IN THE NEWS: East Coast port strike—Truckers, rails scramble to move billions in cargo before ILA union midnight shutdown

CNBC
September 30, 2024
Lori Ann LaRocco

FROM THE ARTICLE: With a potential strike at ports up and down the East Coast and along the Gulf Coast set to begin after midnight Monday, logistics executives tell CNBC the remaining hours are critical in moving out as much trade as possible before a shutdown that will do serious damage to the functioning of the U.S. economy.

Trucking companies and freight rail operators are scrambling to move billions in trade that has been arriving at the 14 ports where the largest longshoremen’s union in North America is planning to strike after midnight Monday if a new contract is not reached with ports management.

For the week that ended last Friday, nearly $14 billion in trade arrived at these ports, including New York/New Jersey, Baltimore, Norfolk, Virginia, Savannah, Georgia, Miami, New Orleans, and Houston, with $2.7 billion in trade arriving on Friday alone.

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Paul Brashier, Vice President of Global Supply Chain for ITS Logistics, said conversations with clients on freight pickup strategy have been taking place over the past two weeks.

“If shippers waited until Monday to bring on additional trucks to pick up their freight, I feel it may be too late to get available containers out of the terminals so they can avoid excessive demurrage charges during the strike,” Brashier said. “Shippers should not be lulled into a false sense of security during the strike, as just like during Covid, the breakdown in the supply chain did not occur until after operations resumed after shut down,” he said.

Read the full article here.