Eastern US ports, railroads prepare for possible strike

Ports in the eastern half of the US and railroads CSX and Norfolk Southern are starting to act on contingency plans as the deadline for a potential port worker labor strike nears.

Port authorities in New York, New Jersey, Virginia, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Houston, Texas, have told customers at least some operations will stop effective 30 September if the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and US Maritime Alliance (USMX) cannot come to a new collective bargaining agreement. Union members have threatened to walk off the job as soon as 1 October, potentially bringing container cargo traffic to a halt in many regions.

Other port authorities have been more circumspect on plans. The Maryland Port Authority, which oversees the Port of Baltimore, has said so far that it is "closely monitoring" the situation and that a strike "could impact" some operations.

At the moment, ILA and USMX do not appear to be close to an agreement on a master labor contract. USMX today filed an unfair labor practice charge against ILA with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing the union of "repeated refusal" to negotiate. The union earlier this week said the two sides have talked "multiple times" and blamed the impasse on USMX continually offering "an unacceptable wage increase package."

Container cargoes at greatest risk

The potential port strike is expected to have the greatest impact on products carried on container ships. Movements of dry bulk cargo, such as coal and grains, are expected to be less affected by a potential work stoppage, though there could be side effects from the congestion of other products being rerouted to ports not affected by the strike.

Some ports that have announced contingency plans expect to stop work on 30 September in stages. The Port of Virginia — including Norfolk International Terminals, Virginia International Gateway and Newport News Marine Terminal — would stop train deliveries at 8am ET on 30 September and require all vessels at the port to leave by 1pm. Container operations at Norfolk International Terminals and Virginia International Gateway would stop by 6pm ET that day, the port said.

The New Orleans Terminal at the Port of New Orleans would stop receiving refrigerated exports at 5pm ET on 27 September and halt container vessel operations at 1pm ET on 30 September. It would also halt rail operations at 5pm ET on 30 September.

Eastern railroads CSX and Norfolk Southern (NS) already have started curtailing some operations.

CSX required temperature-controlled refrigerated equipment headed to East coast ports to be at CSX loadouts by 25 September and set deadlines for other export intermodal shipments to be at CSX loadouts by 25 September-5 October.

NS required some eastern export shipments be at the railroad's loadout locations between 23-25 September and wants most of the rest of the container exports to be at its facilities by 5pm on 29 September.

"We are proactively implementing measures to minimize potential operational impacts across our network, including at our Intermodal facilities," NS said on 23 September. The railroad also "strongly" recommended that customers not ship hazardous, high-value and refrigerated products by rail to export terminals "to avoid unexpected delays upon reaching the port destinations."

By Courtney Schlisserman