Agricultural exporters expressed their frustrations with ocean carriers at the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AGTC) Annual Meeting on June 15th. This comes at a time when AGTC successfully lobbied for the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 which will give the Federal Maritime Commission more power to regulate against unfair detention and demurrage practices that have been a focus of anger by exporters and importers.

Michael Dykes, president, International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), said an alliance between ocean carrier CMA-CGM and the Port of Los Angeles is expediting dairy exports.

Necessity is said to be the mother of invention and, if nothing else, the Covid-19 pandemic, staff shortages, insufficient air cargo capacity, extended and delayed transit times, low ocean freight capacity, sailing schedules in chaos, and the war in Ukraine have revealed the truly adaptive nature of the air cargo industry.

The Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AGTC) hailed the imminent enactment of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act (OSRA) of 2022, expected to be signed into law by President Biden on June 16th, which it said will help U.S. exporters ship more agricultural cargo abroad.

The prevalence of global inflation, at least over the course of the past year, has been significantly on the rise. In fact, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), inflation rates around the world have recently reached an average of 8.7 percent.

New U.S. infrastructure funding will improve grain and energy shipments transported along the inland waterways thanks to improved port, lock, and dam upgrades, according to Paul Matthews, executive director of the Port of South Louisiana

New infrastructure investments will be needed to support U.S. Great Lakes ports and their expansion, says Steve Fisher, executive director, American Great Lakes Ports Association (AGLPA).

On May 2nd, the Bay Conservation Development Commission (BCDC) staff recommended overturning an earlier Seaport committee vote that rejected the Oakland A’s application for redesignating the Howard Terminal site for real estate use.

Steven King is the managing director of Quonset Development Corp (QDC) which manages Quonset Business Park (QBP) a 3,200 acre business park located on Quonset Point, (North Kingstown) Rhode Island. Besides the 200 plus companies located within the QBP is the Port of Davisville, one of the country’s top auto ports with numbers over 300,000 in most years, although with COVID and other disruptions the Port slipped under 200,000 in 2021.

Paul Snell, chief executive officer, British American Shipping, Long Beach, California, suggested that a coastal feeder ship service linking the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland could relieve Southern California port congestion.