Congressional Trust?
By Bob Edmonson, The Journal of Commerce 7/5/10
Capitol Hill takes on ocean carrier antitrust immunity Federal Maritime Commission extends inquiry
The idea of abolishing ocean carriers' antitrust immunity is riding a new wave in Congress as the outcry over tight capacity and equipment shortages in a stronger-than-expected recovery sustains a fever pitch. Click here to continue reading this article.
Box shortage squeezes exporters
By Chris Dupin, American Shipper 6/15/10
Sharply reduced production of shipping containers has contributed to thedifficulty U.S. exporters are having in obtaining equipment to move their goods.“Most of the container manufacturing plants in China pretty much shut down and closed alltheir production lines, and the carriers are having a real problem in getting these people toratchet those production lines back up again,” said Brian Conrad, executive administrator ofthe Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement. Click here to continue reading this article.
US agri-biz: Sea, rail carriers discourage our container use
Thai Shipper, Jun 15,2010
AMERICAN agricultural shippers say they have to fight to get boxes and vessel space because both sea and rail carriers discourage farm and forest products using containers, reports American Shipper. Click here to continue reading this article.
APL Wins Performance Award
Bill Mongelluzzo | Jun 15, 2010 The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story
Top carrier in Agriculture Transportation Coalition's annual survey APL Ltd. was chosen as the top carrier for the second consecutive year in the Agriculture Transportation Coalition's annual survey of ocean carrier performance. Click here to continue reading this article.
Ag shippers: 'Don't kill golden goose'
By: Chris Dupin, Source: American Shipper+, Date Posted: 6/11/2010 10:57:49 AM
U.S. agricultural shippers meeting in San Francisco this week say they continue to face considerable challenges in getting containers and space on ships to move their cargo.
"These shortages continue to create serious inventory backlogs, and can mean failure to conform with buyer deadlines for delivering cargo,” said Peter Bourne, director of international transportation and rail operations for Tyson Foods, speaking to members of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC) at their annual conferences. Click here to continue reading this article.
Carriers Face Political Headwinds on West Coast
Bill Mongelluzzo | Jun 14, 2010 12:50PM GMT
The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story
Trade group president sees port pressures as threat to recovery West Coast ports face political threats that could stifle the nascent commercial recovery they are experiencing, according to the president of the organization that represents shipping lines and terminal operators.
The cash-strapped city governments in Long Beach and Los Angeles are turning to their ports for revenue, while the harbor commission in Seattle is becoming increasingly politicized, Pacific Merchant Shipping Association President John McLaurin told the annual meeting of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition in San Francisco. Click here to continue reading this article
Exporters Bemoan Lack of Capacity
By Chris Dupin, American Shipper NewsWire, February 24, 2010
U.S. exporters are being hurt by a shortage of vessel space to carry their goods, and there is also concern about carriers' increased use of slow steaming on outbound legs.
"Currently and for the foreseeable future, the ability of U.S. exporters to meet the demand of their customers will be constrained by the lack of ocean carrier capacity," said Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC) whose members ship everything from cotton to nuts, frozen poultry to wine. Click here to continue reading the article.
Competition Swamps L.A. Port
By Charles Crumpley, Los Angeles Business Journal August 24, 2009
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the country's two busiest. When you consider all the local businesses that depend on the ports - the warehouses and export companies and trucking firms, to name a few - the port complex is among L.A.'s most important economic assets. Maybe the most important. Click here to continue reading the article.
Ag Exporters Praise Seattle's Clean-Truck Plan
Port plan avoids fees on cargo interests; exporters oppose ban on independents
By Bill Mongelluzzo, The Journal Of Commerce Online
August 19, 2009
Agricultural exporters hailed the Port of Seattle’s clean-truck program for reducing pollution without imposing fees on cargo interests, and exporters urged the port commission to withhold support for any movement that seeks to regulate harbor trucking. Click here to continue reading the article.
