North Dakota 'port' seeks ways to snag empties for farm exports

MINOT, North Dakota's "port" near the Canadian border may be turned into a customs facility in a bid to attract shipping containers into the state for the benefit of its agricultural exporters.

The proposal is being considered by Minot Area Development Corporation (MADC) and North Dakota Port Services (NDPS) to address a container shortage that's affecting businesses across the US Midwest.

"The difficulty for rural areas is that while they have products to export, there isn't a matching demand for imports to ensure that containers come in full and go out full. Without products to ship in, exporters aren't able to get containers unless they pay significantly higher prices," said the Minot Daily News.

MADC president Jerry Chavez said a previous pilot study in Montana has shown that moving imported containers from the bottlenecked coastal ports to an interior customs port saves money and speeds processing for shippers.

The plan also would be a way to get full containers into Minot, where some could be emptied and made available for local exporters.

Minot has potential to be a port of entry and a storage and distribution centre for products, according to Mr Chavez.
(Source:www.schednet.com)