TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Rail workers are threatening to go on strike as soon as Friday, which could disrupt the transportation of critical shipments. The Association of American Railroad estimates rail service interruptions could cost the economy 2 billion dollars per day.
“The impact we’ll see the following week,” said Joshua Rubin. He represents manufacturers who utilize the rail for cross-border transport in Nogales.
“Talking to a lot of my clients and they’ve been seeing the cost of freight finally reducing, starting to get back down to some reasonable numbers to then have this type of situation take place it’s just going to put everyone right back to where it is,” said Rubin.
He said the economy is already fragile coming out of the pandemic. He's worried the impacts will reach beyond his clients and disrupt the entire supply chain.
“It’s going to cause a huge uptick in prices for rail, which is going to cost the manufacturer or the supplier a lot more money to get it there which is going to affect our going to the grocery store,” he said.
Rubin said trucks will have to move shipments, adding more pressure to truck drivers and putting more trucks on the road.
He feels these impacts are known, but it’s still hard to deal with.
“It’s unfortunate that us as suppliers or manufacturers or us as consumers of the products are being affected based on the decisions of other companies,” he said.
He also wondered how his manufacturers will handle cross-border business.
“Well, what is it going to do? Is it going to just stop and then nothing is going to cross the border? Because the strike is on the U.S. side. So that’s all these kinds of things that are going to be impacted and that’s just mentioning the southern border,” he said.
Guillermo Valencia is the president of a customs broker agency and he also works to get his client’s products across the border.
“So if my cement client can’t ship his product to his customer in Phoenix or in Tucson by rail, then he’s going to have to find some other means of transportation and he might be able to find it, and if he finds it, at what cost?” said Valencia.
He’s concerned with the possibility of an increase in prices for his clients, and for consumers with inflation already being an issue.
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Reyna Preciado is a reporter for KGUN 9, she joined the KGUN 9 team in July of 2022 after graduating Arizona State University. Share your story ideas with Reyna by emailing reyna.preciado@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram, or Twitter.
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