Bright spots

Certainly, at Transport Events 4^th Trans Middle East 2008 conference in Dubai last month there were, on the face of it, few reasons to be cheerful. According to our erstwhile economists, the outlook for ports and terminals is bleak. The darling of the investment industry just a few months ago, tightening purse-strings and indiscriminative liner trade cuts have weakened the attractiveness of the sector.

But, while those economists and their banking equals collectively cried into their cornflakes, other port professionals presented ideas that captured the imagination. On the product front, TTS Marine’s introduction of induction technology for automatically guided vehicles – think magnets to produce electricity – is something to watch. While energy prices have eased, volatile markets could soon send them soaring again. Any development of renewable energies has to be applauded, especially in times where so many manufacturers are pulling research and development funding to support other flagging parts of the business.

Another worthy notion came from the charismatic Kieran Ring, figurehead of New York’s Global Institute of Logistics (GIL). As the developer of the Container Terminal Quality Indicator, GIL is the pioneer behind this independent box terminal assessment process, audited by the veritable classification society Germanischer Lloyd. Designed to put “quality management at the heart of the logistics process”, the CTQI – albeit still in its infancy – finally allows comparison of apples with apples on the container terminal front.

Port Strategy has followed the CTQI with interest since it was launched in June 2007 – see our archive www.portstrategy.com for more details – and we are particularly excited about GIL’s latest development. Targeting port community, GIL seeks to emulate global port leaders that have successful community models to create a guide to port clustering.

This is not an IT initiative; this is the creation of a knowledge base and promotion of best-in-class port community practices. Inspired by service commitments and clustering models in Valencia and Singapore, the GIL wants to promote ports acting in unison – a worthy goal.

“We have to cut out the layers and layers of bureaucracy,” says Mr Ring. “Modern port management has to be inclusive, has to create a buzz with port stakeholders, and has to co-operate on relationships.”

With a committee that aims to showcase the best-in-class and reflect the diversity of the industry, this port authority clustering initiative could be the panacea this industry needs in these challenging times.