SSGA shows support for Seattle, Tacoma port upgrades

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The Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) submitted a letter of support to the Northwest Seaport Alliance’s (NWSA) request for funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s 2020 Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) and the 2020 Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) Transportation Grants Program. The grant funds would be used to complete four major transportation infrastructure upgrades at Seattle Harbor’s Terminal 5.

The NWSA, an operating partnership between the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, recently began a multi-year effort to modernize Terminal 5, located at the southern end of Seattle Harbor. This terminal has been mostly dormant since 2014, when it was abandoned because it was unable to serve larger container vessels.

Terminal 5 upgrades will make it ready for large ships by improving rail tracks, paving to support container stacking, installing reefer plugs and completing the second phase of installing a storm water catchment and treatment system.

In its letter of support, SSGA mentions how important the Seattle and Tacoma ports are for Midwestern exports to Asian markets. These ports often have the best rail and ocean carrier service for the Midwestern region and handle a strong share of these exports. SSGA member companies work hard to reliably supply field crops to their customers. The upgrades to Terminal 5 would help do that, making the movement of goods through the Pacific Northwest safer, more efficient and more reliable.

STB issues policy announcement on railroad demurrage charge practices

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By Bruce Abbe, strategic adviser for trade and transportation

Demurrage charges have long been a source of raw conflict between transportation providers and shippers.

That conflict is not only over the recent spate of penalty fees by ocean container carriers that shippers have called unfair due to poor execution of cancelled sailings. There has also been a challenge from railroads assessing demurrage and accessorial charges on (non-intermodal) rail shippers. Charge amounts and applications have increased in recent years as Class 1 railroads have shifted to more precision-scheduled-railroad operations.

On April 30, the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB) issued a policy statement on three decisions related to how it will look at the reasonableness of railroad demurrage and accessorial charges, if rail shippers decide to bring a case before it.

The policy statement says STB is unwilling at this time to make “any binding determinations” and “declines at this time to take further regulatory action. … However, the (agency) will remain open to argument that these concerns and suggestions should be considered in future proceedings in assessing the reasonableness of demurrage rules and charges.”

The National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) was among a group of shipper interest groups that has been pressing STB to take firm action to sort out and mitigate unfair application of demurrage charges.

NFGA President Randy Gordon wrote a detailed overview of the STB’s policy statement, including STB positions on free time, “bunching” of cars, accessorial charges, overlapping charges and invoicing and dispute-resolution.”

The STB said, “With the policy statement, the Board intends to facilitate more effective private negotiations and problem solving between rail carriers and shippers and receivers, to help prevent disputes from arising, and to help resolve disputes more efficiently and cost-effectively.

“The (STB) encourages all carriers, and all shippers and receivers, to work toward collaborative, mutually beneficial solutions to resolve disputes on matters such as those raised” by rail users during the agency’s proceeding on this matter.”

Another report on the announcement can be found here.

FMC adopts demurrage, detention interpretive rule

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Container shippers hope guidelines will prevent abuses

By Bruce Abbe, strategic adviser for trade and transportation

Some good news happened last week for shippers. Finally, on April 28, the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) formally adopted its proposed federal “interpretive rule” on demurrage and detention penalties for container shipping. After more than 18 months, including an extensive industry fact-finding effort, shippers hope the FMC guidelines will provide clarity and reforms that will prevent unfair, costly penalties issued by ocean carriers and port terminals.

However, we’re not out of the woods yet.

Background
Container shippers, including both exporters and importers, are given a certain amount of “free time” when their containers arrive at the port terminals. Everyone in the system, i
including ocean carriers, ports and shippers desire a continuous, fluid flow of containers through the ports and whole supply chain, with minimum congestion. Demurrage penalties are applied when containers sit too long at a terminal beyond that free time. Detention penalties may occur when the shippers or their truckers don’t pick up their containers within the allotted time. Detention and demurrage also can happen in rail shipping.

