By Bill Lyte
Technoplex Inc.
By what measures can the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach be considered successful? Is it annual container count or revenues contributed to their respective cities? Is it measurable reduction in emissions, local jobs created, or the creation of solid community relationships? Is it retention of market share, regional commercial leadership, or green port technology innovation? The answer is that it's all of these.
The business goals of both the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles are clearly understood by the entire port community, and the leadership of these two ports must work to realize those goals. In addition to managing day-to-day operations, the ports must engage their communities and direct them in their mission - to help the Southern California transportation industry be both competitive and successful. They must work to make sure that business is good for everyone in our supply chain.
In the mid-2000s, a two-pronged challenge arose for the San Pedro Bay ports - that is the need to approve and go forward with critical backlogged projects, while at the same time reducing diesel air emissions. Meeting that combined mandate has resulted in a number of hard challenges throughout our industry - including some very specific leadership requirements for our two ports.
Band Together on the Approval Process
Securing long-delayed approval of capital projects at both ports has become the defining mission of the entire port industrial and service sector community. There has been unprecedented cooperation between the stakeholders, including the ports, port tenants, the engineering community, organized labor, local business, academia, and community leaders. At the same time, business organizations such as the Harbor Association of Industry and Commerce, FuturePorts, the Propeller Club, and Foreign Trade Association, rallied to support the process to win project approvals.
As a result, 2008 to 2010 saw the approval of the Trapac terminal, the China Shipping terminal, Plains Pier 400 oil terminal, Middle Harbor terminal, Wilmington Waterfront redevelopment, San Pedro Waterfront redevelopment, and the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority SR-47 projects to connect a planned Commodore Heim Bridge replacement to transportation corridors and railheads. Collectively, these major projects are valued at several billion dollars. More importantly, they provide critical new infrastructure that will ensure that the ports are viable long into the 21st century and at the same time demonstrate that the ports can deliver the infrastructure necessary to meet the needs of their clients.
A new series of projects, equally critical, will soon be upon us. These include replacing the Gerald Desmond Bridge, expanding and modernizing the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility which is operated by Union Pacific, construction of the Southern California International Gateway for BNSF, and expansion of the APL terminal, as well as other projects. The ports will lead these efforts, but they will need expanded cooperation between port community stakeholders at a time of severe recession and resource constraints.
The entire port community is going to have to band together and support these projects to get timely approvals. That means rallying the community to ensure a large turnout of supportive industry speakers at public hearings. Each speaker must be identified, prepared and convinced to attend. A new generation of port stakeholders is also required to support these pending projects, including by speaking up at port hearings. Many industry advocates, who have carried the banner of the ports for 10 to 20 years or more, are nearing retirement or have been reassigned to other projects. The same is true of the public sector port staff and those in other public agencies.
One emerging challenge for the two ports is combating the reduced involvement of professional services firms in supporting project approvals. These companies are increasingly unwilling to pay staff members to join committees or speak at public hearings because despite their substantial investment, such efforts seldom result in actual port contracts or project work.
Both ports must develop ways to identify and reward companies that lobby on behalf of critical port projects. The ports must have their own project management staff to engage those firms that are willing to spend the resources to go to bat for projects with the goal of helping them compete with other firms that may not actively support such projects.
If the ports do not address these issues, they will find that the cadre of available advocates at project public hearings is severely limited. The resultant advantage will then be with local activists and opponents of project approvals, who can always bring 20-30 speakers to a hearing.
Move Forward on Approved Projects
After years of costly and time-consuming project approval activity, many of the critical port projects have simply never moved ahead. Southern Californians tend to accept these delays as a matter of course, however this is not the case at many other U.S. ports and it certainly is not usual in overseas locations such as Asia.
The ports must keep their tenants and the service sector informed about the projects that have been approved. To those who have spent their time advocating for project approval, a lack of activity sends the message that their time was wasted and should not be used that way again. To the port tenants, and even the port staff, an approved project that doesn't move forward is another indication that other ports are better bets for their expertise and company projects.
And, for the tenant whose project faces continual delays after years of work - and in some cases, even after winning project approval - the delays may mean the loss of their jobs.
No international company will endure continuing lack of progress, particularly when progress can be so easily had in so many areas.
Both ports must ensure that accurate, current information on the status of projects is available. If there are agency delays, there may be ways to engage elected officials to assist in starting these vital projects at a time of continuing deep recession, particularly in the construction industry.
Support Port Industry Organizations
The Southern California port community has well organized industry associations that have long been the vanguard of port success. These organizations - such as the Harbor Association of Industry and Commerce, the International Business Association, the Propeller Club, the Foreign Trade Association, the Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders, Future Ports, and CALMITSAC - have a formidable stake in the success of the ports. They work well together as a team.
Each port should make it a top priority to harness the momentum and resources of these organizations. The management of each port should invite the executive committees of these combined organizations to the port for an annual briefing on upcoming projects and the technical, funding, scheduling and other challenges they are facing.
This is currently done group by group, but a regular presentation to the unified body of industry organizations would yield more organized support for the ports' programs.
Build on the Already-Successful Green and Technology Programs
The San Pedro Bay ports are the global model for green port technology due to such programs as the Clean Air Action Plan and the Technology Advancement Program (TAP). Port Tech L.A., a technology incubator, is in operation in San Pedro. The Harbor Association now holds bi-monthly "tech mixers" while the TAP has funded several technology growth companies, which have consequently become active in the ports. The U.S. Department of Transportation has a very successful port drayage truck GPS system (METRIS), which has been commercialized. Still, there is much more to be done.
In particular, individual technology companies, particularly those that have spent millions of dollars on California Air Resources Board verification, must be financially supported in the rollout of their technology.
Several of the most promising firms - among them Advanced Control Technology Inc., Vycon, and Extengine - have had to turn to international markets for financial survival. They found that after taking years to get their products approved, there were neither the markets nor funding for their technologies in Los Angeles. Our ports - whose capital project approvals are based on the availability of these technologies - should be deeply concerned about this. For example, selected projects at both ports require the ACTI Advanced Marine Emissions Control System "bonnet-on-the-stack" technology as a requirement of their environmental mitigation measures.
The local and regional university and research community must be more vigorously engaged in focused support for technology commercialization and its use in the ports. California State University Long Beach can play a pivotal role through its engineering department and also with the potential use of the CSULB Technology Center which currently sits nearly vacant. Using the model of Silicon Valley's Smart Grid Consortium," JPL and Technoplex, Inc., with Port Tech L.A., along with major corporate partners, are conceptualizing a port smart grid consortium.
Seize the Moment To Build the Future
All of these ideas and programs will, if appropriately nurtured, create new strengths and opportunities for our entire business community. One big opportunity is for new port staff to become more closely involved with the port business community. The dialogue and exposure to the ideas of the private sector will broaden their perspectives and be valuable to them as port operators, as well as in their own careers.
By incorporating these ideas, the leadership of the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports will be committing to the success of the Southern California port industry for far into this century.
-- William F. Lyte is president of Technoplex, Inc., based in San Pedro, California. The firm specializes in port technology and economic development. Mr. Lyte spent 20-plus years with major consulting engineering firms involved with the ports, energy and transportation industries. He has been involved with advocacy for approval of more than $7 billion of Los Angeles and Long Beach-area port and transportation projects. Mr. Lyte is the past chairman of the Harbor Association of Industry and Commerce and serves on the Executive Committee and Technology Committee Chair of the California Marine and Intermodal Transportation System Advisory Council (CALMITSAC).
-- The Cunningham Report
