These are mythical creatures not crypto.

"Pukwudgies"


Inside The Legend Of The Pukwudgies, The Cunning Cryptids Of Native American Myth
By Marco Margaritoff | Edited By John Kuroski
Published June 14, 2024
Updated June 17, 2024


While Pukwudgies are said to be good-hearted if treated kindly, they can become lethal when slighted — and they can use their magical powers to kill.
Pukwudgie
New York Public Library
Pukwudgies are often described as similar to gnomes or fairies, like those depicted in Arthur Rackham’s The Little People’s Market (1915).

Almost all cultures throughout history have their own cryptids, elusive beings whose existence has never been proven. In Wampanoag legend, that creature is the Pukwudgie.

Tiny and magical, Pukwudgies could be compared to gnomes or fairies of European folklore. Due to their penchant for teasing humans with harmless pranks, they appear rather charming compared to other mythical monsters. However, the knee-high pests also have a deadly side.

Pukwudgies have allegedly been known to lure victims into dangerous situations — or even right off of cliffs. Some versions of the legend claim that even their stare is lethal and that they can shape-shift into forest predators and make people forget things.

While not a single Pukwudgie has ever been captured for documentation, and many people have only heard of them because of their place in Harry Potter lore, the enduring tales about these mischievous cryptids continue to enchant believers to this day.

The Mysterious History Of The Pukwudgie
The word Pukwudgie, also spelled Puk-Wudjie or Bagwajinin, reportedly translates to “person of the wilderness.” Stories about these magical creatures are still told throughout New England and the Great Lakes regions today, but the legend seemingly originated with the Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

“Standing no more than three feet tall, the face of the pukwudgies have facial features similar to those of the Wampanoag people, however their ears, fingers, and noses are greatly enlarged and their skin is grey and smooth,” wrote Theresa Bane in the Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology.



The nature of these trickster entities is as disparate as the spelling of their name, as Indigenous folklore warns that Pukwudgies can be dangerous — if treated with disrespect. Those treated kindly are purportedly good-natured, while those who are slighted are said to be deadly.

Benevolent Pukwudgies may merely engage in harmless trickery with unsuspecting humans, and according to legend, they even helped Native Americans with manual labor on occasion. Their evil counterparts, however, are said to steal from children, dangerously sabotage people, and lure their enemies to death by leading them off of cliffs.

Bane wrote that they even cast magical “balls of light to lure victims into the woods where they are then killed or kidnapped.” According to Indigenous lore, the Pukwudgie’s primary nemesis was Maushop, the Wampanoag folk hero who purportedly created Nantucket.

In fact, some versions of the legend even claim Pukwudgies were behind Maushop’s death.




The Magical Powers Of This Wampanoag Cryptid
Pukwudgies are often described as forest creatures that stand knee-high and have a sweet smell. Their powers vary from tale to tale. Some stories say they turn invisible, shoot poisonous darts, kidnap children, or shape-shift into a creature that looks like a porcupine from the back and a half-human, half-troll from the front.

Wampanoag mythology suggests that Pukwudgies were initially friendly with humans, but they became jealous when the Wampanoag people started idolizing Maushop, a mythical giant. Feeling slighted, the creatures began playing mischievous pranks on humans.

Wampanoag Man In The Forest
Library of Congress
According to Wampanoag legend, Pukwudgies are forest sprites that cause mischief ranging from harmless pranks to deadly attacks. This 1857 engraving depicts a Wampanoag man standing in the woods — where he may have been surrounded by Pukwudgies.

Members of the Wampanoag tribe started complaining about the Pukwudgies’ tricks, so Maushop exiled them by shaking them until they were confused and tossing them across America. Unfortunately, his plan backfired. The Pukwudgies returned with a vengeance — and their pranks soon turned deadly. As the story goes, they began kidnapping children, burning villages, and harming Wampanoag people.

Instead of dealing with them himself, Maushop sent his five sons to get rid of the Pukwudgies again. However, the creatures lured the boys into deep grass and killed them with their magical arrows. Another version of the legend claims that they killed Maushop, too.

Tales of the Pukwudgie aren’t limited to Native American lore, however.

Pukwudgie Sightings Throughout History
In 2023, a woman named Mary reportedly emailed the blog New England Folklore to report a Pukwudgie sighting. Mary claimed she was walking a dog between 4 and 5 a.m. when she saw a humanoid creature with black, matted fur and glowing eyes. When she told her co-workers about it the next day, they informed her it was probably a Pukwudgie.

