A dispute between dockworkers and shippers could shut down 36 ports across the U.S eastern and gulf coasts. Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association are set to go on strike Oct. 1 if they fail to reach an agreement with the United States Maritime Alliance (UXMX), which represents major shipping lines. ILA members want better pay and assurances that their jobs won’t be replaced by automated equipment.

“USMX knows what our bottom line with wages needs to be for our ILA rank-and-file to ratify a new Master Contract Agreement,” ILA’s International President and Chief Negotiator Harold J. Daggett said in a Sept. 23 statement. “They call me several times each week trying to get the ILA to accept a low-ball wage package. My ILA members are not going to accept these insulting offers that are a joke considering the work my ILA longshore workers perform, and the billion dollar profits the companies make off the backs of their labor.”

If longshoremen follow through with their threats, it would be the first strike on the east and gulf coasts since 1977. According to a J.P. Morgan analysis, the strike could cost the U.S. economy around $5 billion per day. That’s approximately 6% of the nation’s daily gross domestic product.

The affected ports handle roughly half of the United States’ ocean trade. They include some of the agriculture industry’s most important export points.

East and Gulf Coast ports ship around two-thirds of all poultry meat exports. The Port of Baltimore is the largest U.S. port by volume for farm and construction machinery. It handled a record number of roll-on, roll-off vehicles in 2023, including tractors, combines, balers and more.

Norfolk’s port exported 1.6 million metric tons of soybeans in containers last year, the most in the country, according to the Soy Transportation Coalition in Ankeny, Iowa.

Baltimore and ports in New York/New Jersey are also major hubs for soybean containers, which go to specialty customers or countries that want smaller shipments. The vast majority of exported soybeans from the U.S. are shipped in bulk out of the Mississippi Gulf region, which shipped 27 million metric tons last year.

The Ports of New York, Philadelphia and Houston are major hubs for agriculture imports. According to an American Farm Bureau Federation analysis, 73% of all waterborne containerized agriculture imports flow through ports threatened by the strike.

Lippy Brothers Farm in Hampstead, Md., knows all too well how a port shutdown can hinder business. Last year, they shipped 3.7 million bushels of soybeans out of the Port of Baltimore.

The farm was directly affected by Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse earlier this year with 155 containers of soybeans on the ill-fated Dali. That ship crashed into the bridge, leading to its collapse. Tyler Rill, Libby Brothers export manager, says the farm can store over 1 million bushels. But the strike is coming at the peak of harvest season.

“I’m not excited about it. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens,” Rill says. “In my opinion, it’s going to be too big of a deal, and there’s going to be much money lost per day that the government will have to step in.”

Ag and trade groups demand action

On Wednesday, 55 agriculture groups sent a letter to President Biden asking him to intervene and avert the strike.

“If port operations are stopped, the impact on the ag supply chain will quickly reverberate throughout agriculture and not only slow or shutdown operations, but also potentially lower farmgate prices,” the groups say. “To prevent a disruption to port operations along the East and Gulf Coasts, we request for your administration to act before a lockout or strike occurs to prevent damage to U.S. agriculture and the economy.”  

Last week more than 600 trade groups sent a similar latter to President Biden asking him to stop the strike. The Taft-Hartley Act gives the federal government the authority to impose a nearly three-month “cooling off” period to at least delay the strike. However, Biden has indicated he does not plan to invoke that law.

On Thursday, the USMX filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Bord. The USMX claims the International Longshoremen are refusing to bargain on a new contract. If the NLRP rules in favor of the shippers, the dockworkers could be forced to not strike and resume negotiations.