Ag shipping news and developments

By Bruce Abbe, SSGA Strategic Adviser for Trade and Transportation

Major transportation legislation awaits action in Washington

As the country closes in on one of its most contentious national elections a little more than two months from now, a number of key issues await action in congress and will require bipartisan support to get approved. Among them are transportation and infrastructure bills that are critical for agriculture and trade.

The Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) recently joined with a host of other mainstream national and state agriculture organizations in joint communications to Congressional leaders urging passage of a Highways omnibus bill as well as a 2020 version of the Waterways Resources Development Act (WRDA).

Highways bill
On Aug. 6, more than 100 ag organizations, including SSGA and the National Grain & Feed Association (NGFA), sent a joint letter to the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee urging the Senate to move forward on a highways transportation package that spelled out a number of key concerns and needs of ag shippers. Funding for the current highway bill expires on Sept. 30.

The ag working group letter identified a number of key needs for agriculture shippers. The Agriculture Exemptions to Hours-of-Service rules, first approved in in 1995, “remain vitally important for the food and agriculture industry.” The coalition urged incremental changes to the hours-of-service ag exemption and further clarifications in the related eligible agriculture commodity definitions to enhance the needed flexibility the rules offer, including adoption of a 10% “load-shift” tolerance for truckers hauling bulk good and maintaining current trucking minimum financial responsibilities for insurance purposes.

Go here to view the joint letter.

The full U.S. House approved its version of the highway bill, H.R. 2, the Invest in America – Moving Forward Act of 2020, and reported it to the Senate on July 20. The vote was 233-188.  Go here to view a summary overview, details and actions from Congress.

Waterways bill
On July 29, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed H.R. 7575, the Waterways Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2020. SSGA joined more than 20 other national agriculture organizations in supporting passage of the bill.

The House bill included two key priorities for agriculture and other waterways, ports and inland river shippers – full use of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) dollars (rather than holding or diverting them for other uses) and an increase in the federal share of funding for inland waterways projects.

The legislation, still awaiting consideration in the Senate, would allow access to the current $9 billion plus balance of unused HMTF funds. The bill also would change the cost-share formula now used for funding inland waterways projects from the current 50% general revenue dollars and 50% Inland Waterways Trust Fund (IWRF) dollars, which are raised from barge fuel taxes paid by commercial uses of the inland waterways, to 65% general revenue and 35% IWTF.

Go here for coverage from NGFA, and here for a more detailed report from the National Association of Counties.

Go here to view the agriculture organizations joint letter.

Shippers eye Port of Montreal shutdown as longshoremen launch general strike

The Port of Montreal is a key gateway for North American trans-Atlantic container shippers, including U.S. ag exporters in the Upper Midwest that have access to rail service to Montreal by Canadian Pacific and Canadian National railways.

Now, a rolling series of strikes by union longshoremen at Montreal has gotten more contentious. On Aug. 10, the port shut down 1,100 workers of the Canadian Union of Public Employees and 150 workers from the International Longshoremen Association joined in a general, indefinite length strike when negotiations broke down. The CUPE has held a series of temporary strikes over the past six weeks.

According to reports, some ocean carriers have begun diverting incoming container ships to other east coast ports, while keeping an eye on the negotiations. Hapag-Lloyd is reportedly shifting the port call of its Detroit Express vessel from Montreal to Saint John in New Brunswick, and at least two MSC vessels skipped Montreal, going from Halifax direct to New York-New Jersey.

Go here for more detailed coverage.