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financial associated press, october 1 (reporter hu haoqiong)in the early morning of october 1, local time, ila (international longshoremen's association) announced the official strike on social platforms. this is the first large-scale strike at u.s. docks since 1977. the industry believes that freight rate changes may be reflected after the holiday, but it is still necessary to pay attention to the subsequent negotiations between labor and management.

on the evening of september 30, local time, the ila union rejected the nearly 50% contract proposal for a wage increase at the port of the united states maritime alliance (usmx), calling it "unacceptable." the scope of the strike mainly involves all major ports on the east coast of the united states and the gulf of mexico.

liner giant maersk updated its announcement on september 30, local time, stating that since the labor contract between usmx and ila expires on september 30, maersk has prepared relevant contingency plans.

roger, a us line expert who has been engaged in us line transportation in the united states all year round, told reporters from the financial associated press that from the situation at the local terminal gate, on the afternoon of september 30, local time, newark port container terminal (pnct), maersk container terminal (apmt) ) has only been able to get out but not in, and is preparing for the strike. therefore, ships arriving at the port after october 1 cannot unload containers.

roger further said that in the first week of the strike, more ships on the asia-us east coast route may be in a wait-and-see mode. it is not ruled out that the north american regional branch line or the ships from europe to north america will skip the eastern us port and go directly to eastern canada. new shipping schedules from asia to the eastern u.s. gulf of mexico may start to jump to a large number of ports or be canceled altogether, and customers will choose to book ships from the western u.s. or western canada.

in terms of freight rates, judging from the freight rates before the holiday, as the national day holiday is approaching, many factories have suspended shipments during the holiday. there is insufficient transportation demand before the holiday, and freight rates continue to decline.

data from the ningbo shipping exchange shows that in the week of september 27, the ningbo export container freight index (ncfi) closed at 1,548.8 points, down 7.0% from the previous reporting period. among them, for the north american route, the freight index for the us east route was 2117.9 points, down 13.9% from last week; the freight index for the us west route was 2984.6 points, down 2.8% from last week.

qian hanglu, an industry analyst at the ningbo shipping exchange, said that the overall shipping capacity of north american routes was sufficient that week, and the strike crisis in the eastern united states affected some of the market's cargo volume to shift to the western united states, resulting in a larger decline in freight rates in the eastern united states than in the western united states.

some institutional sources told reporters from the financial associated press that changes in u.s. line freight rates will still have to wait until after the national day to appear, but there are still many uncertain factors. for example, if the strike continues to ferment, freight rates between the us and the west may increase significantly. at the same time, it is necessary to consider whether the rail freight from the west to the east of the united states is smooth.