Costco says it’s doing ‘a little bit of everything’ to prepare for US port strike By Reuters

(Reuters) – U.S. retailer Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: ) is taking a wide variety of steps to prepare for possible strikes next week at U.S. ports on the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico, the company’s chief executive said on Thursday.

Contingency plans in place include pre-shipping some products to receive holiday goods sooner and preparing to use different ports, Costco CEO Ron Vachris said on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call.

Companies that rely on shipping are increasingly worried that the 45,000 members of the International Liquidators Association will strike on Oct. 1 and shut down 36 ports that handle more than half of U.S. ocean trade with products such as bananas, meat, prescription drugs, auto parts, building materials. and clothing.

If that happens, delays and costs could quickly cascade, threatening the U.S. economy in the weeks before the country’s presidential election, burdening already taxed global shipping networks and imposing higher prices on consumers over time.

“We cleared the ports, we shipped in advance. We did as many different things as we could to get holiday goods before this time frame and looked at alternative plans that we could execute with moving the goods to different ports and cross the country if needed” , Vachris said.

Asked about bringing in assets early, he said: “We did a little bit of everything you talked about,” and added: “It could be disruptive, but how impactful, I can’t tell you … until we know what. it could happen there.”

A prolonged strike could lead to shortages of familiar products such as bananas, coffee and cocoa, which could translate into higher food prices over time.

It could also mean lost export sales of key agricultural products, including beef, pork, chicken and eggs.