b'MARCH 8 - 21, 2021MARITIME Section 23ACL AJOT_SailSchedule_2020_ACL2/27/209:33 AMPage 1(REEFERScontinued fromtochallenges. atechnicalpointofOpage 4) upward this isnttheFromtheimmersiveONNEESSHHIIPPis trendingviewcreating implythattherehaventbeenexperience meant recreating the impacts due to COVID. conference virtually yet keeping Sappio says the most sig- process user friendly enough nificant area of the reefer supplyfor a wide group of delegates withC onchain affected by the pandemicvarying degrees of computer expe- Co nttaaiinneerrss,,RROORROO,,BBrreeaakkbbuullkkCCaarrggoohasbeenthenetworkdisrup- rience . Put another way, it had to tion. The underlying causes forbe intuitive to use with little or no thedisruptionhavebeenthetraining. On the operational side, capacitylimitationasaresulttheoverarchingquestion,was of labor supply during the pan- whetherthesystemwasrobust demic, especially as it relates toenough to handle the massive traf-COVID-positivecasesimpact- fic that 2,000 plus members would ing labor throughout the supplygenerate. AsMarchsaid,itwas chain, the overall surge and catcha question of would the servers up in volume across many portsstand up.thatcreatedanoversubscribedAmongthemanyinnova-situation, and finally, the imbal- tionsintheWCAvirtualcon-ance of containers and capacityferencewasactualfeel.TheRORO Customer Serviceacross the supply chain. delegatesfeltliketheywereA SERVICE AL1 SERVICE AL2 SERVICE 877-918-7676How long the imbalance inenteringarealconferenceandCuto Friday Cuto Thursday Cuto Monday Export Customer Servicecontainers remains is difficult tocould immediately go to a helpFROM NEW YORK LOLO RORO LOLO LOLO 800-225-1235assess, but Lars Jensen, a Nor- desk to get the agenda for theTO Transit Time Transit Time Transit Time Transit Time Export Documentation ANTWERP 1620 18 wegian-basedshippinganalystmeetings.TheattendeehasDUBLIN 12888-802-0401duringapresentationforthechoices of which venues to visitBELFAST 13Import Customer ServicePropeller Club of Northern Cali-including a hall for virtualGTEBORG 21888-802-0403Logisticsfornia,suggestedthatitmightexhibitors.ThevirtualboothHAMBURG 13 17 15 22 866-821-7449take longer than expected. PointallowsthedelegatetopickupLE HAVRE17 Credit & Collectionsout that at everypoint along theexhibitor information and evenLIVERPOOL 9 13 888-225-7747LONDON GATEWAY20 19chain of import containers thereexchange business cards as wellROTTERDAM11 20are issues whether that is COVIDas set up meetings. According to related issues on the pier side tothe WCA post-conference data, trucking and rail handling obsta- around 40 companies setup vir- and the rest of the world. Theland is on the verge of a majortoandfromU.S.WestCoast cleslandside.Withnosingletual booths and had over 1,000event is expected to attract overport expansion and the Howardports will be responsive to grow-solution able to clear the backlogattendeesvisitingtheirbooths800 delegates. TerminalballparkwillhaveaingcompetitionfromPrince of ships and containersaroundfor the video meetings and chats. negative impact on that growth Rupert:Ihavegottobelieve 1% of the entire container fleetAnotherinnovationwasa v Irtualp oStm ortem that if the UP and the BNSF see remains parked in San Pedro BayanetworkingloungewhichTheWCAsWorldwidegSC m aye xpand that they are losing freight to the awaiting dischargereefers andallowed around 1,400 attendeesvirtualconferenceansweredthet ruCkIngo peratIonS CN(CanadianNationalRail-dry containers are moving slowlyto socialize and chat with eachquestion of whether a large scaleArsenault toldAJOT, GSCway) and Prince Rupert because to destination and slower still toother and introduce new mem- virtual conference was feasible,maybeexpandingtruckingof higher rail ratesthat they repositioning in Asia. bers. Perhaps the most difficultbutwhatrolewillthevirtualoperationsoutsideofitsbasewill respondaspect of the conference experi- conference play when reality is re- inNorthernCaliforniaandthe ence to replicate is the ubiqui- established post-pandemic world? PacificNorthwest:GSCisaC ooperatIon(WINcontinued from page 11) tous cocktail meetings whichLikemanythings,itcomespro-growth company, well-situ- Withcongestion,coopera-The Port is already onboardare often the catalyst for furtherdown to money. While the WCAated, and I would not rule out thetion is needed: The supply chain with the Revolution Wind proj- business discussions. The WCAmembers reportedly saved over $5possibility that it will expand itsis a function of a mutual reliance ect which is designed to providetackledthisuniquechallengemillion in travel, lodging and otheroperationsintoSouthernCali- betweenoceancarriers,marine 400 megawatts of energy frombycreatingasocialgatheringfees, for an organization that raisesfornia and possibly ports on theterminals,distributioncenters, the offshore wind farm to a newin the form of an informal vir- a great deal of its annual revenueGulf and East Coast. railroadsandtruckers.Conges-substationinQuonsetbeforetual get-together with 5 minutefrom events, going virtual whileNationally, shippers began totion is impacting the California beingroutedtotheDavisvillerandom meetings. a practical alternative during thediversify away from main portsportsbecauseofthemoveto SubstationandpushedonwardThegutsofanyWCApandemic is no panacea to real- atNewYork/NewJerseyandturnaroundboxesquickly through the Rhode Island powerconferenceistheone-on-oneworld conferencing. LosAngeles/LongBeachafterbut the supply chain also relies grid. And offshore wind is a crit- meetings. In a non-virtual world,But March believes there isthe9/11attackonNewYork:on