Some supply chain managers are wary of shifting trade back to West Coast ports

CNBC

January 4, 2023

By Lori Ann LaRocco

Nearly a third of logistics managers at major companies and trade groups say they do not know how much trade they would return to the West Coast once an International Longshore and Warehouse Union, or ILWU, labor deal is reached, according to CNBC’s supply chain survey.

The unresolved fears have migrated trade away from the West Coast to East Coast and Gulf ports. That has benefited East Coast warehouses as well as the two large railroads that service the ports seeing the boom in containers, CSX and Norfolk Southern. According to ITS Logistics, which monitors rail cargo trends, the volume of freight moving out of the East Coast doubles that of the West Coast. Of those surveyed, more than half of logistics managers surveyed by CNBC do not expect the supply chain to return to normal until 2024 or after.

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