Thousands of unionized dockworkers walked off the job at ports along the U.S. East and Gulf coasts October 1 in the first work stoppage for those regions since 1977. Three days later, they’re heading back to work with a tentative deal on wages in hand and an agreement to continue negotiating on other issues through mid-January. The strike didn’t threaten liquid exports like crude oil and LNG but imports of action figures and exports of plastic pellets used to make them — as well as other dry containerized products and feedstocks — hit a brief standstill. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll examine the potential fallout avoided by the labor agreement.