ARLINGTON, VA – The National Milk Producers Federation
(NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) joined several other organizations
urging the Biden administration to take additional steps to alleviate the
ongoing ports crisis in a letter sent today 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. 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,
over 70% of containers are leaving West Coast ports empty, an all-time record.
Delays and an intentional lack of transparency and
flexibility from ocean carriers have cost American dairy exporters over $300
million dollars through just the first half of the year, or 12% of total export
value. In addition to this added cost, continued delays put at risk critical
trading relationships with Asian importers as the U.S. increasingly risks
becoming viewed as an unreliable supplier.
“We thank the Biden administration for the initial actions
taken to address the extraordinary challenges dairy exporters are facing when
exporting their products,” said Krysta Harden, USDEC president and CEO.
“Unfortunately, the shipping crisis only continues to grow as container
availability becomes scarcer with the ocean carriers’ increasing refusal to
export American-made products. To further its goals of supporting the workers
and companies producing Made-In-America products, we are urging the White House
to take a more active role in ensuring that foreign carriers are not permitted
to dictate U.S. export flows and put our established trading relationships in
jeopardy. Right now, imports seem to be enjoying the equivalent of an
eight-lane highway while our exports have been relegated to narrow country
roads; that’s not right and we know that Congress and the Administration can
take steps to create fairer trading practices.”
“Without question, ocean carriers are abusing a unique
situation created by the pandemic and the lack of sufficient regulatory action
to enforce reasonable shipping practices,” said Jim Mulhern, NMPF president and
CEO. “We recognize that increased import demand has driven higher rates for
shipping, but it does not warrant the cancellations, refusal to load U.S. dairy
and agriculture products, and unreasonable detention and demurrage practices
that ocean carriers have turned into an additional revenue stream. It is
imperative that the Administration takes immediate steps to work with Congress
and the FMC to limit these unfair practices and ensure our exporters can reach
their customers around the world.”