USDEC, NMPF urge additional white house action on ports crisis
Since early 2021, dairy and other agriculture exporters have been facing unprecedented challenges in securing shipping container space on ocean vessels while contending with an accumulation of exorbitant detention and demurrage fees.
The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), both headquartered in Arlington, Va., joined several other organizations urging the Biden administration to take additional steps to alleviate the ongoing ports crisis in a letter sent on Sept. 13 to the White House from a coalition of 77 agriculture and food associations.
Since early 2021, dairy and other agriculture exporters have been facing unprecedented challenges in securing shipping container space on ocean vessels while contending with an accumulation of exorbitant detention and demurrage fees, USDEC and NMPF said. Foreign-owned and -operated ocean carriers have been driving this crisis by providing unpredictable and unreasonable timelines for exporters to load agricultural goods and by exacerbating pressure on supply chains by opting to return empty containers rather than allowing time for them to be loaded with Asian-bound goods for the vessel’s return journey. As a result, more than 70% of containers are leaving West Coast ports empty, an all-time record.