The US East and Gulf Coast Port strike has been called to a halt, with workers due to return to their stations on Friday 4th October.

The International Longshoremen’s Association yesterday confirmed that it has reached an agreement on wages with the United States Maritime Alliance and its members will go back to work until January 15th. Provided “all other outstanding issues” are resolved before this date, which includes pensions and automations, then there will be no further action.

40,000 ILA members walked out on Tuesday, when the workers previous contracts expired, leading to port operations being suspended at 36 ports along the US East and Gulf Coasts, which became the biggest US dockworker strike in 47 years.

Vessel queues had started to form and the industry was bracing itself for major disruption to ocean freight services in the coming weeks. However, after the Biden administration came down firmly on the side of the union this week, the USMX agreed to raise wages by 62% during the next six years.

While its excellent news that ports will be working again soon, we still expect some congestion in the coming weeks and it will take some time for vessel schedules to realign.