More than 30 years prior to Mary’s Pukwudgie sighting, a man named Bill Russo reportedly saw a similar being while walking his own dog in 1990. The creature allegedly tried to lure him into the dark woods, but he managed to escape.

There are also rumors that Pukwudgies terrorize humans in Massachusetts’ Freetown State Forest. Several unexplainable deaths in recent years have allegedly been blamed on Pukwudgies luring people off of a towering cliff in the forest known as Assonet Ledge. The area is less than 20 miles from Hockomock Swamp, which some legends claim is the place where Pukwudgies originated.



Tales of the Pukwudgie aren’t limited to New England, however. According to the Indiana Historical Society, the Lenape tribe has their own legends about the tiny cryptids. They reportedly lurk in forests in the state and play harmless pranks.

In 1927, a 10-year-old Indiana boy named Paul Startzman claimed that he was walking alone in a park when a two-foot-tall man with blonde hair appeared in front of him. Another resident named Eloise once recalled a group of small people with high-pitched voices who spoke in a strange language approaching her in a park.

Whether or not these stories are true is up for debate, but it’s undeniable that Pukwudgies have a grip on people’s imaginations — and on pop culture.

The Pukwudgie In Popular Culture
The legend of the Pukwudgie made its first appearance outside of folklore in 1855, when Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote “The Song of Hiawatha.” The epic chronicles the life of a fictional Ojibwe warrior and the tragic conclusion of his love for a Dakota woman.

The poem also relates the death of Hiawatha’s friend Kwasind — and his encounter with Pukwudgies. Longfellow wrote, “But the mischievous Puk-Wudjies, / They the envious Little People, / They the fairies and the pygmies, / Plotted and conspired against him.”

Longfellow went on to explain that the the only things that could kill Kwasind were the “seed-cone of the pine-tree” and the “blue cone of the fir-tree.” The Pukwudgies knew this secret, so they gathered up piles of the cones and “lay in wait for Kwasind.” Then, they ambushed and murdered him.


These deadly cryptids appear in much more recent pop culture, as well. J.K. Rowling named one of the four houses of Ilvermorny (Hogwarts’ American counterpart) Pukwudgie. The creatures even live at the school and act as “providers of security and maintenance.”

Rowling’s Pukwudgies are clearly not as evil — or as elusive — as the cryptids said to have caused countless deaths throughout history. Still, they enchant modern readers just as they captivated the minds of Wampanoag storytellers thousands of years ago.

Attached Files

Thumbnail(s)
               

Facts so far:

Gunman set up a hole or two from where Trump was (and would soon be approaching him).

Gunman set up one or two backpacks on the fence with ceramic tile in them (Poor man's barrier).

Gunman had a gopro so that he could broadcast it.

Gunman had a POS AK Style rifle with a scope. From the picture, kind of looked like a Saiga or an aftermarket regular rifle stock instead of the standard AK stock (could have been 5.45x39).

Secret Service goes ahead to survey the area and sees this guy setting up and sliding his muzzle barrel through the fence and they open fire on him. 

Suspect runs but there is a witness who takes a photo of his vehicle / tag and calls the police. Police catch him in the next county.


So, how did he know Trump would be there and how the course was set-up in order to get in front of him to set-up?

I remember 20 years ago talking to DEA agents telling me about the hit men the Cartels provide for the distribution centers. Chicago was a big center for the north distribution of drugs and other serious crimes..

The title says it all... These are some very talented individuals IMO..

A short video about the net worth of the last 6 President before and after office.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/R3F_CAGib...ture=share

I had been having fun dancing with different girls at the club and was taking a break with a drink in my hand at the bar.

There was an empty seat to my right until a really nice looking girl arrived and sat down next to me. She was wearing a low cut dress that was one step away from being trashy but on her she managed to look like some runway model just off a fabulous gig.

We exchanged pleasantries and after our drinks were finished we decided to go for a dance. The first song was a hard beating fast song and golly gee she could dance but the second song switched to a slow belly rubbing type song. She did not hesitate but fell into my arms like she belonged there. I must admit I was sorry when the song ended as I quite enjoyed the close contact with her; she even smelled good.


As the night wore on we danced and talked and danced and talked until it was like we had known each other for a very long time and not just met this night.

As we were sat after our last dance she wanted to know how far away I lived and I told her it was a short 20 minute drive. She said it had been a long time since she had met someone who she felt comfortable and close to so would I like to take her back to my place for the night.

"I thought you would never ask,” was my reply.

