At the height of the pandemic with emerging supply chain challenges causing impediments to the efficient transportation of containerized cargo, this essayist noted that such challenges could be met by embracing information sharing in a safe and secure way to manage supply chain velocity. While this advice is still sound, merely embracing information sharing will not provide the panacea to supply chain challenges as seen in 2022. Cargo transportation is, and will always remain, a non-virtual and hands-on business of schlepping cargo all over the world that requires a place of rest at ports of origin and destination.
The record cargo volumes handled at ports in the United States during the past year vividly demonstrate the cascading effect on the supply chain when competing interests seek access to the same limited marine terminal space. Unprecedented increases in import container dwell times, rail yard dwell times, and the number of empty containers on marine terminals resulted from these competing needs followed by the phenomenon of multiple vessels at anchorage waiting for berth space as well as congestion at access roads into and within marine terminals. While there has been a great deal of finger pointing, challenges in supply chain fluidity are not driven by a lack of readily available cargo information. The genesis of these challenges lies in infrastructure bottlenecks, limited options for alternative cargo storage, and entrenched behaviors preventing the utilization of extended marine terminal hours.
Cargo transportation stakeholders must investigate in-land solutions for loads and empty container storage options that will allow for the expeditious removal of cargo from marine terminals. While information sharing is a useful tool that can assist in terminal fluidity and velocity, it cannot create more space at terminals. Accordingly, plans to regulate cargo information sharing, while well-intentioned, will not address the low-tech problem of finding alternative space for cargo storage nor will it convince stakeholders to utilize readily available information. Government regulation of the dissemination of the cargo information will be difficult to implement and of limited value.