Shippers have complained to the FMC for many years about abuses in demurrage and detention penalties as practiced by some ocean carriers and terminals. It has become commonplace for shippers to get hit with charges for circumstances completely beyond their control. That can include rail delays, closed terminal gates at scheduled delivery times and myriad other factors.

Problems with abusive penalties have accelerated in the past few months due to disruptions in supply chains stemming from ocean carriers canceling sailings entirely or skipping some port calls for their reduced fleets of now larger container ships.

The penalties can run $150-$350 per container per day. If an exporter is shipping 20 containers to a customer and the cargo gets rolled for a week or more, the costs can quickly add up to several thousand dollars.

Smaller shippers, such as many Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) members, are particularly exposed to harm from unfair application of these per diem penalties. Inland ag exporters are also more exposed because the containers they ship often spend 10-14 days on railroads en route to the export ports. Ocean carrier or rail changes during that time more easily can push the shipments outside of the free time windows. Large volume shippers and importers can sometimes get language included in their contracts with ocean carriers to prevent or mitigate these penalties. Smaller shippers have more difficulty doing so.

FMC’s statement
The FMC’s final rule for “Docket No. 19-05, Interpretive Rule on Demurrage and Detention under the Shipping Act” will take effect soon, after it is published in the Federal Register.

If the FMC gets called on to address a problem, the agency said it will consider the extent to which detention and demurrage charges and policies by the carriers and terminals serve the “primary purpose of incentivizing the movement of cargo and promoting freight fluidity.”

The commission also said it may consider the “reasonableness” of the penalty practices and clarity in terminology.

Go here to view the statement by the FMC issued last week.

Additional coverage can be found here.

Will shippers see relief?
Since the announcement, shippers and forwarders, while much appreciative of FMC’s action, have been asking: How do we get the ocean carriers to comply?

Peter Friedmann, executive director of the national Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC), of which SSGA is an active member, notes, “These are only guidelines. They do not make these unfair demurrage/detention charges ‘prohibited acts’ subject to enforcement by the FMC itself.”

Shipper groups including SSGA and AgTC plan to push FMC to take action to force carriers to adopt clearly stated policies and operational practices for applying demurrage and detention penalties that meet the new interpretive rules guidelines with the aim of preventing abuses  and to adopt simple, time- and cost-efficient ways for shippers to challenge penalties they feel are unfair.

John Butler, president and CEO of the World Shipping Council which represents ocean carriers, told the Journal of Commerce his organization is still reviewing the new rule. He said, “(Since) the purpose of the commission’s interpretive rule is to provide guidance to an administrative law judge in future complaint cases at FMC, it will take some time to determine the effect of the guidance, especially since the commission has properly pointed out that each case must be decided on its own facts.”

SSGA wants to hear from member shippers going forward if they feel they have been unfairly charged any demurrage or detention penalties, in the event the organization can potentially advise or intercede on members’ behalf. Shippers should be sure to maintain documents, time records and correspondence for any such disputed shipments. Contact Bruce Abbe with your comments.

Canceled vessel sailings cause logistics challenges for inland ag exporters

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By Bruce Abbe, strategic adviser for trade and transportation

Canceled container ship sailings on the Trans-Pacific are continuing to cause turmoil for U.S. agriculture exporters – in particular for inland ag container shippers who are trying their best to meet demanding supply chain and overseas customers’ deadlines.

Particularly vexing for a number of Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) shipper members is dealing with unwarranted demurrage and detention penalties the ocean carriers or railroads try to charge them for missing cut-off dates early or late, even though the carriers are at fault for giving inadequate, short-notice schedule changes, sometimes after the cargo has started on its way from the plant.

Bob Sinner, president of specialty soybean exporter SB & B Foods and SSGA vice chair, explains there are four key logistics deadlines inland shippers focus on when sending loaded containers overseas: the arrival date overseas; the vessel sailing date at the ports; the ramp cutoff date at the inland rail terminal; and the early return date (ERD), which has become a pernicious problem of late.