Wanted: Containers
By Eric Johnson, American Shipper
August 1, 2009
Agricultural shippers haven't exactly changed punching bags when it comes to transportation service providers but they may have added a new speed bag to the gym. At the 2009 Agriculture Transportation Coalition conference in San Francisco in June, agriculture exporters took turns chiding ocean carriers and railroads for not considering their needs. Click here to continue reading the article.
Los Exportadores Agrícolas de EE.UU. Nombran a APL Mejor Naviera del Año
Veintepies.com
June 15, 2009
Los miembros de la entidad Agricultural Transportation Coalition (AGTC), que engloban a exportadores de productos agrícolas en Estados Unidos, han seleccionado a la compañia APL como mejor naviera del año a través de una encuesta. Click here to continue reading the article.
California Clean-Trucks Program Ahead of Plan
By Bill Mongelluzzo, The Journal of Commerce
June 9, 2009
The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are on track to achieve many of the environmental goals in their clean-trucks program almost four years ahead of schedule, thanks to an aggressive strategy for replacing old polluting trucks. Click here to continue reading the article.
Agricultural Exports Increase
By Bill Mongelluzzo, The Journal of Commerce
June 9, 2009
The westbound movement of agriculture products is outperforming general merchandise, and the U.S. growth in agricultural exports appears to be sustainable into the future, according to rail industry executives. Click here to continue reading the article.
U.S. Exporters Say Customs and Carriers Not on Same Page
By Patrick Burnson, Logistics Management
June 8, 2009
While the economy took center stage at last week's annual meeting of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC) in San Francisco, shippers were also expressing considerable concern about the new Automated Export System Regulations (AES). Click here to continue reading the article.
Exporters Face Container Shortage
By Bill Mongelluzzo, The Journal of Commerce
June 5, 2009
U.S. exporters will see ongoing equipment shortages in the months ahead, and the container shortages could become even worse if imports from Asia do not pick up significantly during the peak shipping season. Click here to continue reading the article.
Peak Season Will Mean Higher Transpacific Rates
By Patrick Burnson, Logistics Management
June 5, 2009
Shippers were told at a leading industry forum that the worst may be over for cargo vessel operators. But tha tmay not be an entirely positive message, as prices are likely to get a boost during the coming peak season. That was good news/bad news for those shippers attending the annual meeting of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition in San Francisco yesterday, as they braced for a new rate structure to be introduced on the transpacific and other key trade lanes. Click here to continue reading the article.
U.S. Container Shortage Portends Peak-Season Problems
By Bill Mongelluzzo, The Journal of Commerce
May 4, 2009
Laura Fuller, director of export logistics at Mills Brothers International, recalls the problems she had last summer securing empty containers in the Chicago area to export food products. But she doesn't remember the equipment shortage being as bad as it is today. Click here to continue reading the article.
Mexico Issues Tariff List in U.S. Trucking Dispute
By Christopher Conkey, Jose de Cordoba and Jim Carlton, The Wall Street Journal
March 19, 2009
Mexico detailed its new tariffs on U.S.-made goods, roughly 90 products ranging from food staples such as potatoes and apricots to an eclectic mix including deodorant and Christmas trees. The specific goods, a combined $2.4 billion in exports to Mexico in 2007, mostly face import duties of 10% to 20% of their value. Click here to continue reading the article. Click here to view the complete list of items being tariffed.
Backlash
By R.G. Edmonson, Journal of Commerce
January 19, 2009
What are they thinking? Why would the TransPacific Stabilization Agreement be asking for the authority to discuss capacity at a time when the political and economic forces seem to be aligned against any expansion of antitrust authority for carrier discussion agreements? Shipper groups were asking the questions when they rallied to oppose a TSA proposal they saw as a sinister play for power. Click here to continue reading the article.
