By Chris Philips, Managing Editor
A collection of maritime leaders gathered in Sacramento,
California late last month for the 13th Annual California Maritime Leadership
Symposium (CMLS). Developed as a way to brief Sacramento’s policymakers on key
matters related to the entire Maritime Transportation System, the conference is
hosted by a coalition of maritime organizations. These include the California
Association of Port Authorities, California Marine Affairs and Navigation
Conference, California Marine and Intermodal Transportation System Advisory
Council (CALMITSAC), California Maritime Academy (CMA), Harbor Association of Industry
and Commerce, and the Propeller Club of Los Angeles/Long Beach.
This year’s event addressed several issues
facing the state, and was well attended by legislators and policymakers,
representatives from California’s ports, members of the marine transportation
industry and labor, and a number of cadets from the California Maritime
Academy.
While the topics addressed by panels during
the two-day symposium were largely California-centric, several addressed
coastwide issues, including a panel on marine terminals, rail and trucking that
looked at the steps being taken by industry to address three issues outlined
succinctly by Alan McCorkle, Sr. Vice President of APM Terminals: bigger ships,
cleaner air and life on the docks.
Bigger ships includes the challenges of
servicing vessels approaching 15,000 TEUs, which will require more and larger
cranes, more room under the keel and an infrastructure – most likely on-dock
rail – that can move the freight away from the vessels.
Cleaner air can be addressed by electrifying
and automating terminal equipment, which also addresses the bigger ships issue
(an issue at the heart of our 2012 Green Pacific Conference). Life on the docks
refers to the fact that none of the above can be achieved with out the
cooperation of labor.
Another panel addressed Safety and Security
“Lessons Learned,” including piracy and terrorism. Professor Donna Nincic,
Director of the School of Maritime Policy and management at CMA, addressed the
often-overlooked toll of piracy on the shipping industry, in which ransoms play
a very small role. A study on Somali piracy in 2011 put the cost of piracy to
industry at $5.3 to $5.5 billion, in the form of rerouting, security equipment
and higher insurance costs (46 percent) and increased speeds (40 percent) with
another $1.3 billion to governments (19 percent) for military efforts, with
ransom costs only contributing 2 percent.
Hank Glauser, with Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory, discussed the threat of terrorism to domestic terminals,
and offered one solution in the form of the Portunus Project, in which future
US ports could be located in the ocean, 20 or more miles offshore, to allow
cargo to be inspected away from cities. The floating offshore terminals would
accommodate extremely large container vessels, and would allow for freight
transfer to smaller feeder vessels, which could then call at a variety of
onshore ports.
A notable event during the conference was a
reception in the Capitol Rotunda and the awarding of the 3rd annual Gary L.
Gregory Lifetime Achievement Award. This year’s award went to Captain Richard
McKenna, Executive Director for the Marine Exchange of Southern California.
McKenna, who announced his retirement last October, said he was flattered and
very appreciative of the award. “The California maritime industry is relatively
unheralded in its importance to the state, but is so vital to our economic well
being,” he says. “To be involved in this effort is reward enough, to be honored
in such a way is both gratifying and humbling.”
