Box shortage, rate hikes thwart US west coast farm exports

US agricultural exporters are failing to meet customer demand because of a lack of boxes where the produce is and rising freight rates that prices it out of the market.

The farm sector blames carriers who refuse to move empties from urban areas just when a weak US dollar and richer Asian consumers are making American exports attractive.

Producers in Ellensbury, Washington, are struggling to get shipments out and Anderson Hay & Grain president Mark Henderson and Ward Rugh CEO Rollie Bernth say they are now unable to reach customers across the Pacific, according to a report in Oregon's Capital Press

Katy Coba, director of the Oregon Department of Agriculture, told local hearings of the US International Trade Commission that lack of access to containers on the west coast results from empties bypassing smaller ports by rail.

The hearings were told about the impact of capacity shortages which Portland exporters say have been down by 70,000 TEU in 2009. This is combined with exporters struggling to compete with global commodity producers as freight rates spiral upwards.

The port's marine marketing development manager Greg Borossay said a "mismatch of equipment flows" with abundance in one area and not where it is needed at another was further blocked by railroads increasing by triple cost so that carriers could avoid repositioning.

Walter Evans, chairman of the trade policy committee for the Pacific Northwest International Trade Association, said state investment in port infrastructure is vital for exporters and particular for small and medium-sized exporters as "they are at the most risk from transportation delays."

(Source: www.schednet.com)