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12 CapitalPress.com February 27, 2015 Losses will continue until ports to get back to normal PORTS from Page 1 the port because it was taking too long for its ships to be un- loaded and loaded. Hanjin carries 78 percent of the cargo out of Portland, and two smaller shipping lines don’t have the capacity to pick up the slack, said Steve Johnson, port spokesman. Port managers are working to get Hanjin back or attract oth- er shipping lines, he said. Otherwise, ag exporters will have to truck or send by rail their cargo to other ports at $600 to $1,000 more per container, he said. While agricultural export- ers are pleased ports are oper- ating again, they already have lost an estimated $1.75 billion worth of sales per month for two to three months, said Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition. And losses will continue for the several months it takes ports to get back to normal, he said. Containers of apples, hay, frozen potato products, meats and other goods are stacked up and waiting for the 15-day ocean crossing to Asia. The number of containers on a ship varies from 5,000 to 18,000 but the average on the West Coast is 7,500 to 8,000, Friedmann said. The normal turn-around time to unload and load a ship varies from one to fi ve days, depending on the size of the ship and how much is being unloaded and loaded, he said. Shelly Boshart Davis, vice president of international sales at Bossco Trading, a rye grass straw exporter in Tangent, Ore., said her company has had 140 containers of straw, worth $500,000 to $700,000, at the ports of Portland, Taco- ma and Seattle since Jan. 15. “We need to get contain- ers moving,” she said. “We will be OK if we can, but we can’t do another six months of this.” Three more months to get ports back to normal may push some exporters to bank- ruptcy, she said. Changing the law? It remains to be seen Nick Ut/Associated Press A dock worker arrives at the Port of Los Angeles on Feb. 23. Nearly all West Coast seaports began the week with dockworkers hustling to load and unload cargo ships that were held up amid a months-long labor-management dispute. whether the new port contract will embolden exporters and members of Congress to try to change federal labor law to prevent future disruptions. “...(I)t is appropriate to evaluate all options that would end the economic threat posed by such disputes in the fu- ture,” Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., said in a statement. Chris Schlect, president of the Northwest Horticultur- al Council in Yakima, Wash., said often interest in changing the laws wanes once disputes are resolved. But, he said, this crisis was big enough that people may be more willing to look at it, and more will be interested after the contract is ratifi ed because comments could no longer derail it. Schlect said he has not heard of anyone going bank- rupt because of the port slowdown but wouldn’t be surprised if some tree fruit growers do because of many factors that have made it a poor year. A record large har- vest, lower prices and factors such as the Russian boycott of European Union and U.S. fruit have combined with the port slowdown to hurt the industry. European apples have been displacing Washington apples in Asian markets because of the slowdown, and it will take “a lot of brand building to get ourselves back into the mar- ketplace and top in minds of consumers,” said Todd Fry- hover, president of the Wash- ington Apple Commission in Wenatchee. Friedmann said the coali- tion is “totally for” changing labor law to prevent future disruptions and will continue to push the Pacifi c Maritime Association and the ILWU to improve West Coast port pro- ductivity. “U.S. agriculture can re- cover but only with a collec- tive effort,” he said. The PMA and union need to improve the pace of terminal operations, automation and eliminate out- dated labor and management practices, he said. West Coast port statistics, 2013 Locations by region Washington 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 3 Bellingham Anacortes Port Angeles Everett Seattle Tacoma Olympia Aberdeen/Grays Harbor 8 4 5 6 WASHINGTON 7 9 10 12 11 14 13 15 Grand totals TEUs* Tonnage (U.S. tons) Registered workers Total wages paid 15.6 million 340.4 million 13,733 $1.37 billion Washington: 2.5 million or 16.3% TEUs * by region OREGON 16 Oregon 9. Astoria 10. Longview 11. Rainier 12. Kalama 13. St. Helens 14. Vancouver 15. Portland 16. N. Bend/Coos Bay 1 2 Oregon/Columbia River: 155,230 or 