Transportation and Infrastructure

If workers at East and Gulf Coast ports strike on Oct. 1, manufacturing supply chains throughout the U.S. will be thrown into disarray. To illustrate the extent of the potential damage, the NAM has created an interactive map of ports that will be affected, along with useful metrics like their total export value. 

The numbers: Here are some key data points about the volume of goods that these ports handle:

• More than 68% of all containerized exports and more than 56% of containerized imports flow through East and Gulf Coast ports, representing an average daily trade value of more than $2.1 billion.
• They handle more than 91% of containerized imports and 69% of containerized exports of pharmaceutical products.
• They also process more than 76% of containerized vehicle exports and more than 54% of containerized vehicle imports.
• For air and spacecraft, more than 77% of containerized exports and more than 51% of containerized imports go through these ports.

The last word: On Sept. 17, the NAM and 177 partner associations once again called on the Biden administration to step in, saying, “[It] is imperative that the administration engage with the parties to quickly negotiate a new deal or agree to continue negotiations while keeping the ports open and cargo flowing. A strike at this point in time would have a devastating impact on the economy, especially as inflation is on the downward trend.”