Port strike fallout
The port strike lasted only three days along the Gulf and East coasts. But according to Bret Dewey, Builders FirstSource’s vice president of supply chain millwork, that was enough time to create major disruptions and backlogs throughout the greater United States supply chain.
Dewey shared an update on the impact of the port strike that ended Oct. 3 during the company’s Free Market Intelligence Webinar held on Oct. 25. The supply chain snarls “should be fully cleared up by the end of the month,” he said.
Workers and management agreed to a 70 percent wage increase over the duration of the five-year contract. But there remains a sticking point, he said: automation. Both parties continue to have this dispute over automation resoled before a Jan. 10 deadline, he said.
Dewey said BFS investments in supply chain paid off during the stoppage at the ports.
“Something that greatly helped BFS during this time was our investment in eight mill work reloads that service these affected markets,” he said. “Six of these reloads were rolled out over the last 18 months. This was huge in enabling us to service our customers.”
Millwork Reloads for imported high velocity items are located in the following markets:
• Alabama
• Georgia
• Floria
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• North Carolina
•Texas
Dewey also described container rates. For Southeast Asia, the current rate is about $4,500 per container. Soft demand is expected to drive that rate down to between $2,000 and $2,500 by the second quarter of 2025. “That’s almost back to the pre-COVID levels,” he said.
Containers from Brazil are another story. BFS is expecting increased rates to the Gulf and East coasts to be around $6,200 per container, eventually falling back to $4,000 per container by the second quarter next year.
