Union Man - Short-Lived Dockworker Strike Stalls Container Traffic, But Impact on Liquids Seen as Minor

RBN Energy Blogcast

Thousands of unionized dockworkers walked off the job at ports along the U.S. East and Gulf coasts October 1 in the first work stoppage for those regions since 1977. Three days later, they’re heading back to work with a tentative deal on wages in hand and an agreement to continue negotiating on other issues through mid-January. The strike didn’t threaten liquid exports like crude oil and LNG but imports of action figures and exports of plastic pellets used to make them — as well as other dry containerized products and feedstocks — hit a brief standstill. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll examine the potential fallout avoided by the labor agreement.