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Cargo backups, worsened by tense contract negotiations between the ILWU and the PMA, have resulted in clogged ports that are crippling U.S. exporters of agriculture and forest products, according to the Agriculture Transport Coalition.
Chris Christopher, a transportation analyst with IHS Insight, told USA Today that shipping times through some ports have doubled and even tripled. Chinese New Year is next Thursday, but a large share of U.S. produce export shipments intended for Asia won’t get there in time.
The losses are in the billions, according to the coalition, and have triggered industry job loss and put family farms and businesses in jeopardy.
On Feb. 9, California Senators Feinstein and Boxer sent a letter to the ILWU and PMA emphasizing the urgent need to find a solution and get the ports operating again, the statement said. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is slotted to conduct a hearing on the issue this week.
The AgTC says permanent damage is being done to agriculture exporters. Foreign customers, unable to get the U.S. food and farm products they need, are turning elsewhere to acquire hay, pork, beef, citrus, Christmas trees, apples, cotton, rice and almonds usually sourced from the U.S.
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"As we unfortunately learned when the West Coast ports shut down in 2002," the statement said, "those customers, once gone, do not necessarily come back. There is nothing that we produce in this country in agriculture and forest products, that cannot be sourced somewhere else in the world. We can grow the best in the world, but if we can't deliver affordably and dependably, the customer will go somewhere else... and may never come back."
Containerized agriculture exports from West Coast ports are now running at less than 50 percent of the normal volumes, according to AgTC. The port backups have reduced U.S. agriculture exports by $1.75 billion each month.
In January alone, cherry growers in Oregon lost over $250,000 of export sales directly related to port disruption. If not resolved, it will lead to a sales loss of $5 million in 2015.
The American Meat Institute and the National Pork Producers Council report losses of $40 million in exports each a week. Shipping delays have made it impossible to ship chilled beef or pork to Asia.
The AgTC's membership includes companies that represent all agriculture products and many forest products exported from the U.S.
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