Ocean Shipping Reform Act to become law

Ag shippers from central U.S. in need of relief

More than 2 ½ years ago, the Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance was one of the first agricultural associations to sound the alarm on the crisis taking place in container shipping. Finally, some relief is in sight, as the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 is heading to President Biden’s desk. On Monday, U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Senate version of the bill, 369-42.

The House first passed a version of the bill in December, and the Senate passed its version by unanimous consent on March 31. Rather than reconcile the two bills by conference committee, the House opted to pass the Senate version.

SSGA acknowledges the bill’s sponsors, Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and John Thune (R-S.D.), and Reps. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) and Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) for their bipartisan efforts in getting through a bill that would provide the Federal Maritime Commission with new, additional enforcement authority. It also will ensure a more competitive global ocean shipping industry and provide relief to U.S. exporters, including SSGA-member agricultural exporters, who have struggled with significant supply chain disruptions over the past two years.

“We applaud the work that’s been done so far,” SSGA Executive Director Eric Wenberg said. “We’ve used our expertise in intermodal shipping to inform and educate the debate and will continue to do so. With three of the four congressional sponsors being from South Dakota and Minnesota, we trust that the message is clear and that the final rule, when it emerges, will support agricultural shippers from the central United States.”

Once signed, the law also would provide additional enforcement tools to address unreasonable and unfair ocean carrier practices that have been harmful to U.S. exporters, including prohibiting carriers from unreasonably declining opportunities to U.S. exports.

On Tuesday, SSGA will hold its quarterly board meeting in Tacoma, Washington, prior to the annual meeting of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition’s annual meeting where senators and representatives who sponsored the Ocean Shipping Reform Act are scheduled to appear.

SSGA has long supported passage of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act and has worked since October 2020 to inform the general public about the supply chain crisis, working on behalf of its members who export high-quality, Identity Preserved and specialty grains and oilseeds to help them meet the needs of their overseas customers.

Lack of service, carrier cancelations, delays and rising freight rates and fees have “reached a condition critical situation,” according to SSGA Chairman Rob Prather, chief strategic ambassador for Iowa-based Global Processing, affected business and have had a human toll, as well, causing hardships to logistics staffs, farmers, truckers, suppliers and customers both in the U.S. and abroad.