There is only one week left to fend off a major ports strike that could have a devastating impact on U.S. retailers just as they enter the most important time of year.

The chief executive over Georgia’s two booming seaports said Tuesday that a strike next week by dockworkers across the U.S. East and Gulf coasts appears likely, though he’s hopeful the resulting shutdown would last only a few days.

The East Coast and Gulf Coast seaports that would be affected by a longshoremen’s strike are accounting for almost 60 percent of all containerized U.S. imports.