b'18American Journal of Transportation ajot.comACL AJOT_SailSchedule_2020_ACL2/27/209:33 AMPage 1Port of LA: Seroka and PorcariOoutline 24/7 cargo operations ONNEESSHHIIPPBy Stas Margonanus, AJOT C onFollowing an October 13thdownto4.4daysfromahighCo nttaaiinneerrss,,RROORROO,,BBrreeaakkbbuullkkCCaarrggooWhite House meeting with Pres- of13.5days.Wevecutthe ident Biden on port congestion,backlogofrailcontainersby Port of Los Angeles Executivetwothirdsinthelast60days Director Gene Seroka provided some great work happening assurances that terminals at thehere by the Burlington Northern Port of Los Angeles would uti- Santa Fe railroad and the Union lize24/7operationstoreducePacific railroad.congestion.SerokawasjoinedatthessAsAyst erminAls notPorts monthly media briefing ontob lAmeOctober14th,byJohnPorcari,Theviewthat24/7opera-U.S.PortEnvoytotheBiden- tions at container terminals will HarrisAdministrationSupplydramaticallyreducecongestionRORO Customer ServiceChain Disruptions Task Force. is not universally accepted. A SERVICE AL1 SERVICE AL2 SERVICE 877-918-7676EdDeNike,presidentofCuto Friday Cuto Thursday Cuto Monday Export Customer ServiceP orcAri : f ederAlg overnment SSAcontainers,operates8ter- FROM NEW YORK LOLO RORO LOLO LOLO 800-225-1235hAsn oA uthority minals on the West Coast. SSATO Transit Time Transit Time Transit Time Transit Time Export Documentation ANTWERP 1620 18 Porcariwasaskedbyarepresents 25% of the West CoastDUBLIN 12888-802-0401reporter about what steps the fed- ports man-hours and SSA oper- BELFAST 13Import Customer Serviceeralgovernmentcouldtaketoates three terminals in SouthernGTEBORG 21888-802-0403Logisticsenforce24hour7daysaweekCalifornia including at the PortHAMBURG 13 17 15 22 866-821-7449system for cargo-handling at ports. of Long Beach. LE HAVRE17 Credit & CollectionsPorcarirepliedThisisaDeNiketoldtheInterna- LIVERPOOL 9 13 888-225-7747LONDON GATEWAY20 19privatesectorsystem,essen- tional Propeller Club conventionROTTERDAM11 20tiallyandthefederalgovern- on October 13th that container mentroleislargelybrokeringterminals have been blamed for discussionsandencouragingcongestionthattheyhaveno cooperationbetweendifferentcontrol over and did not cause. US port officials urge more infrastructure parts of the system. Normally SSA moves 1000 Porcari said that he wouldto 2000 containers every nightinvestment to combat port congestionbeengagedinmeetingswithtooff-dockfacilitiesthatare maritime stakeholders on 24/7open24hoursperday7days operationsincludingthebarri- per week. There is no extra costBy Stas Margonanus, AJOTers but this is not like flipping ato pick up these containers at the light switch. off-dock container yards. Two U.S. port officials said improvements inPorts Authority (GPA), discussed the dynamics of At the briefing, Seroka wasDeNike said: What we aretransportation infrastructure are necessary to avoidthe congestion crisis at GPA that began in July of asked by reporters to provide aseeing is that the containers area repeat of current port congestion problems and2020 with the surge of e-commerce demand fol-timetableforcontainertermi- not being picked up at our off- cited the need for upgrades in warehousing and raillowing the early stages of the pandemic:nalstoadopt24/7operations.dock facilities or at our termi- transport as well as increased worker training. There was a shortage of truckers as long-He responded that each terminalnals at the waterfront. The officials composed part of a panel that dis- haul and drayage drivers shifted to last mile deliv-wouldbedevelopingitsowncussed causes and solutions to the U.S. port con- eries because there was less liability. There was plans to meet 24/7 goals. s AturdAys ervice And gestioncrisisattheInternationalPropellerClubnot enough labor at warehouses and so the ware-24-h ourg Atesd ontw ork convention that was held virtually on October 13th. houses couldnt fulfill orders. As a result, con-P ort hAsr ecord On the issue of more nighttainers started to stack up outside warehouses and s ePtember2021 hours and 24-hour service at ter- P ort ofm obile dwell times started to increaseWith all chassis Seroka noted that Septem- minals: We dont believe thatRichard Clark, deputy director, Port of Mobilenow utilized and underneath containers waiting to ber 2021 was the best SeptembermoregatehoursaregoingtotoldthePropellerClub:Youshouldntwaittobe unloaded