(SRN NEWS/AP contributed to this story) – The chief executive over Georgia’s two booming seaports says that a strike next week by dockworkers across the U.S. East and Gulf coasts appears likely, though he’s hopeful the resulting shutdown would last only a few days. And Georgia’s poultry industry is among those that would be affected.
Georgia’s agricultural exports exceeded $5.8 billion in 2023, to top customers China, Canada, Mexico, Pakistan, and Turkey. Poultry exports increased by 4%, totaling $1.6 billion. Other leading products included cotton, forestry products, and peanuts. Exports of tree nuts, including pecans, grew by 46% year over year. Georgia ranks eighth in the U.S. for agricultural exports. Georgia’s 2023 International Trade Report | Georgia Department of Economic Development
“We should probably expect there to be a work stoppage and we shouldn’t get surprised if there is one,” Griff Lynch, CEO of the Georgia Ports Authority, told The Associated Press in an interview. “The question is: How long?”
U.S. ports from Maine to Texas are preparing for a potential shutdown in a week, when the union representing 45,000 dockworkers in that region has threatened to strike starting Oct. 1. That’s when the contract expires between the International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, which represents the ports. Negotiations on a new contract halted in June.
A strike would shut down 36 ports that handle roughly half the nations’ cargo from ships. Lynch oversees two of the busiest in Georgia. The Port of Savannah ranks No. 4 in the U.S. for container cargo that includes retail goods ranging from consumer electronics to frozen chickens. The Port of Brunswick is America’s second-busiest for automobiles.
Lynch said he’s holding out hope that a strike can be averted, though he added: “The stark reality is they are not talking right now.” Represented by the maritime alliance, the Georgia Ports Authority has no direct role in negotiating.
The National Chicken Council (NCC) recently joined 176 other national and state agriculture and trade associations in a letter to President Biden expressing concern regarding a possible strike. National Chicken Council | NCC Joins Hundreds of Organizations in Urging White House to Intervene to Prevent East and Gulf Coast Ports Strike