptions to production and patient care. —Laura Curtis in Los Angeles | 
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