Category: Reports

GSC’s Arsenault: Space Now More Important Than Cost

GSC’s Arsenault: Space Now More Important Than Cost

Dave Arsenault, president of Oakland, Ca based GSC Logistics and a former president of Hyundai Merchant Marine America, warned that container space has become a more important factor than cost for booking imports and exports on ocean carriers.

“Cargo owners are a bit gun shy right now. For the last few years, they have so much disruption and distress in their supply chains that the cost of service is … secondary to space.”

Arsenault went on to predict that freight rates would stay high: “The demand exceeds the supply. This means that rates are not going to be coming down, if anything will maintain or even increase, in some markets.”

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

Jensen warns Russia-Ukraine conflict might generate cyberattacks on ports

Jensen warns Russia-Ukraine conflict might generate cyberattacks on ports

Container shipping analyst Lars Jensen, the principal at Copenhagen-based Vespucci Maritime Consulting, warned that tensions between Russia and the Ukraine could spill out into cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, including ports.

Jensen warned the element of risk has risen drastically in the last weeks. “I cannot stress enough how seriously this should be taken.”

Jensen was addressing the Propeller Club of Northern California (PCNC) on February 8th.

Recalling the 2017 cyberattack that shut down the ocean carrier Maersk, Jensen said:

“Remember that in 2017 Maersk was brought down by a cyberattack. They were completely down for a week, and it took several weeks to get back up and running. Maersk was purely collateral damage of a Russian-backed cyberattack on the Ukraine. Several thousand companies got hit on that attack.”

Today the risk of damage could be far worse: “Fast forward to the situation right now with Russia on one side and NATO and the Ukraine on the other… In the last few weeks, authorities in Britain, Canada and the United States have warned that this is a significant risk against critical infrastructure. So, this threat has to be taken very seriously. U.K. authorities are reporting cyber activities that are very similar to those that preceded the cyberattacks of 2017.”

Read Entire Report

Port of Oakland ship turning basins study ready for public review

Port of Oakland ship turning basins study ready for public review

U.S. Army Corps releases draft Integrated Feasibility, Environmental Assessment

Oakland, Calif. – Dec. 20, 2021:The Port of Oakland, in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) San Francisco District, has reached a key milestone in the planning process to widen the Oakland Harbor turning basins to accommodate larger container ships calling North America. 

The comment period starts today, Monday, December 20, 2021, for the USACE draft Integrated Feasibility Report and Environmental Assessment (IFR/EA). Interested parties have until January 31, 2022, to submit comments. 

Read entire article

Storms, Flooding & Sea Level Defense Conference Focuses on Dredging, Ports & Nature Based Solutions: U.S., Singapore & Netherlands

Storms, Flooding & Sea Level Defense Conference Focuses on Dredging, Ports & Nature Based Solutions: U.S., Singapore & Netherlands

The fourth Storms, Flooding and Sea Level Defense conference focused on nature -based solutions to defense against flooding and storm surges impacting coastal communities and ports in the United States. Panelists also discussed new developments in Singapore and the Netherlands.

The November 3rd conference took place virtually and was a joint production of the Society of American Military Engineers and the Propeller Club of Northern California.

Jim Patti, President, ‎International Propeller Club of the United States emphasized the importance of a strong merchant marine and a U.S.- built Jones Act fleet to support increased maritime growth in areas such as dredging and maritime commerce.

SOCIETY OF AMERICAN MILITARY ENGINEERS

Retired Brigadier General Joseph Schroedel, Executive Director, Society of American Military Engineers welcomed the participants and urged collaboration between maritime and coastal stakeholders in addressing resiliency challenges.

Arvind Acharya, President, Society of American Military Engineers, San Francisco praised the participation of SAME chapters in the conference and for supporting of resiliency goals.

The speakers and subject titles were as follows:

Read the entire Overview Report

Growing Flood Threat to US Infrastructure: First Street

Growing Flood Threat to US Infrastructure: First Street

A new report “The 3rd National Risk Assessment: Infrastructure on the Brink”, found that there is a growing risk of flooding and major disruptions to U.S. infrastructure.

The report produced by the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based First Street Foundation found:

Over the next 30 years, “due to the impacts of climate change, an additional 1.2 million residential properties, 66,000 commercial properties, 63,000 miles of roads, 6,100 pieces of social infrastructure (schools, churches, government buildings, etc.) and 2,000 pieces of critical infrastructure (ports, fire stations, etc.) will also have flood risk that would render them inoperable, inaccessible, or impassable.”

Roughly 25%, or 1 in 4 of all critical infrastructure in the country are at risk of becoming inoperable, which represents roughly 36,000 facilities.

In addition, “23% of all road segments in the country (nearly 2 million miles of road), are at risk of becoming impassable.”

Additionally, 20% of all commercial properties (919,000), 17% of all social infrastructure facilities (72,000), and 14% of all residential properties (12.4 million) also have operational risk.

The highest concentration of community risk exists in Louisiana, Florida, Kentucky, and West Virginia, with 17 of the top 20 most at-risk counties in the U.S. (85%).

