As East Coast shipping grinds to a halt, one Upstate New York port remains open for business

Oswego, N.Y. — Ports up and down the East Coast are shut down by a dockworkers’ strike, but the Port of Oswego remains open for business.

The port on Lake Ontario could even see an uptick in shipping thanks to the strike, according to the man who runs the port that’s about 40 miles north of Syracuse.

That’s because union members at this port, designated by Congress in 1799 as the first port of entry into the United States, are under a different contract than the dockworkers now striking. And that contract doesn’t expire for another four years.

As a result, the port continues to operate normally and has seen no negative impacts from the strike that stretches from Maine to Texas, said William Scriber, executive director and CEO of the Port of Oswego Authority.

Instead, the phone in Oswego has started to ring.

Before the strike began, three shipping agents called him to ask about the port’s capabilities and whether it could handle some cargo traffic that would otherwise head to ports in New York City and Baltimore, Scriber said.

“They were fishing calls,” he said. “They were asking about our availability and if we can handle the cargo.”

Scriber said his port can definitely handle more goods.

But there’s a catch: The Port of Oswego is not equipped for container ships, which carry the bulk of the consumer goods coming into ports in New York City and Baltimore.

That means it’s not going to provide a fix for possible shortages of items such as appliances, paper goods and packaged foods that arrive by sea.

However, the port can handle large, open or crated items, such as major pieces of industrial machinery. And it can handle grain, which is mostly an export from Upstate New York.

Still, if the strike continues much longer, Scriber said he’s certain he will be getting more business.

“They’ll probably give it a few days,” said Scriber. “If the strike is not settled by then, I think I’ll receive a lot more calls.”

The dockworkers strike started Tuesday and affects the contract between 36 ports and about 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association, the Associated Press reported.

Oswego workers, however, are under a different, four-year contact between the Great Lakes chapter of the International Longshoremen’s Association. They just inked a deal last month that stretches into 2028.

Normally, the most popular items handled by the Oswego port include grain exported by Central New York farmers and imported aluminum headed to the Novelis plant in the Oswego County town of Scriba.

Scriber said he doubts that ships already anchored at ports in New York City and Baltimore would be sent to Oswego.

However, some vessels coming from Europe could be redirected via the St. Lawrence Seaway to Oswego, where their cargo could be loaded onto trucks or trains for shipment to their final destinations, he said.

“It all depends on the cargo,” he said. “If the cargo can be transported to wherever it’s going to go, it makes sense for us.”

Staffing at the Port of Oswego varies daily depending on the number of ships coming and going. About a dozen longshoremen work at the port on an average day, but the number has gone up to 60 during busy periods, Scriber said.

Union members at East Coast ports hit the picket lines early Tuesday in a strike over wages and automation. The strike, the first by the union since 1977, could lead to shortages of goods if it continues for more than a few weeks.