Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/491374
STiR tea & coffee industry international 27 This is how people still think of coffee shipments to the present day. With an air of nostalgia, we envision warehouses with rows stacked high with sacks made of ICE mandated sisal, henequen, jute, or burlap. In many ways not much has changed. To insure traceability and qual- ity most buyers including Starbucks, the nation's largest roaster, only accept coffee that has traveled from the farm in bags. That is why much of the bulk coffee arriving in lined containers will be sorted and bagged in natural fiber prior to grading and certification. Bags will arrived labeled with originating farm and country of origin. Many believe this method is optimal. After all, the very thought of roasters knifing open a sack of fresh beans from exotic lands brings to mind centu- ries of coffee transport. It is a beautiful story that coffee sellers and drinkers recount as they take their morning's first sip. However bulk delivery in lined containers has many advantages over splintered pallets, water-stained gunny sacks and the propane exhaust from a fleet of forklifts. Until this year Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulations stat- ed that arabica coffee purchased with an ICE contract could enter North American ports only in bags averaging 132 pounds in lots of 37,500 lbs. Coffee handling is changing, and as it does it will make a huge difference in the way coffee is stored and delivered. Currently 5% of coffee is transport- ed in lined containers and warehoused in silos before final transport in trucks specially designed to transport dry beans. There are very few green coffee silos in America. Inland roasters for the most part cannot accommodate container deliveries. Switching to lined containers will take time. European ports, in contrast, have received bulk coffee shipments for years. Coffee still descends the mountain in 60-kilo sacks because it is too costly to drive a container to the farm, but processors loading coffee into con- tainers avoid the cost of filling and sewing thousands of bags. Shippers save up to 18% by reducing the number of containers required and by avoiding the cost of transporting pallets. Warehouses save on labor and truckers loading three 2-ton supersacks on wheels avoid idle time at the dock. Why it has taken so long in the U.S. is due to Byzantine agreements made long ago — including differing shipping and handling regulations for robusta coffee, which is overseen by the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE). Arabica shipments are regulated by ICE. Bulk not always best Bulk shipping is not ideal. There are drawbacks. Many U.S. roasters see advan- tages in traditional methods of handling under the ex-dock or ex-warehouse duty paid system in which the buyer is responsible for storage and transport once the coffee is unloaded. Sellers pay to unload the ship. Europeans often Specially built trucks quickly load and deliver green coffee to roasters. A plastic lined shipping container of coffee is delivered by truck from the dock. Workers at Vollers Bremen facility slit the liner and the coffee pours through a grate into holding bins where it is routed to a silo. Lots are sampled, certified and kept separate until transferred to long-distance trucks that bring the coffee to roasters throughout Europe. Photos courtesy Vollers, Port & Commodity Logistics