Container shipping PNW wheat

Farm and Ranch November 3, 2011 Most U.S. grain exports leave the country in bulk vessels. But about one percent is shipped over seas by container. Consultant Mark Samson, who did a study on container shipping for the Washington Grain Commission, says the percentage moving by container out of the PNW and West Coast is up in the five to six percent range. And that movement goes to some important markets for soft white wheat, like south and north Asia.

Samson says it isn’t freight rates that make container shipping attractive.

Samson: “What the advantage is, is very quick delivery compared to a bulk vessel. Many of these small mills overseas now don‘t want to co-buy with other mills because they compete so fiercely. So what they do now is come out and on a regular basis they try and get, say a thousand to two thousand tons to land at their mill every week. So they reduce their inventory cost, reduce their storage cost, and they have wheat coming at them just like a pipeline from their own storage facilities.”

Samson says his research concluded it is important for the PNW to keep container shipping viable in order to compete with Australia in Asia. There are currently some challenges for container shipping out of the Pacific Northwest. That story tomorrow.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Aginfo Net.

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