Louisiana accounts for 6 of the top 20 most at-risk counties (30%) and is home to the most at-risk county in the country, Cameron Parish.

In the United States, “many infrastructure discussions over the past 20 years have been centered around possible physical attacks, energy crises, and terrorism, but climate change has a higher probability of significant impact on the Nation’s infrastructure.”

More recently the report said: “the impact of Hurricane Ida stretched across the country crippling the electrical grid in southern Louisiana, flooding the transportation infrastructure in the NYC (New York City) metro area, and killing nearly 100 people. It is clear, now more than ever, that the ways and places in which we live are likely to continue to be impacted by our changing environment. One of the most important implications in this development is the vulnerability of our national infrastructure.”

Read Entire Article Here

California Propeller Clubs’ Meeting Focuses on Railroads’ Impact on California Ports

California Propeller Clubs’ Meeting Focuses on Railroads’ Impact on California Ports

The Propeller Clubs of Northern California and of Los Angeles and Long Beach convened a joint forum to discuss the impact of U.S. railroads on California ports.

On September 14th, maritime stakeholders from Northern and Southern California attended the virtual event where they heard the following reports:

Jessica Alvarenga, government affairs director Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (PMSA), reported that average rail dwell time for containers moving on rail destined for Midwest destinations from the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach averaged “11.8 days in June.”

However, on September 17th, PMSA reported the rail dwell time had declined to 8.2 days:

“Dwell time in August for containers leaving via rail was down compared to the month before. The railroads worked hard to drop the average dwell time for containers leaving via rail to 8.2 days, down from 11.3 days in July. 42.7% of containers leaving on rail remained on terminals for more than 5 days, also down from 53.4% the month before.”

In January of 2021 the average rail dwell time at the two Southern California ports was “7.9 days,” Alvarenga said.

She explained that the rail dwell time is measured from the time the container “leaves the terminal once it’s been offloaded from the vessel” until the container departs by rail for Midwest destinations.

Read Entire Article

U.S. Exporters Continue to Encounter Rough Sailing in 2021

U.S. Exporters Continue to Encounter Rough Sailing in 2021

Paul Snell, CEO British – American Shipping, warned that the recent consolidation of ocean carriers into now 17 carriers into a smaller number of alliances has been accompanied by downsizing and automation in which carriers “mimic each other” in emphasizing imports over exports and with the unintended effect of “devaluing” U.S exporters.

This consolidation is causing international trade to favor imports over exports to the United States and is creating long-term obstacles for U.S. exporters.

However, Snell emphasized that challenges faced by exporters can be mitigated by investing more in marketing their products abroad including in their logistics staff. Exporters must accept that as import freight rates rise so must export freight rates.

Snell said logistics experts play an increasingly important role in ensuring exports arrive in a timely manner and that shippers who emphasize the lowest price are likely to experience the negative results of what they did not wish to invest in.

Snell said that exporters needed to invest in their relationship with trucker and rail partners and have a reserve of truckers who could help provide support in case of an emergency.

Read entire article

After COVID Losses, Port of San Francisco’s Forbes Hopeful About A Rebound and State Aid

After COVID Losses, Port of San Francisco’s Forbes Hopeful About A Rebound and State Aid

In an interview with AJOT, Elaine Forbes, executive director, Port of San Francisco said the Port could be facing up to an $80 million deficit by the end of 2021. She is hopeful about an economic rebound in 2022 and that $250 million designated by the State of California for ports’ recovery might be partially utilized to reduce Port losses suffered during the pandemic.

Earlier this month, Forbes told the San Francisco Board of Supervisors: “The Port is in a crisis. We have cut our capital budget to below life support. We’ve used our savings and we will be facing layoffs of essential employees without support and tools to right our ship. Our revenues have fallen nearly 50% for a total loss of $60 million and a projected $80 million over the next two years.”

Since then, Forbes said that California Governor Gavin Newsom has decided to allocate $250 million for California ports recovery. The funds come from the $26 billion California received as part of the American Rescue Plan Act.

Forbes noted that the funding for ports must first be approved by the California Legislature and then meet the approval of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). The office will decide on final allocations: “The Port of San Diego is facing similar problems that we are. Other ports may also seek assistance,” she said.

As a result, “we are looking at the end of the year before we can get relief. In the meantime, we might be able to obtain a $20 million loan from the City of San Francisco to tide us over and avoid having to make draconian cuts in staff and Port operations.”

Forbes said that the loss of cruise ship revenue hurt the Port’s revenues during the pandemic. Rent payments have also plummeted from the Port’s tenants. The Port forgave about $14 million in rent for 225 tenants during the ‘shelter in place’ mandates that included restaurants and other businesses shutting down during the COVID crisis. The Port has also deferred collecting tens of millions of dollars in rent from others. Parking revenue has also declined.

