Which products are affected by port strike? What Oklahoma should know before panic buying

Tens of thousands of union dockworkers are on strike, shutting down 14 ports on the East and Gulf Coasts and could affect consumers across the country, including Oklahoma.

As of Tuesday, 36 East and Gulf coast ports have shut down as 45,000 union workers walked off the job after labor negotiations stalled between the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX). The first ILA strike since 1977 could become one of the greatest supply chain disruptions since COVID-19 , making a plethora of crucial products scarce on store shelves and upending holiday shopping for millions of Americans.

This means that consumers may soon notice that it's harder to find products like bananas, electronics and even booze.

How long the strike will last is unclear. Economists say that a short-term strike will not have major consequences of consumers, but a picket longer than a week or two could impact products from bananas to cars.

Here's what Oklahoma shoppers need to know about the strike.

People are also reading: Could the port strikes create a pandemic-era shortage in Oklahoma? What experts say

What products are affected by the strike?

Because about half of all U.S. ocean imports flow through the ports, consumers may end up facing higher prices and shortages again , Chris Tang, distinguished professor at the University of California, Los Angeles who specializes in supply chain management, told USA TODAY.

These are a few examples of the major items that could see shortages or price increases as they are either rerouted to West Coast ports or prevented from shipping.

• Seafood : Perishable products like cod from Iceland or Canada and shrimp from Thailand and Ecuador don't have many other transport options.
• Oil: Oil mainly enters the U.S. through the Gulf Coast.
• Electronics : Cell phones and computers, which now come from southeast Asian nations like Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand instead of China, are routed through East Coast ports.
• Cars and auto parts : European cars shipped via container and auto parts often pass through East Coast and Gulf Coast ports.
• Machinery parts : The East Coast ports surpass others in the U.S. in shipments of machinery, fabricated steel and precision instruments, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
• Alcohol : Wine, beer and spirits imported from Europe, South America or the Caribbean may take a hit.
• Bananas : About 75% of the nation’s bananas enter through East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, said Jason Miller, interim chair of Michigan State University's department of supply chain management. Moreover, because the fruit is perishable, it's not economical for them to be shipped on planes, Miller wrote in a LinkedIn post.

Should I stock up on groceries and toilet paper?

The port strike may remind Americans of the shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but toilet paper and paper towels are unaffected.

Still, consumers may be stocking up on the wrong things – and panic-buying when they don't need to.

The reasons the port strike might cause product shortages differ from those that sparked the shortfalls during the pandemic when there were production shutdowns, said Josh Stillwagon, an associate professor and chair of the economics department at Babson College in Massachusetts.

"If all of the ports in the U.S. closed and we didn't have the West Coast (ports), I think you'd see something more like that (COVID-19 supply chain issues), where you'd have to worry about stockpiling," Stillwagon told USA TODAY.

Instead, Stillwagon thinks any strike-related shortages will mirror what occurred in 2021, when ports became congested as supplies started coming back online, delaying deliveries. Depending on how long the strike lasts, consumers should expect to see backlogs in goods arriving as shipments will have to be re-routed to the West Coast, he said.

Consumers will also pay more, as extra transportation costs to transport goods from the West Coast to the East Coast will have to be built into prices, he said.

Stillwagon said he understands how consumers could feel uncertainty about the port strike, leading them to stockpile goods.

"People have that ambiguity about what the outcome will be, and so they sort of flock to the necessities that were very inconvenient last time when we didn't have them," he said. Concern may also be exacerbated by the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which has left many of the people impacted struggling for necessities, "so people are stockpiling given both of these major news events."

Whether there will be shortages of goods from the strike depends on how long it lasts, said Stillwagon. Inventories are back to pre-pandemic levels and suppliers are "a little more attuned to disruption in the supply chain after COVID, so you may not notice it if it lasts a week or two," he said.

Will holiday shopping be affected?

Americans may also soon struggle to complete their holiday shopping.

Because of the strike's impending supply chain disruption, consumers may have a tough time finding the toys and other gifts for their children they are looking for in the weeks and months ahead.

While large corporations like Walmart and Costco can afford to take inventories early and store them – or absorb the cost of rerouting shipments to the West Coast – smaller businesses typically can’t, experts have said.

As a result, “some businesses could miss out on critical holiday supplies entirely,” Ben Johnston, chief operating officer at small business lender Kapitus, told USA TODAY. “A strike of this nature could be the difference between turning a profit or stomaching a loss for the year.”

If holiday shopping disruptions are to be avoided, the clock is ticking.

“Any strike that lasts more than one week could cause goods shortages for the holidays,” said Eric Clark, portfolio manager of the Rational Dynamic Brands Fund.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Which products are affected by port strike? What Oklahoma should know before panic buying