US secretary of transportation Pete Buttigieg and secretary of agriculture Tom Vilsack are calling on leading ocean carriers to help eliminate agricultural export disruptions, reports Illinois's National Hog Farmer.
Ocean carriers are making fewer containers available, switching return dates, and charging unjust fees.
The cabinet members also indicated that if the issue was not resolved quickly, the Federal Maritime Commission may take action.
'This unprecedented disruption to the flow of goods worldwide has required both government and industry to pull every lever and maximise the use of our existing infrastructure while simultaneously working to ensure that our supply chain is more resilient to future disruptions,' said Mr Buttigieg and Mr Vilsack.
'In the spirit of fully utilising our current infrastructure, we're writing to emphasise the critical nature of service to underutilised West Coast ports to ensure American agricultural exports can be freely transported overseas.'
'It is also critical that we restore reciprocal treatment of imports and exports that is inherent in trade. Shippers of US-grown agricultural commodities and goods have seen reduced service, ever changing return dates, and unfair fees as containers have short-circuited the usual pathways and been rushed to be exported empty,' said Mr Buttigieg and Mr Vilsack.
'This imbalance is not sustainable and contributes to the logjam of empty containers clogging ports. The poor service and refusal to serve customers when the empty containers are clearly available is unacceptable and, if not resolved quickly, may require further examination and action by the Federal Maritime Commission.'
The House passed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021 recently that had support from a large number of agricultural organisations.
SeaNews Turkey
Ocean carriers are making fewer containers available, switching return dates, and charging unjust fees.
The cabinet members also indicated that if the issue was not resolved quickly, the Federal Maritime Commission may take action.
'This unprecedented disruption to the flow of goods worldwide has required both government and industry to pull every lever and maximise the use of our existing infrastructure while simultaneously working to ensure that our supply chain is more resilient to future disruptions,' said Mr Buttigieg and Mr Vilsack.
'In the spirit of fully utilising our current infrastructure, we're writing to emphasise the critical nature of service to underutilised West Coast ports to ensure American agricultural exports can be freely transported overseas.'
'It is also critical that we restore reciprocal treatment of imports and exports that is inherent in trade. Shippers of US-grown agricultural commodities and goods have seen reduced service, ever changing return dates, and unfair fees as containers have short-circuited the usual pathways and been rushed to be exported empty,' said Mr Buttigieg and Mr Vilsack.
'This imbalance is not sustainable and contributes to the logjam of empty containers clogging ports. The poor service and refusal to serve customers when the empty containers are clearly available is unacceptable and, if not resolved quickly, may require further examination and action by the Federal Maritime Commission.'
The House passed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021 recently that had support from a large number of agricultural organisations.
SeaNews Turkey