I decided I would go to the bathroom and was gone for all of a few minutes. When I returned to my bar stool a fresh drink was waiting for me and a wonderful smile from her. We both finished our drinks and headed out the door.


I was kinda hungry and without asking her I pulled into a 24 hour eatery that I frequented usually after a hard days night at the bar. She said she was not really hungry but just wanted to go to my place. I told her I really needed something to eat as I had returned late from my trip and had showered and gone to the bar without eating anything.

Once we entered the restaurant one of the tables was occupied by some friends of mine from work so we joined them. Introductions were made and all was well as far as I could tell.

I ordered a big breakfast meal and as we all sat there within 20 minutes I started feeling weird, like I could barely think or hold my eyes open; as if I was suffering from some sort of a CAFE DELIRIUM !

My date of the night excused herself by saying she had to go to the toilet.

I woke up at the hospital with an I.V. in my arm and feeling like I had been put through the wringer; thank god for my friends at the table ! Come to find out, I had been drugged by some kind of strong knock out drug .

The cops were called and they took down my story and volunteered that this particular formidable female and her partner in crime had been robbing people in this and other cities in the state for the last two months. I gave them a description of the girl as did my friends as well as the bartender at the bar.

One of my female friends at the restaurant had taken a photo of me and my date unbeknown to me as she had not said anything about “smile for the camera.” That was a pivotal moment that I did not even know had happened which really helped to capture Linda the sex goddess.

It was a month later I was called to the police station to identify the girl. Yep that was her alright and she still looked great even in a sweatshirt and jeans. I must admit though she was not smiling and looked rather dejected and sad. I just felt pity for a creature with such a cold hard heart.

They had managed to capture her and her partner using a sting operation.

One of the cops had driven to an upper class dance hall and bar in a borrowed Corvette wearing a Rolex Watch and dressed like he was a "someone of money and importance." She was on him like snot on a door knob once he entered the bar. Same story and chit chat from her but the conversation never got to the “one more drink” as she was hand cuffed and hauled out of the bar not gently and not very quietly. This time the only room she and her partner (who always waited outside or in the bar) got was a cell at the police station.

What a wasted life IMO.

The end... A totally fictional story created as a work of FICTION !

This is some sick justice !
https://www.foxnews.com/us/pro-israel-de...e-shooting

Quote:Pro-Israel demonstrator charged after shooting attacker who charged and tackled him to the ground
A pro-Israel demonstrator has been charged after he shot a man who charged and tackled him to the ground. CREDIT: Daily Wire
A pro-Israel demonstrator in Massachusetts has been charged after prosecutors say he shot a man sporting a Palestinian flag pin who ran across the street through traffic and tackled the defendant Thursday during a heated dispute about the war in Gaza in which the man accused protesters of "defending genocide" and calling them "sick."
Scott Hayes, 47, of Framingham, has been charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, as well as violation of a constitutional right causing injury, after he shot his attacker in the stomach as they tussled on the ground in Newton at around 6:40 p.m., Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said at a late night press briefing. 
Hayes fired his gun after the man made a beeline from across the street, tackled Hayes and knocked him to the ground before grabbing him around the neck on a sidewalk, video shows. 

The Heaviest Metal on the Planet 

 Osmium, which has a bulk density nearly twice that of lead. Osmium has a specific gravity of almost 22 1/2, making it the densest naturally occurring element known. Its high density is due to the strong bonding between its atoms, which are arranged in a complex crystal structure.


In 1803AD, Osmium was discovered by Smithson Tennant when dissolving an impure sample of platinum in aqua regia, a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids. He was able to determine that the black powder left behind after dissolving the platinum was actually a mixture of two new elements, indium and osmium.

The name Osmium is derived from the Greek word osme, which means odor. Osmium derived its name due to the strange smell of the compound Tennant was working with, which was osmium tetroxide.

Osmium’s claim to fame is that it is the densest of all the elements. It is also a member of the platinum group metals or PGMs (along with Ruthenium, Rhodium, Palladium, Iridium and Platinum) as well as being a transition metal.

Basic Information
Table 1. Basic Properties of Osmium


Osmium is a rare element and found in the Earth's crust. Osmium-rich ores include Osmiridium and Iridosmine of which the former is the most common.Osmium is also found in all ores of platinum.

The largest known primary reserves of osmium include the Bushveld igneous complex in South Africa, however the huge copper-nickel deposits near the Norilsk in Russia and the Canada-based Sudbury basin are also important osmium sources.


