On the waterfront

摘要

With 20 percent of total ag production going over-seas, the free flow of trade is absolutely vital to California agriculture, according to Frederick Klose with the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Since the first cut goes to exports, that market is an important part of the farming operation. Therefore, port operation issues are. critical to the export market, and right now the docks are mired in problems. "The ports are not set up to handle the amount of cargo that is coming through,"said Steve Stallone, a spokesperson for the International Longshore Warehouse Union (ILWU) in Oakland, Calif. "That is an investment the terminal operators need to make." Ports already bogged down with inefficiencies are facing new security protocols and a labor struggle, placing the shipping industry at a crossroad of change that may be painful to agriculture. However, growers are hoping that increased competitiveness will result from the pains. "If you want a future, you have to build for the future," said Jerry Connery, export sales manager with Duda, a grower, shipper, marketer and exporter of fresh fruits and vegetables in Salinas, Calif. "If it is inefficient and if the product does not get on the boat, it is not going to hold." The United State's throughput capability - the amount of cargo that moves in and out of a port - lags by 60 percent behind Hong Kong, the world leader. Obviously, the efficient flow of trade in the ports is vital to agriculture. Peter Friedman, the executive director ofthe Agriculture Ocean Transportation Coalition (AOTC), a Washington D.C.-based lobbying group representing agricultural shipping interests, says change is needed if U.S. agriculture is going to be competitive in the world market. "We want to make sure that our cargo movements on this side of the ocean are as efficient as the marine terminals on the other side of the ocean," Friedman said. Added to the inefficiency at the docks is a labor situation at the West Coast ports that has become a powder keg -and no one wants to be the one to light the match that ignites the explosion. Labor problems could devastate agricultural exports, but the rhetoric calmed significantly when labor talks were suddenly called to a halt by the ILWU and were scheduled to begin again in mid-August.