ERDs have been put in place to try to set windows for managing export containers flowing into the ports to minimize congestion. If the container arrives too early, the shipper can get hit with demurrage penalties. Arrive too late, the cargo might miss the vessel sailing date.

Ocean carriers are having to reduce their sailings in the wake of a huge slowdown in non-essential cargo coming into the United States from Asia stemming from the COVID-19 economic decline that will continue throughout the second quarter and likely beyond. Unfortunately, some ocean carriers have resorted to short notice “blank sailings” or skipped ports of call, while failing to give adequate notice to shippers of changes in the ERDs.

Inland shippers need to load their containers and manage their cargo for a 10- to 14-day journey to the West Coast ports. When ERDs suddenly get changed – sometimes with two or fewer days’ notice of a later ERD and sailing date ­– the container may already be on its way. If the containers arrive at the port terminal a few days early, the shipper may see a demurrage bill for hundreds of dollars – thousands of dollars for a bunch of containers – even though they are not fault.

“This is a generic issue for all ag shippers,” Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC) told the Journal of Commerce in a story earlier this month.

SSGA and AgTC are pressing the container shipping industry to clean up abuses of unfair demurrage and detention charges, which have become increasingly common now during disruptions caused by changing vessel schedules and cut sailings. AgTC recently submitted a letter to the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) documenting a range of unfair charges. SSGA and AgTC are pressing the FMC to fully adopt and enforce its proposed operational guidelines for the industry to standardize free time and these related penalties at the ports.

In particular, SSGA and AgTC would like to see an expanded minimum notice of changes in ERDs, ramp cutoffs and vessel sailings to at least five to seven days to allow shippers to have the ability to manage cargo flow and meet the cut-offs.

The recent Journal of Commerce story, “Changing loading windows challenge U.S. ag shippers” provides more detail. You can find it here.

COVID-19 pandemic impact outlook puts global shipping in flux; U.S. trucking freight markets undergoing rapid shift

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Compiled by Bruce Abbe, strategic adviser for trade and transportation

Tracking the outlook for shipping during the last few weeks of the global coronavirus pandemic has been like riding on a jolting roller coaster, challenging even the most experienced industry experts to try to keep up. For Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) container exporter members, the quest to keep shipping to overseas customers is a fundamental reality, as people need to eat and livestock needs to be fed.

On the domestic front, the trucking industry has been stressed to rapid changes in freight markets, with demand for critical consumer, food and medical goods hitting unprecedented levels, while other sectors shut down during the nation’s shelter-at-home public and work environment.

You’ve heard this before, but it bears repeating: We are in unchartered territory here.

On the international container shipping front, the experts are now tempering recent optimism that the container shortages experienced in parts of the inland U.S. would subside now that China has apparently weathered the worst of its virus and its manufacturers and workers are back at work.

The supply chain squeeze of late January and early February due to increased blank sailings of container ships from China looks to ease up in the near term due to restocking of goods at U.S. stores. However, that respite now appears to be short-lived.

Looming prospects of a global and U.S. recession are causing the ocean carriers to once again retreat back to continued, maybe even expanded, blank sailings to deal with the economic realities of projected shrinking of trade.

Journal of Commerce (JOC) editors wrote late last week that U.S. goods owners are now cutting back or delaying imports from China, which “suggests the anticipated surge of inbound cargoes will be short-lived,” a sharp reversal from a few weeks back.

JOC noted the cutbacks and delays are uneven across commodity sectors, with medical supplies and consumer goods maintaining strong demand, while other discretionary goods are falling off.

The U.K.-based transportation consultant firm Maritime Strategies International (MSI) reportedly said, “The near-term outlook for the container-ship industry has deteriorated rapidly” due to the rapid spread of the virus and efforts to control public interaction to slow the spread of COVID-19 cases. MSI forecast the global container trade to shrink in 2020, potentially to levels seen in the last financial crisis.

