NMPF Happy With “Pop Up” Relationship

The National Milk Producers Federation and the U.S. Dairy Export Council are praising the recent launch of a USDA partnership with the Northwest Seaport Alliance aimed at easing congestion and restoring reliable shipping access to ag exporters in the U.S. A primary piece of the new initiative is the implementation of a 49-acre “pop up” site in Seattle that provides access to both dry and refrigerated containers for ag exports heading to overseas destinations on shipping vessels. NMPF Trade Policy Manager, Tony Rice, said the new program takes an important step in aiding what has become a mounting problem at ports up and down the West Coast since the onset of the pandemic.

“The pop-up port initiatives that USDA has been partnering with the Port of Oakland [CA] and now with the Port of Seattle with the Northwest Seaport Alliance, we see as an important step forward in trying to alleviate some of the congestion we’ve seen at the ports, particularly on being able to source empty containers,” said Rice. “The availability has been really difficult since ocean carriers have an incentive to take those empties back to Asia and haven’t been making those containers available to dairy and other ag exporters.”

Rice added that while the pop-up initiative doesn’t provide a permanent solution, it’s already making positive waves at both ports and with ag exporters throughout the Western U.S., especially since many carriers who ship goods from Asia are reluctant to make imported containers available to those exporting goods the back across the Pacific.

“What these pop-ups do is provide a set location – at least temporarily – where exporters know there should be containers available, and the one in Seattle-Tacoma seems to be working well so far,” explained Rice. “We’ve been really supportive [and] we’ve heard feedback from our membership, who represents dairy cooperatives as well as proprietary companies, that these are the types of things they need. And although it’s not a one-shot, catch-all solution, it’s one that does provide some alleviation – at least in the short term.”

Northwest farmers are a major link in the chain for U.S. dairy exports, accounting for roughly 17% of the nation’s total production and about 1-in-every-6 gallons of milk sold domestically and shipped abroad. 

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