It’s too late for some retailers depending on shipments through West Coast ports. If they have no contingency plans for a potential strike or slowdown tied to International Longshore and Warehouse Union negotiations, they sit with fingers crossed. …But even if planning and implementing diversions didn’t cost any extra time and money, the ports available to accept diverted cargo are not attractive options, the spokesperson said. When considering contingencies plans, the possibility of diverting to the U.S. East Coast was taken off the table immediately, following the “terrible” experiences related to congestion from the weather this past winter, the spokesperson said.
“The East Coast is already so congested. They’re not equipped, and rates are higher on the East Coast anyway. We don’t want to divert there,” the spokesperson said. Traveling farther down the Eastern Seaboard would extend transit times too much, and Canadian ports don’t have the capacity, the spokesperson said.