The firm sees disruptions among all trade sectors, reports Freightwaves, but one difference this time, “(I)s that the shock to demand will come from the importers’ side and not the exporters’ side, which will change the incentives facing carriers when negotiating rates.” MSI is not expecting a “price war” among carriers comparable to what happened in 2016, largely due to the consolidation among carriers and emergence of just three main carrier alliances.

It remains to be seen how the inland supply of containers and sailing capacity holds for exporters looking ahead.

One perplexing question for me: What would it take for the ocean carrier to defy their past practice and mindset to come to look at exports as the “head haul,” instead of the trivial “backhaul”? Would a shortage of container shipping capacity required to move food and feed products back to Asia – where they are absolutely needed in a crisis of this magnitude – change those minds?

Bit of a dream, I concede. And yes, container exports overall have been traditionally less than imports to the U.S., even if not at all ports. Roundtrip economics would need to come into play to be fair to the carriers. But maybe the national governments might need to give them a nudge, as they are other essential service providers.

Plateaued in Asia? On one positive note, the American Association of Railroads (AAR) released its weekly report on U.S. rail traffic last week with what could prove to be good news.

AAR Senior Vice President for Policy and Economics John T. Gray told Railway Age, “The good news is that the intermodal volumes of the railroads serving the West Coast ports that receive the bulk of imports form China appear to have plateaued over the past four weeks, indicating that we may have seen the worst of the COVID-19 impacts on the Asia trade.”

On a negative note, last Friday for the first time it was reported that the crew members of a container ship had to be evacuated and hospitalized due to suspected infection by the virus. A 9,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) Maersk ship that traveled from Hong Kong to Ningbo, China had to be evacuated. Extra precautions are being taken with the replacement crew.

Public awareness – global food supply chain issues bear attention
You may have seen it this morning, but Bloomberg News and several of its affiliates carried a well-written opinion piece titled “Food supply is the next virus headache.” It’s worth a read.

The last paragraphs summed up the message well:

“In much of the world, preemptive policies can keep things moving. China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, for example, brought in incentives for sowing and mechanization in early February, as well as support for livestock farming, and ‘green channels’ to help the movement of feed, breeding animals and produce. Governments can encourage trade, rather than nation-level hoarding. As the virus spreads, wealthier countries may also need to support developing ones, especially those hit by elevated import bills and weakened currencies. Disruptions will be inevitable. A global food crisis doesn’t have to be.”

Trucking firms scrambling to adjust to changing markets; waivers granted by states and federal governments for certain trucking regs

Domestic trucking companies are scrambling now to adjust to fast-developing changes in their markets. Demand for hauling medical supplies, household consumer goods, food and daily staples has skyrocketed as truckers are needed to restock major stores serving people who are now working and “sheltering at home” due to the pandemic.

Yet demand for hauling other non-essential goods has rapidly shrunk due to plant and store closings, with workers now being laid off. Auto industry supply chain and other like manufacturers are scaling back or temporarily shutting down.

Truckers, along with health care workers, are being seen as heroes and heroines these days by the public.

Essential Businesses
Trucking, railroads, the ports and other transportation sectors, along with food and agriculture production and processing have been declared as “essential businesses,” and are not subject to mandated closures that are affecting other businesses. You can go here to view recent listings of Essential Businesses posted online by the Pennsylvania state government, which is similar to what other states are doing.

Trucking Regulation Waivers for Essential Goods

In an effort to keep critical freight moving, federal and state governments taking efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus have recognized the need to relax certain regulations for moving vital goods including food, medical and household supplies through the supply chains. The temporary waivers vary by state.

One of the best resources for tracking the trucking regulation waivers is put out by LandLine Media and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA). The listing and links are being kept up-to-date by LandLine. You can find it here.

Export container supply deficit forecast to turn; China’s renewed manufacturing and container shipping to bring surge in imports

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Bruce Abbe, strategic adviser for trade and transportation

Industry sources are predicting the recent shortage of containers inland that U.S. exporters need to ship overseas is about to take a turn for the better.

