CINCINNATI — As thousands of dock workers across more than a dozen U.S. ports walk off the job and strike for better wages and automation protections, many worry the closure of major shipping lanes could lead to higher prices for Americans across the country.
Janet Harrah, an economist at NKU Haile College of Business, said it doesn't matter where people live. An extended strike, she said, would impact them in multiple ways.
"You care because 50% of imports and exports from the United States go in and out of those 16 ports from Maine to Texas," Harrah said.
The professor said, even though inflation has cooled significantly leading to the recent Federal Reserve interest rate cut, there's a significant risk of price hikes if ships are left out to sea or companies need to shift shipping routes to still open West Coast ports.
"It will lead to inflation again," Harrah said.
Fresh foods and auto parts from foreign countries would be among the hardest hit items.
At Duebber's Automotive Services in Delhi, owner Marc Duebber said he was ready to roll with the punches part shortages could bring.
"I try not to be a person that operates out of fear, ever," Duebber said.
Dubber said customers could see higher prices for repairs and part replacement if manufacturer costs increase for him.
He also said previous part shortages caused by post-pandemic port backlogs had led to delays in service that could happen again.
"I'd be lying to say that we didn't have cars that say here for three, four, five, six months waiting on a part that we couldn't get," Duebber said.
The key to keeping his family's five-decade-old business alive, he said, was constantly striving for new ways to serve his customers in the best way possible.
Harrah said the severity of shortages and price hikes will all depend on how long workers remain on a picket line.
"If they go back next week, it could take as much as a month to get everything back in place again. It accelerates very quickly, the backlog," said Harrah.
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