The Alliance for Chemical Distribution (ACD) sent a letter to President Joe Biden, U.S. Department of Labor Acting Secretary Julie Su, and U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, underscoring the economic consequences of the ongoing labor strike following the failure of the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) and the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) to reach a labor contract agreement.

In the letter, ACD President and CEO Eric R. Byer highlighted the excessive surcharges imposed — and profits made — by ocean shippers who, he said, had direct involvement in the failed negotiations.

“Neither side negotiated in good faith, effectively inviting a strike to take place. For the ocean carriers, this is not surprising given the extreme profits they have been able to collect over recent years, putting them in a position to contentedly wait out a strike while the American economy loses billions of dollars a day,” Byer said.

Byer continued, “Now, the ocean carrier member companies of USMX are levying a myriad of surcharges on shippers, ranging from hundreds of dollars to $3,000 per container, citing labor disruptions as the cause. Through these surcharges, the ocean carriers are profiting from a crisis they played a direct role in creating. Many of these surcharges even claim ‘force majeure,’ an absurd assertion considering ocean carriers are represented by one of the negotiating partners. There is no doubt that the ocean carriers bear at least some responsibility for this strike, but instead of taking accountability and acting to resolve the crisis, they are searching for ways to profit from shippers.”

Byer concluded the letter by urging the administration to use its authority to end the strike.

“Mr. President, we strongly urge you to use every tool at your disposal to end this strike immediately. We are gravely concerned that neither the ILA nor the USMX has any incentive to resolve their differences for the good of the country. The stoppage of movement at 14 ports is creating severe economic hardships and will result in stockouts of necessary chemicals if allowed to continue.”

To read the full letter to the administration, click here. Earlier this week, ACD released a statement criticizing USMX and ILA for failing to negotiate in good faith.