By Sharon Bernstein and Nathan Frandino

ESCALON, Calif. (Reuters) – The shrink-wrapped packing containers of recent California walnuts stacked virtually to the ceiling in Don Barton’s California packing facility ought to be headed to Europe for vacation baking and to Asia for New Yr celebrations.

As a substitute, newly cleaned and shelled nuts – about $10 million price – are caught at his processing plant close to Sacramento, hundreds of miles from their locations, as the worldwide provide chain disaster squeezes ports.

Transportation and supply-chain issues are hurting farmers throughout the U.S. West Coast, a serious international provider of specialty crops like fruits and nuts well-liked at year-end celebrations.

Ships that might usually decide up walnuts from Barton’s firm, Gold River Orchards, are skipping the Port of Oakland the place the nuts are normally exported, or exhibiting up at odd or surprising instances that make it troublesome to get the product to the docks.

“We’re transport proper now lower than half of what we ought to be transport and might be transport this time of the 12 months, just because there’s not tools out there,” mentioned Barton, standing amid towering processing equipment and pallets loaded with packing containers marked for cargo overseas.

Ships are additionally skipping the Northwest Seaport advanced in Seattle and Tacoma the place hay, apples and beans wait to be exported. On the ports of Los Angeles and Lengthy Seaside, freighters look ahead to weeks for a berth within the harbor, solely to then go away abruptly, in lots of circumstances with out selecting up items for export.

A lot of the transport crunch resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. Dwelling-bound Individuals flush with unspent journey and leisure {dollars} and authorities stimulus splurged on every thing from meals and fridges to toys and train tools. The demand for imports overwhelmed provide chains and prompted container transport strains to give attention to essentially the most worthwhile routes between China and the Port of Los Angeles, skipping others.

Farmers who agreed to ship fruit, nuts and different merchandise in time for the vacations are defaulting on their contracts, dropping enterprise to international growers they are saying might by no means come again.

On the Port of Oakland, simply 679 vessels stopped to choose up items throughout the first 9 months of 2021, in contrast with 959 the prior 12 months, mentioned spokeswoman Marilyn Sandifur, though a number of the drop was made up by extra cargo carried by bigger ships.

“Lots of people depend on the high-quality American meals merchandise and there is a demand for them abroad,” Sandifur mentioned. “The problem is getting them over there.”

German importers have struggled to get California inshell walnuts, a well-liked seasonal snack, into supermarkets in time for Christmas attributable to delays of six to eight weeks in ships leaving, mentioned Jens Borchert of German importer Mariani of California.

California’s walnut trade exported 47% fewer nuts within the shell, and 16% fewer shelled nuts throughout September and October of 2021 than it did within the earlier 12 months, the California Walnut Board mentioned in a report. Almond trade knowledge reveals a 19% drop in exports within the three months ending Oct. 31 in contrast with the year-ago interval.

Barton says his exports had been down by about 75% in October from the earlier 12 months. A key contract, to provide walnuts for the vacation season to grocery store chains in Sweden, was canceled after the nuts received held up for weeks ready for a ship, he mentioned.

ERRATIC SHIPPING SCHEDULES

For Dairy America, a cooperative that’s the world’s largest provider of powdered skim milk, transport prices have elevated by 30% to 40% and contracts have been canceled due to erratic transport schedules, mentioned Derik Toy, the Fresno group’s supply-chain director.

Final month, the cooperative needed to discover storage for 18 containers stuffed with powdered milk in Arizona, after quite a few scheduling adjustments by a transport line contracted to take them from Los Angeles to Colombia. The cooperative will now should pay late charges on the containers it rented to hold the milk.

Peter Friedmann, government director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition, mentioned his members reported drops in exports by 22% throughout the first 4 months of 2021 alone.

The ports of Lengthy Seaside and Los Angeles, the nation’s busiest seaport advanced, have dominated media protection of supply-chain woes. However congestion has made it more durable for farmers to export their items throughout the nation, Friedmann mentioned.

On the ports in Seattle and Tacoma, Washington, exports are down 11% this 12 months and 20% off from the five-year common, mentioned Steve Balaski, interim director of enterprise growth for the Northwest Seaport Alliance.

Three transport providers are suspending calls on the Northwest port advanced in December, and ships on two different routes will cut back the frequency of stops there, he mentioned.

The ports are the main export places for apples and frozen French-fried potatoes. In addition they ship peas, lentils and about 40% of the nation’s hay exports.

Notably impacted, he mentioned, are shipments sure for Europe, Latin America and elements of Asia exterior of China.

“When they’re unable to export it actually impacts the farmers’ capability to make cash,” Balaski mentioned.