A major slow down at the Port of Oakland has become a source of frustration for North State companies trying to ship their products overseas. That’s especially true for agriculture and lumber exporters who are seeing increasing costs due to delays. North State Public Radio’s Sarah Bohannon has the story.
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According to the California Farm Bureau Federation, Tehama County walnut exporters have seen trucking fees double due to long waits at the Port of Oakland. They’re also having to pay high prices to store walnuts that were slotted for shipment, but then not able to be shipped on schedule.
Shasta County based lumber giant Sierra Pacific Industries goes through the port to ship finished lumber products to countries like China, India and Vietnam. But like area walnut exporters, the current congestion at the port is delaying their shipments and costing them high storage fees. According to Mark Pawlicki, the Director of Corporate Affairs at Sierra Pacific Industries, they’ve had containers waiting to be loaded on ships since late December.
Pawlicki: “So far we’ve had to pay about $100,000 in storage fees, storing lumber in containers near the port, so we can … while they’re waiting to be put on the ship so it has had an economic effect on us and it’s on our customers as well because they’re not getting the product that they need.”
Delays are happening at ports all over the West Coast. They’re due to a combination of factors including increased consumer demand, a shortage of container carrying vessels and an eight-month contracts battle between West Coast dock workers and shippers – which is thought to be playing a big role in the slowdown.
Progress on contract negotiations was made Sunday, but a full agreement has yet to be reached.
For North State Public Radio, I’m Sarah Bohannon.