China’s manufacturers are back at work. The rash of blank sailings of container vessel shipments – first engineered by the container shipping lines in recent months because of overcapacity, and more recently increased when China kept supply chain workers at home to help contain the coronavirus – are reportedly ending. The supply chain systems, particularly on the Trans Pacific, will soon shift into a surge of imports.

On a conference call Thursday organized by the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC), officials from the Port of Oakland pledged they will do everything in their power to keep their port functioning at maximum speed. The Port of Los Angeles and other West Coast ports have indicated the same.

The Northwest Seaport Alliance ports of Seattle and Tacoma are still operating as normal, but handling less cargo, CEO John Wolfe told American Shipper.

From February until now, the Port of Oakland had 20 blank sailings of vessels. The Journal of Commerce (JOC) reports that ocean carriers slashed more than 80 vessels from February through April on the Transpacific because of over-capacity. Now JOC reports that the container supply will soon move from famine to feast.

Oakland officials indicated to the ag exporters that no more blank sailings are expected as of this week, and imports are projected to surge, said Bob Sinner, president of SB&B Foods, Inc., and SSGA vice president, who participated on the call.

In time, that will lead to more import containers coming inland to the major container rail ramp locations.

However, in a much more unfortunate development on the container supply front, some SSGA member exporters have reported that more U.S. ethanol plants are shutting down operations and/or not offering bids to farmers for corn because of the recent sharp decline in oil supplies and gas prices. The oil price decline, coupled with the pending recession, is sapping demand for ethanol for fuel.

No ethanol means no distillers grains production from the U.S., a major user of containers for exports, notes Rob Prather of Global Processing, also an SSGA board member.

Prather, however, is more optimistic about export prospects for identity-preserved (IP) food grade soybean suppliers. In a recession, Asian consumers may choose to revert back to traditional nutritional soy foods, long a staple in their diets, and forego more expensive meats, he reasons.

Food and feed will continue to need to flow to the world’s consumers from the U.S. Keeping the global supply chains open, not just local supply chains, will be critical to see our way out of this one.

Transportation, logistics workers deemed essential during coronavirus crisis

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By Kim Link-Wills for American Shipper

The transportation industry is critical for the movement of goods. But are all employees working for transportation and logistics companies “essential” during these unprecedented times of mandatory quarantines?

New York joined California on Friday morning in ordering all nonessential workers to stay home.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued guidance on Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

CISA Director Christopher Krebs said in a memorandum issued Thursday that the list of Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers was developed to provide guidance to state and local governments.

“As state and local communities consider COVID-19-related restrictions, CISA is offering this list to assist prioritizing activities related to continuity of operations and incident response, including the appropriate movement of critical infrastructure workers within and between jurisdictions,” Krebs said.

The memorandum said essential industries “represent, but are not necessarily limited to, medical and health care, telecommunications, information technology systems, defense, food and agriculture, transportation and logistics, energy, water and wastewater, law enforcement and public works.”

Krebs said, “As the nation comes together to slow the spread of COVID-19, everyone has a role to play in protecting public health and safety. Many of the men and women who work across our nation’s critical infrastructure are hard at work keeping the lights on, water flowing from the tap, groceries on the shelves, among other countless essential services.”

The CISA guidance, as listed, identifies those essential in transportation and logistics as:

