The year 2014 is going to be particularly challenging for West Coast ports, Port of Seattle officials were told last week. Not only will the expansion of the Panama Canal be completed that year - making it easier for shippers to divert cargo to the East Coast - but the Canadian Port of Prince Rupert also is slated to complete its Phase 2 expansion that year, which will quadruple the port's container capacity to 2 million TEUs.
That message was delivered last week during a staff briefing to Port of Seattle commissioners, who were told that despite 40 percent container growth so far this year, all of Seattle's container terminals have excess capacity.
In order to attract new business to the port, Seattle's marketing staff is emphasizing its "fee free" status which distinguishes it from Southern California ports that charge a $35 per TEU fee for cargo moved by older trucks, a $50 per TEU PierPass fee for cargo that moves during peak hours, and a possible $6 per TEU infrastructure fee beginning in 2012.
When meeting with potential customers, Seattle also is emphasizing its status as a "green gateway," claiming that because the Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma are closer to Asia than any other U.S. port, less carbon is emitted during the ocean transport of cargo to the Pacific Northwest and the intermodal movement of cargo to distribution hubs in Chicago, Columbus and Memphis.
Nevertheless, Seattle staff and commissioners agreed that Pacific Northwest ports need to improve the productivity of their terminals. To do so, they need to communicate to longshore labor that "cargo could go anywhere" and does not need to go to the Pacific Northwest if it is ultimately headed to "battleground" states in the Midwest.
Pointing to increased terminal automation that he saw during a recent trade mission to Pusan, Korea, Commissioner John Creighton noted that Hanjin would like to implement the same technology at its new terminal being planned in Jacksonville, Fla.
"In the long term, we are going to have to have some very difficult conversations with (longshore labor) in terms of maintaining our competitiveness and maintaining jobs at all in Seattle at our cargo port," Creighton said.
Commissioner Rob Holland, who travelled to Korea with Creighton, suggested that representatives from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union join commissioners on a future trade mission, so they too, could saw the automation being implemented abroad and the competition the Pacific Northwest is facing.
Seattle Managing Director Linda Styrk noted that ILWU contract negotiations are slated for 2014 -just as competition heats up from the Panama Canal and Prince Rupert. She and Seattle Executive Director Tay Yoshitani suggested that the port collaborate with ILWU labor to promote trade through the Pacific Northwest.
-- The Cunningham Report
