KSHB 41 reporter Megan Abundis covers Kansas City, Missouri, including neighborhoods in the southern part of the city. Share your story idea with Megan.
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As a potential port strike looms, Larry Wigger, a professor of supply chain management at UMKC, talked about what impacts it could have locally.
"I would be worried tomorrow morning if you wake up and the strike has happened; you know, it's looking highly likely this is the point of peak leverage for a union going right up to the deadline," Wigger said. "If I’m a business owner and I’m counting on this to put bread on the table for my family, yeah, I’m worried. As a consumer, I'm really wondering how long this is going on."
Wigger said longshoremen are concerned about the increased usage of automation, which is one of the reasons for the strike.
"Nobody is necessarily trying to displace workers, but we know skilled workers are in short supply and they are a bit of a risk," he said. "Anytime we can automate processes, it can mitigate that risk; it can reduce the number of workers we have to go out and hire — any technology like forklifts, cranes, the gates, even the truck chassis could be automated."
Wigger said if the strike were to happen, depending on length, there’s a chance the supply chain would be completely disrupted.
"In some ways, it's a throwback to four years ago when we went through COVID," he said. "We had locked things down for safety, log-jam, we had bottlenecks constraints in the ports."
A busy upcoming time of the year adds to that potential impact, Wigger said.
"Those ports they're talking about are in the 50% to 60% range of containerized goods that move in and out of America," he said. "We're headed now toward Christmas; retailers have been ordering to stock their shelves, so if we cause a big logjam there, it will impact what retailers have available to sell, and then obviously anybody who's manufacturing things it'll constrain what they're importing."
Wigger said we are looking at a potential 1-2 punch.
"We just had what looks like was probably the second or third most expensive hurricane, massive destruction of homes, so we need building supplies, and if we're choked up in the ports because we've had a strike, it's going to constrain the availability of products," he said.
He says the dual concern is inflation and recession if things are in short supply.
Citing national statistics, Wigger said the potential collateral damage to the economy is 1 to $5 billion dollars per day.
At the West Bottoms Whiskey Company, Alex Lindsey relies on big supply chain items.
"I feel for the workers," he said. "In general, people are struggling to pay their bills; people are working very, very hard, but I know how it will impact a business like mine."
He relies on regular shipments of glass bottles and imported peated single malt.
Lindsay says he is also preparing to release a blend of rye and malt whiskeys called Convergence.
"We’ve been around for almost four years now, and it’s something we’re definitely aware of; it catches my eye now where before I made the mistake of thinking everything’s available, and that’s just not the case," he said. "We plan far enough ahead, like 6-8 weeks, so we can have supplies of glass bottles, corks, and whiskey to produce, but after that, this supply here is going to get us through October, but that’s about it."
Michael Wernerm, managing partner at Aqua Penny's, has already seen supply chain disruptions because of the hurricane.
"It’s going to be difficult to say the least," he said.
They rely on fresh shellfish and imported produce and specialty item deliveries every day.
"We’ve already made that shift," he said. "The supply and demand has just gone crazy. With a volatile product like shellfish, fruits, and vegetables, it comes with a very finite shelf life, so you have to work hard to get that product here."
"Fresh fruits and vegetables — our sister store, Bamboo Penny, has a lot of imported items from around the globe," Werner said.
Werner said he’s already had to shop around, and is preparing for a bit of a "tug of war" to see who can get products to the door faster.
"We’ve all seen the spike at the grocery store, so think about feeding hundreds of thousands of people a week — this has become their dining room table, so those of us in the industry, we are definitely thinking outside the box; do more with less and get creative," he said.
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