U.S. Port Strike Disrupts Hamburger Supplies, Frozen Seafood

Dockworkers striking at U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast ports are preventing imports of beef that restaurants and retailers increasingly rely on to make hamburgers due to limited domestic supplies, traders and industry members said, Tom Polansek and P. J. Huffstutter reported for Reuters.

The strike is blocking everything from shipments of automobiles to containers filled with Guatemalan bananas and Italian wine from being loaded or unloaded at dozens of ports from Maine to Texas. I Photo: International Longshoremen's Association Facebook

The strike is blocking everything from shipments of automobiles to containers filled with Guatemalan bananas and Italian wine from being loaded or unloaded at dozens of ports from Maine to Texas.

Along with beef, imports of seafood and U.S. exports of chicken are being disrupted.

Even short-term disruptions to shipments could snarl the broader U.S. food supply chain, according to experts and food importers. If the strike stretches out, the result will be either shortages of some food products, price inflation, or both, they said.

More than 50 container ships were already anchored or loitering off dozens of East Coast and Gulf ports as of early Wednesday, compared to just three on Sunday before the strike, according to Reuters shipping data and Everstream Analytics.

“From a supply chain standpoint, this is a nightmare," said Jason Miller, interim chair of Michigan State University's Department of Supply Chain Management. The beef sector could see ripple effects if the strike disrupts imports for more than a week, industry members said.