  • Employees supporting or enabling transportation functions, including dispatchers, maintenance and repair technicians, warehouse workers, truck stop and rest area workers, and workers who maintain and inspect infrastructure, including those that require cross-border travel.
  • Employees supporting or enabling transportation functions, including dispatchers, maintenance and repair technicians, warehouse workers, truck stop and rest area workers, and workers who maintain and inspect infrastructure, including those that require cross-border travel.
  • Employees of firms providing services that enable logistics operations, including cooling, storing, packaging and distributing products for wholesale or retail sale or use.
  • Mass transit workers.
  • Workers responsible for operating or dispatching passenger, commuter and freight trains and maintaining rail infrastructure and equipment.
  • Maritime transportation workers — port workers, mariners and equipment operators.
  • Truck drivers who haul hazardous and waste materials to support critical infrastructure, capabilities, functions and services.
  • Automotive repair and maintenance facilities.
  • Manufacturers and distributors, including service centers and related operations, of packaging materials, pallets, crates, containers and other supplies needed to support manufacturing, packaging staging and distribution operations.
  • Postal and shipping workers, including private companies.
  • Employees who repair and maintain vehicles, aircraft, rail equipment, marine vessels and the equipment and infrastructure that enables operations that encompass movement of cargo and passengers.
  • Air transportation employees, including air traffic controllers, ramp personnel, aviation security and aviation management.
    Workers who support the maintenance and operation of cargo by air transportation, including flight crews, maintenance, airport operations and other on- and off-airport facilities workers.

The Port of Oakland posted a link to the CISA list and reiterated Friday that it was exempt from shelter-in-place orders.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday night ordered all of the state’s 40 million residents to stay home.

“The port, airport and their supply chain partners are considered essential businesses and therefore exempt from shelter mandates,” the Port of Oakland confirmed Friday morning.

Also Friday morning, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state’s residents, with the exception of those employed in essential jobs, will be required to stay home beginning “Sunday evening.”

“We’re all in quarantine now,” said Cuomo, adding that violators will face civil penalties. “I’m not kidding about that.”

Dredging Contractors of America (DCA) said it helped craft CISA’s guidance on Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers.

“We commend CISA for utilizing the Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council and the Maritime Sector Coordinating Council in developing guidance on essential critical infrastructure workers,” said DCA Chief Executive Officer William Doyle. DCA is a voting member of the Maritime Sector Coordinating Council.

The food industry association FMI also commended CISA for including food and agriculture and transportation and logistics as part of the essential and critical infrastructure.

“This allows grocery stores and their supply chain partners to maintain their daily operations,” FMI President and CEO Leslie Sarasin said. “The supply chain continues to adapt to meet the new levels of demand and being deemed an essential workforce allows the industry to restock and replenish products across the country without interruption.”

In his task force update Friday, President Donald Trump said, “Truckers are making the long haul to keep stores stocked.”

He also said, “You’re seeing very few empty shelves.”

Northern Commodity Transportation Conference to cover all the ag transportation bases

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If you build it, they will come.

In a matter of months, the inaugural Northern Commodity Transportation Conference (NCTC) has transformed from a brainstorm to a fully-curated meeting with dozens of panelists, ensuring coverage of every link in the ag transportation chain.

After all, every player in commodity transportation can empathize with the complex system of moving commodities from the Tri-State region to the West Coast for export. To untangle today’s myriad of transportation roadblocks, Ag Management Solutions, in conjunction with commodity groups from Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, is set to unveil the NCTC March 11-12 in Bloomington, Minn.

“We are extremely encouraged by the response the NCTC has received,” says AMS CEO Tom Slunecka, who reported more than 100 farmers, industry leaders and legislative assistants will be in attendance. “The enthusiasm surrounding this event proves that there’s a demand to discuss these important, relevant topics in commodity transportation.”

This unique, first-of-its-kind conference will unite the entire commodity transportation industry to share and learn about trade barriers, struggles, similarities and opportunities along the transportation route as commodities leave combines in Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota and head for international waters.

“At the end of the day, we are all in this together,” Slunecka says. “If the system cannot turn a profit, neither can our farmers. Without profitable farmers, there will be no grain to feed the system.”

Transportation and non-tariff barrier topics such as grain quality criteria, phytosanitary issues, rail reliability and regulations and trucking efficiencies will be discussed. The majority of the topics will begin with a panel format, allowing for free-flowing, robust dialogue among all attendees.