1% 17 N. California 17. Eureka 18. W. Sacramento 19. Stockton 20. Port Chicago 21. Benicia 22. Crockett 23. Richmond 24. Oakland 25. Redwood City 26. San Francisco N. CALIFORNIA Northern California: 1.8 million or 11.5% 18 22 20 21 23 19 26 24 25 Southern California: 11.1 million or 71.2% S. CALIFORNIA S. California 27 28 29 27. Port Hueneme 28. Los Angeles 29. Long Beach 30. San Diego *Twenty-foot equivalent container units Source: Pacific Maritime Association 30 Alan Kenaga/Capital Press Accrued heat affects more than just plant life – insects also impacted SPRING from Page 1 Bear Creek Orchards, the pear and peach producing divi- sion of the Harry & David fruit basket company, is already pre- paring its propane heaters and wind machines for the possibili- ty of an additional month of frost season, said Josh Minchow, the fi rm’s manager of fruit growing operations. Keeping blossoms viable during low temperatures often requires more labor, fuel and electricity to protect the compa- ny’s investment, said Minchow. “That could translate to a pretty big bill,” he said. In the cherry-growing re- gion along the mid-Columbia river, an early bloom is not the only concern associated with the higher-than-normal accumula- tion in degree days, said Lynn Long, extension horticulturist at OSU. Last November, tempera- tures as low as minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit caused damage to cherry trees, which would ben- efi t from a slower emergence from dormancy, said Long. “Rushing that by having warm temperatures is just go- ing to put more stress on the Importers cope with U.S. product shortages By RICHARD SMITH For the Capital Press TOKYO — Japanese im- porters have switched from buy- ing U.S. commodities or have shipped them by air or through alternative ports to get around shortages caused by the West Coast dockworker dispute. “The problem has become worse as the slowdown con- tinued and inventories within Japan have been depleted,” said Jeff McNeil, president of the Tokyo-based marketing com- pany Market Makers. The com- pany represents the California Table Grape Commission, Na- tional Dry Bean Council, the U.S. Dairy Export Council and the Raisin Administrative Com- mittee. “Some (importers) may be looking at alternatives, such as shipping from non-West Coast ports,” McNeill said. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacifi c Maritime Association reached a tentative contract agreement on Feb. 20, but it still needs to be ratifi ed, and it may take months to clear the backlog of containers stacked up at West Coast ports. Other importers are switch- ing to commodities from other countries. That may become the case for hay, said Hiroyuki Nakamu- ra, assistant general affairs sec- tion manager for Zenrakuren, the National Federation of Dairy Cooperative Associations, which represents 181 dairy co- ops. AP Photo/Koji Sasahara In this Feb. 16 photo, a container ship is docked at a port in Tokyo. The fl ow of agricultural goods imported to Japan has reduced by a work slowdown at West Coast ports. It was part of a months-long contract dispute between port operators and dock workers. “As there are no problems in shipping from Australia, it is possible we may switch to importing from Australia,” Na- kamura said. Because of work slowdowns, most U.S. hay orders since Oc- tober have been delayed two to three weeks and sometimes up to one month, he said, adding that inventories here have be- come tighter each day. “It will take two to three months for things to return to normal here” now that a new contract has been reached, Na- kamura said. Beef is another case in point. Importers have not been able to get U.S. refrigerated pork and beef as planned, and shipments of frozen pork have been de- layed, said Tatsuo Iwama, secre- tary-general of the 26-member Japan Meat Traders Association. Canadian and Mexican re- frigerated pork shipments have also been impacted. In some cases, the pork reaches the limit as chilled product and must be frozen while aboard the ships at sea, called chilled-fro, Iwama said. Meat Export Federation Ja- pan technical services senior director Susumu Harada said converting fresh meat into chill-fro product hurts quality. “Some chilled product users are forced to sell chill-fro prod- uct at a discount, facing a profi t loss and price disturbance,” Ha- rada said. Meat shipment delays and cancellations have occurred, while some orders have been fl own to Japan to meet deliv- ery deadlines despite the higher shipping costs, he said. Japanese users are