US could ‘run out of bananas’ as port strike looms

Shipments of imported fruit including bananas, pineapples, citrus, and grapes that usually enter the US via its eastern and Gulf coasts could end up stuck in ports or turned away, if an increasingly likely strike by tens of thousands of port workers goes ahead at the start of October.

Several reports in the US media have hinted at a possible halt in deliveries of fresh produce to retailers, wholesalers and importers across urban centres in the country’s eastern region.

“Any fruit that arrives after 1 October will be condemned to the trash can,” Peter Kopke Sr of Port Washington-based importer Kopke Fruit told the Orange County Register. “And all of the people who have invested in that business will lose a fortune.”

Gabriela D’Arrigo of produce distributor D’Arrigo New York told the same newspaper that imports bound for the eastern part of the country would need to rerouted via a West Coast port such as Los Angeles and then trucked across the country.

The Port of Los Angeles, meanwhile, faces its own challenge to avoid any repeat of several reported power-related outages so far this year.

Wariness in Wilmington

One of the strike’s biggest potential impacts will be at the Port Wilmington in Delaware. Some of the produce industry’s biggest names, such as Dole and Chiquita, have major operations there that handle a large volume of imported fruit each year.

The Delaware River port is the largest entry point by far in the US for imported bananas – a product which accounts for at least two-fifths of all of its refrigerated cargo – which come mainly from Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Honduras.

Wilmington is also a massively important destination for Chilean fruit exports. Around 16m cartons of fruit arrive each year from the South American country, including grapes, stonefruit, apples, pears, cherries, and berries.

Other fresh produce items that flow into Wilmington include pineapples from countries like Ecuador and Colombia; citrus from South Africa, Morocco, and Spain; pears from Argentina; kiwifruit from New Zealand; and grapes from Peru and Brazil.

The spectre of an economically damaging port strike has raised tensions in the US business community as the country prepares for its presidential election in November.

Companies that depend on eastern and Gulf coast ports have been left in no doubt as to the union’s determination to proceed.

“A sleeping giant is ready to roar… if a new Master Contract Agreement is not in place,” warned Harold Daggett, leader of labour union the International Longshoremen’s Association, last week.