Ittner Bean & Grain issued the following announcement on March 3.
Agricultural shippers, including Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) exporters, are feeling the pinch at overseas destinations and here in the U.S. due to the effects of the coronavirus outbreak, according to Bruce Abbe, SSGA strategic adviser for trade and transportation. Abbe said exporters of soybeans and specialty agricultural products in the upper Midwest have begun to experience problems getting all of the empty containers they need.
"It's blank sailings compounding other blank sailings," Abbe said. "Canceled sailings and staff shortages at shipping lines and warehouses across Asia, especially in China, are limiting the volume of Asian exports to the United States. Spot shortages of containers are surfacing near hubs such as Chicago and Minneapolis."
According to the Universal Cargo website, blank sailing is a term that means no sailing or, perhaps more precisely, canceled sailing. A blank sailing could refer to a sailing skipping one specific port (while still traversing the rest of the scheduled route) or the entire sailing being canceled.
Abbe told DTN that he has heard some mixed feedback, with one shipper on Feb. 27 telling him that, while it hasn't been that bad in the Twin Cities, they're watching it and are aware of shortages in some places.
"One perennial thing for our Identity Preserve (IP) guys is a shortage of 20-foot containers. Therefore, it may be that there are some 40-foot containers available in some locations. But, overall, with the higher blank sailings, equipment shortages are going to happen," Abbe said.
Original source here.
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