BALTIMORE — Striking longshoremen in Baltimore are likely to continue handling cruise ships and vessels with military cargo, according to William Doyle, the former director of the Port of Baltimore.
Doyle, now the CEO of Dredging Contractors of America, says he has been in contact with local leaders on both sides of the labor dispute.
The International Longshoreman's Association is expected to go out on strike at midnight in 36 US ports on the Eastern and Gulf coasts, including Baltimore, in a dispute with shippers over wages and protections from future automation.
"Workers are aware that cruise ship customers book their vacations sometimes 18 months or two years in advance and should not have to be caught up in a labor dispute," Doyle said. "Cruise ships are safe."
Military container and military vehicle shipping will also be exempted by Baltimore dock workers, Doyle said, after speaking with union leaders.
Otherwise, nothing else will move beginning at midnight.
"I think we're going over the cliff," Doyle said.
Baltimore, with more than 2,400 union dock workers, is among the nation's top ports for vehicle imports and exports.
Forty-three percent of the nation’s imports flow through the 36 Eastern and Gulf Coast ports affected by the looming strike.
Truck drivers and other workers in port-related industries not on strike may be idled in a matter of days, according to Doyle.
Top commodities that could be affected by the strike more quickly than others include perishable bananas which come in at Wilmington, Delaware and imported vehicles that come to Baltimore, according to shipping analysts.
Analysts say warehouses of consumer goods are largely already stocked for the upcoming holiday season.
“If this lasts a day or two it won’t be that big a deal. Shippers have seen this coming for moths so a lot of cargo has been diverted to the West Coast," according to Peter Goodman, Global Economic Correspondent for the New York Times who spoke with CBS News.
"There are some back up plans but they don’t look good if this goes on too many days," Goodman said.
The International Longshoreman’s Union representing 85,000 workers in Eastern and Gulf ports is rejecting the shipping industry’s offer of a 40% wage increase over six years, in part, because the shippers are not agreeing to protections for workers from future automation.
After COVID, industry experts say the shippers are swimming in $400 billion in profits and the ILA wants a bigger share.