About 250 port watchmen at Los Angeles and Long Beach can strike after 5 p.m. Pacific on Wednesday, Nov. 4, when the extended contract talks expire.
That sounds like a dockworker story until you look at who ships through those two ports. If you run a high-ticket dropshipping store selling furniture, outdoor gear, e-bikes or mobility products, many of your suppliers import part or all of their line. A stalled terminal turns their “in stock” into your backorder, in the heaviest sales quarter of the year, and Ecommerce Paradise readers are the ones who answer the angry phone calls.
Below: what is confirmed, why 250 people can matter to a port that moves millions of containers, where the sources disagree, and the six things I’d do before the deadline passes.
When a container stalls, somebody has to chase suppliers and update customers every single day. A virtual assistant can own that tracking sheet for you while you keep selling. Hire a virtual assistant on OnlineJobs.ph →
Port Watchmen Strike Deadline: 250 Workers, 5 P.M. Wednesday
ILWU Local 26 and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), the group that speaks for employers at the two ports, signed an extension on Oct. 30. It pushed a strike threat from Sunday, Nov. 1 to 5 p.m. Pacific on Wednesday, Nov. 4, according to gCaptain. EcomCrew reported the same time.
The sources do not fully agree on the date. Reuters, in a copy carried by Baird Maritime, reported the deadline as Nov. 5 with no time of day. I’m using Nov. 4 at 5 p.m. because gCaptain, EcomCrew and FreightWaves all gave it, but treat Wednesday evening through Thursday as the live window.
Local 26 represents about 250 maritime watchmen. Per Reuters, they control and inspect truck and employee entries at terminal gates, provide terminal security, and guard and track critical cargo crossing the docks. The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service is helping with the talks.
PMA says those watchmen work at terminals that handle roughly 85% of cargo at the Port of Long Beach and 33% at the Port of Los Angeles. EcomCrew counts them at six of the 13 container terminals, while gCaptain says Local 26 identified eight terminal locations that could be hit. EcomCrew frames these figures as exposure estimates, not proof that cargo has stopped.
The watchmen are about 2% of ILWU workers at the two ports, per FreightWaves. The reason a group that small matters: PMA has warned that other ILWU members are unlikely to cross a Local 26 picket line, which could halt vessel, yard and gate operations at the affected terminals, according to gCaptain. Maritime Executive reported that PMA told the Wall Street Journal it expects other unions to join in solidarity.
The stakes are high because the ports are busy. gCaptain reported a combined record 2.04 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in September. Reuters said those shipments included holiday retail goods, equipment for AI data center construction and auto parts.
FreightWaves reported on Oct. 28 that the complex already had a backlog of containers waiting for inland rail, and that terminal congestion and rail equipment shortages had raised concerns about holiday merchandise moving east. A strike would land on top of that.
Both sides are staying careful in public. PMA said it “remains committed to reaching a fair agreement with ILWU Local 26 at the bargaining table,” per FreightWaves. The Port of Los Angeles said, “We remain hopeful that an agreement can be reached without any disruption to operations,” also per FreightWaves. An ILWU representative did not immediately comment to Reuters.
How the Port Security Contract Expired in July 2025
The watchmen’s previous agreement expired in July 2025, per FreightWaves. They have kept working under a series of extensions, and the latest one ran out on Nov. 1. Local 26 President Luisa Gratz wrote in an Oct. 23 letter that talks had been underway since 2025 without an agreement, according to FreightWaves.
PMA says significant differences remain after more than a year of bargaining. Its offer includes wage increases and pension improvements, and it says full-time watchmen average more than $170,000 a year plus employer-paid health care and pensions. The union has not detailed its demands, and neither side has disclosed the specific issues in dispute. I can’t tell you which side is closer to a deal, and nobody reporting this can either.
Here is the counterpoint. A strike is not a done deal, and the watchmen’s contract is separate from the West Coast longshore agreement that covers about 22,000 workers at 29 ports and runs through 2028. The picket-line warning comes from the employer group, and FreightWaves noted that its reporting did not address what clerks or longshore workers themselves plan to do. EcomCrew was equally blunt that the 85% and 33% figures are estimates of exposure, not a record of cargo that stopped.
The freight market was already stretched before this. I covered LTL rates topping 80% above 2018 for the first time.
The carrier side has its own pile of Q4 costs. UPS and FedEx peak surcharges are live with oversize at $117, per my post on the peak surcharges, and UPS lifts rates 5.9% on Dec. 21 in the fuel table reset.
Demand is the other half of the squeeze. Adobe’s holiday forecast puts online sales at $275B with furniture up 7.3%, which means your competitors are all pulling on the same suppliers at once.
What a Port Strike Does to High-Ticket Supplier Stock
My read is that this hits you through your suppliers, not through Shopify. You are not filing customs paperwork on a $2,400 patio set. Your US dealer is, and if that container sits behind a closed gate, the ship date they gave you last week stops meaning anything.
The damage runs in three steps. The supplier’s box does not move, so their available-to-ship date slips. Your product page and Google Shopping feed still promise delivery in a few days. Then the customer waits, calls you, and eventually opens a dispute. High-ticket buyers skew older and wealthier, and they tend to want a human on the phone, which is why I keep telling people to put a number on the site. A business phone line with texting like Quo lets you reach those customers before they reach their bank.
Here is hypothetical math, labeled as such. Say a store ships 50 orders a week at an average of $1,800, and 20% of the catalog comes from one supplier that imports through these ports. That is 10 orders and $18,000 a week exposed. A two-week stall puts $36,000 of orders at risk of cancellation or late-delivery disputes, before you count the ad spend that drove them. If the delay is a few days, the same math is a nuisance. The point is to know your own numbers before Wednesday, not after.
