U.S. dock workers and port operators reported Thursday that they had reached a tentative deal, immediately ending the crippling three-day strike that shut down shipping on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast.  American Farm Bureau Economist Danny Munch said while the strike was only three-days in length, the impact on trade has already been felt. He said the backlog of in and outbound shipping containers piled up quickly.

 

"The containers that are there aren’t being moved, and the ones that are on the ships waiting to be unloaded aren’t being moved. So, a two-to-three-day strike would take over a week to clear.”

 

JP Morgan estimates the longshoremen’s strike over wages and port automation may have cost the U.S. economy $4.5 billion a day.  Munch added farmers could pay a hefty toll.

 

“Over 80% of our poultry exports move through those ports, a lot of it through the Port of Savannah, and you have a significant volume of containerized soybeans, not a huge percent, at 6% of our soybeans, mostly out of Norfolk. Meat products, 36 percent of our meat exports leave those ports, 30% of our dairy.”

 

The tentative agreement between dock workers and port operators is, reportedly, for a wage hike of around 62% over six years.  And that, according to Reuters would raise average wages to about $63 an hour from $39 an hour over the life of the contract.

 

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