EXPLAINER: How the port strike could impact Nebraska economy, agriculture, healthcare

LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) – Longshoremen on the east and Gulf coasts went on strike at midnight Tuesday and it’s already causing headaches for Nebraska exports.

The Nebraska Farm Bureau told 6 News the widespread strike is impacting exports like beef, pork, corn and wheat, and President Mark McHargue said buyers and shippers of some products are giving them a discouraging outlook.

“They’re telling us for every day that this strike goes on, it’s going to push product back a week,” he said. “So, I mean, very quickly you get into, say, a five-day strike — you’re looking at a five-week delay.”

He said it could also put a damper on imports for equipment parts during the beginning of harvest season.

“Our hope is that it’s only a few days,” McHargue said. “(It) would obviously be the least disruptive. This drags on for a couple of weeks, and we have a whole different situation.”

If this strike does last that long, he said products will spoil, leading to losses for investors. You’ll also see prices soar at the grocery store.

By how much?

UNL supply chain management and business analytics professor Dr. Scott Swenseth didn’t want to speculate.

“Even from a historical standpoint, seeing this impact on top of what’s already been a very inflationary period, I don’t know if we’ve experienced — at least in recent times — anything that we could use as a comparison there,” Swenseth said.

As for non-agricultural goods, Swenseth said price hikes would depends on the organization.

“Larger organizations that have seen this coming would have had the ability, potentially, to speed up some of their earlier shipments and may have received some of the things that will help them get through for a while,” he said. “Smaller and mid-sized companies that didn’t have the ability to get it in early or reroute it like some of the larger companies could, may see that impact sooner.”

When it comes transporting these goods, Swenseth told 6 News we’ll probably see shipping delays lasting longer than the strikes themselves.

“They’re going to handle that in different ways, and depending on the size of the company and what they have the ability to reroute. If you have an independent or real small trucking companies that are operating without being part of that larger organization—the independent drivers—if they don’t have a load, they don’t have a load.”

Which means they wouldn’t get paid.

Swenseth said even without the dockworkers strike, Hurricane Helene’s impact on the area is already significant.

The storm struck a Baxter International plant in Marion, N.C., which is a major supplier for intravenous products.

Both Nebraska Medicine and CHI Health said they’re not experiencing any shortages at this time.

CHI said it’s looking to other manufacturers while that Baxter facility gets back online.

Nebraska Medicine said it maintains a four-to-six-week supply of critical medications. It’s expecting to see an impact from the Baxter plant’s closure and is putting plans in place, like conserving IV fluids, and making sure it’s prioritizing patients with the highest needs.

6 News also reached out to Methodist Hospital, which said it’s still working on an answer for this.

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