USDA Announces Partnership with Northwest Seaport Alliance

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack announced plans for improving shipping in the Seattle area. 

The agency will preposition containers of agricultural goods near port terminals to help improve service for shippers that carry U.S.-grown agricultural commodities. 

The USDA is partnering with Northwest Seaport Alliance to enhance access to a 49-acre pop-up site to accept either dry agricultural or refrigerated containers for temporary storage at NWSA in Seattle. 

The goal is to reduce operational hurdles and costs, making it so they can be loaded more quickly onto ships at the export terminals. 

The alliance includes the marine cargo operations of the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, Washington, which is the fourth-largest container gateway in the U.S. 

The Northwest Seaport Alliance saw a nearly 30 percent decline in exporting agricultural commodities in the last six months of 2021. 

The ratio of loaded versus empty container exports shifted to predominantly empty containers since May of last year.

(Story Courtesy of NAFB News Service)