If the International Longshoremen's Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance fail to come to terms on a master contract by midnight tomorrow, East Coast shippers will face a dismal start of the new year.

While the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service – the federal agency charged with mediating private sector labor disputes – has the International Longshoremen’s Association meeting with management to avert an East Coast and Gulf port strike, shippers are bracing for the worst before the December 29 deadline

Matson, Inc. announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the primary assets formerly owned by Reef Shipping, a South Pacific shipping company based in Auckland, New Zealand that has been in business since 1968.

The Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) noted in a recent report that despite the extraordinary devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy, it was not particularly severe as storms go

This holiday season, let’s remember those toiling on the high seas, who make ocean cargo shipping the key symbol of globalization. It’s lonely and often dangerous work, done by professionals who – for the most part – remain background players in the worldwide distribution network. Without them, however, the backbone of the supply chain would surely crumble.

While shippers using East and Gulf Coast ports brace for the imminent strike of ILA dockworkers, the West Coast shipping community is also expressing concern.

In two separate letters, The National Retail Federation (NRF) and the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) called upon President Obama to engage directly in contract negotiations between the International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd.

A potential labor strike by longshoremen along the US East and Gulf Coasts at the end of the year could have devastating economic consequences as inventory depletion, rerouting, hoarding, and price speculation ripple through supply chains of global companies, Marsh warned in a new report published this week.

Even though the nation’s top ocean cargo gateways have been virtually shut down for several days this past month, retailers are reporting a slight increase in inbound throughput.

To understand just how frustrated shippers have become with stalled labor/management talks, one need only read the latest plea for reason.