Osmium consists of seven naturally occurring isotopes. Of these 6 are considered stable and the 7th, Osmium 186 has a half life of 2x1015 years, making it stable for all practical purposes. Several radioactive isotopes of Osmium also exist.

Production of Osmium
Osmium concentrates are produced as a by-product of nickel and copper mining or alternatively while isolating the platinum metal from its ores. Osmium is then separated from other platinum group metals by distillation or organic solvent extraction to yield volatile Osmium tetroxide OsO4 which is then collected and precipitated using KOH. The resultant salt is reduced and roasted to yield a fine power of Osmium.
Health Aspects
Some of the osmium compounds are very dangerous and cause irritation to throat, lungs, skin and eyes. Extreme care is needed while handling the compounds. One needs to be very careful while handling the most widely used osmium compound, osmium tetroxide (OsO4).

Key Properties
The key properties of osmium are listed below

Osmium is a bluish-white and shiny metal.
Osmium is very hard and is brittle even at very high temperatures
Osmium has the lowast vapor pressure and the highest melting point among the platinum group of metals
Osmium’s density is slightly more than iridium hence is credited as the heaviest element
Osmium can be dissolved by acids or aqua regia only if exposed to these liquids for a long period.
The metal reacts with oxygen to form osmium tetroxide (OsO4) after heating.
Osmium tetroxide is highly toxic and the only essential commercial compound of osmium.
Applications
Due to its rarity and hence expense, osmium has a limited number of applications. Applications of osmium include:

Osmium can be used as an alloying agent, where it adds hardness to the resultant metal. Examples include platinum or indium
Certain alloys of osmium and platinum are used in the manufacture of specialized laboratory equipment
Finely divided osmium metal can be used as a catalyst e.g. in the process of forming ammonia by combining hydrogen and nitrogen.
Hard alloys can be produced by using Osmium. Osmium alloys are used in ball point pen tips, fountain pen tips, record player needles, compass needles and electrical contacts.
Early light bulb filaments used osmium. This was later replaced by tungsten which was found to be easier to work with.
Due to its inertness, osmium-platinum is used to make surgical instruments and pacemakers
Osmium tetroxide is highly volatile and strongly oxidizing and is beneficial in the chemical industry as long as one takes sufficient precautions.
Osmium tetroxide is used for staining biological samples for microscopic examination and for fingerprint detection.

Osmium tetroxide has an unpleasant chlorinelike odor, which prompted Tennant to name the element using the Greek word osme, "a smell."

There you have it. The heaviest metal on earth.[/color][/color]

Attached Files

Thumbnail(s)
               

Interesting conspiracy take that I can go along with for now.

Quote:September 4, 2024 / Joseph P. Farrell

Today's blog is unusual because it is not about an article that was shared, but rather about a "tweet" on the former "Twitter" (now "X") that was shared by V.T., and the "tweet" caused me to think about more connections and "combinations" of the sort I was warning about in last Monday's blog.  The "tweet" or "X" was this:



https://x.com/iluminatibot/status/1829058753121136855

Now why would a tweet about the deaths of people who have invented so-called "free energy" devices have triggered my thoughts today? Indeed, I'm so "triggered" that I had difficulty deciding whether or not to put this under the "Call it Conspiracy" tab or "Babylon's Banksters" tab, and it could easily go under both. But again, why am I compelled to write about a "tweet" rather than about an article or normal blog?

First of all, the idea that all these people should have died - and in some cases, been murdered - under unusual circumstances that adds up to mere coincidence, strains credulity.  But why should such people be monitored to the extent that "someone" would wish to cause their deaths, and suppress their inventions?

Some years ago I wrote a book titled Babylon's Banksters, in which I discussed the wireless power scheme of electrical genius Nikola Tesla, the man who, quite literally and virtually single-handedly, created the electrical system that lights the entire globe.  In that book I pointed out that the fundamental problem that stood in the way of the world adopting his wireless power system was twofold, as far as the powers-that-were were concerned: (1) the system was relatively easy to comprehend and engineer, and (2) one and the same system could be weaponized literally at the turn of a dial, as Tesla himself subsequently revealed. The Powers-that-were (the same powers that are now) put out the lame story that the system was killed because "it could not be metered," a ridiculous idea since those same powers stood to make a mint simply from the licensing agreements of any appliance using the system. Something else was involved in the suppression, and that was the proliferation/weaponization danger: there was no way to control its spread.

