Tag: ports crisis

House Shipping-Bill Passage Follows Wide-Ranging NMPF Approach

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

A year of NMPF advocacy to alleviate shipping supply chain disruptions for dairy exports took a significant step forward Dec. 8 with the U.S. House of Representative’s passage of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act.

With input from a joint NMPF-U.S. Dairy Export Council Supply Chain Working Group launched in last July to draw on the expertise of members’ dairy logistics staff, NMPF worked closely with Representatives John Garamendi (D-CA) and Dusty Johnson (R-SD), USDEC and other agricultural partners to shape the legislation, which passed the House with a broad, bipartisan vote of 364-60. The bill is intended to mitigate the delays, disruptions and unreasonable fees that dairy exporters have faced for more than a year.

Following this win, NMPF now is building Senate support for the bill by highlighting key provisions meant to ease disruptions that have cost dairy exporters over $1.3 billion through the first three quarters of 2021.

If signed into law, the legislation would amend the U.S. Shipping Act to provide new oversight and enforcement authority to the Federal Maritime Commission, expand opportunities for shippers to seek redress from ocean carriers, and increase transparency and accountability among foreign-owned ocean carriers. The bill specifically would reign in carriers’ ability to deny contracted export shipments, increase the availability of containers, improve protections against retaliation, and better address fees that are accruing outside of dairy exporters’ control.

As part of the push that led to the overwhelming House vote, NMPF spearheaded a Dec. 8 letter from 78 dairy cooperatives, companies and associations reiterated the legislation’s importance to the continued success of U.S. dairy exports, which are on pace for a record volume in 2021 when final numbers are compiled. A FAQ on the bill that NMPF and USDEC created is here.

“We thank Representatives Garamendi and Johnson for their leadership in working to address the challenges dairy and other agricultural exporters have struggled with for the most of this year,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF, in a statement after House passage. “The Ocean Shipping Reform Act is an important move toward ensuring the international competitiveness of our dairy producers is not unfairly limited by abuses from ocean carriers. We look forward to working with the Senate to carry this momentum forward.”

Dairy CEO Says Supply Chain Crisis Could Permanently Harm U.S. Agriculture

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

The current supply chain crisis could cause “irreparable harm” to agriculture, Mike Durkin, President and CEO of Leprino Foods, said in testimony prepared for a U.S. House Agriculture Committee hearing today about how supply chain issues are affecting export markets for Leprino and the U.S. dairy industry. The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) voiced strong support for Durkin’s call for U.S. government action to more effectively tackle the shipping crisis and its effects on dairy farmers and manufacturers.

“The supply chain challenges have significantly impacted our business, and we don’t expect them to ease anytime soon. I’m here to talk about a critical component of this disruption that has not received much attention – exports,” Durkin said. “This export crisis may well result in irreparable harm to American agriculture as customers around the world are questioning the U.S. dairy industry’s reliability as a supplier.”

Durkin called on Congress to act on ocean shipping legislation, address critical transport-industry labor shortages, increase port hours of operation, and take other steps to help American agriculture producers reach their foreign markets effectively.

Leprino Foods, the largest purchaser of milk in the United States, is a family-owned, privately held company with 4,500 employees and facilities in Colorado, California, New Mexico, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York. It supports over 1,000 dairy farms and is the largest producer of mozzarella cheese as well as a leading supplier of dairy nutrition products. Leprino exports 26% of its milk equivalent volume to 55 countries.

Across the industry, approximately one day’s worth of U.S. milk production each week goes to exports, which results in about $6.5 billion in U.S. dairy products being exported to over 133 countries.

“The strain of shipping challenges is taking a heavy toll on dairy exporters, which is why it was so important that the House Agriculture Committee heard today from companies such as Leprino Foods that are doing everything possible to hang onto foreign customers yet are still bearing the brunt of this problem,” said Krysta Harden, president and CEO of USDEC. “Dairy exporters are working hard to get American-made product to foreign customers in a reliable and affordable way, but the present situation can’t be sustained long-term. We need Congress and the Administration to move swiftly to improve the efficiency and fairness of supply chains.”

“Dairy depends on exports, a vital part of the total demand for the milk produced every day by America’s hard-working dairy farmers” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “We risk damaging foreign market relationships and long-term customers if we cannot better assure efficient export flows. Leprino Foods provided some important recommendations to Congress to address the supply chain challenges. We hope both they and the Administration act quickly to provide relief.”

Congress Hears from Dairy on Port Problems

Posted on by Theresa Sweeney

NMPF is seeking a wide range of solutions, including legislative ones, to problems at U.S. ports that continue to harm U.S. dairy exports.

NMPF and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) are calling for legislation to amend the Shipping Act to strengthen the Federal Maritime Commission’s (FMC) authority to enforce reasonable ocean carrier guidelines to ensure more normalized trade opportunities for U.S. agricultural exports, working with the Agriculture Transportation Coalition and Reps. John Garamendi (D-CA) and Dusty Johnson (R-SD).

Months of NMPF and USDEC efforts to raise congressional attention to port issues and exports also bore fruit when the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation held an oversight hearing on June 15 highlighting the ongoing delays and increased costs for exports at U.S. ports. NMPF, USDEC and other agricultural organizations have actively encouraged the subcommittee to take this step to bring more focus to bear on the challenges U.S. exporters face.

Members of Congress at the hearing heard from U.S. agricultural organizations, FMC Commissioners Dan Maffei and Rebecca Dye, and port operations groups. NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern said in remarks issued the same day that “dairy producers throughout the country are feeling the consequences of port congestion as delays in loading U.S. dairy exports onto carriers creates a chilling effect on farm-gate milk prices.” NMPF and USDEC have particularly urged the commission to require ocean carriers to certify that they are complying with the agency’s guidelines.