USDA, DOT Threaten FMC Action Against Carriers Declining Export Bookings
The U.S. secretaries of transportation and agriculture urged ocean carriers to stop prioritizing imports and leaving the U.S. with empty containers, which has contributed to port congestion and delays, especially on the West Coast. In a Dec. 17 letter to more than 10 of the world’s leading ocean carriers, the agency leaders said carriers should “restore reciprocal treatment of imports and exports” or face potential penalties.
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“This imbalance is not sustainable and contributes to the logjam of empty containers clogging ports,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. “The poor service and refusal to serve customers when the empty containers are clearly available is unacceptable and, if not resolved quickly, may require further examination and action by the Federal Maritime Commission.”
U.S. agricultural trade groups and exporters have complained for months about ocean carriers unjustly declining export bookings because the carriers can charge higher rates for imports (see 2111180057 and 2109130023). Exporters have also seen frequent delays and cancellations with little notice, which has led to lost sales and increased congestion at U.S. ports.
Buttigieg and Vilsack urged the carriers to make more use of the Port of Oakland, Port of Portland and other West Coast ports that aren't Long Beach or Los Angeles, where ships are forced to dwell for days. “Other West Coast ports are less congested and berths more readily available,” they said.
The agencies also criticized the decision by some carriers to suspend their operations at the Port of Oakland earlier this year, which has forced some exporters to “truck their harvests to the already heavily congested” ports in L.A. and Long Beach. “Restoration of service would not only ease the congestion at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in Southern California,” the secretaries said, “but would allow the prompt export of American goods overseas and ease the strain on the supply of long-haul truckers necessary to transport goods from Northern California to Los Angeles and Long Beach.”
The letter was applauded Dec. 17 by the Agriculture Transportation Coalition, which has lobbied Congress to pass the Ocean Shipping Reform Act to better hold carriers accountable for declined export bookings and unfair fees (see 2112080075). The World Shipping Council, which represents ocean carriers that were sent the letter, didn’t comment.