Three days into the dockworkers strike, at least 45 container ships are lined up outside major US ports, blocked from unloading the produce, medical supplies, auto parts, and other goods they carry. That's up from just three ships on Sunday, two days before the International Longshoremen's Association initiated a walkout, affecting 36 ports from Maine to Texas. The backlog could double by the end of the week, putting more pressure on port owners to reach a deal with ILA's 45,000 workers, Everstream Analytics' Jena Santoro tells Reuters. If the backlog were to double, it could take weeks or months to clear, she says.
"Each passing week will lead to half a month to a month's backlog processing," Burt Flickinger, managing director at retail consulting firm Strategic Resource Group, tells Business Insider. There's only so much space in ports and "once that capacity is full, things start to unravel quickly," per the outlet. There's the matter of spoiled produce, for one thing. Though some ships have diverted to West Coast ports, which means swallowing more costs and adding weeks to delivery times, many ships "seem to have decided to wait it out, possibly in hopes of a prompt resolution to the strike action, rather than taking the proactive decision to divert," Santoro tells Reuters.
Amid all this, the United States Maritime Alliance of port owners, whose offer of a 50% pay increase over six years for workers was denied, indicated late Wednesday that they were open to new negotiations, per Reuters. The ILA is demanding a 77% pay increase over six years, plus a ban on automation. "We cannot agree to preconditions to return to bargaining, but we remain committed to bargaining in good faith to address the ILA's demands and USMX's concerns," the alliance said. (More International Longshoremen's Association stories.)
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