Transportation Roundup: ‘Bringing a wooly mammoth back to life’

SSGA staff have compiled a roundup of current news in the container transportation industry. Click the links below to view the original stories.

A prospective ship-to-rail container terminal on Oregon’s coast, the Pacific Coast Intermodal Port in Coos Bay, could help transform West Coast port infrastructure, but refurbishing and upgrading existing infrastructure would be like “bringing a wooly mammoth back to life,” according to Chad Meyer, president of NorthPoint Development. NorthPoint Development, the largest U.S. developer of warehouse and e-commerce fulfillment centers, applied for $1.4 billion in federal funding to invest in heavy infrastructure for container handling at the terminal. They received additional support after 13 members of Congress sent a letter to the White House in June. One hundred twenty miles of railroad owned by Coos Bay Rail Line would also need to be upgraded to get the terminal ready to handle containers. Existing Coos Bay terminals handle lumber and wood products, general cargo, liquid bulk shippers and fishing fleets. Read more about the project here.

Several SSGA members have reported very low availability of trucking equipment in the Upper Midwest, but in positive news, trucking employment numbers in the last three months are nearly double compared to the same time last year. A record 62,400 workers were added to payrolls in April, May and June. This could be in part due to independent drivers returning to work as spot rates decline, according the Journal of Commerce here.

Other positive news for container shipping shows that the post-COVID container demand boom may have run its course. Drewry’s post throughput index showed a decline in April, including a 25% decline at Shanghai. Because of the softening demand, some companies are now renegotiating shipping agreements that were made during the surge or taking advantage of lower rates on the spot market. Rates are spotty though, with shipping costs remaining high in areas of congestion, such as China to Chicago, and many are still reporting higher rates than those paid before the pandemic. Read more from the Wall Street Journal.

SSGA applauds Ocean Shipping Reform Act passage

Relief is finally in sight for agricultural shippers, after President Biden signed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 on Thursday.

The law will ensure a more competitive global ocean shipping industry and provide relief to U.S. exporters, including Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA)-member agricultural exporters, who have struggled with significant supply chain disruptions over the past two years. It will also provide the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) with new, additional enforcement authority 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.

“The Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 gives the Federal Maritime Commission additional authority and tools to protect U.S. exporters from ocean carrier practices they determine to be unfair and illegal,” said Darwin Rader of Zeeland Farm Services, an SSGA board director and chair of the alliance’s competitive shipping action team. “Hopefully, the end result will be that U.S. ag exporters will have the opportunity to ship their goods to customers around the globe in a timely manner at a fair price.”

SSGA Chair Rob Prather, AgTC Executive Director Peter Friedmann and SSGA Executive Director Eric Wenberg

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. The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Senate version of the bill, 369-42 on Monday, and the president signed it at a ceremony on Thursday at the White House.

SSGA appreciates the hard work of 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 the bill that will support agricultural shippers.

“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.”

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 had “reached a condition critical situation,” said 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.

This week, SSGA held its quarterly board meeting in Tacoma, Washington and attended the Agriculture Transportation Coalition’s (AgTC) annual meeting there. During the AgTC meeting, Klobuchar, in a video message, acknowledged SSGA, among others, for supporting the Ocean Shipping Reform Act and for championing ag exports.

SSGA also has great appreciation for AgTC and its efforts to help get the act to Congress.

The Ocean Shipping Reform Act will:

  • Require ocean carriers to certify that late fees — known as “detention and demurrage” charges— comply with federal regulations or face penalties;
  • Shift burden of proof regarding the reasonableness of “detention or demurrage” charges from the invoiced party to the ocean carrier;
  • Prohibit ocean carriers from unreasonably refusing cargo space accommodations for U.S. exports and from discriminating against U.S. exporters;
  • Require ocean common carriers to report to the FMC each calendar quarter on total import/export tonnage and 20-foot equivalent units (loaded/empty) per vessel that makes port in the United States;
  • Authorize the FMC to self-initiate investigations of ocean common carrier’s business practices and apply enforcement measures, as appropriate; and
  • Establish new authority for the FMC to register shipping exchanges.

“This new legislation is important and long overdue,” said SSGA board director Bob Sinner of SB&B Foods. “We’ve been waiting for this for many, many months. I am hopeful that the rulemaking that follows this legislation ensures that equipment gets where it’s needed. At the end of the day that’s what’s needed in rural America.”

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.

