PRESS ROOM

A report on the Bloomberg website says that the union representing East and Gulf coast dockworkers kicked off a two-day meeting yesterday in New Jersey to discuss wage demands with port employers under the threat of a strike that would disrupt maritime trade gateways from Houston to Boston.

That was of interest to the U-Freight Group as we monitor the situation and advise customers that use our portfolio of international ocean freight operations to and from the US East Coast, which include LCL and FCL import and export operations.

Bloomberg says that negotiations on a labour contract covering six of the 10 busiest US ports have stalled since June, when the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) called off high-level wage talks with the United States Maritime Alliance, a group known as USMX that represents ocean carriers and terminal operators.

About 45,000 workers and three dozen ports in total could be affected in the event of a strike. And with less than a month before the September 30 deadline, US retailers are renewing their plea to the White House to help break the impasse.

ILA President Harold Daggett has repeatedly warned of a strike if no deal is reached by the deadline.

Logistics experts have estimated that every week of a work stoppage would cause about a month of shipping delays.

The U-Freight Group remains committed to helping clients manage the difficult situations facing container shipping at present and mitigate where possible additional costs incurred. Our ocean freight teams will endeavour to keep in close contact with all clients to provide updates on specific movements.

For more information about our ocean freight forwarding and logistics services to and from the US East coast, please visit the relevant pages of this website, or contact your local office, which can be seen here: https://www.ufreight.com/en/location