Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Potential Longshoremen Strike could shutdown East and Gulf coasts ports

The looming prospect of a longshoremen's strike at 15 ports from Boston to Houston as early as Dec. 30 has shippers and retailers pleading with the union and cargo carriers to avert a major trade disruption that would affect businesses across the eastern U.S. 
The International Longshoremen's Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance Ltd., a group of container companies and port associations, remain far apart in negotiations begun last March over a six-year contract covering container work at the ports. 
Port authorities along the coast, which aren't part of the negotiations but would be effectively shut down by a strike, are bracing for a walkout by 14,650 longshoremen. 
[...] 
No one knows the full impact of an eastern U.S. strike, but a 10-day lockout at West Coast ports in 2002 cost an estimated $1 billion a day, according to the National Retail Federation.
Read the whole story HERE.

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