It should also be noted that Tesla's system was not a "free energy" system by any definition of that term one may choose.  But in any case, Tesla himself was too famous to suffer a "convenient suicide", so he was relegated to a media-reinforced obscurity, dying in relative poverty in 1943. But the proliferation problem remains with any and all such "free energy" claims. Assume, for a moment, that someone, somewhere, managed to create a technology able to tap directly into the vacuum, or zero point, energy. Such claims are, indeed, at the core of most such stories, and even the various models of cold fusion have some remote conceptual tie-in to it. This means that a technology that has the potential to make even the Soviet Union's enormous 57 megaton "Tsar Bomba" look like a kitchen match, would become more or less a commonplace across the globe. The proliferation problem remains, unless one can invent a way to track everyone on the planet, and monitor their purchases to make sure no one builds a "free-energy" version of the Tsar Bomba in their garage.

Bad news: with a central bank digital currency, the technological means to do that is now available. and I submit, that with the emergence of advocacy of such a "currency" is really, perhaps, about something else: not merely total control of the planet's population, and its reduction to absolute serfdom, but that it may also be about the introduction of so-called "free energy" technologies into the open market, because now the means to track and prevent weaponization and proliferation presently exists, and has only emerged in the last few years.  Or to put the point differently: a race is on between those wanting to bring central bank digital currencies to market, and those wanting to bring "free energy" to market.

And there is yet another reason that these two stories - free energy and central bank digital currencies - are intimately related, and must be understood by the popular mind to be so related. During the roll outs of so called digital or crypto-currencies, it was soon discovered that the new "currencies" required an enormous amount of electrical energy to "mine." Our friend and colleague Catherine Austin Fitts has quipped that such efforts have the carbon and energy footprint of a panzer division, and her point is well-made: for a global central bank digital currency to be usable, an enormous energy consumption will be required, and "free energy" technologies are the ticket to that CBDC world; again we are confronted with the truth that every monetary and currency system is ultimately a system of physics and energy.  And with that in mind, a virtual monopoly on so-called "free energy" is required by the nature of the case to make a system of central bank digital currency practical. Any individual doing this "on his own" in his garage is threatening that money-and-force monopoly.

So why are banksters pushing Central Bank Digital Currencies so heavily in recent years? I strongly suspect it is because they are aware of developments in physics and technologies threatening their monopolies on money and force, and that the latter threat on the monopoly on force may be due to their knowledge of "threats from outside"... that's a whole other story, of course, but for the moment, I want the reader to take a few things away from this blog. Firstly, whenever one hears of a story of a free energy device, or the death of an inventor of such, then one must immediately think of the financial and economic consequences; and secondly, every time one hears of a story involving crypto-currencies or central bank digital currencies or their advocacy, one should immediately think of more efficient energy technologies, and their weaponization potentials.

It may seem a strange thing to do, until one remembers that Mr. Globalooney and the banksters behind him, are literally trying to juggle and maintain control of an increasingly complex technological world that threatens to literally engulf and unseat them, and that in order to maintain their control over all of it, they will literally make a deal with the devil himself to save themselves and humanity itself from what they perceive are the dangers of proliferation. In doing so they are, of course, wrong on a multitude of levels, but it is important to understand their mentality; they literally will make a deal with anyone or anything enabling them to "save humanity" and "retain control."

You just never know and whatever October surprise is in store is right around the corner.



TEU = twenty-foot equivalent unit. Those shipping containers you see all the time. A general unit of cargo capacity, often used for container ships and container ports. It is based on the volume of a 20-foot-long (6.1 m) intermodal container, a standard-sized metal box that can be easily transferred between different modes of transportation, such as ships, trains, and trucks.

Quote:Asian exports of manufactured goods to the US could shift to west coast ports, but building supplies and wine from Europe and bananas from Latin America will have a far harder time rerouting if east and Gulf coast ports are shuttered.

THE clock is ticking. A potentially disastrous strike at US east and Gulf Coast ports may be just three weeks away.

Containers loaded today in Asia and bound for key gateways like New York will arrive after the October 1 deadline, when the International Longshoremen’s Association has vowed to strike if a new contract agreement isn’t reached.

Data on US imports underscores the enormity of the potential disruption, which could occur just a month before the vote on the US presidency and could spawn massive ship queues reminiscent of the Covid era.

After all the misplaced angst over a possible strike at west coast ports in 2023, the consequences of a shutdown on the other coastlines this year would be even more severe.

East and Gulf coast ports account for half of total US imports measured in teu and more than half measured in cargo tonnes.

