BEAUMONT, Texas — Two days into the Longshoreman strike and tens of thousands of dockworkers from Maine to Texas have stopped working, bringing 14 major U.S. ports to a standstill.
The workers are demanding higher pay and they reportedly refuse to work until a fair agreement has been met.
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"It's reasonable that they request compensation for their hard work," said University of Houston Supply Chain & Logistics Professor Margaret Kidd.
While experts say we may see an increase on the price of exotic fruits increase, overall prices won't be effected across the board.
"I would caution consumers to not panic," said Kidd.
Kidd says consumers aren't likely to feel the pinch unless a strike lasts for several weeks.
"If this went on for more than two weeks we'd have a few problems. If this goes on to a month or 45 days we have a huge problem because the anticipated economic impact throughout the US is about $5 billion a day," said Kidd.
Fears of potential shortages are leading people to empty the shelves of Southeast Texas grocery stores reminiscent of the 2020 COVID pandemic.
"The first impact that we might see within a few weeks would be fresh fruits and vegetables wouldn't be coming in through the port. But there's no reason to go hoard supplies like toilet paper, Clorox, you know I've seen some reports with grocery store shelves empty. This is not the time nor the place to be doing that," said Kidd.
Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Gulf States Trucking, Stori Conrad, says that truck drivers go hand and hand with dockworkers.
"Once they get containers off of the ships, then my drivers will go in and pick up the containers and take them to their final destination, or their next destination," said Conrad.
Conrad says she is already seeing the effects of the strike begin to trickle down.
"Current problems ever since the close of business on Monday have been no work. A lot of owner operators and company drivers are paid by the move, so the containers they move from point A to point B, that's how they generate a paycheck," said Stori.
Professor Kidd says that the immediate impact for everyday consumers is limited.
"While the last strike which was in 1977 lasted 45 days I anticipate that this will be a much shorter strike and the short term impact would be fairly limited," said Kidd.
Kidd encourages those who are concerned about the impacts of the strike to write elected officials and ask them to intervene by helping both parties come to a fair agreement.