Tag: House Judiciary Committee

NMPF Raises Supply Chain Challenges on Multiple Fronts

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

NMPF’s Tony Rice took a central role in elevating serious supply chain issues from maritime reform to cargo theft before Congress and the White House in March as disruptions continue to threaten U.S. dairy exports.

Rice, NMPF’s senior director of trade policy, testified March 17 before a House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust hearing on ocean supply chain challenges, laying out the stakes for dairy exporters.

“Dairy farmers milk their cows 365 days a year,” Rice said. “For a dairy producer, these supply chain issues are not abstract policy concerns. When export shipments are delayed, cancelled, or become more expensive to move, the disruptions ripple back through the supply chain and ultimately affect farm income.”

The U.S. dairy industry exported $9.6 billion and three million metric tons of product last year, making reliable transportation vital to its economic wellbeing. Yet exporters remain heavily dependent on a handful of foreign-owned ocean carriers. Shipping disruptions ripple back through the supply chain and affect farm income.

Throughout the hearing, Rice relayed the industry’s call for greater investment in domestic shipbuilding capacity, stronger Federal Maritime Commission oversight, and improved transparency from carriers on booking decisions.

Even as supply chain challenges persist, cargo theft of intermodal shipping containers is spiking as well. Rice represented the food and ag industry as part of a coalition of supply chain stakeholders in a March 18 meeting with the National Economic Council at the White House. The group pressed the administration for resources to combat organized criminal networks that break into containers in search of high-value goods, with dairy exports caught in the crossfire.

In parallel, the NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council are working with Congress to advance the bipartisan Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA), which would give the Department of Homeland Security new tools to track and apprehend offenders.

Members experiencing supply chain issues should contact Tony Rice at trice@nmpf.org.

U.S. Dairy Testifies on State of Maritime Supply Chain

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

Tony Rice, Senior Director of Trade Policy at the National Milk Producers Federation and U.S. Dairy Export Council, testified today before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust on the maritime supply chain challenges faced by the U.S. dairy industry.

The U.S. dairy industry exported $9.6 billion and three million metric tons of cheeses, milk powders, whey proteins, and other dairy products last year, making reliable transportation vital to its economic wellbeing. Yet American dairy exporters have little choice but to rely on a small number of ocean carrier options, almost all of which are foreign owned.

“Dairy farmers milk their cows 365 days a year,” Rice said. “When export shipments are delayed, cancelled, or become more expensive to move, the disruptions ripple back through the supply chain and ultimately affect farm income.”

Rice drew on lessons from the pandemic-induced supply chain crisis, when severe delays, routinely cancelled bookings and unprecedented port congestion disrupted cargo movements and cost U.S. dairy producers billions in unexpected costs and lost sales opportunities. While the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 addressed several issues related to unfair fees, Rice highlighted that dairy exporters in the U.S. continue to face operational uncertainty when bookings are rejected, port calls are skipped or receiving windows shift without explanation.

To address these challenges, the U.S. dairy industry called for greater investment in the domestic maritime sector to expand American shipbuilding capacity, robust Federal Maritime Commission oversight of the global maritime carrier marketplace and increased transparency from ocean carriers on booking decisions.

“We recognize the importance of efficient global shipping networks,” Rice said. “Our concern is ensuring that those networks work for American dairy exporters as well as they work for global carriers.”