Congress says Asian ships must now take American farm products back to Asia

 Chris Queen:

We’re familiar with the supply chain crisis that has gripped our economy. Ships remain stuck in the ocean waiting to unload their cargo as the Biden administration puts bandaids on a gaping wound and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg plays Mr. Mom, posts stupid (and possibly illegal) memes, and worries about racist bridges.

But there’s another side to the shipping crisis: American farmers are watching their products ruin as they have trouble getting their goods out of the country. It’s basically the flip side of the supply chain stories you’ve heard over and over. In this case, the Asian shippers unload their cargo, skip out on loading their containers with American goods — including and especially agricultural products — and race back to Asia to reload with more items to sell in American markets.

But Congress is working to devise a solution. On Wednesday, the House passed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act by a 364-60 vote, a rare show of bipartisanship in this fractured age.

Fox News recounts a conversation with Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.):

Among the provisions in the bill, Johnson said the most important has to do with Asian ocean carriers that “unfairly discriminate against American cargo.” He said that they will offload foreign goods in U.S. ports then simply sprint back to Asia so they can bring more goods back to the U.S., rather than taking the time to fill up with American goods to sell abroad.

“You look at Valley Queen, they’re a cheese manufacturer in South Dakota. They had 2 million pounds of already sold lactose that has been sitting in a warehouse just waiting for a shipment,” Johnson said. “And a recent container load of lactose that they had sold… sat on the dock for 75 days.”

“It started to spoil. And just on that one container load that was a $25,000 loss. And we have this happening throughout the American manufacturing and agricultural supply chain,” he added.

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There is more. 

The Supply chain snafus appear to be chiefly at California ports.  Texas and Florida ports have no trouble offloading the cargo and they do it so quickly that they are unloaded while ships at California ports remain idle.  This makes the extra distance worth the trip.  The incompetence of the California ports are costing producers in Asia and the US money