The dockworkers strike on the east coast could affect Michigan’s supply chain if it goes over two weeks.
The strike impacts ports from Maine to Texas. Michigan State University supply chain professor Jason Miller says there’s nothing to worry about at the moment as shortages would only happen a couple weeks from now.
“There’s no reason to worry or to panic at the moment,” Miller said. “Again, ports often will close for a day or two because of bad weather or even we saw last Thursday and Friday a good share of the operation and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach was actually shut down.”
According to Miller, imports from Europe or South America would be affected the most. Some of those imports include beer, wine, spirits, and food products.
Here in St. Joseph, Harbormaster Michael Moran tells us the strike probably won’t affect any activity in the harbor.
Moran says, “It really doesn’t impact our shipments at all, fortunately. None of the Great Lakes ports are striking, fortunately, and our harbor isn’t set up for the large container ships or car carrying ships that could be diverted here.”
