“What’s next, and where do we go from here?” Cargo activities started to rebound nicely in 2010, the economic picture has been slowly improving, so we need to ask ourselves, are we now out of the woods?
I think not. Last year, I wrote about the inherent factors that create inefficiencies and waste in port facilities and how often large volumes of cargo and a desire to move that cargo in order to handle more have prevented us from addressing inefficiency and waste.
Will history again repeat itself, with cargo volumes covering the sins of inefficiency? During the next 12 months, I believe we will see a resolve building among port stakeholders, the carriers, terminal operators and even organized labor to address some factors that make many port operations expensive and non-competitive so that history will not repeat itself.
In recent weeks, we have been attempting to address and justify some port polices that have arisen out of the customs and practices that developed over time, sometimes intentionally and sometimes as the unintended consequences of various provisions in collective bargaining agreements. Try as we may, many of these policies, customs and practices, no longer can be explained and are simply not sustainable. To continue to perpetuate them will only perpetuate the notion that we cannot change the world we live in.
But we must change. Ports provide jobs, true regional economic stimulus and business opportunities. The stakeholders who depend on ports for their well-being can no longer accept the status quo.
The world is changing rapidly, and those who have the determination to tackle “what is” in favor of “what should be” will be the big winners. That means 2011 will be the year in which port stakeholders decide if they are willing to make the commitments necessary to result in meaningful and productive improvements in costs, efficiencies and sustainability.