Shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk has urged customers to pick up their laden containers and return the empty ones at the US East and Gulf Coast ports before Jan. 15 to mitigate potential disruptions at the terminals on account of a strike.
“The conditional agreement on wages is set to expire on Jan. 15. If no agreement is reached by that date, a coast-wide strike on Jan 16 is possible,” according to an advisory on Maersk’s website.
“The negotiations have had no new developments since our last communication,” it said.
A strike would halt billions in trade and raise inflationary pressures while threatening the existing supply chains.
The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), a union with more than 45,000 members, and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) in October had agreed to a wage deal of a 62 percent hike over six years, ending a three-day strike.
