USDA Backs Port of Oakland Pop-Up Container Yard

April 27, 2022

Port of Oakland’s new, temporary container yard is getting federal help in the form of financial relief for its customers. The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) is providing agricultural and other exporters assistance in covering expenses for using the pop-up yard.

“Supply chain issues locally to globally have hampered the US export business through West Coast ports including Oakland,” said Port of Oakland Executive Director Danny Wan. “We thank the USDA for providing financial incentives to our customers. This will promote use of the yard, reduce marine terminal congestion and ease some of the logistics strain for our exporters.”

The temporary container yard opened March 7, 2022, as part of the Administration’s larger program to relieve port congestion. The USDA is offering a $400 incentive per export reefer (refrigerated container) and $200 for a “dry” container (non-reefer). This funding is for the temporary staging of loaded export containers. In addition, the USDA is offering a $125 incentive to pick up an empty dry container used for agricultural booking.

“This will help defray the additional costs incurred by our shippers and make usage of the new facility more feasible,” said Port of Oakland Maritime Director Bryan Brandes. “The temporary yard provides a place for truckers to easily pick up empty containers to be loaded with US exports and it allows for staging loaded containers ready to be shipped overseas without crowding busy terminals.”

“This federal partnership highlights Oakland’s traditional role as a critical export gateway,” added Mr. Brandes. “We continue to work closely with ocean carriers to restore services here so that shippers can have more opportunity for outbound vessel space.”

Maritime industry experts are saying that they expect global volatility in the supply chain to continue for months. Ship schedule disruptions continue due to multiple factors including pandemic impacts on trucking and marine terminal operations at China’s largest ports.