WASHINGTON, D.C. — Port operations were on the radar as maritime stakeholders held an encompassing conversation ranging from harbor dredging and anchorage development to sustainability and alternative fuels infrastructure.
The free-flowing discussion on Tuesday came at the 104th annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board, where thousands of academics, researchers, government officials, and private sector entities braved a rare snowstorm to absorb the latest research, exchange ideas, and network across the spectrum of global transportation.
Current events were top of mind at the meeting as disruptions brought on by labor issues, congestion, and reconfigured trade patterns, among other factors, have challenged port operators, where inefficiencies could lead shippers to less expensive locations.
It’s a hot-button issue in Washington, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has been conducting more “tabletopping” exercises on disruptions. Such discussions help a team prepare for an emergency or disaster, such as the looming threat of a prolonged longshore strike at East and Gulf ports that has the potential to shut down container shipping and cut off imports of pharmaceuticals, food, auto parts and other essential trade. During the brief work stoppage by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) in October, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reportedly was ready to deploy the National Guard to operate the state’s ports.
Talk of USACE raised the subject of dredging, something critically important to commercial ports generally and container hubs specifically, which are locked in a race to attract ever-larger ships.
It was pointed out that the Port of Virginia has Congressional approval to dredge channels and berths to 54 feet — deepest on the East Coast — because it adjoins Naval Station Norfolk, home of the U.S. Navy’s massive aircraft carriers. That could put other East Coast ports at a competitive disadvantage, as the port leverages its harbor depth to manage future cargo flows.
Talk of dredging progressed to a subject that is less often discussed, anchorages, those harbor areas where ships wait to berth. They’re critical to port performance, attendees agreed, and while some data has been collected for study, it’s not clear what it means, and more is needed to address utilization.
Large vessels and dredging spurred observations that the Coast Guard requires the operator of a ship touching bottom in harbor to file a report, but it is unclear how many actually do. Typically, there is usually a small window to move a line of Ultra Large Container Carriers (ULCC) into and out of a harbor at high slack tide. These huge ships transiting, for example, the narrow Kill Van Kull tidal strait between Staten Island, New York, and Bayonne, New Jersey, have to slow to five knots or the hydrodynamic forces they create will rip out gas barges and other vessels from their moorings.
In a supply chain, the factors weighing on freight transit defy isolated examination.
The meeting pondered the expansive development of Mexico’s manufacturing base, including substantial investment by China in ports, factories, and logistics parks.
Attendees wondered what effect it will have on rail infrastructure pushing all the way to Port Houston, more than 300 miles from the busy Laredo border gateway. It’s all intermingled, leaving transportation providers to puzzle out trade patterns from limited data which forces them to infer changes and trends.
The rail conversation led the meeting to question the very definition of a port — is it a blue water maritime facility, an inland waterways hub, or even a surface intermodal terminal whose operations mimic those of ocean gateways?
The state of Indiana recently opened a new highway bridge at the Port of Burns Harbor, doubling truck capacity in a bid to attract container traffic off Lake Michigan. The investment was spurred by railroad Norfolk Southern, providing a close connection to Chicago with property that is less expensive to develop.
The focus then shifted to sustainability, specifically the changeover by ocean carriers to alternative fuels, and ports’ ability to support the next generation of fueling systems.
The European Union’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has led vessel operators to specify dual-fuel or alternative fuel, including ammonia and methanol, propulsion in orders for new ships. Attendees said American ports need to understand the change now underway, and that California ports are far ahead of East Coast gateways in that respect. Port Canaveral in Florida has provided liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel infrastructure for some years, while the port of Jacksonville has been moving LNG to the port of Savannah, Georgia, for refueling.
The meeting was told PortMiami has been installing infrastructure for berthed ships to plug into electric power, called cold ironing, but has run into problems with the electrical grid since plugging in eight or nine container vessels or a trio of modern cruise ships is akin to turning on the light switch for a small city. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is studying the issue of fuel logistics.
Further to sustainability, attendees said there needs to be a baseline for green trucks and ships, similar to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for buildings. That would help define carbon footprints and related costs for carriers. Private companies such as Nike and Patagonia are trying to be benefactors for the carbon zero movement, using their own standards, but businesses have to know how many carbon credits a truck movement is going to cost.
Find more articles by Stuart Chirls here.
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