Nation’s major Ag shippers alarmed by West Coast port congestion

While U.S. manufacturers and retailers have been bemoaning the ongoing labor/management crisis at West Coast ports, the situation is becoming increasingly dire for U.S. agriculture and forest products exporters.

“Christmas trees that are not exported will miss the holiday season in Asia completely.” Said Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC). “Potatoes that are not exported and will likely be a painful loss for the farmers whose entire year is dependent upon current shipments. The same for apples and other U.S. exports. Foreign customers are already canceling orders and turning to other countries to satisfy their needs.”

According to Friedmann, the consequences are being felt throughout the country.

“The railroads are unable to bring agriculture products from the Midwest to Pacific Northwest ports because of the labor slowdown at the ports.” he said.

“At the same time, the ocean carriers are passing on their increased cost by imposing draconian congestion surcharge fees on the U.S. exporter, who cannot pass them on to the customer,” he added.

Furthermore, noted Friedmann, the failed contract negotiations between the International Longshore Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA)  is rendering our agriculture and forest products non-competitive in the global marketplace.

“It is destroying the President’s National Export Initiative. It could take years for our agriculture to recover lost foreign markets,” he said.

A coalition comprising 61 national and regional agriculture organizations have sent a letter to President Obama seeking his intervention.  A copy was also sent to the Senate and House of Representatives.

“It is time for the White House to step in,” said Friedmann. “We ask the President to intervene personally in order to get the longshore labor back to work, end the slow downs, and compel the terminal operators and the ILWU to complete work on their contract, which expired at the end of June.”

The damage to the U.S. economy is profound as agriculture is now the largest export from the United States, added the AgTC, and one of the primary areas in which the U.S. is globally preeminent.

“But that preeminence is now threatened, both immediately, and for some sectors…permanently,” said Freidmann.