Prepare for life out of the shadows

The combined effect of these factors, or sometimes just one, such as supply chain gridlock, has been to push ports deeper into the political spotlight.

In days of yore ports generally ticked over quietly in the background only rarely achieving a high-profile political exposure with the accompanying amount of media attention – perhaps a strike or a major incident such as an explosion in the port area. Even then, these events fairly-quickly receded into the background and a quieter life resumed, as a rule out of the political dimension.

Pre COVID-19 it is true to say ports were being drawn slowly but surely into the political spotlight with environmental considerations being a major driver of this. Building recognition came into play, which continues today, of the need to decarbonise activities in the industrial arena of port activities – to reduce vessel emissions, truck queues and so on. Nevertheless, this remained a comparatively ‘light touch,’ usually confined to attention taking place in an internal industry sector context.

Life under COVID-19, however, has provided added impetus to political attention, fuelled by the man in the street being made much more aware of the negative consequences of impaired logistics – higher cost, delays and overall poorer service. Words such as supply-chain and congestion are now in common usage in the population with the attendant degree of increased political scrutiny accompanying this.

It is a sad reality that while in the world at large there is increased recognition of supply chain problems and congestion there is not a commensurate understanding of the source of these problems, and that invariably the blame is laid at the door of ports – the most visible choke point in the supply chain. Effectively, the port is the point in the supply chain where the problems pile-up, like driftwood on a beach, but it is by no means the source of the resulting congestion problems.

This reality brings with it the greater political focus but again invariably with a lack of understanding.

The bottom line is that ports and terminals are faced with the challenge of learning how to deal with this new era of increased attention and must introduce the resource and tools to both offset potential problems through a proactive approach and to respond to events in an informed and constructive manner. Now is the time to prepare for life out of the shadows!

Furthermore, it is clear that ports have facilitated globalisation with limited difficulties. They now stand accused, in the eyes of the ill-informed, of causing problems when the blame lies elsewhere. Resulting political interference can only make matters worse.