“As privately funded transportation systems, railroads have unique challenges as we seek to continually improve service to our agricultural customers and ship their goods to markets,” says Steve Milligan, BNSF Railway’s ombudsman for agricultural products. “The NCTC is a great way to share information across the industry, and we look forward to being a part of it.”

Dozens of state officials and experts from the agriculture industry are slated to appear as featured speakers, including longtime economic and marketing consultant John Baize; American Soybean Association President Bill Gordon; Minnesota and North Dakota’s respective agriculture commissioners Thom Petersen and Doug Goehring; and National Grain and Feed Association President Randy Gordon. Staffers from Sen. Mike Rounds (S.D.), Sen. John Thune (S.D.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Tina Smith (Minn.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Rep. Angie Craig, respectively, will be in attendance. Local and regional media are also expected to cover the event.

“Our hope is to create a better understanding of the many issues and barriers we face from the combine until the grains reach international waters,” Slunecka says. “Each of these issues we’ll be discussing help drive profitability for the entire system.”

Team members in the grain, trading, sales, regulatory and management industries will glean substantial value from this conference. Potential NCTC attendees include: grain elevator and terminal loading managers, transcontinental shipping lines, shippers, transloading facilities, rail lines, commodity association leadership, state government, regulatory groups and more.

“With a full slate of speakers and panelists encompassing the breadth of the commodity transportation industry, the NCTC is an exciting new event for anyone who is a link in the ag transportation chain,” says North Dakota farmer Mike Langseth, chair of Northern Soy Marketing. “We’re proud to sponsor NCTC, and we encourage elevator employees and farmers to join us in the conversation and find solutions to the issues facing our industry.”

Registration is $200 per person; walk-ins are also welcome. Visit www.graintransportation.com to learn more and register.

Expansion, improvements underway at ports serving ag shippers

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Compiled by Bruce Abbe, strategic adviser for trade and transportation

Several ports serving agricultural exporters, including port-members of the Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA), have recently been in the news for expansion and throughput improvements underway, including some with projects receiving federal grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD).

Northwest Seaport Alliance
The Northwest Seaport Alliance is implementing a growth strategy to be able to provide more capacity through expanding infrastructure at its main ship-loading terminals in Seattle and Tacoma to be able to handle bigger ships and improve cargo velocity. NWSA also plans to consolidate its international container terminals to two large terminals in North Port Seattle, and two or three large terminals in Tacoma, the South Port.

The Journal of Commerce notes that in 2019 there was a continued gradual decline in container volume handled by the dominant West Coast ports and gradual increase by East Coast ports. West Coast ports handed 62 percent of imports from Asia, down from 67.2 percent three years earlier; the East Coast was 32.9 percent compared to 30 percent in 2015. Gulf ports handled 4.8 percent last year, up from 2.5 percent.

NWSA would like to stem that gradual migration to the east, as well as increasing traffic handled by Canada’s ports.

Vancouver
The Port of Vancouver, B.C. recently reported it recorded its second-highest cargo volume in 2019, in spite of all of the trade conflict challenges that set shipping back at most other gateway ports.

The port handled 3.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in containers in 2019, up just a bit over 2018. Global demand for Canadian grain was strong, the port indicated, with a record 28.3 MMTs handled in both containers and bulk – up 3.5 percent from 2018. That came despite a reported 37.3 percent drop in canola exports to China due to a tariff dispute.

Several SSGA container exporters ship through Vancouver, using CN or CP railroads to get there. An expansion project is underway at the port’s Centerm Terminal.

Milwaukee
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers last week announced a grant to support a major new agriculture commodity vessel transloading facility to be built at the Port of Milwaukee.

The DeLong Company, one of the U.S.’s largest commodity and specialty soybean exporting companies, is constructing a $31.3 million facility, which the port says will be the first of its kind on the Great Lakes.

Initially the transload operation will handle distillers dried grains (DDGS) for export via bulk vessels. It will also be able to handle other bulk grains, including corn, soybeans and wheat.

