Items Tagged with 'ports'

Time is running out for the union representing workers at West Coast ports and their employers to negotiate new labor contracts by the time they expire on Friday, and lawmakers on Capitol Hill are urging against work stoppages if talks are unsuccessful.

Difficulties in getting containers full of U.S. ag commodities on ocean-going vessels persists and U.S. dairy exporters are still losing money because of the problems, according to the U.S. Dairy Export Council and the National Milk Producers Federation. That’s why the groups say they’re asking the Biden administration to take more action.

The Canadian Pacific Railway, an essential factor in delivering potash to the market in the U.S. and ports for shipment around the globe, will resume operation Tuesday after a deal was reached with striking union members.

Multiple breakdowns in how goods are transported across the country and around the globe are worsening crises in a food and agriculture sector that is already bleeding profits and customers, according to witnesses at a House hearing Wednesday.

The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture set policy for the coming year at a recent gathering, where the organization put a priority on the flow of ag goods in the U.S. and overseas.

American ag exporters have been finding it increasingly difficult to get their commodities into containers and onto ships as Chinese companies and international shippers monopolize ocean transportation, but lawmakers are hoping to alleviate the situation with new legislation.

Some ag exporters have complained that they can’t get their products into containers or that the filled containers are sitting at port, incurring fees and risking spoilage, because shippers are sending empty containers back to Asia so they can be filled with imports and sent back to the U.S. as fast as possible.