warehouses where the street ical piece in the States avowedthey are set up in advance and thea long term role for virtual inThe move away from Southerndwelltimeshavedoubledand goal of running on 100% renew- attendees move table to table forthetradeconferencebusiness.Californiabeganwith9/11andsodevanningthecontainersis able energy by 2030less thana set length of time to meet withAlready the WCA is working tothe concern that a terrorist attacktakingtwiceaslongasitnor-two decades away. the members on their one-on-onemake the WCAworld Academy,couldshutdownsupplyopera- mally does. This slows the flow meeting sheets. The one-on-oneswhich offers online and offlinetions in one place like New Yorkof goods inbound and outbound.are carefully choregraphed whichclassroom based training, a flag- or Los Angeles. This drove ship-(VIRTUALLYcontinued fromis easy [in a relative way] to doship for a virtual business sector.pers to diversify and began theg rowtHI n2021page 22) wheneveryoneisunderoneAnd it is easy to see how two- so-called Four Corners StrategyArsenaultishopefulthat according to March, was coor- roof but in a virtual world thedayseminarswithshorterrunwhereby shippers began to invest2021willbeagoodyearfor dinating schedulingthere wereattendees are spread over manytimes could compliment a tradein distribution in: the NortheastOakland and other U.S. ports: I a number of failures, adjustingtime zones. For this reason, thegroupseventportfolio-espe- (NewYorkandNewJersey);see 2021 being a year of major to various time zones. conferencewasrun24hours- cially when the upfront expensetheSoutheast(Savannahandgrowth because by the time the per-day.Withtheproprietaryof building a home grown plat- Charleston); the Southwest (Loscurrentcongestionsubsides,it a n ewa pproaCH system, a delegate could book upformhasalreadybeenunder- AngelesandLongBeach);andwill be around June or July and The test was enough to con- to 40 meetings per day. The finalwritten.ButMarchcautionedthe Northwest (Oakland/Seattle/ this will slow down just as the vinceWCAmanagementthattally was over 26,000 one-on-onethat trade organizations have toTacoma). Now, we are seeing aholidayseasonbuyingsurge they would have to develop theirmeetings were held between thebe careful offering virtual assecond trend which is to investstarts and so demand will prob-own virtual conference system to1,400attendeesspreadover4there is nothing quite as immer- morecapacityinsubregionsofablyremainsteadyandhigh provide the scale and adaptabilityand a half days with a successsive as the real world. theFourCornersandthishap- throughout 2021.theyd need for hosting the WCArate of over 80%. pening at the Port of Oakland. I WorldwideVirtualConferenceWith the experience of thedont think the CMA first port ofl owerF reIgHtr ateSat the end of the year. The WCA,four events, the WCA is gearing(HAILScontinued fromcall at Oakland is temporary.itOnthedirectionofocean working with their own develop- upfortheirSino-Internationalpage 22) may be the start of a new trendfreight rates, Arsenault sees them ers in the US and Thailand, cameFreightConferenceMarchballparkandcondominiumfor more first ports of call at Oak- declining after the current West up with a new concept built less15-19,2021[www.sinoconfer- complex at the Howard Termi- land to serve the growing North- Coastportcongestionsubsides, around the presentations by exist- ence.com].Thechallengesofnal site at the Port of Oakland:ern California market.but he does not see rates declin-ingsoftwareandmorearoundworkingwithChinasgreatI very much agree with Scotting to 2019 levels: Trans-Pacific reverseengineeringconferencefirewall poses some issues but(Scott Taylor, chairman of GSCt HreatF romp ort oF Oceancarrierrateswillcome experienceitself.Marchsaidinsomeways,thereisasideLogistics)andhisoppositionp rInCer upert downascongestiondecreases, the WCAfoundthatthirdpartybenefittobeingabletovirtu- totheproposedOaklandAsArsenaultseesathreatbut I would expect that the rates software options, such as Zoom,allyvisitChina.AccordingtoHoward Terminal ballpark. TheofOaklandlosingcargotowillnotreturntowherethey couldnotofferthefunctionalitythe WCA, the conference will beideaoftakingvitalmaritimetheCanadianPortofPrincewere in 2019. There has been an andfullexperiencetheywantedopen to all independent logisticsspace that can be used to expandRupert: One of the reasons isup and down market for the carri-to provide: We wanted it to be ancompanies,alongsidevendorsthe Port of Oaklands first porttheHarborMaintenanceTaxers that has lasted for years. You immersive experience that mim- such as airlines, IT companies,ofcallstatusandrepurpos- which is assessed on U.S. portscant run a business like this. If icked attending a real conference. charterbrokersandports/air- ing this valuable maritime landbutCanadianportsdonthaveyou want good service you have This approach was a radi- ports. It is jointly co-hosted andspace into a baseball park makessomething similar. to expect the carriers have a pre-caldeparturefromthecon- organized with the China Inter- nosense.OncethatlandwithHe hopes that higher freightdictablevolumeandapredict-ventionalteleconferenceandnationalFreightForwardersits cranes and infrastructure getsrateschargedbytheUnionable return on investment. That is presented a number of signifi- Association(CIFFA),andwilltransformed into a ball park, itsPacific (UP) and the Burlingtonthe best guarantee for growth and canttechnicalandoperationalemphasize trade between Chinanot going back to maritime. Oak- Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) goinggood service.'