Importers & Exporters Should Prepare For East & Gulf Coast Strike

Based on further developments throughout the last 48 hours, we are recommending that importers and exporters prepare for the likelihood of a strike on December 30. Various industry stakeholders are ramping up their contingency plans and APL has effected its first vessel diversion with the APL Polk scheduled to arrive Charleston on or about December 26.

As we have reported previously, it's impossible to predict the outcome of the negotiations, but events throughout the last 2 days indicate that a strike may be imminent.

If you have questions regarding current shipments in transit or would like to review options for cargo that has not yet left origin, please contact a member of the Liberty team.

Please note that in the event of a strike, carriers reserve the right to determine the movement of cargo. This may result in cargo being held on the vessel while waiting at anchor for a resolution to the labor action, diversion of the vessel and unloading of the cargo at another U.S. port or division of the vessel and unloading of the cargo at a foreign port. Any cargo already offloaded from a vessel, but remaining at the port facility when the strike occurs may not be accessed until the labor action is resolved (if entries have already been filed, Customs duties may still be due within the 10 day window). In the case of diversion and a carrier declaration of force majeure, it may be the cargo owner's responsibility to move the goods from the diversion point to the originally intended final destination.

Liberty will continue to provide updates on this topic as more information becomes available.