Security, infrastructure key issues at SeaCargo
The challenges of security enhancements, plus infrastructure needs for growing cargo volumes took center stage at the SeaCargo Americas conference in Miami Monday.
The shipping industry will need to deal more efficiently with security issues and upgrade infrastructure and inland transportation services to handle the cargo volumes that are expected to rise sharply in the years ahead. Port of Miami Director Bill Johnson explained how both issues are affecting his port, with security costs tripling to more than $16 million a year since Sept. 11, 2001, and the port straining to put together a multiparty funding package to pay for the planned $1 billion tunnel project needed to route truck congestion from the existing port entrance in downtown Miami.
But both issues extend far beyond Miami, other speakers noted.
John Houlihan, Crowley Liner Service senior vice president, noted that all the South Florida ports will need to improve rail connections to provide the kind of inland intermodal service needed to compete with ports like Savannah and others up the Atlantic Coast. If not, he warned, South Florida will find itself handling local cargo and missing out on the opportunity to serve as a Southeast gateway.
Providing yet a broader overview was John Bowe, regional president of the Americas for APL Ltd. He pointed out that the United States as a whole is facing an infrastructure crunch in terms of port handling capacity and inland rail and truck services.
With transpacific trade expected to grow sharply in the years ahead, West Coast ports will be hard pressed to handle volumes that are expected to triple by 2020. That will increase the need to provide all-water services to East Coast ports. But ports along the East Coast will also have to prepare for the impending congestions crisis, he warned.
On the security front, speakers sounded notes of optimism and significant gains in the last year or so, but conceded that much more needs to be accomplished.
Security bottlenecks have been blamed for driving Caribbean and Latin America transshipment business away from the Port of Miami and into alternative hubs like Kingston, Cartagena, or the container terminals on the Panama Canal.
But Jose Ramirez, Customs and Border Protection port director for Miami, observed that the post-9/11 delays for cargo inspections have been dramatically reduced.
When physical inspections were stepped up after 9/11, it sometimes took 11 or 12 days to process a container that had been pulled for inspection at the Port of Miami. Now, however, that has been reduced to less than two days in most cases.
He said the improvements are partially the result of improvements in container inspection technology that can now check containers faster and more accurately. More importantly, he noted, the supply chain screening process has been improved with layered security practices like the 24-hour rule for submitting cargo manifests overseas, the CBP's Container Security Initiative in overseas ports, and the cooperation of shippers that participate in the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism.
Elsewhere in the region, security practices have been improved significantly, speakers said.
Everton Walters, chairman of the 10-nation Port Management Association of the Caribbean, said progress has varied at different island nations, with Barbados showing significant gains and some of the smallest nations struggling to find funding for security enhancements. He noted about $10 million is needed for essential security to meet current standards. While that is feasible at large ports, there is not enough revenue generated by user fees at smaller ports to cover those costs. He said outside assistance would be needed.
Walters noted members of his group have received extensive assistance from the United States, with help coming from sources as varied as the U.S. Coast Guard to the Florida Ports Council.
But if the Caribbean wants to keep up current levels of business and even cash in on the trade growth in the future, participating countries will need to meet new security standards to remain in the game.