First panic buying

Tentative deal: US port workers end strike

(Bild: APA/AP)

Fears of prolonged disruptions to maritime trade in the USA and subsequent supply bottlenecks had already led to small-scale panic buying. However, a provisional agreement has now been reached between the striking port workers on the US East Coast and Gulf Coast. The strike has thus ended for the time being.

The current contract has been extended until January 15 in order to continue negotiations, according to the ILA union. The large-scale work stoppage of just a few weeks would have triggered concerns about supply bottlenecks. "The strike is over," local union leader Scott Cowan in Baltimore told CBS.

According to him, the union intends to accept the offer of a 61.5 percent pay rise over the six-year term of the contract. In addition, measures are to be negotiated in the coming months to prevent job losses through automation.

Panic buying and empty shelves
The workers went on strike on the night of October 1. Even a new employer offer with an income increase of almost 50 percent did not deter them. The first panic purchases of toilet paper and other items were not long in coming. Shoppers reported empty shelves or dwindling supplies in large stores such as Walmart or Costco on online platforms - very similar to the situation at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis. Yet more than 90 percent of toilet paper sold in the USA is produced in the country itself.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in damage per day
Around half of the container throughput in US foreign trade is handled via the East Coast ports. The strike by tens of thousands of members of the International Longshoremen "s Association (ILA) is estimated to have cost several hundred million dollars a day.