Transportation Roundup: SSGA urges FMC funding increase

SSGA staff have compiled a roundup of current news in the container transportation industry. Click the links below to view the original stories.

SSGA joined other several other agricultural organizations urging the U.S. House and Senate Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee to consider increasing fiscal year 2023 funding to the Federal Maritime Commission, up to the $38,260,000 authorization level included in the Ocean Shipping Reform Act. The letter preceded the House passage of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, which is now headed to President Biden’s desk for approval. View the letter here.

The Journal of Commerce will analyze the rankings in its Top 100 Importers & Exporters report during a webcast on Thursday at 1 p.m. CST. With strong consumer spending, total containerized trade in and out of the U.S. rose 7.8 percent in 2021, with import gains in many segments, including automobiles and parts, household goods, toys, clothing, electronics and foodstuffs. JOC will analyze the changes in consumption and give a near-term outlook in the first of two-part web series. Register for free here.

BNSF Railway Company, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern Railway and Union Pacific Railroad must now submit additional information about their rail service recovery plans to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) after their initial submissions lacked the necessary level of detail. On May 6, the STB ordered the Class I railroads to submit service recovery plans to address service deficits. STB Chairman Martin Oberman said the plans “failed to instill confidence that the carriers have a serious approach to fixing a problem caused by their own lack of preparedness to respond to external shocks and fluctuations in demand, including especially short-sighted management of labor forces and other resources.” Read the full release here.

Containers depart Port of Duluth in historic shipment

There was some positive shipping news out of Duluth last month when 200 containers of Chippewa Valley Bean kidney beans left the Port of Duluth-Superior bound for Europe.

It was the first shipment of containers out of the Lake Superior port since last fall’s announcement that it would be able to begin importing and exporting containers, becoming the second U.S. port on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway, after Cleveland, with that capability.

The shipment also was significant because it represented a solution to the supply chain crisis that has congested west- and east-coast ports and caused delays in getting on-time shipments to overseas customers.

“This is really a saving grace for us,” said Cindy Brown, president of Chippewa Valley Bean, during a May 27 media event in Duluth.

The genesis for this particular shipping solution took place during the Transportation Go! conference, which was held March 3-4 in Milwaukee. There, attendees learned more about Duluth’s new container capacity, along with other opportunities for shipping on the St. Lawrence Seaway.

In an email, Brown, whose company joined SSGA after Transportation Go!, said: “We learned a lot at the Transportation Go! conference. We realized that there were opportunities on the Great Lakes, shipping first out of Cleveland and out of Duluth over the weekend. We also gained valuable contacts within the Surface Transportation Board. (We) were very pleased with the takeaways from the event. …

“The organization that connected all the dots for us was Nexyst360. We’ve worked with them for a couple of years on a closed-loop service with their containers. We intended to purchase containers this fall to ship raw kidney beans from growers’ fields to our plant. (They) listened to our shipping concerns and suggested that we buy the containers now and then helped us put the system together utilizing the port of Duluth.”

Nexyst360, also an SSGA member, is a supply chain solution company that provides “smart” shipping containers crafted to ensure quality, traceability, sustainability, market access and mobility.

Al Dutcher of Realm5, which recently acquired Nextyst360, said Transportation Go! was “a good catalyst” for the Duluth shipment.

“It was quite the team effort,” he said. “You had all the people there together, and that got the conversation going.”

Jonathan Lamb, president of Lake Superior Warehousing Co., which operates the Clure Terminal is partners with the Duluth Seaway Port Authority as Duluth Cargo Connect, said during the Duluth media event that signs point to more shippers using the Great Lakes for container shipping.

“There is a tremendous opportunity here,” said Lamb, who was a speaker during Transportation Go!, “The market is looking for alternatives in a world that has lots of challenges from the standpoint of logistics and supply chain.”

The goal of Transportation Go!  besides focusing on the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway, was to connect ag shipping industry in the Upper Midwest and find real solutions to some of the supply chain problems that have plagued exporters over the last two years.

Plans for the 2023 Transportation Go! are underway. Look for an announcement of a date and location soon.

Read more: http://www.businessnorth.com/daily_briefing/maritime-container-cargo-makes-big-leap-in-duluth/article_077aa446-dde0-11ec-aec0-936571918280.html

https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/business/port-of-duluth-celebrates-historic-shipment

https://www.wpr.org/fed-supply-chain-delays-wisconsin-company-turns-twin-ports-shipping-service-move-goods

Transportation Roundup: Ships get bigger, ports get busier

SSGA staff have compiled a roundup of current news in the container transportation industry. Click the links below to view the original stories.

