Hapag-Lloyd is a German company that connects shipping trade with European customers. Hapag-Lloyd was reported to have carried not only 20 percent of Portland’s container business, but also 90 percent of the Port of Lewiston’s container business upriver in Idaho.
In February, Hanjin Shipping Co. also pulled shipping services to Port of Portland. At the time of that pullout, Hanjin was supplying nearly 80 percent of that port’s container business. Exporters who used the Port of Portland are now scrambling to send containers by truck and rail south to California ports or north to the Puget Sound, which will increase demand for container shipping at those ports, which may drive up shipping costs for exporters.
Mark Anderson, president of Anderson Hay & Grain Co. Inc. has used the Port of Portland to export hay and grass straw from the Willamette Valley in Oregon to Asia. Anderson says, “Seeing an end to container traffic in Portland is already having a major impact on the hay business. We are now trying to determine how to increase trucking and rail capacity up Interstate 5 to the ports of Seattle and Tacoma.”
Long-standing disputes between port operators and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union has crippled exports for the past several months. While an agreement was finally reached, the slowdown at the docks has prevented exporters from meeting buyer demand in the international marketplace. The impact is expected to be felt for many months yet as a backlog of containers awaits clearing. The port slowdown hit growers during the busiest months of trading.
The Basin Business Journal in central Washington reports local hay growers have had a hard time moving hay. Author Sheldon Townsend says growers are experiencing a 50-percent slowdown in hay traffic. Additionally, growers are now concerned about moving existing supplies before the new hay crop is harvested. Undoubtedly compounding the issue is the dry and mild winter conditions in much of the West, as new crop harvests are expected three weeks ahead of schedule in many areas. FG
