Shipping lines need to reach agreements with GE Transportation in order for the PierPass 2.0 program to move ahead.
The next major step of the PierPass 2.0 pilot at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is for shipping lines to reach data-sharing agreements with GE Transportation, which is leading the pilot, Port of Los Angeles Deputy Executive Director for Marketing and Customer Relations Mike DiBernardo said Wednesday at a trade conference.
“If there’s anybody in this audience here that can help encourage the shipping lines to get going on this, and if you see value in this, we’d really like to have your help on that,” DiBernardo said during the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) 2018 Annual Conference in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Lawyers of GE and of shipping companies are working through the challenging process of completing non-disclosure agreements to keep shared data confidential between the entities, yet provide a channel for interested logistics companies to access the information, DiBernardo said.
“That’s really where our next step’s at, is getting the shipping lines to give that information to GE, and we can start moving forward,” he said.
During DiBernardo’s session, conference attendee Scott Case, founder of Chicago-based Position: Global, pitched that the PierPass 2.0 pilot should incorporate data from electronic logging devices (ELDs), as trucking capacity has recently tightened, in part due to implementation of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s ELD mandate.
“Because of things like ELDs, drivers have to wait to get the equipment on the rails, taking longer, not being able to drive further,” Case said. “So a chassis that would normally turn in a day is now turning into two days. So … as you’re collecting the data points and you’re collecting the information, one of, I think, the other interesting pieces would be to see how some of that ELD data correlates and whether or not chassis are coming back same day, second day, third day.”
That could help determine how many chassis will be in inventory during high-utilization peak periods, Case said. “You’d maybe have to do it anecdotally or collect it through other systems as they’re coming in the gate or back out the gate. … Maybe some of that ELD data can get correlated back to it as well, so you can start to see that as part of the calculations in optimization as well.”
The Port of L.A. is looking at affixing a “tool” on its chassis for tracking purposes and is currently conducting predictive analytics related to the issue, DiBernardo said. Such a function also would allow railroads to relate better information to intermodal equipment providers about needed chassis, he said.
The 72,000 chassis at the Port of L.A. aren’t “tagged” with GPS so it’s currently tougher to see their location unless reported, DiBernardo said.
Asked how PierPass 2.0 and its associated appointment system for container pickups will avoid favoritism to bigger truckers on fairways, DiBernardo said as development of an appointment portal moves forward, the Port of L.A. foresees GE as a neutral arbiter, in a sort of role as “the Expedia of appointments.”
He added, “They’d be the front-end system, and actually be very neutral as far as who gets that appointment. [The trucker] comes in and it looks at what’s open at the terminal and makes that appointment. So we’re hoping that, as a mutual party, both the port and GE can be involved in the appointments so that it’s fair across the board and fair to the trucking community and to the cargo owners as well.”
Data-sharing deals next step in port pilot
