(NAFB.com) – The U.S. Dairy Export Council and the National Milk Producers Federation sent a letter to the White House regarding specific recommendations to help solve supply chain issues.

The top recommendation calls for USDA’s Agriculture Marketing Service to restart its Ocean Shipping Container Availability Report. “Shipping containers for U.S. dairy exports continue to be in short supply at coastal ports and even more so at inland locations,” says Jim Mulhern, President and CEO of NMPF. “These essential links in the global supply chain must be available to exporters.”

Other recommendations include setting up pop-up terminal yards in inland locations like Minneapolis and Chicago. That would make it easier to secure shipping containers. They also want to see trucking “fast lanes” dedicated to delivering perishable agricultural goods as quickly as possible at port terminals.

Krysta Harden, president and CEO of USDEC, says supply chain issues have cost dairy exporters over $1.5 billion last year alone.