A survey by the Ag Transportation Coalition shows just how devastating an impact the shipping crisis has had on agriculture. It shows about 20 percent of confirmed ag export sales were lost last year, due to predatory pricing of shippers refusing to take their cargo.
Also, the value of lost sales for a single company ranged anywhere from $120,000 dollars to $65 million.
U.S. ag exporters said that they were only able to deliver 35 percent of their orders on time, and 85 percent said that they had lost business as overseas customers shifted to buying from other countries.
A grounded ship on the east coast could cause even more problems for the sector.
The Every Forward is stuck in the Chesapeake Bay at the nation’s largest port for specialized cargo. It was on its way to Norfolk.
Water access will be restricted when salvage operations begin, but the Coast Guard says that there is no timeline for that just yet.
The ship’s parent company, Evergreen grabbed global headlines last year when its ship blocked the Suez Canal for nearly a week.
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