From Coffee to Christmas Trees, Here’s What A Dock Workers Strike Would Disrupt

It’s looking increasingly likely that dock workers on the East Coast will launch a massive strike Tuesday, shuttering 36 ports along the East and Gulf Coasts. If that happens, Americans could experience supply chain disruptions through election day and well into the holiday season.

About three quarters of banana imports to the U.S. arrive at ports that would be affected by a strike, according to the chairman of Michigan State University’s department of supply chain management. Coffee and cocoa imports would also be affected, as would pharmaceutical imports — a third of which are routed through the port in Charleston, South Carolina.

Contract negotiations between port ownership and the International Longshoremen’s Association, which represents more than 85,000 dock workers, broke down over the summer, and the two sides remain in a stalemate over both wages and automating port operations. A strike of this size would cause wide-ranging supply chain issues that could impact consumers past Election Day and well into the holiday season.

The National Tree Company, which sells artificial Christmas trees and other decorations, has rushed to import goods early to beat the strike, but expects to see 15% of its goods stranded if a port strike happens.

A strike would delay some $32.8 billion in clothing imports, and just over $23 billion of furniture imports. In the year that ended June 30, about $37.8 billion in vehicle imports passed through the ports that would be shut down, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Baltimore’s port sees the most car shipments of any port in the country.

Peter Kopke, who has been importing fruit at his family’s company Kopke Fruit since 1958, warned that Americans would see prices “rise sharply” if the strike happens.

“Right now there’s million of boxes of citrus fruit as well as bananas and others that are going to be caught in the strike,” Kopke said on Fox Business. “And if the strike lasts for any length of time, the fruit will deteriorate, and those business that employ thousands of employees will have to stop because they’re going to lose millions of dollars. So it’s a very, very serious thing, especially for perishables.

“This is something that is quite different since 50 or 60 years ago because now the international commerce is a tremendous part of our economy,” he said. “You have 45,000 workers affecting 350 million people.”

The strike could also disrupt American exports, of beef, cotton, and poultry. About 70% of all poultry exports and more than a quarter of all egg exports leave via East and Gulf Coast ports, according to customs data and the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council. Nearly half of all pork exports set to travel by ship, about 45%, and 30% of all beef exports were shipped out of the affected ports from January through July, a U.S. Meat Export Federation spokesperson told Reuters.

Supply chain shortages could cause prices to rise just as families are trying to recover from the nearly 20% spike in prices since before the pandemic. Inflation is one of the most important issues to voters this presidential election, which has Vice President Kamala Harris locked in a tight race against former president Donald Trump less than six weeks out from Election Day.

About 76% of voters say inflation is a major factor in their choice for president, an August CBS poll showed. Over half of voters favor Trump on the economy, compared with 46% who favor Harris, a Fox News poll found.

Harris has struggled to say how she would lower prices.

She has acknowledged that “the bills add up” and promised that “building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.” However, many of her proposals would require congressional approval, and the campaign has not offered many details about how to pay for expensive proposals like a free $25,000 down payment for first-time home buyers.