Kickstart: Strikes looking more likely at key ports

The National Association of Manufacturers is calling for the White House to step in and help prevent a looming strike at shipping ports along the U.S. Gulf Coast and East Coast.

The possibility for a strike between ports and the International Longshoremen's Association has been known for a few months but became more likely this month when ILA members voted to authorize a strike if it cannot reach a deal before Oct. 1.

That strike would cover key ports for U.S. chemical and plastics production including sites in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi along the Gulf Coast and sites serving the Atlantic Ocean stretching from Miami to New York.

NAM says more than 68 percent of all containerized exports and 56 percent of containerized imports flow through those East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, representing an average daily trade value of more than $2 billion.

"[It] is imperative that [President Joe Biden's] administration engage with the parties to quickly negotiate a new deal or agree to continue negotiations while keeping the ports open and cargo flowing," NAM said in a news release. "A strike at this point in time would have a devastating impact on the economy, especially as inflation is on the downward trend."

Some retailers pushed forward imports for the holiday season to try to get ahead of any possible strike, the National Retail Federation says. Others are shifting deliveries to West Coast ports, including Balsam Hill, an artificial Christmas tree company using both PVC and urethane.

"I have huge concerns about the potential strike or labor slowdown," Mac Harman, Balsam Hill CEO, told the Wall Street Journal.

The Federal Reserve has started lowering interest rates for the first time since 2020. That's good news, right?

Maybe.

Plastics News Economics Editor Bill Wood says he was "mildly surprised, and somewhat relieved, by the decision to start with a cut [of the Federal Funds Rate] of a half a point."

"High interest rates have clearly constrained the manufacturing sector and the plastics industry for well over a year now, and there are indications these constraints were getting worse at an accelerating pace," he writes in this month's Numbers That Matter column.

But below the surface, the news is far more complex, and it may take months to fully understand the U.S. economy's response.

To get a better understanding of the Fed's decision and its ripple effect, you should check out the September Numbers That Matter editorial livestream, 2 p.m. Sept. 24. It's free for PN subscribers and a great opportunity to get in your own questions for Bill.

Emergency responders are crediting a sprinkler system for preventing major structural damage at a Wisconsin thermoformer Sept. 13.

Firefighters were called out to a warehouse space at Kruger Family Industries' TriEnda plant in Portage, Wis., the Portage Fire Department said on its Facebook page. When they arrived, they discovered a fire in plastics regrind storage. At least six sprinkler heads activated, limiting damage.

Multiple forklift drivers and steer skid operators assisted firefighters in moving gaylords and other containers to help stop the fire from spreading.