Ships keep getting bigger and bigger and it’s not helping the supply chain woes, according to this Freightwaves writer. The size of the largest container ships has increased almost six times from 1981 to today and could be causing more harm than good. Read more here.

U.S. ports were busy in April, with several ports, including Long Beach and Houston, recording their busiest months in history. Los Angeles had its second-busiest April ever, handling 887,357 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) and East and Gulf Coast ports showed an 18.7% gain. Maritime expert John McCown says the strong performance on these ports can be attributed to shippers rerouting cargo to avoid congestion in L.A. and Long Beach. Read more here from American Shipper.

And the ports are expected to be even more hectic with the summer shipping period nearing. A survey conducted by Container xChange found that 51% of its respondents of forwarders, traders and shippers expect the 2022 peak shipping season to be worse than 2021. Respondents identified China’s ongoing lockdowns, container availability, full warehouse, inflation, the Russia/Ukraine crisis and rising prices as the shipping industry’s biggest challenges. Container News writes more here.

On land, chassis providers continue to struggle handling the flow of containers on trains into Chicago rail ramps. But at rail ramps in Dallas, Memphis, Kansas City and St. Louis, conditions seem to be improving for chassis providers compared to a year ago. Read more from the Journal of Commerce here.

Transportation Roundup: Federal agencies requiring further reporting to improve ocean, rail shipping

Following a two-day public hearing at the end of April, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) will require Class I railroads to submit reports on rail service, operations and employment. Four rail companies – BNSF Railway Co., CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern Railway Co., and Union Pacific Railroad Co. – will also be required to submit service recovery plans, progress reports, historical data and participate in bi-weekly conference class with STB staff. The measures are intended to improve service issues and promote transparency, accountability and improvements. Read the full press release here.

The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) will now require three major container alliances: 2M, Ocean and THE to submit more detailed pricing and capacity information to their Bureau of Trade Analysis (BTA). The information will help the agency assess ocean container behavior and market competitiveness. At SSGA’s Transportation Go! in early March, FMC chairman Daniel Maffei announced that the FMC audit team would be expanding its scope to get information from carriers about their handling of exports. Read the full press release here.

While appearing at a meeting of the National Shipper Advisory Committee (NSAC) FMC Commissioner Carl Bentzel proposed the agency to oversee rail demurrage on containers moving by a through bill of lading. The proposal would give FMC authority on demurrage matters on carrier haulage moves when the ocean carrier is responsible for door-to-door transportation, but not merchant haulage.

Intermodal rail has traditionally been overseen by the STB but Bentzel interprets shipping law to give the FMC authority over intermodal, meaning no formal FMC vote would be needed. NSAC has requested FMC provide greater oversight on intermodal for many months, especially with greater rail demurrage problems. Read more at the Journal of Commerce.

Transportation Roundup: Container congestion continues

Supply chain, transportation problems continue to hamper SSGA member companies

As we head into a third year since COVID first began disrupting our supply chains, transportation problems have not subsided for SSGA member companies. Container and chassis availability and booking delays continue to rank high among the issues facing exporters.

“We can’t get bookings,” said one manufacturing company’s shipping team leader. “Sometimes there are no containers or there are containers and no chassis.”

The company reports being “ghosted” by one global shipping company, meaning it has not responded to their requests for service. Other issues include bookings being unavailable to certain countries, booking times stretching from two weeks to six weeks – “if we’re lucky, if a container is there” – to paying exorbitantly high premiums to secure truck drivers.

The company, like many of those that ship agricultural products, is looking for answers and turning to SSGA for help. SSGA is happy to write letters on behalf of a company or group or put them in contact with officials such as a state department of transportation.

SSGA and its Competitive Shipping Action Team wants to hear your concerns, as well as your ideas, so we can work to find real solutions and educate officials and influencers and facilitate real change. Please stay in touch.

Chinese lockdowns, back-to-school season cause more container congestion

One in five of all container ships are waiting outside of ports, according to the latest data from Windward. Chinese COVID-19 lockdowns have been named the biggest factor for the congestion. One quarter of these vessels are delayed at Chinese ports, a number 195% more than what it was in February. Read more about the report here.

This backlog of Chinese freight, coupled with earlier back-to-school imports, has the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach bracing for another cargo surge.

School merchandise typically arrives at ports in May, but last year’s import backlog has retailers bringing in product as early as they can to prepare for back-to-school season. Read more from the Journal of Commerce here.

