West Coast docks remain behind times
By Michael Liedtke
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — The new labor agreement at West Coast ports will bring critical technology to docks from Seattle to San Diego, but the improvements won't be enough to catch up with the world's cutting-edge waterfronts.
Even so, the advances included in the proposed six-year contract will represent a quantum leap at 29 West Coast ports that had remained stuck in a time warp.
"The productivity of the West Coast ports had been lagging for such a long time that it really was becoming an untenable situation," said Erik Autor, vice president and international trade counsel for the National Retail Federation. "This won't bring the West Coast ports up to speed with the most efficient ports in the world, but it's a major step in the right direction."
Some of the strides included in the contract seem like baby steps in the Internet age.
For instance, the contract allows shipping companies to introduce bar codes and scanners that became staples at supermarket check-out stands years ago.
The contract also allows e-mail to be forwarded to another destination with a press of a button instead of being retyped by a clerk.
"None of the things that they are doing are exactly rocket science," said industry analyst James Winchester of Lazard Freres. "It's better than it was, but in the long run, those ports are still going to be relatively high-cost operations."
Those costs, though, probably won't be enough to bother consumers who save big money by buying merchandise made in Asia, Winchester said.
Even if there are disadvantages to using the West Coast ports, shipping companies have few practical alternatives.
Mexican ports can't handle the shipping volume, and shifting cargo to more technically advanced East Coast ports isn't easy because today's vessels are too big to fit through the Panama Canal, analysts and shipping companies said.
The West Coast port changes are designed to process cargo more quickly and accelerate the delivery of merchandise, food and factory parts. If that happens, it could help raise productivity and increase the nation's economic growth.
"This contract is going to eliminate a lot of pointless clerical activity in the terminals and let everyone work smarter," said Tom Ward, a principal in charge of marine terminal planning for consultant JWD Group.
Getting cargo off the docks faster has become increasingly important with the growth of international trade. The West Coast boom is expected to continue as China opens more factories and U.S. merchants continue to rely on cheap imports to appeal to bargain-minded consumers.
Shipping lines expect cargo moving through the West Coast ports to double during the next seven years.
The advances included in the new contract "won't bring us to the gold standard, but we think we can now give the other ... (ports) a run for their money," said Steve Sugarman, a spokesman for the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping companies.
Most analysts regard the highly automated port in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, as the world's most advanced waterfront. Ports in Singapore and Hong Kong also are frequently cited as technological leaders.
In pushing for more technology on the West Coast waterfronts, shipping companies said Singapore's ports process about 20,000 containers per acre annually and Hong Kong processes about 12,500 containers per acre. West Coast ports process about 4,000 containers per acre each year.
Labor leaders maintain that those statistics are misleading because the Asian ports often aren't final destinations like the major West Coast ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach, where unloading is more cumbersome and time-consuming.
Dockworkers never opposed new technology, but wanted assurance that the changes wouldn't eliminate jobs, said International Longhouse and Warehouse Union spokesman Steve Stallone.
The new contract provides job security, as well as significant raises that won't be detailed until the roughly 10,500 affected workers vote on the agreement next month. Under the current contract, dockworkers are paid an average salary of $80,000 annually.
About 400 jobs are expected to be eliminated as the technology is introduced over the next few years.
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