Businesses have said for weeks that they have stockpiled goods in anticipation of a possibility dock shutdown. Now it's a reality.

West Coast shipping lines have promised to keep 29 ports closed until the International Longshore and Warehouse Union agrees to extend its expired contract. The 10,500-member union, however, said it will not budge until the lockout is ended.

With the exception of a brief period Sunday morning, the ports have been closed since Friday under a lockout imposed by the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents the shipping lines and sea terminal operators.

The two ships due to arrive here are owned by Matson Navigation Co., which along with CSX Lines brings in more than 90 percent of the state's goods.

"After these ships come in, that is when Hawai'i will begin to see this supply disruption," said James Andrasick, president and chief executive officer for Matson.

Before the ports were closed, Matson had four arrivals each week. The next scheduled arrival would have been on Sunday, Andrasick said.

The last CSX ship arrived yesterday, heavily laden with goods for Hawai'i, said Brian Taylor, the shipping line's vice president and general manager.

Despite the stockpiling, his customers remain concerned, he said.

"We are pretty much inundated with phone calls," Taylor said. "I think people are anxious to know what is happening out there. They are anxious to know when we might see some resolution and when we might see some ships coming to Hawai'i."

State Economist Pearl Imada Iboshi said many businesses could probably endure up to a month without cargo shipments.

"But of course, the longer it goes on, the more significant it becomes in terms of affecting our ability to conduct business," she said.

The large amount of daily flights to Hawai'i should help consumers with the supply of goods normally shipped here, but won't give anyone a break on prices, she said.

"I can't imagine it will come to a crisis situation," Imada Iboshi said. "Things might go up in price, but things will be available. The more normally people behave, the less likely there will be a crisis."

President Bush today urged the two sides to work with a federal mediator and said the labor dispute threatens the nation's economy. He gave no hint as to whether he is inclined to intervene.

"It's a problem ­ something that we're just going to have to get these parties to work through and get back to work, open these ports up. It's important to our economy to do so," Bush said.

But a scheduled meeting of union representatives, the maritime association and the federal mediator ended before it began today.

Union representatives said they walked out of the meeting at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services office in Oakland, Calif., after representatives of the shipping lines brought armed security personnel.

Mediator Peter Hurtgen had invited the two sides to discuss a possible solution to the lockout.

ILWU President Jim Spinosa said Hurtgen told him he did not know the guards were armed. They had come to the meeting with Joe Minace, president and chief executive of Pacific Maritime Association.

The maritime association did not respond to requests for comment this morning.

"This is an outrageous action," Spinosa said. "PMA's lockout is holding a gun to the head of the American economy and now they move to aim real guns at us."