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.