美国国家公共电台 NPR--New law takes aim at those who refuse to open up cargo space in U.S. ports

（单词翻译）

New law takes aim at those who refuse to open up cargo¹ space in U.S. ports

Transcript²

The head of an agriculture lobby and a market analyst³ talk about supply chain relief that U.S. producers and consumers can expect from the recently enacted⁴ Ocean Shipping⁵ Reform Act.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We are all paying more for everything from toilet paper to cars, in part because of increased shipping costs.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Rising demand during the pandemic clogged⁶ the supply chain at sea, and the White House says that pushed up some ocean-going shipping costs from Asia to the U.S. by as much as 1,000%.

INSKEEP: Whoa. So Congress passed and President Biden signed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act. Zippy Duvall stood next to the president as he signed it. He heads the American Farm Bureau Federation⁷.

ZIPPY DUVALL: There is price gouging⁸, and that definitely put farmers at a disadvantage because once they got that product there, paying that kind of cost of moving it, then they couldn't be competitive on the market.

MARTIN: Duvall is a third-generation farmer who grows hay and raises cows and chickens in Georgia.

DUVALL: All the things that I have to buy to fertilize⁹ my grasses, to make them grow, to produce forage¹⁰ for my animals, equipment, tractors, labor¹¹ - all that has increased many times. When you put your heart and soul into growing a crop or taking care of animals to be able to put it out to nourish the world, and then there is not enough opportunity to send that crop out to the mouths and people that need it - it's really deteriorating¹² to the morale¹³ of our farmers.

INSKEEP: So the law takes aim at carriers or terminal operators who unreasonably¹⁴ refuse to open up available cargo space. Some ports have been clogged, as we've reported in the past. Market analyst Cathy Roberson says it requires the Federal Maritime¹⁵ Commission to investigate exorbitant¹⁶ late fees on importers and exporters.

CATHY ROBERSON: If a shipper can't pick up a container because there's not a truck driver available - something that's out of their hands - this law is to help protect them from these detention¹⁷ and demerge fees.

MARTIN: Roberson says these fees are often passed on to the buyer. But she says this law may not do what the Biden administration hoped - cut prices for consumers.

ROBERSON: This is all fine and dandy, but there's a lot more involved in supply chains. There's a lot of folks in the federal government that really don't understand how supply chains operate from manufacturing all the way to our front door. This isn't going to help lower inflation whatsoever¹⁸. The Consumer Price Index figures the majority of the increase has been attributed to energy cost.

MARTIN: The Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 is the first revision to maritime legislation in more than 20 years.

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