With only about a week before a new International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) strike could shut down East and Gulf Coast ports, the ILA returns to the negotiation table with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX).

For shippers anxious about another disruption to supply chains, this is great news. When the ILA cancelled negotiations in the summer, the union never returned to the table for talks before going on strike in October. It looked like the ILA fully intended to strike, going back to November of 2023, and wouldn’t negotiate by the September 30th deadline to make sure it flexed those strike muscles and displayed its bulging leverage. After the strike ended, a new strike deadline of January 15th was established, and the ILA abruptly ended November’s negotiations with the USMX, it looked like we were seeing a repeat of the first go around. Many didn’t expect the ILA to return to the negotiation table before January 15th and a new strike.

Today’s somewhat relieving return to the negotiation table, however, apparently was not the first.

Keep reading and find out about the secret negotiation meeting in Universal Cargo’s blog.