at warehouses there was the chassis volume-wise for the Port of Lossolve the problem. have a heart attack before you get heart by-pass. shortages and so no way to truck import contain-Angeles.ThePortscontainerDeNike said that when SSAClark noted that the opening of the expandeders coming in to the ports outSo, the ports end volumewas898,941twenty- offersthelate-nightgatesandPanamaCanalhascreatednewopportunitiestoup looking like a warehousefoot unit containers (TEUs) pro- triedSaturdayservicetohelprelieveimportcongestionbeingexperiencedatThePortsawrisingdelaysinfreightmove-cessed which is up 1.7% fromrelieve congestion: The truck- Atlantic and Pacific Coast ports by shifting largerments: The dwell time for containers has grown September 2020. ers are not using the late nights.containershipstoportssuchasMobile,Newfrom 3-4 days to 10 days so that even though volume The Port has been averag- When we offer Saturday serviceOrleans and Houston. at the Port has grown by 23%, year over year, the ing 900,000 TEUs per month foratourexpense,andweveHowever,todiversifyimportdeploymentsdwell time on the terminals has grown by 140%.the last fourteen months. (been) open on Saturdays at var- requiresnewinfrastructurespendingtosupportBeforethepandemic,Seventypercentof The duration of this cargoious portsweve gotten veryGulf Coast port growth: We need infrastructurethe 60,000 chassis in the Savannah/South Atlantic run is quite remarkableWelittlesupportfromthetruck- spending and this ought to have bi-partisan supportregion were being utilized. In the Savannah region have averaged 17 ships at berthing and BCOs (beneficial cargoso we can get the investment we need to grow ourabout 18,000 chassis were being utilized. Now the daily in the month of September:owners).ItsanabsoluteGulf Coast ports, Clark said. full 100 percent of those 60,000 chassis are being thats70%higherthaninpre- wasteofmoneyOurratesutilized 100 percent of the timesitting outside pandemic days. thatwegetfromthecarriersA mericAnA ssociAtion ofP ortA uthorities warehouses for 15 or more days.Imports remained strong atcover Monday through Friday. Chris Connor, president and CEO of the Amer-aprojected466,000TEUsforA similar problem exists atican Association of Port Authorities, is the formerr AilSeptember,1.2%downfromthe Port of Seattle, he said. global president of Wallenius Wihelmsen Logistics,McCarthy said one national transportation pri-September 2020 imports. one of the worlds largest car carriers. ority will be how do we convert the truck dray to U.S.exportscontinuedtobnsfAnduP c APAcity ConnormoderatedthePropellerClubpanelrailI know that may not be palatable to everyone slide,hesaid,withprojecteds hortfAll discussion. but how do we make it more short-haul trucking loaded exports at 75,802 TEUs,DeNike said the congestionConnorpraisedtheBidenAdministrationinstead of long-haul trucking. There are contain-down from 130,397 in Septem- problem started several monthsannouncement that it was leveraging the recentlyers coming in to Savannah going to North Caro-ber 2020 for a decline of 41.9% ago by the fact that the railroadscreated Supply Chain Task Force and conveninglina and Tennessee How do we better utilize rail SerokanotedWehavent(BurlingtonNorthernSantaFeport leaders including Mario Cordero from Longto have a more fluid infrastructure, because rail in seen this low an export numberand Union Pacific) simply couldBeach and Gene Seroka from Los Angeles as wellthe South Atlantic region is underutilized. Theres since 2002. not keep up with the volume thatas retailers, organized labor and other transporta- a tremendous amount of capacity with CSX and On the positive side, SerokawascomingthroughtheWesttion modes where reportedly actions will be takenNorfolk Southern on the rail.noted that the push system toCoast.DeNikeheardsimilarto loosen up the congestion. I think this is an impor- McCarthysaidthePorthasthecapacityto getcargoouttocustomersisproblems with rail service weretant first step. It will not be the only solution. handle 2 million TEUs of rail transport but cur-starting to gain traction. happeningatotherterminalsrentlywereonlydoing750,000TEUs-so HenotedOurraildwell(OUTLINEcontinued ong eorgiAP ortA uthority theres a tremendous amount of opportunity. He timefromondockproductispage 19) Ed McCarthy, chief operating officer, Georgia(INVESTMENTcontinued on page 19)'