Two Chinese carriers shipping more empties than loaded containers

CNBC analysis of 2020 and 2021 container data found that two Chinese carriers, OOCL and its parent company, COSCO, shipped more empty containers than loaded out of the Port of Los Angeles.

OOCL recorded a 35.1% decrease in loaded containers and a 104.1% increase in empty containers, while COSCO transported 4% more loaded containers and 1-4.6% more empties.

The analysis was completed with data the Port of Los Angeles, Port of Long Beach, U.S. customs and HIS Markit PIERS import export data. Read CNBC’s full report here.

Almond industry struggling to transport crop

Scott Phippen’s almond warehouse in California is stuffed with 30 million pounds of leftover almonds from last year’s harvest, waiting for container ships to transport them to Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The same is true for more U.S. agricultural exporters. Read more from the NY Times here.

Abbe steps down as SSGA adviser

Bruce Abbe, the longtime leader of the Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance’s (SSGA) predecessor organization, has stepped down as SSGA’s strategic adviser for trade and transportation.

Bruce AbbeSSGA is grateful for Abbe’s service as it has grown into a national business organization.

Abbe has been in his advising role since SSGA was formed in 2019 as a merger between Midwest Shippers and the Northern Food Grade Soybean Association. Abbe was the president and CEO of Midwest Shippers for more than a decade prior to the merger.

“Bruce showed me the path ahead when I became director of SSGA three years ago,” said Eric Wenberg, SSGA executive director. “He has been a constant adviser and friend as we took on more and bigger tasks. What I understand about intermodal shipping comes from him.”

Abbe has more than 35 years of professional experience in public affairs, communications, trade promotion and organizational management for agricultural business organizations. In 2020, he received the William K. Smith Distinguished Service Award for outstanding leadership and contributions to private sector freight transportation from the University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies. Later that year, SSGA awarded him with its first SSGA Alliance Honor for Advancing Transportation.

SSGA will continue to lean on Abbe’s expertise in training, presentations, events and projects as it looks to update the advisory position. SSGA has truly grown into an organization that tackles shipping and transportation issues at a national level. As SSGA conducts a search, Katelyn Engquist will be the staff lead for SSGA’s Competitive Shipping Action Team on behalf of chair Darwin Rader. The action team follows and listens to major concerns of SSGA members seeking container supply chain solute ions and solutions to other present-day problems, as well as educates customers about container shipping in order to build a brighter future for intermodal exports of high-quality grains and oilseeds.

Please wish Bruce well and express your thanks, as we do to him at bruce@abbecommunications.com. For more information on SSGA’s Competitive Shipping Action Team, reach out to Katelyn at kengquist@soyagrainsalliance.org or Darwin at darwinr@zfsinc.com.

SSGA applauds Senate passage of Ocean Shipping Reform Act

The Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance applauds the United States Senate for passing its version of Ocean Shipping Reform Act.  

The bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and John Thune (R-S.D.), was passed by unanimous consent on Thursday. It would provide the Federal Maritime Commission with new, additional enforcement authority, 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.

“Our members and others have been waiting for the hope of relief,” SSGA Executive Director Eric Wenberg said. “We have been consistently messaging that we’ve needed it, and we thank Sen. Thune and Sen. Klobuchar for their leadership on this matter. We believe in the Federal Maritime Commission’s ability to act on behalf of U.S. companies, and this reform will give FMC the tools it needs.” 

The U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of Ocean Shipping Reform Act in December. The bill now goes to conference committee to work out differences between the two bills.  

“This needs to pass the House and Senate conference with speed so a workable bill that provides relief gets sent to President Biden’s desk as soon as possible,” Wenberg said. 

The Senate bill provides FMC with 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. 

In a statement, Thune said, if passed, the act “would level the playing field for American farmers, exporters and consumers by making it harder for ocean carriers to unreasonably refuse goods that are ready to export at U.S. ports.” 

Added Klobuchar: “Congestion at ports and increased shipping costs pose unique challenges for U.S. exporters, who have seen the price of shipping containers increase four-fold in just two years, raising costs for consumers and hurting our businesses.” 

SSGA has supported passage of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act and was among the first groups to sound the alarm on the supply chain crisis in October 2020 and has continued to work on behalf of its members who export high-quality, Identity Preserved 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,” said 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. 

“This isn’t just a global supply chain issue; it’s a global food supply security issue,” Prather said.