A west coast shutdown would have overwhelmingly impacted US imports from Asia, but not other source regions. In contrast, a shutdown of east and Gulf coast ports will not only impact Asian cargoes, it will cripple US imports from Europe and Latin America, with shippers having few options to reroute.

‘Cataclysmic to marine supply chains’

According to data compiled by independent analyst John McCown, the top five ports on the east and Gulf coasts (Houston, Savannah, New York/New Jersey, Norfolk, Charleston) imported 6,953,037 teu in January-July, up 12% from the same period last year.

During the first seven months of 2024, the east and Gulf coast ports handled 50.8% of total imports measured in teu through the country’s top 10 ports. The share for the east and Gulf coast ports was higher in January-July 2023, at 52.7%, with the year-on-year decline widely attributed to shippers preparing for the strike.

“The impact of a coastwide strike across all east and Gulf coast ports would be pronounced even if short-lived,” McCown told Lloyd’s List on Tuesday.

“Those US ports, by my calculation, are linked to trade lanes representing 16.2% of worldwide teu-miles. The immediate effect would be as if that much capacity was removed. That is twice as much capacity as was removed due to longer voyages resulting from the Red Sea situation.

[size=large]“Any shifting to west coast ports, representing 11.8% of teu-miles, or non-US North American ports, representing 10.4% of teu-miles, could quickly overwhelm those ports and cause more congestion.

“The impact of such a strike of any duration would quickly spread across all container systems and be cataclysmic to maritime supply chains worldwide. Customers who move $3.2bn per day of goods in containers across east and Gulf coast ports and $5.6bn per day across all US ports would feel the largest impact.”

On reports that US importers have heavily frontloaded shipments in preparation for the strike, McCown said, “I have not seen enough data to indicate that inventory levels have been built up enough where customers can absorb any strike without meaningful economic pain.”

He also warned: “Clearly the follow-on impacts of any such strike – including domestic production lines shutting down – will just grow exponentially the longer it lasts.”

Risks to imports from Asia, Europe, Latin America

Another import data set is compiled by the US Census Bureau, using customs declarations on tonnes of containerised imports. This data shows a higher share of total US imports for east and Gulf coast ports than teu metrics – 63.9% in January-July 2024 and 66.6% in January-July 2023.

The disparity between the tonne and the teu import percentages relates to the higher density of cargo types brought through US east and Gulf coast ports versus west coast ports, explained Jason Miller, a freight economist and Michigan State University supply chain professor who compiles the Census Bureau import data.

In the first seven months of this year, 52% of containerised cargo tonne imports handled at east and Gulf coast ports arrived from Asia, 27% from Europe, and 21% from Latin America and other regions, according to Census Bureau data.

East and Gulf coast ports handled 51% of the total US import cargo tonnes from Asia in January-June. Miller told Lloyd’s List, “We see a mix of consumer and industrial goods [from Asia to the east and Gulf coasts]. Furniture is high on the list, and consumer goods like toys and bed linens. But we also see solar panels and a lot of motor vehicle parts and tires. We see building materials showing up as well, along with inputs going to manufacturing sectors.”

The strike scenario is much more acute for US imports from Europe. East and Gulf coast ports accounted for 90% of cargo tonnes from Europe imported to the US in January-July. Rerouting options for such shipments are extremely constrained, largely limited to eastern Canada.

The US east and Gulf coast import mix from Europe is much different than from Asia (bolstering the tonne share versus the teu share due to higher cargo density). US imports from Europe are less manufactured-goods-centric than those from Asia. Instead, they are dominated by building supplies – plaster, ceramic tiles, stone and cement – and food and beverages, led by wine and beer.

The strike scenario for imports from Latin America is almost as dire as it is for Europe. The Census Bureau data shows that 83% of US cargo tonnes imported from non-Asian and non-European countries (primarily Latin America) year to date entered the country via east and Gulf coast ports.

One of the main cargo types from this region: produce requiring refrigerated transport. One of the largest US gateways for these cargoes is Philadelphia.

“There are a lot of bananas coming through these ports,” said Miller. Bananas are the second largest category of cargo imports measured in tonnes to east and Gulf coast ports year to date.

Produce like bananas would face great difficulty in the event of a strike, given that such cargo has time constraints, with bananas having a storage life of around four weeks.

One option for shipments from the west coast of South America could be to ship to Los Angeles/Long Beach, then traverse the country by truck. “It could have some interesting ultra-long-haul refrigerated truckload implications,” said Miller.