By Joseph Ax and Daniel Bases

NEW YORK, Jan 29 (Reuters) – New York and New Jersey’s cargo terminals shut down on Friday after greater than a thousand longshoremen walked off the job, shuttering one of many United States’ busiest port networks.

Employees stopped working round 11 a.m. (1600 GMT). The purpose was unclear.

“To run a picket you need a permit and there wasn’t one issued by the Port Authority,” stated a Port Authority official who requested anonymity.

The work stoppage was a shock as a result of “there were no major issues that we knew of to precipitate this,” the official stated, including that greater than a thousand folks had walked out.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the terminals and leases them to port operators, issued a press release urging members of the International Longshoremen’s Association to “return to work immediately and resolve their differences after they return.”

The maritime employees union on Friday night additionally urged their members to return to work.

“We have heard your voices, we have heard your concerns, and we have taken action on your behalf,” the union stated in a press release. “We urge all ILA members to return to work.”

Over $200 billion value of cargo moved by the port in 2014, in keeping with the company. About 1 / 4 of U.S. gross home product is accounted for in an space inside a 200 to 250 mile radius of the ports.

Port Authority police had been despatched to the terminals to make sure public security, in keeping with the assertion. The Port Authority official stated there had been no phrase of any arrests by night.

Beverly Fedorko, a spokeswoman for the New York Shipping Association (NYSA), which represents the terminal operators and ocean carriers, stated the longshoremen had not knowledgeable administration of the “illegal” walkout. “We don’t even know why,” she stated.

“The Contract Board (of the NYSA) called an emergency meeting. Representatives of the Contract Board are members of management and of the union. The management showed up and the union did not,” Fedorko informed Reuters late Friday afternoon.

The NYSA is weighing authorized choices, she stated.

New York and New Jersey ports are a serious entry level for crude oil and an exit for refined merchandise similar to gasoline and heating oil. It was unclear if vitality sector employees within the ports had been collaborating within the walkout.

“I have not seen or heard anything yet that the strike was affecting the gasoline or heating oil futures markets,” stated Dominick Chirichella, senior companion on the Energy Management Institute in New York. Prices for each commodities had been greater, in keeping with market fundamentals.

A textual content message from Port Authority’s cellular alert system at 11:20 a.m. EST stated that on account of the work stoppage “no new trucks would be allowed to queue on the port roadways. Do not send trucks to the port.”

The walkout impacts a number of terminals, together with Port Newark and terminals in Elizabeth and Bayonne, New Jersey, and the New York City borough of Staten Island.

Another textual content at 3:13 p.m. stated the marine terminals had been safely cleared, and thanked operators for his or her cooperation.

The port system is the third busiest within the United States and has 3,500 registered longshoremen, Fedorko stated, though the variety of employees on responsibility per day fluctuates relying on ships and different components.

The terminals yearly deal with almost six million 20-foot equal models (TEUs) of containerized cargo, in keeping with the Port Authority. A normal 40-foot container equals two TEUs. (Reporting by Joseph Ax and Daniel Bases; Additional reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Toni Reinhold)

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