Port strike: Expert says don't panic buy as dockworkers vow to stay on picket line

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Dockworkers are continuing their port strike Wednesday, essentially shutting down operations ports across the U.S. They are vowing to stay on the picket line 24/7, until a deal is reached.

Members of the International Longshoremen's Association are on their second day of no longer loading cargo on and off ships at ports from Maine to Texas.

Almost half of the items shipped into the U.S. come through the 36 ports where dockworkers are on strike.

The strike has consumers concerned about how it will impact them. However, experts say even with this work stoppage, it'll still take time for families to feel a change.

"If the strike goes on for more than a month or so, we'll start to see the price increase as well for those kinds of items," said Dr. Subodha Kumar, with Temple University Fox School of Business. "The consumers are the key factor here, don't get panicked. Don't get into the panic mode."

Despite that, reports of shortages filled social media Tuesday, showing empty shelves where toilet paper and, to a lesser extent, paper towels were supposed to be.

But experts say, right now, it's a matter of keeping a close watch on what's happening, adding that it would still be several weeks before the strike could start to impact the everyday consumer.

People are panic-buying toilet paper but there is no need for that

Toilet paper shortages in stores across America are giving folks nightmarish reminders of the pandemic era. But the lack of toilet paper isn't a direct result of a major port strike Tuesday. It's because of panic buying.

"They cleaned out the toilet paper at my local Walmart in Virginia. Toilet paper hoarding 2.0!," wrote one person in a post on X, along with a photo of empty shelves.

"Shelves at Costco & Target running low or out of paper towels in Monmouth County NJ," posted another X user. "Seeing people buying TP & water too in reax to port strike. Costco employee told me they were sold out of TP/paper towels this am."

But the strike at ports will have absolutely zero impact on the supply of these products.

RELATED: Dockworkers at Eastern and Gulf ports go on strike, a standoff risking new shortages

Dr. Kumar follows supply chain stability and says this strike didn't catch companies off guard.

He said a lot of retailers were able to stockpile goods to hold them over, but analysts also say a strike of more than a few weeks will stress the supply chain around the world.

The overwhelming majority - more than 90% by some estimates - of US toilet paper consumption comes from domestic factories. Most of the rest comes from Canada and Mexico, which means it most likely arrives by rail or truck, not ship.

The American Forest and Paper Association, the trade group representing paper manufacturers, expressed concerns about the impact that the port strike could have on its members. But it cited the risk to its exports to foreign markets being cut off by the strike. Not imports.

If anything, the strike could result in a glut of toilet paper. Not a shortage.

But that didn't stop the mob psychology of people rushing to stock up out of fear of a shortage, fed by bad memories of shortages and limitations on purchases that occurred in 2020 during the pandemic.

"I know how the whole thing affected us during COVID so I'm hoping it won't get to that extent where people having to hoard things and come to these stores and you can't find them on the shelf just like I'm out here again looking for paper towels," said one person.

There will likely be some shortages caused by the port strike, but mostly for perishable goods for which the US market depends on imports. Item one is bananas.

RELATED: Expect shortages and higher prices as port workers strike

Imports account for nearly 100% of the US supply of bananas, America's most popular fruit by volume, and more than half of banana imports come in through the ports being struck as of early Tuesday morning, according to data from the American Farm Bureau. More than a quarter of the imports come in through just one port in Wilmington, Delaware.

Those bananas have a short shelf life. It's only a couple of weeks between when they are cut from a banana tree to when they appear on grocery shelves, and it's less than two weeks after that they turn brown or black on your kitchen counter. So, shippers weren't able to ship a large volume in advance of the strike.

Toilet paper is the opposite of a perishable good. Any toilet paper hoarded today will last until the next round of panic buying, even it happens years from now. Almost none of it moved through the ports that are shut today.

Experts say the nation's supply chain is stronger after the pandemic because companies learned from it, but some shoppers said this feels all too familiar.

As for negotiations, the Biden administration is upping the pressure on the shipping industry to offer a better deal to the union.

CNN contributed to this report.