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The two ports are the largest in the country and provide jobs for thousands of dockworkers, heavy equipment operators and truck drivers.

“The dockworkers and warehouse workers, they are the fabric of the harbor.”

The union representing thousands of dockworkers from Maine to Texas launched a strike over wages and the use of automation, shutting down major seaports.

There are other likely factors at play — mostly attributed to disruption from hurricanes and labor strikes involving dockworkers and Boeing.

With the possibility of a second East Coast strike looming in the new year if dockworkers and port owners can’t agree on a contract, importers are diverting their goods to Southern California.