NEW YORK, Jan. 11--More than 100 ships lay idle today in ports from Maine to Texas, marooned by a $20 million-a-day strike of 60,000 East and Gulf Coast longshoremen.

In a rare display of unity, the AFLCIO International Longshoremen's Association joined with ship owners and the federal government in an effort to get the dockers back to work.

But the possibility of a long strike was expressed.