Port of Virginia halts operations after dock workers go on strike [Video]

NORFOLK, Va. — The Port of Virginia announced it halted cargo operations after 45,000 port workers up and down the East Coast went on strike early Tuesday morning.

Dockworkers walked off the job at midnight. The group blames the U.S. Maritime Alliance for allegedly blocking the path toward a contract agreement. But the alliance said the union has not been negotiating in good faith.

The strike threatens to shutter 36 ports including here in Norfolk, and could cripple the country’s supply chain. Those docks handle roughly half of the goods shipped in and out of the U.S.

In an announcement on its website the Port of Virginia said cargo operations were halted at 6 p.m. Monday “ahead of the [midnight] deadline to prepare its terminals for a potential work stoppage.”