PORT CONGESTION: GONE OR JUST SEASONALLY ADJUSTED?

The worst is over, both on the US West Coast, mud slides aside, and in Europe, but like an ill wind, no one is sure that it will not come back and certainly no one wants to take the blame. So fingers point in all directions. We know one thing though. With globalisation and China’s growing market economy, long haul container traffic will stay robust in the years to come, even with lower growth rates. But right now trade is soft, ships are heading for drydock, so there is time to find solutions.

The key is planning – for today and for the future. Some industry commentators suggested that import container dwell times were to blame but that situation has not changed much in the last couple of years. North America West Coast ports are averaging six days or less and Europe averages around seven to eight days. Asia, is more like four to five. Is this helpful? Plainly no, but there is a dilemma. The commercial interests of shipping companies tend to allow their shipper customers free storage, albeit at odds with their own operations people. Also, there is often little or no risk of demurrage charges, particularly if the terminal is run by the line itself.

And yet there is a clear need for velocity to get the boxes away. But if you cannot get them out of the gate due to the landside transportation problems then you have a difficult situation as we saw in Los Angeles.

The shipping lines will get used to their big ships and having to deal with discharges of four to five thousand boxes at a time in some base ports. Increased equipment investments on the terminals will take care of that, and ports are learning their lessons, forcing trucking firms to pre-book for pickup in order to avoid gate congestion and queuing. Pickup is increasingly becoming a round-the-clock operation. So technology can solve this issue.

All of the above is important but it does not address the core point – inter industry planning. There has to be a better way to communicate amongst the various interfaces of lines, terminals, truckers and railroads. The balance of equipment availability has to be found and today the main problem lies with the railroads, particularly in North America. But that’s whole subject in itself.