Port strike and cruise lines: Will operations be disrupted?
Carnival CEO Josh Weinstein discusses hurricane season in the Caribbean on 'The Claman Countdown.'
The status of cruise operations was in the spotlight after unionized dockworkers at ports along the East and Gulf Coasts hit the picket lines on Tuesday.
While cargo at many major ports has been disrupted since the beginning of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) strike, the union said last week that its members would «continue to work passenger cruise vessels» during the work stoppage.
«We understand that many families plan and pay for cruise vacations on passenger ships more than a year out, and we don’t want them to be disappointed or inconvenienced in any way,» ILA President Harold Daggett said Sept. 25 of the union’s pledge to keep working cruise ships amid the port strikes. «For almost three years during the worst of the pandemic, the cruise ship industry was shut down, and our ILA rank-and-file members handling passenger cruise vessels lost a lot of man hours.»
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A spokesperson for the ILA confirmed to FOX Business on Tuesday that he hadn’t heard of any ports where that commitment was not being upheld.
The ILA strike, the union’s first in almost 50 years, entered its second day on Wednesday.
JPMorgan recently projected each day of work stoppage at the East and Gulf Coast ports could cost the economy up to $4.5 billion per day. A separate estimate from Anderson Economic Group suggested the strike could bring a $2.1 billion impact if it lasts a week.
«I’ll cripple you,» Daggett said about the effects of the strike in a September interview. «I will cripple you and you have no idea what that means. Nobody does.»
Dockworkers strike at the Bayport
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