U.S. port strike will ’cause some issues’ for Manitoba, local experts say

A strike in the United States that has seen 45,000 workers take to the picket lines could have wide-ranging impacts, even beyond that country’s borders.
Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association at 36 ports in the U.S., from Maine on the East Coast to Texas on the Gulf Coast, began striking over wages and automation Tuesday.
Barry Prentice, a professor of supply chain management at the University of Manitoba, told 680 CJOB’s The Jim Toth Show that the longer it takes to resolve the situation, the longer it will take to get the supply chain back on track.
“It’s just the diversity of things. The (idea) that it’ll take six days or a week for each day out is absolutely correct,” Prentice said.
“That’s because you’ve got this backlog of product which is also on its way, so we’d better hope it cleans up fairly quickly.”
Prentice said holiday shopping this winter could be affected, as a lot of items that end up on store shelves in December would already be en route by boat.
“A lot of stores depend on Christmas for the bulk of their sales, and those goods are coming in now,” he said.
“Things that don’t get through and don’t get on the shelf in time would be a problem, obviously.”
Canadian retail analyst Bruce Winder told Global Winnipeg that the impact of the strike, which he calls “mammoth” in magnitude, will impact Canadian businesses and consumers as well.
“I think the strike is going to create some issues,” he said. “It’s going to impact Canadian companies as it relates to fruit, vegetables, fresh fruit from South America. Those are going to be immediate impacts.
“Any Canadian company that bought merchandise that comes from Europe, comes from South America, comes from Mexico, is going to probably have an issue, because that’s going to be held up now — and if that merchandise is for the fall, it might be late for the fall depending how long this goes on.”
Winder said the fact that ports all along the East Coast are shuttered means companies can’t do what they would usually do, which is divert to the next closest port in the event of a strike.
“We’ve never seen a strike this large, encompassing all the East Coast and the Gulf Coast.
“When the whole coast is on strike, it’s very difficult. You can’t divert anywhere.”