taking every possible measure to min- imize the impact by sourcing from alternative sources such as domestic pork and beef pro- ducers and beef from Australia, Harada said. Japanese importers worry that if the delays persist they may lose the peak spring sales opportunities, he said. “If the Japanese trade fore- sees this, they would be forced to switch from U.S. meat to other sources,” Harada said. McDonald’s Japan faced a french fry potato shortage, forc- ing it to limit french fry sales to small orders only from Dec. 17 through Jan. 4. The company resolved the problem by air freighting 1,000 tons of french fries to Japan, followed by sea shipments from the East Coast totaling 1,600 tons at the end of Jan- uary, spokeswoman Kokoro Toyama said. McDonald’s is now coping with the crisis by working with importers, shipping companies, fi eld suppliers and McDonald’s outlets in other countries, Toya- ma said. The slowdowns had little ef- fect on other U.S. products the company uses, as their overall consumption is small compared to that of potatoes. “As we have made sure to have extra inventory, there has been little infl uence” of the slowdown on the availability of other products, Toyama said. Jun Kamoshida, president of marketing company J Plus, which represents Western Growers, an alliance of Cali- fornia and Arizona vegetable growers, said some vegeta- ble shipments have been de- layed. trees,” he said. Accrued heat affects more than just plant life — insects are also impacted by higher tem- peratures. Pests like the spotted wing drosophila and brown mar- morated stinkbug are posed to benefi t from the early onset of spring, since it provides the opportunity for additional gen- erations to hatch and build up populations, said Coop. However, the development of predatory insects, such as those that feed on aphids, is also sped up by warmer tempera- tures, he said. Oregon wolf survey shows numbers continue to increase By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press Oregon had at least 77 wolves in nine packs in 2014, according to an annual survey released Tuesday by the Oregon Depart- ment of Fish and Wildlife. Biologists consider 77 a min- imum number and say the state most likely has more wolves. Oregon had at least 64 wolves in the 2013 census. Almost all the state’s wolves are in the north- east corner of the state. The Rogue Pack, made up of the well-known wandering wolf OR-7, his mate and at least three pups, is established in the Southwest Oregon Cascades. Wolves are listed as endan- gered in Eastern Oregon under the state Endangered Species Act, and are protected in the rest of the state under the fed- eral ESA. While conservation groups and much of the public cheer wolf recovery efforts, they are not popular among livestock producers, who bear the additional cost of protecting herds. Kayli Hanley, spokeswom- an for the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, said it’s no sur- prise the wolf count continues to rise. Oregon has allowed the wolf population to “grow un- checked,” she said in an email. “Any animal will over-pop- ulate if it does not have a natu- ral predator and wolves are no different,” Hanley said. The state documented 11 incidents in which sheep, cat- tle or guard dogs were killed or injured by wolves in 2014; 13 incidents were documented the previous year. In 2014, two other incidents were listed as “probable” wolf attacks, nine were classifi ed as possible or unknown, and 12 were listed as “other.” Ranchers believe wolves kill far more livestock than is documented. In many cases, ranchers say, cattle or sheep disappear while grazing in for- ests or rangeland and it’s not clear what happened to them. A cow, one calf and 30 sheep were killed in the 2014 incidents. Eleven sheep, two calves, a cow and two dogs were injured. Oregon paid out $150,830 in compensation in 2014. Most of the money was used to pay for preventive measures intend- ed to deter wolves; much of the rest was direct compensation for losses. The report will be presented to the ODFW Commission at its March 6 meeting in Salem. The eastern part of the state has now recorded at least four breeding pairs of wolves for three consecutive years. Under Oregon’s wolf plan, the survey numbers mean the state has met its conservation goal in Eastern Oregon and can consider re- moving wolves from the state ESA list. The Oregon Cattlemen’s Association favors delisting. “We do expect more wolf attacks on livestock this year if wolves continue to remain list- ed,” spokeswoman Hanley said.