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Dozens of ports across the East and Gulf Coasts are at a standstill this morning after more than 45,000 dock workers walked off the job. A prolonged work stoppage could have a big impact on shipping supply chains ahead of the holiday season. Joining us now, we want to bring in Stamatis Santannis. He's the CEO of Synergy Maritime and United Maritime. Together both companies have a total of 25 ships around the world, and you do dry, dry bulk shipping and not containers, but you do go to the same ports as these containers. So, I'm curious, uh, Stamatis, just what you are hearing from your peers within the industry, what the conversation is, and what you think this fallout could potentially look like.

Well, uh, you know, it's, first of all, good morning and nice to be here. Thank you for having me. I think it's a combination of a number of negative events because it's not only the port strike that has been affecting, have been affecting the cargo flows, but also the Red Sea disruption. So, a lot of things, you know, that are actually aiming towards the East Coast of the United States have already been diverted around the Cape of Good Hope and, you know, having to face with a strike and closed ports, that is, you know, another negative effect. So, altogether, I believe it's negative. I think that the cargo flow of consumer goods will be severely affected, and, uh, you know, for the time being, I don't really see any resolution other than it's just very bad for the US economy.

Well, talk to me about what you're hearing that indicates that to you, Stamatis, because it's been fascinating. Some of the smartest economists in the world seem to disagree about the potential economic impact here, and specifically with regards to the timing. It seems like the workers here have time on their side for a lot of different reasons, one of them being the pending US election. What do you make of the timing of this?

Well, of course, the timing couldn't be better for the workers because, you know, there's maximum leverage. You know, it's one of the, you know, most tied US elections in recent history, and, you know, it goes without saying that the workers will try and get the maximum leverage from the government to get what they're asking for. So, if you ask me from their perspective, I believe it's, it's great timing. As for the cost for the US, uh, you know, economy, I believe it's kind of self-evident here. Uh, they talk about four and a half to seven and a half billion dollars of losses per week, so I don't really see how that is not going to be affecting, uh, you know, consumer spending and, you know, the availability of a lot of products.