Dummies for Exporting
By R.G. Edmonson, Journal of Commerce
January 19, 2009
Companies that export agricultural products are as willing as any other exporter to comply with the law, but the rules are working against them, according to the Agriculture Transportation Coalition. Click here to continue reading the article.
AES Ag-ony
By Eric Kulisch, American Shipper
January 6, 2009
Inconsistent and excessive ocean carrier deadlines for documentation to comply with a new U.S. Census Bureau regulation are forcing many exporters to play a dangerous game of fudging shipment information to meet transport connections and then filing corrected amendments in hopes of avoiding government penalties, according to agriculture industry representatives. Click here to continue reading the article.
Ag Exports Are Too Big for Containers
By Scott Tong, National Public Radio
September 11, 2008
Agriculture exports have been going strong but American farmers are frustrated because they could be exporting even more, if not for a bottleneck in shipping. Scott Tong reports. Click here to listen to the story or read the text.
U.S. Grain Exports Snagged by Infrastructure Delays
By Christopher Leonard and Catherine Tsai, AP Business
August 24, 2008
Across the country, from grain elevator to grain elevator, golden wheat and corn are piled in towering mounds, waiting for a rail car to haul them to market. Some grain can sit for a month or more on the ground, exposed to wind, ran and rats. It's the dark side of the booming global demand for U.S. corn, wheat and soybeans. The surge in exports is revealing inefficiencies in the country's railways, highways and rivers that carry the grain that helps feed the world. And those bottlenecks are costing farmers, shippers and ultimately consumers millions of dollars a year. Click here to continue reading the article.
Uncharted Waters
By Bill Mongelluzzo, Journal of Commerce
June 30, 2008
This year's peak season in the trans-Pacific trade is a tale of two trade lanes. Eastbound, carriers continue to have excess capacity, which has held rate increases to modest levels. Westbound, carriers are overbooked, equipment is scarce and freight rates for U.S. exports are soaring. Click here to continue reading the article.
More Than Talk
By R.G. Edmonson, Journal of Commerce
June 30, 2008
After Oct. 17, ocean carriers serving Europe will no longer gather 'round the conference table and decide what to charge customers. Now what? The European Commission's decision to lift carriers' exemption from competition laws has stirred the air in Washington. The recent scrutiny of the Federal Maritime Commission by the House Transportation and Infrastrucutre Committee has brought antiturst immunity to congressional action. Click here to continue reading the article.
Ocean Containers Bypass North American Ports
By Sean Pratt, The Western Producer
May 29, 2008
Shippers say the chronic shortage of container cars has worsened in recent months and is hindering exports on a variety of agricultural goods across North America. With the United States economy cooling, ocean carriers are reallocating vessels to other markets like Europe, South America and Asia. Click here to continue reading the article.
California Farm Product Exporters Face Shipping Squeeze
By Jim Downing, The Sacramento Bee
May 18, 2008
As teh weak dollar makes the fruits of California farms ever more attractive to overseas buyers, big exporters like Sacramento's Blue Diamond Growers are finding it tougher to get their products to far-off customers. The high price of oil and shifts in the global balance of trade have made space on container ships hard to come by. Cargo rates are up sharly. Delays of several months have become routine. Click here to continue reading the article.
U.S. Exporters Face Cargo Container Shortage at Ports
By Ronald D. White, Los Angeles Times
May 12, 2008
At a time when the struggling U.S. economy needs the biggest boost it can get from booming exports, companies and agricultural producers with American goods bound for overseas can't find enough empty cargo containers and have to wait weeks to get space on ships headed to Asia. Click here to continue reading the article.
Container Shortage Frustrates U.S. Exporters
By Ilan Brat and Timothy Aeppel, The Wall Street Journal
May 9, 2008
Surging U.S. exports on a range of goods including corn, soybeans and frozen pork are hitting a bottleneck in the nation's overloaded ports, threatening to crimp profits for U.S. farmers and agricultural processors at a time when it is easier than ever for them to sell their goods abroad. Click here to continue reading the article.
