Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on December 31, 2024
2 min readLast updated: January 27, 2026
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Maersk urges cargo removal from US ports by Jan. 15 due to a potential strike, risking trade disruptions and supply chain impacts.
(Reuters) - Shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk has urged customers to pick up their laden containers and return the empty ones at the U.S. 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% hike over six years, ending a three-day strike.
But a threat of another strike looms large if the parties fail to reach a consensus over the unresolved decisions related to automation and its future at U.S. ports.
According to a Bloomberg News report, talks over the issue of automation have not appeared to be advancing, and neither the ILA nor USMX have indicated plans to return to the negotiating table before mid-January.
(Reporting by Abhinav Parmar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
Maersk has urged customers to pick up their laden containers and return the empty ones before January 15.
If no agreement is reached by January 15, a coast-wide strike on January 16 is possible.
The International Longshoremen's Association and the United States Maritime Alliance agreed to a wage deal that includes a 62% hike over six years.
The unresolved decisions related to automation and its future at U.S. ports are a major point of contention in the negotiations.
A strike would halt billions in trade and raise inflationary pressures while threatening existing supply chains.
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