Even in our modern world with planes and jets and drones, the vast majority of goods are moved around the planet in cargo ships. Which means our ports are the backbone of our global economy. The longshoremans' strike closed the eastern ports for only three days, but those three days raised a lot of questions. Like - why is a discount furniture store the fourth largest importer on the East Coast? How come so many bananas come through Wilmington, Delaware? Why do we need live frogs delivered into the US six times a month? And... how do we even keep track of all of these imports? On today's episode, we get into #PortFacts! This episode was hosted by Kenny Malone and Amanda Aronczyk. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Audrey Quinn, and fact-checked by Dania Suleman. Engineering by Cena Loffredo and Kwesi Lee with an assist from Valentina Rodriguez Sanchez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer. Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
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My eyes have been opened.
I am a changed man.
And it all stems from just a few days last week when there was a port strike, a port shutdown.
Of course, this was not the first port disruption we have dealt with recently.
Look at you.
Covid ports mess.
But yes, you may recall the longshoremen on the eastern seaboard walked off the job.
Those are the people in charge of basically everything to do with loading and unloading cargo containers.
And those cargo containers are like the blood cells of our entire economy.
And, you know, Amanda, it is very scary when the old blood cells stop pumping suddenly, which, of course, was the.
Point of the strike.
Yeah, you know, exert economic pressure and pressure they exerted.
You know, people were freaking out during this shutdown.
Like, would this cause toilet paper shortages?