SSGA comments on the Suez Canal situation

Our group of companies has been vocal in recent months about the logistical problems besetting our field crop container exports. We have been adversely affected and sorely mistreated by international carriers and an intermodal system that decided to maximize profitable traffic at the expense of U.S. ag exporters and our customers abroad.   

Eric Wenberg, SSGA Executive Director

I will hit the pause button and support them, as an example of the problems they face themselves were overcome by Evergreen shipping, the Suez Canal Authority and the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt. Thank you for freeing the Ever Given. To these groups, SSGA extends its support and gratitude for resolving the difficulties in the Suez Canal. 

If critics of globalization or trade see what happened in the Suez as an opportunity for a cheap shot or as an argument that even the mighty corporation can be punished, then they make a mistake.  

U.S. barges get caught in the Missouri. Trucks get stuck in the mud in prairie states. I know of two rail links here that have such hairpin turns that trains must slow to 20 mph. And, as we know all too well lately, our ports are congested, if not clogged. Our shortfalls are many.  

When a bipartisan U.S. Congress takes an infrastructure bill seriously, when the Biden administration acts to help our shipping slowdown at home through the Federal Maritime Commission, and when you can finally ride a fast train in the United States, then I’ll be interested in those criticisms.  

Today, my business associates and I offer our thanks to the striving tug, dredge and ship crews who risked their lives to unclog the Suez Canal and return normal shipping to the Mediterranean and the Gulf – and around the world.  

You will have only had to a visit a port once to understand the dangers. The scale at which global trade works delivers cost benefits and efficiency. The intermodal system is run by people and those workers deserve our respect.  

Thank you. We are proud of you. Struggle on. 

Eric Wenberg
Executive Director, Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance