{"id":1032,"date":"2016-09-21T16:47:01","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T21:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aapaseaports.naymicrosite2.wpengine.com\/?p=1032"},"modified":"2020-04-23T08:04:02","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T13:04:02","slug":"thinking-outside-the-box-productivity-at-non-container-ports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/2016\/09\/21\/thinking-outside-the-box-productivity-at-non-container-ports\/","title":{"rendered":"Thinking Outside the Box: Productivity at Non-Container Ports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thinking Outside the Box:\u00a0<\/strong>Productivity at Non-Container Ports<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

By Meredith Martino<\/em><\/p>\n

TEUs.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to have a discussion about port productivity without using the word. The short-hand description of containerized cargo is one of the measurements that denotes the size of a vessel or the cargo throughput of a port. Cross TEUs with time, and the metric becomes the default description of the productivity of a marine terminal.<\/p>\n

What if there are no TEUs?<\/p>\n

Many ports throughout the Americas don\u2019t handle containerized cargo or only handle small amounts of it. These ports move other cargo \u2013 dry bulk, liquid bulk, breakbulk and oversized\/specialty cargo. Non-container ports may not be able to measure and discuss productivity in the same, crisp language as container ports, but their interest in maximizing assets, minimizing delays and increasing efficiency is similar to that of ports whose facilities are full of stacks of brightly-colored shipping containers.<\/p>\n

For Sean Strawbridge, COO of the Port of Corpus Christi, productivity is \u201cthe efficiency by which you can move goods off vessels, through facilities and out to market or a product from the fields, through the port and out to be exported to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dean Haen, Director of the Port of Green Bay, agrees, saying, \u201cIt all comes down to time. The ship, the crew, the fuel\u2026those are all fixed. The port can\u2019t affect how fast [goods]travel but can affect how fast they unload and load.\u201d<\/p>\n

Metrics with non-container ports are trickier. The Port of Everett\u2019s Executive Director Les Reardanz called his port \u201ca value port, not a tonnage port.\u201d But Green Bay\u2019s Haen emphasized that tonnage is often the default used, especially by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese metrics influence Corps decisions and things like the placement of assets such as Coast Guard ice breakers,\u201d said Haen. \u201cSome ports have to work hard to get to one million tons, which is what they need to get dredged. The more activity you have, the more fully utilized you are, the more it influences.\u201d<\/p>\n

So many factors go into the efficiency equation, though: land use footprint of the port, age and status of equipment, labor on the terminal and special requirements of the cargo being handled, to name a few. The latter is a significant issue for the Port of Everett in Washington state.<\/p>\n

\u201cSafe handling of sensitive and high value cargo\u201d is one of the ways the Port of Everett measures its productivity, according to Reardanz.<\/p>\n

For the items that move through the port, shippers \u201cusually only make one of them,\u201d explained Lisa Lefeber, Chief of Policy and Communications at the port. Products such as combines, large pieces of pipe, wind turbine blades, aircraft parts, transformers, mining equipment and helicopters move through the port on a regular basis. And for the Port of Everett, handling that cargo flawlessly is just as important \u2013 maybe more so \u2013 than handling it as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

Haen echoed this sentiment: \u201cOversized and overweight things are their own animal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Container ports have the luxury of being able to plan for one type of cargo, and different customers can use the same kinds of equipment \u2013 ship-to-shore cranes, rubber tie gantry cranes, top picks, etc. Non-container ports have terminals that are designed with specific cargos in mind, and switching from one cargo to another or upgrading that equipment can be an expensive proposition because it is essentially a gamble on what cargo will be at that facility in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery port is going through modernization of aging infrastructure,\u201d said Everett\u2019s Reardanz.<\/p>\n

The Port of Everett is making major investments, supported by a recently announced $10 million TIGER grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, to its South Terminal. Phase one improvements will include a larger berth, a shortened dock, more rail, larger cranes, electrification of terminal equipment and the capacity for shorepower for vessels. Phase two will include more than $500 million in investments for public access to balance the working waterfront with a recreational waterfront.<\/p>\n

In Corpus Christi, the port\u2019s biggest challenge is not on land but in water. The federal navigation channel is currently at 45 feet, but approximately 25 percent of the ships that call on the port have a design draft deeper than that.<\/p>\n

\u201cShips go out not fully loaded, which affects productivity,\u201d said Strawbridge.<\/p>\n

In both the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 and the Water Resources Reform & Development Act (WRRDA) of 2014, the channel was authorized to be deepened to 52 feet. The port has its share of the project\u2019s required matching funds ready to go but has not been able to secure meaningful appropriations from Congress to move the deepening forward.<\/p>\n

While it waits for Congress to invest in the water infrastructure, the port is also making investments in landside equipment at its bulk terminal to address constraint there.<\/p>\n

