The U.S. Department of Agriculture will soon be offering $200 to $400 bounties for containers packed with agricultural goods delivered to a 49-acre pop-up site near the Seattle shipping terminals.
The pop-up site is a small part of the response to what has become a sprawling, pandemic-driven problem. Shipping containers are in demand by Asian manufactures looking to ship to product-hungry Americans, so much so that they’re being shipped back to Asia empty. American farmers, meanwhile, can’t get container space they need to reach Asian markets.
At the same time, leaders in Washington, D.C., are looking for new ways to pressure the six shipping companies that dominate that industry, which have been described to one Washington state congresswoman as a “cartel.”
Source: https://www.seattletimes.com/business/port-of-seattle-pop-up-aims-to-fill-empty-shipping-containers-bound-for-asia/