The CEO of a global real estate company has said his business will benefit from the port strikes, despite concerns over the risk of rising inflation and adverse effects on the U.S. election.
Hamid Moghadam said that Prologis, one of the world’s biggest warehousing companies, would see increase in “demand for our product”.
The Chairman and CEO said that disruption from the strikes will cause “havoc” because modern supply chains are optimized and highly organized.
Moghadam told the BBC Radio 4 that the strikes, which started on October 1, are “going to have a dampening effect on the economy” and “interfere with the proper functioning of the flow of goods.”
However he added that “all the goods need to have somewhere to be stored”.
Prologis, a company which develops and acquires logistics real estate across the globe, is reportedly Amazon‘s largest landlord.
Moghadam said that this means that “in the short term,” the impact of the strikes on his business is “positive” but he “didn’t like making our money that way”. He added that the strikes are “not good for the economy and ultimately, if it’s not good for the economy, it’s not going to be good for anybody.”
Tens of thousands of longshoremen at East and Gulf Coast ports, stretching from Maine to Texas, have gone on strike in a pay dispute between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) union and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX).
Newsweek has reached out to the ILA and the USMX for comment.
A similar strike occurred on the West coast for 14 days last year before it was resolved, causing a logjam of goods that badly affected businesses supply chains.
Moghadam said that even if the strikes were to end today, it will take time for the supply chains to “adjust and normalize.”
He told the BBC that during last year’s strike, business and cargo shifted to the East port, but this year “they are paying the price for this,” while the west coast is going to “pick up the slack.”
He also said he thought the strikes “could get politicized” as well, as they are happening a month before the presidential election.
Since the negotiations failed between the ILA and USMX, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters have stood by the ILA and slammed the Biden administration.
The Teamsters have previously endorsed Democrat candidates, but they added they will not be doing the same for Kamala Harris.
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