A major union for U.S. longshoremen and the United States Maritime Alliance agreed to a tentative deal on wages Thursday and extended their existing contract through Jan. 15 to give time to negotiate a new contract.

It ends a strike that had seized ports on the East Coast and Gulf Coast since the beginning of the week and threatened U.S. supplies of fruit, cars and other goods.

“The International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. have reached a tentative agreement on wages and agreed to extend the Master Contract until January 15, 2025 in order to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues,” The International Says the Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance in a joint statement.

During the week, the strike had already begun to put pressure on the US supply chain. Thousands of containers had been dumped in the wrong ports and billions of dollars worth of goods had become anchored offshore because ports were not operational, CNBC previously reported. Shipping costs were already starting to rise.

The strike was the ILA’s first since 1977 and affected operations at 14 different ports. About 50,000 of the union’s 85,000 members were on strike this week. In a statement Tuesday, ILA President Harold Daggett said the union was asking for an increase of $5 per hour for each year of the six-year contract.

Under the tentative agreement, ILU wages will increase 61.5% over six years, sources told CNBC’s Lori Ann LaRocco. A central conflict over port automation is still being negotiated.