Scenarios, with the thresholds I’d watch:
First, a deal or another extension arrives before the deadline. Nothing changes this week, but the dispute is still open, so I’d keep the supplier check-ins anyway. Second, the strike starts and the picket lines hold. Terminals handling most of Long Beach’s cargo could stop moving boxes, and every container that has not been discharged and released by then has an unknowable date. Third, the watchmen walk and other unions cross, which would mean a short disruption at the gates. Nobody can tell you today which of the three happens, so plan for the second and hope for the first.
My rule of thumb, and it is only that: if more than a fifth of your revenue sits on suppliers who import through Los Angeles or Long Beach, build a second source this month rather than next quarter. The supply chain problems that show up as you scale are exactly this.
The second risk is disputes. When a customer waits too long, “item not received” is the chargeback they file. My guide to chargeback prevention for high-ticket stores covers the evidence trail. Read what Shopify Payments does and does not cover before Q4 volume arrives.
The third risk is how you handle the wait. Winter is already hard on these stores, as I explained in how to beat seasonality in high-ticket dropshipping, and a stockout during BFCM is worse than a slow January. If you take preorders on a long-lead item, the STOQ preorder app review shows one way to do it honestly.
If you would rather not rebuild your supplier mix alone, that is the setup work my team handles in the turnkey done-for-you build. For an existing store, supplier onboarding sits inside the scaling service. Either way, a store that depends on one importer through one port is a store with one bad week away from a refund spiral.
Want my team to build and run a high-ticket store that does not hinge on one port or one supplier? See the turnkey done-for-you service →
Port Strike Prep for Store Owners Before Wednesday 5 P.M.
Do these six things in this order. The first two take an hour and are the ones that matter.
- Email every supplier that imports and ask for the status of open purchase orders: discharged, customs released, freight released, and last free day. “Arrived at port” does not tell you the box can be picked up. If you have no backup source for a hero product, my paid supplier directory is where I’d start looking.
- Audit the delivery promise on every SKU tied to an importing supplier. Change “ships in 3 days” to an honest window on the product page, and fix the shipping-time and availability settings in your feed. My walkthrough on turning Google Shopping clicks into sales for high-ticket products shows where that promise gets read.
- Write the delay message before you need it. Save a macro in Gorgias for “my order is late.” Then build a short flow in Klaviyo that tells affected customers their new window and gives them a way to cancel.
- Protect your dispute record. Fraud and dispute screening like ClearSale helps up front, but it will not rescue an order you cannot ship. Screenshot the supplier’s delay notice, keep tracking history and save every customer message. Then check your numbers against the chargeback ratio explainer.
- Tag at-risk orders in Shopify and hand the tracking sheet to one person. This is the job I’d give a virtual assistant from OnlineJobs.ph: check supplier replies every morning, update the tags and send the status emails.
- Set an expedite budget and track it. Decide today what you will spend on air freight or a faster carrier before a margin disappears, and log it in QuickBooks so you can compare it to the sale you saved. If you pay overseas suppliers directly, Wise is how I’d avoid a currency surprise on top of the delay.
My inventory and purchasing planning guide pairs well with this.
If you are tempted to pre-buy stock before the holidays, read how to finance growth without hurting cash flow first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will the strike actually happen?
Nobody knows yet. The sides extended once to avoid a Nov. 1 walkout, mediators are involved, and PMA says it wants a deal. Treat Wednesday 5 p.m. Pacific as the date to be ready, not the date to panic.
Why would 250 watchmen shut down a terminal?
PMA says other ILWU workers are unlikely to cross a Local 26 picket line, which could stop vessel, yard and gate work at the affected terminals. That is the employer group’s warning, and the longshore and clerk unions have their own contract through 2028.
I dropship from US suppliers. Is my store affected?
Indirectly. Your Shopify store does not touch the port, but your suppliers’ inbound containers might. Ask each one how much of their line is imported and where it lands, then use the 3PL performance metrics I track as a checklist for any fulfillment partner.
Which high-ticket niches are most exposed?
Categories with heavy imported content, such as many furniture, outdoor and light-vehicle lines, carry the most risk. Check your niche against my high-ticket niches list. If you are still choosing one, grab the free list at ecommerceparadise.com/niches.
Should I pause my ads?
I would not pause everything. I’d pull budget from SKUs where the supplier cannot give you a ship date and leave the rest running. A paid click on an item you cannot deliver is the most expensive click you can buy.
Do shippers get fee relief if the ports stop?
Do not assume it. EcomCrew advises asking your forwarder about free time and storage terms now, because a labor disruption does not automatically waive charges. That applies if you import directly.
What if my fulfillment partner is on the West Coast?
Ask for their inbound schedule and safety stock. The Stord and AMS fulfillment deal is a reminder of how concentrated 3PL capacity is heading into peak.
Want to work through your supplier plan with other store owners and me inside the community? Start the 7-day free trial, then it is a paid membership. Join the Ecommerce Paradise Academy on Skool →
This is a developing story, and the deadline is roughly a day and a half away. Subscribe to the YouTube channel for daily breakdowns. More breaking news coming through the day.
Related Articles
If this was useful, these go deeper:
- LTL Rates Top 80% Above 2018 for First Time, AFS Says
- Dropshipping Furniture in 2026: Suppliers, Freight and Safety Rules
- Chargeback Prevention for High-Ticket Stores: Stopping Disputes Before They Cost You
- Your High Ticket Store Can Die Every Winter. Here’s How to Stop It
- Adobe Forecasts $275B Holiday Online Sales, Furniture Up 7.3%
Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and world traveler from Seattle, Washington, and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.
He maintains homes in Seattle and Bali, spends most of the year overseas, and usually returns to Seattle for about a month each summer.
