The growth of our industry has been accelerated during the last two and one half decades by remarkable advances in the efficiency of maritime transportation: new container ship designs including improved hull and propulsion systems, increased shipbuilding productivity and the recent introduction of liquefied natural gas technologies. These innovations have brought about cost reductions through automation and welcomed economies of scale thanks to larger, better designed vessels.
During this period of intense growth, massive investment in landside infrastructure and port-specific technology has been required to allow U.S. marine terminals and intermodal facilities to reduce throughput costs and increase cargo velocity. The need to manage massive amounts of information quickly to reduce container dwell time and expand terminal capacity is essential. Organized and accurate information shared between ship, terminal, rail and over-the-road transport can increase the speed of service exponentially.
Despite all of the advances outlined above, U.S. ports are still not as productive as many of our international counterparts. Compared with many other industries, the U.S. maritime sector has been less progressive in the adoption of best practice thinking, with technology all too often deployed simply to automate existing business processes rather than to break new ground.
Keeping pace with the continued growth of our industry in 2016 and beyond will certainly require updates to our infrastructure, but will also demand the optimization of our terminals and supply chain through development and integration of tomorrow’s technology.