Port of Oakland has announced that its new, temporary container yard is getting federal help in the form of financial relief for its customers with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) providing agricultural and other exporters assistance in covering expenses for using the pop-up yard.
“Supply chain issues locally to globally have hampered the US export business through West Coast ports including Oakland,” said Port of Oakland executive director Danny Wan, who believes that USDA’s decision to provide financial incentives will promote the use of the yard, reduce marine terminal congestion and ease some of the logistics strain for Oakland exporters.
The temporary container yard opened on 7 March, as part of the Administration’s larger programme to relieve port congestion. The USDA is offering a US$400 incentive per export reefer and US$200 for a dry container. This funding is for the temporary staging of loaded export containers. In addition, the USDA is offering a US$125 incentive to pick up an empty dry box used for agricultural bookings.
“This will help defray the additional costs incurred by our shippers and make usage of the new facility more feasible,” noted Port of Oakland maritime director Bryan Brandes, who continued, “The temporary yard provides a place for truckers to easily pick up empty containers to be loaded with US exports and it allows for staging loaded containers ready to be shipped overseas without crowding busy terminals.”
Brandes added, “We continue to work closely with ocean carriers to restore services here so that shippers can have more opportunity for outbound vessel space.”
