A coalition of 268 agricultural and business organizations, including the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), asked dockworkers and port operators on the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico to return to the bargaining table to hammer out a new labor agreement to ensure the flow of goods into and out of the United States continues.
In the Dec. 6 letter to Harold Daggett, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), which represents dockworkers, and David Adam, chairman and CEO of the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents port terminal operators, the organizations asked the two sides to reach a new contract before the current one expires Jan. 15. The existing labor agreement extended the previous contract, which expired Sept. 30, and followed a three-day strike by dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas.
NPPC’s Take
In its letter to the ILA and USMX, the coalition pointed out that the “only way to resolve … issues and come to an agreement is to actually stay at the negotiating table. The continuing start and stop of the negotiations leads to further uncertainty in the supply chain, which continues to cause challenges.”
Why it Matters
The U.S. pork industry depends on exports, which annually account for about a quarter of all sales and contribute significantly to every producer’s bottom line. About 60% of U.S. pork exports are transported by ocean freight, with nearly 45% being shipped from East Coast and Gulf ports. Chilled pork, for example, is sent out of those ports to markets in the Caribbean and Central and South America.
Port disruptions, including dockworker strikes and port lockouts, can jeopardize the delivery of perishable commodities, costing agricultural producers millions of dollars and, potentially, lost foreign customers.
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