By Doyinsola Oladipo and David Shepardson
(Reuters) -U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast ports began reopening late on Thursday after dockworkers and port operators reached a wage deal to settle the industry's biggest work stoppage in nearly half a century, but clearing the cargo backlog will take time.
The strike ended sooner than investors had expected, weakening shipping stocks across Asia on Friday as freight rates were no longer expected to surge.
At least 54 container ships queued outside the ports as the strike had prevented unloading and threatened shortages of anything from bananas to auto parts. Everstream Analytics was calculated the number queuing at 4:00 p.m. ET (2000 GMT). More ships are sure to arrive.
Pricing platform Xeneta said it was likely to take two to three weeks for the normal flow of goods to be reestablished.
