Port strike presents lucrative opportunity for spot market carriers
Summary
President Joe Biden said he will not intervene despite calls from numerous groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act, which would force ports to resume operations while negotiations continue. Timing of a strike could not have been worse, kicking off just days after a major hurricane wrecked much of the infrastructure from North Carolina to Florida, and as signals showed that much of the supply chain snarl that had plagued the last three-plus years had loosened. The largest longshoremen’s union in North America is warring with United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) over higher wages and a ban on automation technologies that guide cranes, gates and the movement of containers. “In the short term, we’d expect minimal impact on supply chains as shippers anticipated a strike and front-loaded imports earlier in the year," said Dean Croke, DAT Freight & Analytics principal analyst. Another case of poor timing is that shelf-stocking for the holiday season is about to kick off in earnest, and while the direct impact a port strike could have can only be guessed right now, historical data suggests a merry Christmas still lies ahead... for the most part.