Executive Commentary |
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of structural oversupply is real, with too many ships and too many dry containers in the system. Geopolitical risks and ever-changing trade policy will remain.
Shipping Association of New York & New Jersey
John Nardi
President www. nysanet. org
While growth deceleration is always viewed upon with caution, from a labor relations perspective a deceleration of growth allows time to catch up with training and investment implementation, which is always more difficult when we’ re trying to get ahead during the higher growth periods. As of this writing, the latest slate of US tariffs has not had a significant impact in New York and New Jersey on total year-overyear volumes, but there is a slight downward trend and concern that once inventories are depleted, inventory replenishment will lead to higher prices and lower volumes. Tariff concerns have also done away with the“ normal” seasonality of US shipping. The usual post-Lunar New Year bump followed by building inventories, back to school, then pre-holiday peaks have been replaced with spikes in volume to avoid rising tariffs— the timing of which is uncertain. This proves difficult in planning, as well as balancing the need for skilled labor to be available at the right place and right time. The headlines coming out after the protracted Master Contract bargaining and short October 2024 strike had been on economics and the implementation of automation. What was not reported were the significant steps made in our local agreement on reducing absenteeism and improving productivity. So far, new procedures and penalties for non-compliance have resulted in a 50 % reduction in absenteeism and an overall 10 % increase in vessel productivity at most terminals, with more gains anticipated. There are also productivity minimums which increase every year of the agreement. Additional training is being provided where necessary to achieve these goals and, again, there is corrective action if goals are not achieved.
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“ Developing the capacities, capabilities and logistics service shippers want and need supports greater market diversification.”
Katherine Bamford
“ A deceleration of growth allows time to catch up with training and investment implementation.”
John Nardi
“ Growth can be facilitated if there is a sincere interest in offering anticipatory service, in caring about customers’ needs and in honing their competitive economics.”
Micah Mallace
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Prince Rupert Port Authority
Katherine Bamford
Vice President, Business Development www. rupertport. com
Canada’ s ports are legislated to build long-term trade-enabling infrastructure to advance the nation’ s international trade agenda. This strategic, future planning approach also helps to address seasonality and cyclicality, as well as short term acceleration or deceleration of trade lanes.
With this mandate, the Prince Rupert Port Authority( PRPA) has worked for more than a decade to grow and extend the intermodal ecosystem in the Prince Rupert Gateway. Investments in expanding Fairview Container Terminal to 1.6 million TEUs capacity, constructing the South Kaien Logistics Park to support more than 100,000 TEUs in import logistics, and building CANXPORT to handle largescale rail-fed export transloading of 400,000 TEUs annually are creating greater efficiency and optionality for
We look forward to continuously implementing these improvements with the help of the International Longshoremen’ s Association to ensure we’ re prepared to handle the volume, regardless of the growth or tariff landscape.
South Carolina Ports Authority
Micah Mallace
President and CEO www. scspa. com
We are not totally convinced that there will be a cyclical deceleration of shipping into and out of the US. Although the
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importers and exporters. Development of new road and rail infrastructure is further streamlining intermodal operations: the expansion of CN’ s Zanardi Bridge and causeway will increase rail corridor capacity, and PRPA’ s completed Fairview-Ridley Connector Corridor will link the new intermodal logistics facilities directly with Fairview Terminal via a private, dedicated 5 km( 3 mi) drayage road.
Building resiliency into this integrated intermodal ecosystem is key to Prince Rupert’ s success in responding to volatility and external market pressures. Developing the capacities, capabilities and logistics service shippers want and need supports greater market diversification.
PRPA continuously works with shippers, investors and supply chain partners to deliver trade-enabling projects to address short term effects and enable long term growth. Focus on these strategic upgrades is essential to maintaining the high level of supply chain performance and reliability that defines Prince Rupert’ s success.
post-pandemic normalization has been real and painful, the predominant driver of the US economy remains consumption. It accounts for 68 % of total GDP( including services), with several trillion dollars spent on tangible goods consumption.
Americans may stop consuming goods at current levels, which would affect the demand side, but would also buck a long-term trend. The supply side could be dented by reshoring initiatives. However, the majority of products will still be made elsewhere, although maybe not all made in one country. We expect a proliferation of manufacturing hotspots around the globe. And for those commodities that are reshored, there will still be raw material imports and / or finished product exports.
Ports should always consider the potential of a downturn and take care
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