USDA Grain Transportation Report (6/23): USDA Partners With Two More Port Locations For Temporary Storage: Tacoma and Houston

Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced partnerships with two more ports to ease congestion for agricultural exporters — in addition to earlier projects with the Ports of Oakland and Seattle.

In one case, the Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA) has opened a 16-acre “pop up” site at the Port of Tacoma, WA.

Both the Tacoma site and NWSA’s 49-acre pop-up site in Seattle are accepting dry agricultural or refrigerated (reefer) containers for temporary storage.

USDA will provide payments of $200 per dry container and $400 per reefer container to help cover the additional logistical costs of using the sites.

In addition, a partnership between USDA and the Port of Houston, TX, will ensure agricultural companies and cooperatives can export their commodities.

During the first year of the Port of Houston’s 5-year lease of an additional 1,060 chassis, USDA will cover 50 percent of the cost of obtaining and leasing the chassis.

USDA’s aim with these projects is “to help American farmers and agricultural producers move their product to market.”

This article comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) June 23, 2022, Grain Transportation Report.