With a potential strike at ports up and down the East Coast and along the Gulf Coast set to begin after midnight Monday, logistics executives tell CNBC the remaining hours are critical in moving out as much trade as possible before a shutdown that will do serious damage to the functioning of the U.S. economy.

A lengthy shutdown could raise prices on goods around the country and potentially cause shortages and price increases at big and small retailers alike.

East and Gulf Coast port workers are set to go on strike at midnight today with no talks currently scheduled to head off a stoppage threatening to halt container traffic from Maine to Texas and cost the economy as much as $5 billion a day.

The system is in the Central American Gyre — a large low-pressure area that forms over Central America in the spring and fall. It creates storms and spin from the eastern Pacific into the Caribbean, and can unleash hurricanes and tropical storms near the end of hurricane season.

A low-pressure system over the western Caribbean Sea could develop into a tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico in several days, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Forecasters said in the 7 a.