AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report for Friday, 4/16/21

U.S. President Joe Biden does not intend to invoke a federal law to prevent a port strike on the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico if dockworkers fail to secure a new labor contract by an Oct. 1 deadline, an administration official said on Tuesday. The International Longshoremen's Association, negotiating on behalf of workers at three dozen U.S. ports from Maine to Texas that handle about half of the nation's ocean imports, warned again on Tuesday that its members are prepared to stop work in two weeks. Their current six-year agreement with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), which includes employers like Maersk's (MAERSKb.CO), opens new tab APM Terminals and SSA Marine, expires on Sept. 30. U.S. presidents can intervene in labor disputes that threaten national security or safety by imposing an 80-day cooling-off period under the federal Taft-Hartley Act, forcing workers back on the job while negotiations continue.

American Dollar to Canadian Dollar = 0.734658; American Dollar to Chinese Yuan = 0.137626; American Dollar to Euro = 1.082254; American Dollar to Japanese Yen = 0.006217; American Dollar to Mexican Peso = 0.055351.

The immediate future of the global supply chain rests on a bargaining table in San Francisco, where the union representing all West Coast dockworkers is hashing out a new contract with the assembled bosses of maritime shipping. The current contract, which covers the International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s more than 22,000 workers at the 29 ports dotting the Pacific coast of the U.S., is set to expire July 1. At stake is the continuing flow of goods into the country, after two years of disruptions to the supply chain from pandemic lockdowns, material shortages, soaring fuel prices and the occasional giant ship getting stuck in the Suez Canal. Forty percent of all U.S. maritime imports pass through the West Coast ports, with more than 30% of all containerized imports arriving at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which together make up the nation’s largest port complex.