Read Entire Article

SEA LEVEL & FLOODING CONFERENCE: TEXAS, LOUISIANA, CALIFORNIA, SOUTH CAROLINA, ROTTERDAM, SHANGHAI & SALTWATER THREAT TO FRESH WATER

SEA LEVEL & FLOODING CONFERENCE: TEXAS, LOUISIANA, CALIFORNIA, SOUTH CAROLINA, ROTTERDAM, SHANGHAI & SALTWATER THREAT TO FRESH WATER

Retired Brigadier General Joseph Schroedel urged attendees at the “Strategies for Storms, Flooding and Sea Level Defense Investments” conference to support the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers mission to upgrade the nation’s flood control and waterways infrastructure. Schroedel also urged support for budgetary increases in the next Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) which funds USACE projects.

The WRDA passed in 2020 included key provisions to invest in U.S. ports, harbors and inland waterways; build more resilient communities so that  the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can build projects in an economically and environmentally responsible manner.

Schroedel is currently the executive director of the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) and was introduced by Arvind Acharya, president of the San Francisco District of SAME. The conference took place on April 13th via Zoom  and was a collaboration between the Propeller Club of Northern California and SAME.

John Cullather, executive vice president of International Propeller Club of the United States, commended Pete DeFazio, chair of the House, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee which spearheaded bi-partisan passage of the WRDA 2020. DeFazio will be an important champion for President Biden’s infrastructure bill, Cullather said.

Many conference presenters argued that the infrastructure bill must incorporate investments for resiliency and sea level defenses for coastal and inland communities as well as U.S. ports.

Read entire article

Oakland’s Proposed New Ballpark and Condo Complex “Long-Term Threat” to Port

Oakland’s Proposed New Ballpark and Condo Complex “Long-Term Threat” to Port

PMSA’s Jacob Warns Oakland A’s Howard Terminal Ballpark and Condos Pose “Long-Term Threat” to Port of Oakland Maritime Operations

Mike Jacob, vice president and general counsel, Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (PMSA), called the recently-released City of Oakland draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) analyzing the Oakland A’s proposed ballpark and condominium complex at the Port of Oakland’s Howard Terminal “inadequate.”

Jacob said the report was vague in its analysis of the complex’s impact on harbor trucking, air quality and container rail movements.

Jacob warned that, if approved, the A’s project poses “a long-term threat to growth at the Port of Oakland.”

Nevertheless, the City of Oakland is moving forward with approving the complex at a time when the Port of Oakland:

  • Attracted new container ship business from the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach
  • Attracted it first port of call ocean carrier service from Asia with CMA
  • Is the only the third port in the United States to handle 18,000 twenty-foot unit mega-container ships
  • Is installing new mega-container ship to shore cranes at the Oakland International Container Terminal built in China by ZPMC. 

Read Entire Article

CSC Logistics’ Arsenault hails CMA CGM’s first port of call at Oakland

CSC Logistics’ Arsenault hails CMA CGM’s first port of call at Oakland

The decision by French ocean carrier CMA CGM to make the Port of Oakland its first port of call in a new service from Asia is a reflection of importers and exporters developing new markets closer to their customers: “First-call status demonstrates the market is viewing the Port of Oakland more strategically which will attract increased cargo volumes,” says GSC Logistics Harbor Trucking President Dave Arsenault.

CMA CGM First Port Of Call

In an interview, Arsenault who took over as GSC president in January, told AJOT: “We’re already hearing from customers who are requesting to expand our existing partnerships in order to accommodate increased cargo volumes scheduled to arrive on those ships.”

Arsenault spent more than a decade with Charlotte, NC-based Sea-Land Service and also served as president and chief executive officer of Hyundai Merchant Marine (America).

GSC Logistics said it transported an all-time record number of containers last year from ports in Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma. It anticipates significant growth in 2021, indicating that trade dynamics favor its home market in Northern California.

Read entire article

PMA’s McKenna Reports Thirteen LA/LB ILWU Workers have Died from COVID-19

PMA’s McKenna Reports Thirteen LA/LB ILWU Workers have Died from COVID-19

Jim McKenna, president of the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), reported that the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have seen the highest number of COVID cases among U.S. West Coast ports and that thirteen longshore workers have so far died.

McKenna, who spoke to the Propeller Club of Northern California on February 2nd, said that approximately half of the current 855 COVID cases afflicting longshore workers at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach had occurred since January 1st.

McKenna reported that there have been 74 COVID cases in Northern California including two longshore worker deaths and 110 cases at ports in Oregon and Washington with no deaths.

McKenna said “we mourn this loss of life and are working with the ILWU to constantly provide the best protection for our workforce so that they can continue to do the vital job that they do to support the U.S. supply chain.”

McKenna said that the State of California had elevated the importance of longshore workers as essential to receive COVID vaccines, but at the moment no vaccines are available.

To assist longshore workers who become ill, the ILWU and the PMA have established two web portals. One portal allows longshore workers to report positive and negative tests of the virus and a second portal allows longshore workers, who have been taken ill by the virus, to be compensated during their convalescence.

Read entire article