The shutdown could take a significant toll on local companies and retailers that depend on the port for access to international markets.

Roughly 50 workers were picketing at Conley Terminal in South Boston as of mid-morning Tuesday as part of a International Longshoremen's Association strike in ports East Coast and Gulf Coast.

Thousands of dockworkers at every major East and Gulf coast port are now striking, effectively closing trade gateways that handle about half of all goods shipped in containers in and out of the U.S.President Joe Biden on Sunday said he would not intervene and that the labor dispute should be resolved through collective bargaining.