If prolonged, the stoppage is expected to lead to higher prices and shortages in the US, with shipping delays and other impacts rippling out across the world.
“We are seeing now that ships are starting to anchor outside of the ports waiting to see what is going to happen,” said Anne-Sophie Fribourg, a vice president at freight forwarding firm Zencargo, which organises shipments for exporters and importers.
“The disruption is going to be massive if the strike lasts,” she said.
Hamid Moghadam, chief executive of Prologis, one of the biggest warehouse companies in the world and landlord to the likes of Amazon, said while the strike was not a shock, it was “nonetheless” going to hurt the economy.
“It’s going to interfere with the proper functioning of the flow of goods,” he told the BBC.
Already 100,000 containers are in limbo waiting to be unloaded in the New York area, and another 35 ships are expected to arrive this week, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said.
Danny Reynolds, the owner of Stephenson’s, a 93-year-old clothing store in Elkhart, Indiana, said he had paid extra to expedite shipments of sweaters and coats into the country ahead of the strike.
But about 25% of his inventory has yet to arrive and he has his fingers crossed it has been unloaded. He said he was most worried about potential delivery days for special-order bridal gowns for November and December weddings.
Read More: Union boss on US ports strike: ‘I’m not playing games’