USDA announces actions with ports to boost exports

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced plans to increase capacity for exporting chilled and frozen agricultural commodities at the Port of Houston in Houston, Texas, to help improve service for shippers of U.S.-grown agricultural commodities.

The USDA is partnering with the Port of Houston to lease additional chassis, used to position and store containers while waiting for vessels to arrive, enabling the port to fully utilize its capacity for refrigerated shipping containers, according to a news release. USDA is taking action to increase capacity for U.S. agricultural exports and ensure delays or insufficient capacity do not restrict exports. The Port of Houston is the public port handling over two-thirds of the Gulf of Mexico’s container cargoes, the sixth-busiest container gateway in the U.S.

In addition, USDA is announcing an expansion of its existing partnership with the Northwest Seaport Alliance to enhance access to a 16-acre “pop-up” site to accept either dry agricultural or refrigerated containers for temporary storage at NWSA in Tacoma. This is being done to reduce operational hurdles and costs, so the containers can more quickly be loaded on ships at the export terminals, the release said.

The announcement builds on the existing partnership with the NWSA at the Port of Seattle that was announced in March. The NWSA includes the marine cargo operations of the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, and is the fourth-largest container gateway in the U.S.

“American farmers and ranchers depend on a reliable and efficient transportation system to move their products to market," Vilsack said in the release. “As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s creative approaches to improve port operation, we are collaborating with partners in the supply chain to adapt and overcome challenges facing agriculture."

USDA is pleased to announce the partnership with the Port of Houston and the expanded collaboration with NWSA to further ease port congestion. Through these investments, we continue to deliver on our promise to bolster the supply chain and support American-grown food and fiber.”

Farm Service Agency will make monthly direct payments to eligible agricultural companies and cooperatives on a per-container basis using the Port of Tacoma based upon the type of shipping container— either dry-filled or reefer-filled containers. The site will have the ability to precool refrigerated shipping containers to receive perishable commodities, the release said.