Trade
Cargo Carriers Fear Port Strike Will Paralyze Half of US Trade
- Oxford Economics sees strike costing $4.5-$7.5 billion a week
- Outlook bleak for talks to resume as both sides trade barbs
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The world’s top container carrier is urging customers to move US cargo through East and Gulf Coast ports before the planned start on Tuesday of a dockworker strike that threatens to paralyze as much as half the nation’s seaborne trade volumes.
MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co. SA, in a customer alert Thursday, said talks between the longshoremen’s union and port employers “may not be resolved” by the Sept. 30 deadline, resulting in closures at terminals starting Oct. 1. That would delay the shipping of containers — both imports and exports — on trucks and railroads through ports from Boston to Houston.