Have you seen Jasmine rice at your local Costco lately? If your local Costco resides in the Pacific Northwest, it might have come through the Port of Olympia.
The Port of Olympia is working with Otis McAllister, a veteran line by receiving over 2,500 metric tons of super sacks Jasmine rice for storage in its 76,000 square foot warehouse. Each super sack of rice has either forty bags inside with each weighing 50 pounds, or eighty bags with each weighing 25 pounds. The rice is shipped to Costco and other end users for sale to the public. We expect to get continued shipments in the coming months.
The shipment took two days to discharge and was the maiden voyage for the Tac Suzuka, a Panamanian flagged handysize bulker equipped with its own cranes for cargo operations. The vessel loaded the rice cargo by barge while anchored outside of Bangkok, Thailand making Olympia, Washington its first real port of call after construction at the shipyard.
The process involved several key partnerships including working with the vessel agent from Talon Marine Services, the stevedores as Stevedoring Services of America (SSA), the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Department of Agriculture. Special recognition goes to the fantastic effort by ILWU Local 47 and Port of Olympia staff whose efforts made this successful. The Port of Olympia is hoping to discharge more rice in late December or early January.
The current backlog of container assets has greatly disrupted the intermodal supply chain hurting U.S. consumers. There does not seem to be any relief to this challenge in sight.
The Port of Olympia can offer an alternative route for fulfilling customer needs. In addition to discharging super sacks, the Port of Olympia has its own mobile harbor crane, on dock rail, and storage acres available for use. The Port can be creative in storing cargo in its warehouse or holding containers in its yard. Contact the Port of Olympia at 360-528-8033 to see if they can be an alternative solution during these challenging times. Succeed with Us. Choose Olympia.
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