I’ve heard it said often during my 39-year career on the waterfront that “volume covers many sins.” This was particularly true in the operations where I spent a great deal of my time. As we struggle to climb out of a deep recession, we find all the cargo that covered those sins is no longer there and we need to come to grips with the reality of our collective sins. It’s not always easy to look closely at ourselves, but we must.
We don’t need to look outside our industry for the answers; it is all right here.
As we move into the second decade of the new millennium, we can no longer ignore the factors that create inefficiency and waste. Contractual labor increases and other material increases notwithstanding, cargo interests demand and expect to pay low costs to move their goods to consumer markets. Ports demonstrating the ability to deliver consistently high levels of quality service and productivity, without compromising safety, at competitive rates, will acquire the cargo.
We as an industry are being challenged to tackle an assortment of inherent problems leading to higher costs. Geographic proximity to the world’s largest and most affluent consumer markets is not enough any longer to be an incentive for operators to bring their vessels to our terminals. But by working closely with all port stakeholders, we can and will overcome these challenges.
Working together in cooperative alliances is paramount to making the necessary changes that will result in competitive costs, improved productivity and new efficiencies.