The USDA announced a plan to facilitate export of agricultural commodities through the Port of Oakland.  A 25-acre site has been designated to allow shippers to fill containers outside the port.  This will hopefully reduce the current practice by ocean shippers of returning empty containers to Asia directly from West Coast ports to the detriment of domestic exporters. This issue is currently under consideration by Congress.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stated “The creative partnership between USDA and the Port of Oakland will help American farmers and agricultural producers move their products to market while also making better use of empty containers that are causing congestion at the ports.”  Secretary Buttigieg added, “After we helped set up inland facilities and a pop-up port in Savannah we witnessed significant improvements in the flow of goods and we expect to see similarly positive results once the Oakland, CA. facility is opened.”