Perishable exporters squeezed by smaller free-time windows

Perry Bourne, director of international transportation and supply chain management at Tyson Foods, is calling on terminals to help mitigate the impact of big ships on cargo flows.    One of the methods marine terminals and port authorities have used to curb congestion arising from the new reality of mega-size container ships is to reduce the amount of time export containers can be stored on the dock without charge.
   Free time varies by port and terminal, but can be several days or more.
   Shippers are also unhappy with less free time for imports, complaining that they usually can’t pick up cargo as soon as it’s available because of a lack of visibility into container readiness, excessive wait times for truckers, chassis availability, closed areas of the yard, appointment availability, Customs holds, and shortages of available draymen.
   The situation is most prevalent on the West Coast and is especially troublesome for shippers of perishable, temperature-controlled products.
   At the South Carolina International Trade Conference outside of Charleston in mid-September, Perry Bourne, director of international transportation and supply chain management at Tyson Foods, explained why meat producers face a double dose of trouble because of tight delivery windows.
   Tyson’s food plants are used to load containers full of meat products and send them to ports by truck or rail almost every day of the week. Drayage drivers would pick up loaded imports and empty boxes at terminals and bring them to Tyson cross-docks for quick reloading of export commodities.
   But under the new restrictions, Tyson is incurring extra shipping costs because it can’t deliver loads for vessels scheduled to arrive the following week.
   The pork and poultry producer, which ships about 20,000 forty-foot equivalent units a year, is now paying to store wheeled containers at container freight stations, as well as plug-in charges for electricity to run the refrigerated units, and extra chassis rental for special tri-axle chassis designed for heavy loads.
   “Perishable shippers are not that pleased with big ships. We don’t slaughter everything on one day. We’re moving products every day, and the sooner we can get it on a ship, the faster we can get it to our customers, the better they like it,” Bourne said.
   Marine terminals then charge detention fees for late return of the container, adding insult to injury. A shipper like Tyson can get hit with demurrage charges on the front end, storage fees in the middle and detention charges on the back end.
   Bourne said shippers should be able to deliver loads early and carriers should load them on the vessel available at the moment rather than hold them for the vessel on which space was booked.
   “There has to be sensitivity to the perishable nature of the products that are being moved,” he said.
   Bourne is a proponent of expanding night gates at West Coast ports as well as having special gates for reefer traffic so perishable goods don’t have to wait in line and risk missing the vessel.
   “If we don’t get it on the ship, we end up airfreighting the cargo,” he said. “We’re in the mix with somebody who is delivering waste paper, and perishable meat is worth a hell of a lot more than a load of waste paper. There’s not a lot of differentiation to try to customize services to products, and I think that’s something all ports should look into.”
   He praised stevedore SSA Marine at the Port of Oakland for operating special gates and extending gate hours for truckers.
   “Oakland seems to have taken the lead providing more consistency for night gates and especially for reefer,” Bourne said.
   The logistics chief also identified another challenge with big ships, which carriers tend to schedule less frequently than smaller vessel classes.
   Foreign customers, he said, increasingly want smaller shipments because the market has evolved to more of a retail model than a wholesale one. Overseas grocery chains, restaurants and other food establishments are buying more products directly from Tyson, but want it in smaller, more frequent loads to ensure freshness and minimize the liability of holding too much inventory at once.