USDOT’s MARAD awarded a $15.9 million Port Infrastructure Development grant for the project. Evers announced a $4.9 million Wisconsin Harbor Assistance Program grant from the state.

“The diversity of Wisconsin’s agriculture industry is our strength, and part of our international appeal,” Evers said. “Our state’s agribusinesses rely on finding markets for the high-quality products our farmers produce. This grant connects the dots between our agricultural producers, state agencies, and businesses like DeLong that serve our agricultural community.”

Tonnage handled by the Port of Milwaukee was up 11 percent from 2018 at 2.6 million tons.

Duluth
The Duluth Seaway Port Authority announced it has been awarded a $10.5 million MARAD grant to help fund construction of a new 56,000 square foot, rail served warehouse at the Clure Public Marine Terminal; and to rehabilitate 1,775 lineal feet of deteriorating dock walls at Berths 10 and 11 at the terminal.

“We are incredibly excited by the award of the PIDP grant and we thank (MN) Congressman (Pete) Stauber and Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith for their support of this endeavor,” said Deb DeLuca, executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority. “The grant supports projects that improve and broaden the infrastructure of the Clure Public Marine Terminal and the value it provides.  These projects will also allow us to expand our service capabilities at our multimodal logistics hub, which in turn helps us support industries throughout the Upper Midwest.”

Duluth Cargo Connect operates the terminal for the port authority, including Great Lakes and ocean vessel loading and unloading, plus the port’s intermodal container rail yard served by Canadian National Railroad. The new warehouse will add to an existing 430,000 square feet of warehouse space at the terminal, which is in high demand by regional businesses.

Los Angeles/Long Beach
The Port of Los Angeles received an $18.2 million MARAD grant to increase its on-dock railyard, expanding the terminals’ capacity by 10 percent, while its next door neighbor, the Port of Long Beach was awarded a $14.5 million MARAD grant to improve rail service capacity and operations at Terminal Island.

Cleveland and Toledo
The Great Lakes ports of Cleveland and Toledo in Ohio, both of which serve agricultural shippers, also received MARAD grants. The Port of Toledo’s Intermodal Project was awarded a $16 million grant to re-construct and upgrade a dock at Midwest Terminals Facility 1, and to develop a liquid transloading facility. The Port of Cleveland received at $11 million grant to rehabilitate two of the port’s main docks.    Cleveland operates the unique Cleveland-Antwerp Express, where Netherlands-based Spliethoff Shipping provides regular, scheduled breakbulk service to Europe and back, including container service – the only scheduled one on the Great Lakes.

Charleston and Savannah
The adjacent Southeast U.S. ports in Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga. also received MARAD grants for improvements. Both ports serve container ag exporters.

Charleston received a grant just shy of $20 million to construct an underwater retaining wall, and to deepen three vessel berths to be able to handle larger container ships, complimenting a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project to deepen the navigation channel to the terminal.

Savannah was awarded at $34.6 million grant to realign, rebuild and deepen its easternmost berth to be able to handle large 14,000 TEU container ships.

Click here to view all of the USDOT MARAD PIDP port grants, which totaled $280 million.

New round of USDOT funding for marine highways and ports open for application

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Compiled by Bruce Abbe, strategic adviser for trade and transportation

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Maritime Administration (MARAD) program recently announced its next round of availability of grant funding for competitive applications under its America’s Marine Highways Program (AMHP) and the Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP).

The Marine Highways program has $9.5 million available for applications from facilities serving the country’s 12,000 miles of navigable inland waterways. Go here for more details.

The USDOT announced funding opportunities for ports to apply for $225 million in discretionary grant funding through the new round of Port Infrastructure Development Program. Infrastructure improvements to gateway ports and the roads and railways that serve them are eligible components.

USDOT will evaluate projects using criteria which include effect on the movement of goods, leverage of federal funding, net benefits, project readiness and domestic preference. Details can be found here.