The Pacific Maritime Association, an organization of port terminal operators, ocean carriers, logistic firms that handles labor relations and contract negotiations for its collective members, recently issued its annual report, saying that West Coast ports are at last prepared to move towards greater automation – but from our view there is still a long way to go.Supply Chain Digest says the PMA report 'says that projects 'on the drawing boards' include plans for terminals with automated quay cranes outfitted with optical character recognition technology and Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs, shown above), that will serve as the interface between the vessel and the storage yard.'
The report is optimistic about the future of West Coast ports despite concern in some quarters that when the expanded Panama Canal opens near the end of 2014, it will drain off a significant number of containers that would once move through the West Coast.
A key strategy, the report says, is for the ports to invest now in automation that will speed handing of the containers, and to create more capacity before a crunch really hits down the road.
To make these improvements, however, requires cooperation and contractual permission from the Longshoremen’s union (IWLU). The report says that the union has recognized the right of terminal operators to automate cargo-handling equipment, while the PMA in return has provided assurances that maintenance and repair work on automated cargo-handling equipment be handled by the ILWU. The report says that PMA members are committed to training the ILWU workforce in the maintenance and repair of future and forthcoming automated equipment as an offset to the loss of some traditional longshore jobs resulting from the automation.
But the plans are in the early stages.
