MILBANK, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Representative Dusty Johnson stopped in Milbank Monday to visit with Valley Queen employees. He spoke about the passage of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, and what it means for dairy.
During the pandemic, ocean shipping costs began skyrocketing and American agricultural exporters began being declined at the ports.
”The reality is, we’ve got five major ocean carriers that control 70% or 75% of the traffic between America and Asia. Unfortunately, those carriers, over the course of the last year or two, have not made it very easy for us to get American agricultural products, like cheese, over to the markets that want them,” said Representative Johnson.
Valley Queen had trouble finding containers to export lactose.
“A lot of it was container availability. Getting containers from the coast into the central part of the U.S., so we could get our products back out. We just could not get containers here to get our products exported,” said Valley Queen CEO Doug Wilke.
Valley Queen was one of the companies that brought the issue to attention.
“They were, very early on, good about putting this issue on my radar. So, we went to work. We built a coalition of 450 different national groups. We got it passed out of the House four times. Finally, the fourth time it took and Joe Biden signed it into law here a couple of weeks ago,” said Representative Johnson.
By granting the Federal Maritime Commission the authority to initiate investigations in ocean carrier practices and prohibit unreasonable declines of opportunities for U.S. exports, the Ocean Shipping Reform Act helps agricultural exporters get access to fair shipping.
”What the Ocean Shipping Reform Act does is tell these ocean carriers that if they’re going to come in and use these American ports, they have got to play by some very basic rules of the road, like not discriminating against American Ag goods,” said Representative Johnson.
Congressman Johnson told Valley Queen employees that they’re the ones who deserve the credit for the passage of the Act.
”It’s a big victory. It’s the most substantial reform of our nation’s shipping laws in a generation”
Valley Queen officials say they hope to see the affects of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act soon. They are planning for the largest expansion in the company’s history.
”What we would hope this will do is increase the availability of containers here in Milbank, South Dakota, so we can get our products loaded on them. There’s some incentives in that act to make sure that that happens and container availability becomes more regularly available,” said Wilke.
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