he New York City Economy Tracker is a joint project between Investopedia and NY1, using publicly available data to evaluate the economic health of the city across a variety of metrics.

For the week of September 30, 2024, we’re looking at how a prolonged strike by longshore workers on the East Coast would have affected ports in New York City and the Tri-State area.

How a Prolonged Longshore Workers Strike Could Impact NYC and Tri-State Area Consumers

Although the longshore workers' strike on the East and Gulf coasts of the U.S. ended on Thursday after reaching a tentative agreement, a prolonged strike could have impacted consumers in New York City and the Tri-State area, home to major ports that import and export goods worth billions of dollars.

Longshore workers at ports on the East and Gulf coasts of the U.S. went on strike on Tuesday, October 1st, after the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX)—an organization representing shipping container companies like Maersk that use the ports—did not agree to demands of a pay increase and a halt on job automations by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA). 

The ILA is the union that represents an estimated 45,000 longshore workers at 36 U.S. shipping ports. The ILA’s demands included a 77% pay increase over a six-year contract, and a halt on the automation of cranes, gates, and container movement job functions at ports.

The strike ended on Thursday October 3rd, after the USMX agreed to a pay increase for port workers and a contract extension that will allow negotiations to continue through January.

Longshore workers are integral to the process of loading or unloading cargo from container ships in a sea port. Their duties can include maintenance and repair of cargo handling equipment, chassis, marine terminal facilities, as well as the lashing and unlashing of freight on board cargo vessels. Without longshore workers most ports in the East and Gulf coasts—which handle more than 68% of containerized exports and more than 56% of containerized imports in the country—will not be able to process the estimated $2.1 billion dollars worth of goods that pass through them daily.

If it had gone on for longer, the strike would have had major economic impacts not just for the country overall, but especially for the Tri-state region. Locally, Port Newark handled about $217 billion dollars worth of imported goods in 2023 according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Other ports in the Ports of New York and New Jersey handled an additional $10 billion dollars worth of imported goods and the Perth Amboy Port handled $5 billion.

NYC Area Ports Handle a Variety of Goods

According to Census Bureau data, the most valuable goods that are imported through NYC area ports are generally petroleum oils and other fuels, various types of medicine and organic chemicals, and solar panel parts among other complex machinery. However, there are other high-value goods that are passing through Tri-State area ports that would have impacted consumers in the area if the strike had been prolonged. This includes $2.3 billion dollars worth of perfumes, $2.27 billion dollars worth of wine, and $1.63 billion dollars worth of frozen shrimp and prawns in just 2023.

On the export side, the most valuable goods exported out of the New York and New Jersey ports were vehicles, precious metals, and immunological products like vaccines. However, some other distinct products that might impact businesses focused on international exports in the area include $1 billion worth of beauty and skincare products, $665 million in civilian aircraft parts and engines, and $557 billion worth of perfumes in 2023.

Experts have reported that immediate economic impacts of the work stoppage are unlikely as many local retailers have preemptively stocked up on goods. However, if the strike had dragged on from weeks into months, it would have clogged supply chains and impacted the price and availability of a number of consumer goods, right during the run up to the holiday shopping rush.