Labor disputes at U.S. east coast ports should be unlikely after the USMX (ports) and ILA (unions) reached a new six year pay deal. It isn’t clear if that will include port automation plans. The deal should in any event avoid disruptions to the coming peak shipping season as the prior pay deal would have ended in September 2018. West coast strikes in 2015 showed the risks involved with a 22% drop in volumes in January and 17% in February on a year earlier. Walkouts during peak season would have been even worse. Around 35% of annual east coast, containerized traffic was delivered in the J...