GRAIN shipments from the biggest terminal in the US Pacific Northwest are facing major delays as grain inspectors remain off-site because of a labour dispute with fears of catastrophe when am expected bumper harvests comes in.
United Grain Corporation, which owns the terminal at the American Port of Vancouver had 20 million bushels of grain on the books to ship this month.
The dispute has also been a distraction for those engaged in contract talks between the dockers union and the maritime employers, which have had to break off twice because union leaders were needed at the grain handler talks.
"We have supply backing up into the supply chain just as the wheat harvest peaks and creates choke points for everybody," said Pat McCormick, a spokesman for the Pacific Northwest Grain Handlers Association.
"And with the harvest coming on, there isn't a whole lot of capacity at other terminals," he added.
The Port of Vancouver in Washington State is the largest of nine grain export facilities on the US Pacific Northwest and moves 20 per cent of the region's grain exports and more than 40 per cent of the grain destined for Japan.
About a quarter of all US grain exports are shipped out of the Pacific Northwest, second only to the Gulf.
United Grain, a unit of Mitsui, stopped operations last month when the state withdrew police protection for inspectors to cross the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) picket lines.
United Grain and the union have been in an 18-month standoff after the two sides hit an impasse in contract negotiations.
The company met most of its export commitments last month by securing inspection waivers from customers and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), as well as shifting scheduled vessels to other export terminals, shipping more than nine million bushels overseas.
But concerns are mounting that the situation could worsen as record-large corn and soybean harvests arrive beginning in a few weeks.
PORTS
13 August 2014 - 20:40
Pacific Northwest terminal labour dispute causes havoc for grain exports
GRAIN shipments from the biggest terminal in the US Pacific Northwest are facing major delays as grain inspectors remain off-site because of a labour dispute with fears of catastrophe when am expected bumper harvests comes in.
PORTS
13 August 2014 - 20:40
Pacific Northwest terminal labour dispute causes havoc for grain exports
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