Sept 26 (Reuters) - U.S. retailer Costco Wholesale ( COST )

is taking a wide variety of steps to prepare for

possible strikes next week at U.S. ports on the East Coast and

Gulf of Mexico, the company's chief executive said on Thursday.

Contingency plans in place include pre-shipping some

products to get in holiday goods early and preparing to use

different ports, Costco's CEO Ron Vachris said on the company's

fourth-quarter earnings call.

Companies that rely on ocean shipping are increasingly

worried the International Longshoremen's Association's 45,000

members will strike on Oct. 1 and close 36 ports that handle

more than half of U.S. ocean trade of products such as bananas,

meat, prescription drugs, auto parts, construction materials and

apparel.

If that happens, delays and costs could quickly cascade,

threatening the U.S. economy in the weeks ahead of the country's

presidential election, burdening already taxed global ocean

shipping networks and foisting higher prices on consumers over

time.

"We've cleared the ports, we've pre-shipped. We've done

several different things that we could to get holiday goods in

ahead of this time frame, and looked at alternate plans that we

could execute with moving goods to different ports and coming

across the country if needed," Vachris said.

Asked about bringing in goods early, he said, "We have done

a little bit of everything you spoke about," and added, "It

could be disruptive, but how impactful, I can't tell you...

until we know what could happen out there."

A prolonged strike could result in shortages of familiar

items such as bananas, coffee and cocoa, which could translate

to higher grocery prices over time.

It could also mean lost export sales of key agricultural

products including beef, pork, chicken and eggs.