Port Tampa Bay is one of the four major ports in Florida seeing impacts from the International Longshoremen's Association worker strike.
The union members say they're suspending work until they negotiate a contract for higher wages and provisions against automated work.
Michael Rubin is CEO of the Florida Ports Council, which oversees activity for all of the state's ports. He said his main concern is a slowdown in goods and supplies coming through the port following Hurricane Helene.
"I think Helene exacerbates that problem and makes it a little more [impactful], sooner rather than later,” Rubin said . “I would imagine, just because Hurricane Helene came through, again, the longer it lasts, the more [the strike] will be felt."
Rubin said other smaller ports in the state, like Port Manatee, might try to pick up the slack in areas impacted by the strike, but they don't have the same equipment to handle massive amounts of cargo.
Regarding automated machines that can potentially do the job of a human, Rubin says that hasn’t been heavily utilized in Florida ports.
“I don't think there's any been any desire for that now,” Rubin said. “Does that mean, as we continue to grow, whether we go there a little bit? Maybe some investments are made on it. I don't know. But certainly our ports are primarily handled by ILA labor with crews that are doing a very good job of offloading and moving that cargo around.”
"Let's not shut everything down just to prove a point. And I think at some point you get to an issue of, look, you've beaten a dead horse ... let's go back to the table and actually start working again."Michael Rubin, Florida Ports Council CEO
Overall, he says he hopes ILA workers can return to work while they negotiate a new deal.
"Let's not shut everything down just to prove a point,” Rubin said. “And I think at some point you get to an issue of, look, you've beaten a dead horse ... let's go back to the table and actually start working again."
Seckin Ozkul, an assistant professor and director of USF's Supply Chain Innovation Lab, said a strike like this hasn't been seen on the East Coast since the 1970s, and it will cost the U.S. billions of dollars ... per day.
"If the port closures are prolonged — you know, two weeks to a month — we can also see some price increases,” Ozkul said. “It may have some immediate impact on inflation, especially on imported goods."
Apart from prices increases, Ozkul said there could also be long delays in orders you make, as ships are waiting in a queue to get cargo offloaded and getting backlogged.
“The ships have multiple options,” Ozkul said. “It's either going to sit there out in the open sea and wait until this is resolved so they can actually get into queue and get serviced, or it's going to basically find a way to reroute itself. But it's not very easy."
The strike has impacted 36 major ports along the East Coast and Gulf Coast, stretching from Maine to Texas.
“There is no easy solution to this,” Ozkul said. “And yes, if it's resolved in a couple of days, that's what everyone is hoping for. We will see impacts that are not as aggravated, if you will. And the longer it takes, we're going to see a more aggravated impacts.”
