Between 2014 and 2023 cyber-attacks against the Port of Los Angeles increased from 7 million attacks per month in 2014 to 60 million monthly attacks in 2023, according to Tony Zhong, Chief Information Security Officer, Port of Los Angeles.

Zhong was speaking to the Propeller Club of Northern California on July 15, 2024 and explained that the Port had established a Cyber Operations Center to protect the Port’s digital infrastructure in 2014.

In 2017, after an attack on a major maritime company, the Port of Los Angeles and maritime stakeholders including terminals, rail, trucking and ocean carriers collaborated to develop what would become the Cyber Resilience Center (CRC) to provide a comprehensive stakeholder-based defense capability.

In 2021, IBM was selected to manage the CRC which began operations in 2022.

The establishment of the Cyber Resilience Center has made the Port of Los Angeles a leader in cyber security defense among US ports. As Zhong explained the CRC operates with an executive committee that oversees its operations and a technical committee that collaborates among the stakeholders (and the Port of LA is among them) focusing on technical issues. And when it comes to cyber security, as Zhong notes this is a case where defense has to be much better than offense as it takes only a single attack to be successful generating damage, whereas the defenders need to be able to successfully defend 100% of the time.

Zhong explained that when an attack occurs, it is reported by the stakeholder but transmitted to the other stakeholders anonymously. If another stakeholder also reports a similar attack, then those attacks will be reported to all of the stakeholders again anonymously so that they can evaluate whether they, too, have been under attack. This system preserves anonymity and proprietary information but also allows for the real time exchange of information in the event of a cyber-attack

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

Ron Brown was unanimously elected Vice President of the Propeller Club of Northern California at the Club’s  April 2nd meeting at Scott’s Seafood, Oakland, California.

“Ron Brown has been a stalwart member of the Propeller Club of Northern California and one our leading advocates in the maritime community,” Stas Margaronis, Propeller Club of Northern California President told Propeller Club attendees  in proposing Brown for Vice President at the April 2nd meeting.

Brown has been the Maritime Marketing and Commodities Manager for the Port of Oakland since 2008.

Previously, Brown held the following positions:

• President, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) Port of Oakland Chapter: Jan 2005 – Dec 2019 · 15 yrs
• Sr. Adjunct Professor, DeVry University – Keller Graduate School of Management, 2003 – 2009, San Francisco Bay AreaSenior Program Manager, SAIC, Dec 1999 – Sep 2002, San Francisco Bay Area
• Co-Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Micro Search Environmental Corporation: Oct 1993 – Dec 1999, Oakland CA

In the aftermath of the failed effort by the Oakland A’s to build a ballpark and condominiums on the Port of Oakland property, the Port of Oakland’s Executive Director Danny Wan and Maritime Director Bryan Brandes sought support for major infrastructure upgrades to port operations.

Wan noted that the Port has won $600 million in new investments: “We’ve gotten … over $600 million of investment on grants from both the federal and state levels. Those go into projects like the Seventh Street access improvements, port efficiency, data improvements, and harbor strengthening.”

On November 14th, Wan explained to an assembly of maritime stakeholders that he had requested the Propeller Club of Northern California organize a meeting with Port stakeholders to discuss future projects and improved collaboration. He asked, “We get everybody in a room … to give us some ideas about what you think needs to happen at the Port of Oakland to grow our business …I’m so very heartened by … all of you showing up today.”

SSA Voices Concerns

Ed DeNike, President, of SSA Containers, which operates the biggest terminal at the Port of Oakland (Oakland International Container Terminal or OICT) said that the Port’s support for the failed Oakland A’s ballpark and condominiums at the Port of Oakland’s Howard Terminal created uncertainty. He said it undermined SSA’s ability to attract customers to the Port of Oakland: “We signed a long-term commitment with the Port of Oakland … We bought the biggest cranes in the world sitting at OICT handling any ship that’s going to be built now or for the next 20 years. We bought equipment … This thing that happened at Howard Terminal hurt us. We stopped getting any commitment from any carriers for not more than one year because they didn’t know what the future was in this Port. We need volumes and we need commitments. We can talk and say anything … that we want to (but) when carriers hear that the Port doesn’t care about them, I’m not saying it’s true, but that’s what they think. When the Port says that there’s going to be other uses for a marine terminal then … our customers need to know that the Port of Oakland is supporting the future of this Port then we can get long-term commitments.”

DeNike’s concern was repeated publicly and privately by other stakeholders who say they have confidence in the Port staff but do not have confidence in the City of Oakland. They say the City ignored pleas from truckers, the railroads, terminal operators, longshore labor, freight forwarders, and others that the ballpark and condominium project would be severely disruptive to Port operations.

DeNike was positive about the support SSA has received from International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 10 which represents longshore labor at Oakland: “We’ve worked with Local 10 for a long time. I feel Local 10 now is … the best I’ve ever seen them … I think … they realize that their future also is to get the job done. And I think the employer, not only SSA, but the other employers too, have convinced Local 10 that they have to step up to the plate.”

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

The San Francisco Bar Pilots christened their new pilot boat the Golden Gate hailing it as the next generation of low emission vessel technology for the San Francisco Bay.

The Bar Pilots said that the Golden Gate, which replaces a vessel under the same name, “is a state-of-the-art pilot vessel that advances the organization’s sustainability goals and whose funding was made possible through last year’s Assembly Bill 2056 legislation authored by California Assembly Member Timothy Grayson (D-Concord).”

On October 12th, Captain David McCloy, S.F. Bar Pilots, told an audience at the christening ceremony that took place at Pier 9 in San Francisco: “I am pretty sure we’re still the first Tier 4  (low emission) compliant pilot boat in the United States right now …It was quite a big deal … to put a vessel like this in service (during the) pandemic and supply chain issues.”

According to Diesel.net: “On May 11, 2004, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) signed a final rule introducing Tier 4 emission standards, which were phased-in over the period of 2008-2015. The Tier 4 standards require that emissions of PM and NOx be further reduced by about 90%. These emission reductions have been achieved through the use of advanced exhaust gas aftertreatment (sic) technologies, with most Tier 4 engine families using urea-SCR catalysts for NOx control.”

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

LR: Stas Margaronis, Evey Hwang, Susan Ransom & Ron Brown