Carriers reject US agricultural exports for empty boxes to China

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The argument over the apparent refusal of many container lines to accept US agricultural export bookings in preference to returning empty containers back to China in recent months shows no sign of going away. This exhaustive analysis by industry analyst Lori Ann LaRocco, published by CNBC, has established that container shipping lines rejected some 177,938 teu of US export shipments in October and November, which is likely to lead to renewed calls for greater Federal Maritime Commission enforcement of the country’s Shipping Act. “This data and the impact on our economy is potentially very troubling, but unfortunately not altogether surprising,” FMC commissioner Carl Bentzel told CNBC.  “These numbers track pretty consistently with the complaints that we have been receiving consistently for the last four or five months.”