Yet investments in facilities have to be balanced with expectations. While constraint is one factor limiting productivity, underutilized investments can pose a different challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe industry is littered with significant investments [driven by]thinking \u2018if we build it, they will come\u2019 and they will never recoup those investments,\u201d explained Strawbridge. To limit the liability of its investments, the Port of Corpus Christi creates \u201coff ramps\u201d in its capital program decisions to adjust to market conditions. If it becomes apparent that the assumptions made for that project have changed, the port doesn\u2019t have to continue down a path.<\/p>\n

Haen is dealing with changing market conditions in Green Bay. A major petroleum pipeline went out of service this year after safety officials determined that it needed significant repairs. If the decision is made to reinvest in the pipe, it will take three years to repair or replace. Petroleum exports to Canada had been a source of growing cargo for the port \u2013 a business line that will not be easily replaced. The port is working to increase its cargo throughput with agriculture-related and paper product imports, seeking to utilize the assets it has to attract new business to the port.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t let pieces of equipment stand idle,\u201d said Haen. \u201cOffer [the customer]the least amount of double handling.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is often easier said than done. Strawbridge described it as a chicken-and-egg question \u2013 invest port dollars in facilities and equipment to attract business or wait for private investments to approach the port and then respond to meet their needs? He urged a balance between the two approaches.<\/p>\n

On investing first or attracting business first, the Port of Everett is in an unusual position as an operating port. No private marine terminal operators lease land from the port.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one else invests in long-term infrastructure,\u201d said Reardanz. The port is also located next door to Naval Station Everett, and the close proximity means that foreign investment near the military facility is discouraged.<\/p>\n

Not being able to utilize private or foreign investment is a particular challenge for the Port of Everett, but limited infrastructure dollars are a common woe for ports.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest challenges are dollars and land,\u201d said Reardanz.<\/p>\n

AAPA continues to press in Washington for appropriations to fully fund the TIGER program at $1.25 billion and to ensure that 25 percent of grants awarded each year are for port projects. In FY 2016, port projects received only 12 percent of the total amount awarded. Last year\u2019s FAST Act authorized $11 billion of new funds for freight, $500 million of which is for multimodal projects. For the first round of FASTLANE grants that were awarded this year under the new legislation, five ports received approximately $115 million in funding.<\/p>\n

Still, this federal funding is only part of what ports say Washington could do to increase productivity at non-container ports.<\/p>\n

Reardanz cited regulatory delays as a hindrance to improvements at ports.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe regulatory environment is increasingly challenging,\u201d he said. For example, WRRDA 2014 section 2102 authorized environmental dredging, but the Corps still hasn\u2019t written the guidance to implement that portion of the legislation.<\/p>\n

Coordinating among various agencies for permit approvals is also frustrating and time-consuming. \u201cHow do you mix and match approval processes?\u201d Reardanz asked.<\/p>\n

Strawbridge sees a glimmer of hope on the issue of energy, which relates to port productivity as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of bipartisan support for energy independence,\u201d he said, discussing how the Port of Corpus Christi is poised to have one of the largest LNG export terminals in the country. The port is also taking advantage of the recent decision to lift the ban on U.S. crude exports.<\/p>\n

As the United States moves to export more energy, low energy costs can help increase productivity at ports. But gains can also be made without cutting costs or investing in new equipment.<\/p>\n

Strawbridge said the Port of Corpus Christi recently stood up a port optimization working group that includes port users (beneficial cargo owners), ship agents, pilots, linesmen and others. The group meets once a month and is an opportunity for those on the front lines to share ideas for making the port more productive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe find ideas that we think will have the biggest bang for the buck and try them out,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes it works. If not, we know we tried.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strawbridge called it \u201cnon-sexy stuff\u201d but also said \u201cit accumulates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Business process reengineering can yield improvements in productivity on the low end from 12 to 15 percent, said Strawbridge, and as high as 35 percent. However, it often requires addressing entrenched cultural norms.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone can\u2019t explain beyond \u2018that\u2019s the way we have always done things,\u2019 then that\u2019s a red flag to dig deeper and ask why,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Port of Corpus Christi has used interns to stand on the terminals with stopwatches to record how long parts of the loading or unloading process take. After the port has that data, it then asks itself, \u201cHow can we speed up the time?\u201d<\/p>\n

It also attempts to learn from private sector entities such as Valero and Citgo, asking companies for their best practices. \u201cPrivate does a much better job of driving on efficiency,\u201d said Strawbridge.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, non-container ports feel the same pressure as container ports to deliver for their cities, counties, states and regions.<\/p>\n

\u201cJobs is a big part of why we are here and why we exist,\u201d said Reardanz. \u201cWe need to deliver a return on state and local taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Green Bay\u2019s Haen said, \u201cYou know if you\u2019re winning or losing by the business you\u2019re bringing in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thinking Outside the Box:\u00a0Productivity at Non-Container Ports By Meredith Martino TEUs. It\u2019s hard to have a discussion about port productivity without using the word. The short-hand description of containerized cargo is one of the measurements that denotes the size of a vessel or the cargo throughput of a port. Cross TEUs with time, and the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":1024,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-equipment","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}