Ocean Shipping Reform Act

Key industry groups say the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, recently signed into law by President Biden, hasn’t fixed West Coast shipping problems for U.S. dairy exports.  The National Milk Producers Federation and U.S. Dairy Export Council trade manager Tony Rice says the Act was supposed to end abuses by ocean carriers. “But u...

The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture is detailing what is being done to enhance the nation's food system following the COVID-19 pandemic.  NASDA CEO Ted McKinney says early in the pandemic there were shortages of products from paper to food, but that the shortages were only temporary and are being overstated now in retrospect.  Ch...

Last week, two California Democrats introduced the American Port Access Privileges Act in the House of Representatives.  John Garamendi and Jim Costa say the bill follows up on the Ocean Shipping Reform Act. Representative Costa said, “We need to remove bottlenecks and mitigate congestion at our ports to carry out American exports.” The l...

Last week, President Biden signed into law the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, applauded by the American Farm Bureau Federation.  AFBF President Zippy Duvall attended the signing ceremony at the White House and said the Biden administration worked with Farm Bureau on this key legislation. ...

Earlier this week, the House of Representatives sent the Ocean Shipping Reform Act to President Biden for signature. Agriculture groups responded positively, heralding the legislation that improves the oversight of ocean shipping. Supporters of the legislation say the bill will address many maritime disruptions obstructing the import and export of U ...

The Ocean Shipping Reform Act has cleared the Senate. The reform bill, which received Senate approval late last week, would make it more difficult for ocean carriers to refuse to load American goods that are ready to get shipped from U.S. ports ...

Washington Representative Kim Schrier is pushing for the Ocean Shipping Reform Act to move through the Senate. The measure, which has already cleared the House, would enhance the powers of the Federal Maritime Commission to regulate the shipping industry during the current supply chain disruption ...

The U.S. dairy industry is expressing its pleasure with legislation currently moving through Congress that looks to address supply chain disruptions. Supporters of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act say the bill would ensure that carriers are not refusing to load products that were already contracted to travel to Asia ...

On Wednesday, Washington Senator Maria Cantwell took to the Senate Floor, urging lawmakers to pass the bipartisan Ocean Shipping Reform Act. Cantwell said the legislation, which she helped clear the Commerce Committee, will provide long-term solutions to ease supply chain challenges ...

Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar and South Dakota Republican John Thune introduced the Ocean Shipping Reform Act into the Senate last week. It’s the Senate’s response to the House version that passed by a wide bipartisan vote in December. Farm g ...