Port strike: What items could start disappearing from stores?

Jersey Shore consumers could see fewer tools, electronics, auto parts and imported food if a strike by dockworkers drags on for more than a couple of weeks, experts said Wednesday, potentially putting a damper on the economy and holiday shopping season.

But one product that was flying off the shelves this week — toilet paper — should remain plentiful since it is manufactured domestically, they said.

"I see some panic for sure,” said Dan Doleh, co-owner of Food Emporium in Marlboro. “I just think people are panicking prematurely. I guess, like in their mind, they’d rather have it than not. But stuff like paper goods and stuff, people are panicking and I don’t see a reason for it.”

Consumers were taking stock of their supplies after more than 47,000 members of the International Longshoremen's Association walked off the job Tuesday at 36 ports along the East and Gulf coasts, including the Port of New York and New Jersey, affecting key facilities in Newark and Elizabeth.

Where are dockworkers striking?Mapping the major East Coast, Gulf ports

The work stoppage, the union's first since 1977, threatened to ripple through the U.S. just as economists were breathing a sigh of relief that supply chains disrupted by the pandemic were back in full swing and inflation had eased.

While experts said panic buying of paper goods like toilet paper was unnecessary, they didn't downplay the potential impact.

"This particular shutdown is big," said Sanchoy Das, a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark. "Remember, when we had the (General Motors) strike earlier in the year, they kept the strike to one plant at a time. So, GM has 20 plants, they shut down one of them. This one is broad-based, from Maine to Texas. They shut it down so there is no side door that we can bring stuff in."

What experts say:Will gas prices, supplies be affected by the port strike?

The strike, experts said, will affect imported goods such as seafood, electronics, pharmaceuticals, cars and auto parts, machinery parts, alcohol and bananas.

Products made domestically, like toilet paper, and products transported by air shouldn't be affected.

At supermarkets, "most everyday grocery and perishable products like paper goods, eggs, milk, bread, meat, bottled water and cleaning supplies are produced in the United States and not impacted by the strike. There is no need to overstock at home," said Linda M. Doherty, president and chief executive officer of the New Jersey Food Council, a trade group.

"One thing we have learned from the COVID crisis, past product disruptions and now a port strike is we maintain a resilient supply chain that can adjust, adapt and replenish under challenging circumstances," she said.

The disruption rekindled memories of the pandemic, when the global supply chain was upended, prompting consumers to hoard toilet paper in particular. But some Shore consumers said it was too soon to panic.

Port strike:What do picketing Longshoremen want?

On her way out of The Food Emporium on Wednesday, Danielle Benavides, 54, of Marlboro, said she was keeping an eye on the strike, but she wasn't going to stockpile items, hoping the two sides would reach an agreement relatively quickly.

"I'm less concerned about the availability of products than inflation," she said. "I feel like they have have been stockpiling for this and they were aware this was happening, so we are good for a couple weeks."

The union is seeking higher pay, better health benefits and job protection in the face of automation. Leaders at the ILA cut off contract talks in June after learning that a form of automation had been introduced at the Port of Mobile in Alabama, an action they said violated the existing contract.

It marks the latest technological change for an industry whose work force has dwindled over the decades. In the 1950s, the New York-New Jersey ports employed more than 55,000 longshore workers. Now it’s down to about 4,000.

Automation looms, setting the stage for more labor disruption ahead, said Arash Azadegan, a professor of supply chain management at Rutgers Business School in Newark and New Brunswick.

"I think we're at the start of something that is going to be concerning in the next few years," Azadegan said. "Self-operating cranes at the port are going to be more and more prevalent in the not-so-distant future. So those are the things that become concerning, meaning that there's going to be more complaints (from workers). So it's kind of a brave new world."

Shore grocers said they are preparing for at least some disruption. Doleh at The Food Emporium said he's been told that some produce will switch to shipment by air, so items like berries, bananas, asparagus, mangoes and pineapple could get more expensive.

And they have seen shoppers begin to hoard even domestic products like paper goods, threatening to create a problem where none existed.

"Any domestic products that are produced in the country, I don't really view that as being a problem," said Lou Scaduto Jr., chief executive of Food Circus Supermarkets, which owns four Super Foodtown stores in Monmouth County. "What's going to create a problem is the hoarding of product, that's going to be the reality of it.

"I just wouldn't hit the panic button as of yet," he said.

At a ShopRite in Aberdeen, the shelves with paper products looked like they had been picked over by customers. Ray Gloede, 72, of Marlboro, left with items including a pack of toilet paper, although he quickly noted it was a coincidence; he was out of it at home.

Gloede was more familiar than most about the strike. He worked for the railroad for 38 years before retiring from his job as assistant superintendent of operations for Conrail nearly a dozen years ago.

"I'm not nervous," Gloede said. "Probably if it goes two, three months, then I might start to worry a little bit. But I'll make do."

Business reporter Daniel Munoz and USA TODAY contributed to this story.

Michael L. Diamond is a business reporter for the Asbury Park Press. He has been writing about the New Jersey economy and health care industry since 1999. He can be reached at [email protected].

David P. Willis, an award-winning business writer, has covered business, retail, real estate and consumer news at the Asbury Park Press for 26 years. He writes APP.com's What's Going There column and can be reached at [email protected]. Please sign up for his free weekly newsletter and join his What's Going There page on Facebook for updates.