Now, with fuel costs soaring and fewer containers available, Zampa and others say that exporters are going to have to pay more to make doing business with them profitable. To combat that, Zampa said, exporters are going to have to put the same effort into logistics planning that importers do on a routine basis now.
"We're telling them they have to plan ahead, try to even out their shipments, try to take advantage of times of the year when there may be more slack in the demand," Zampa said.
Exporters aren't happy with the new balance in the shipping trade.
Friedmann of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition said the fault is with the shipping lines for talking too much among themselves and not enough to their export customers. Many exporters, he said, are willing to pay more to get the empty containers they need -- if only they could get them.
"The mind-set of the shipping lines is that they serve the import cargo. That is where the money is," Friedmann said. "They just didn't see this problem coming."
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ron.white@latimes.com
