World Maritime News
WMNF 2019/09/05
LA port advances cyber resilience project
The Port of Los Angeles is moving forward with plans to create “Cyber Resilience Center” that would serve as a clearing house for sharing information on potential cyber threats among the port’s stakeholders. It was issuing a request for proposal to find a company that would design and operate the center. After hackers attacked the shipboard network of a vessel calling the Port of New York and New Jersey in February, the US Coast Guard on July 8 urged vessel operators and port facility operators to take basic preventive measures. Final proposals must be submitted by Sept. 4.
Read more:
https://www.portoflosangeles.org/references/news_072419_rfp_cyber_resilience_center
LBCT seeks to fully integrate terminal, trucker system
Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT) has launched a trucker interface program that is integrated directly with the truck management system of individual drayage companies, allowing truckers to automatically share real-time shipment data with LBCT for making or changing appointments without manual access to the terminal.
LBCT’s truck turn times are already the best in the harbor. Now that LBCT has accomplished much of what it can do within the terminal to improve gate times, its goal is to make it easier for truckers to interact with the terminal on a daily basis. Read more:
Why is shipping so slow to digitalize
Research conducted earlier this year by Informa Engage suggested that shipping leaders are broadly positive about the contribution digitalization can make to their businesses. But there are caveats that need to be addressed.
The biggest obstacle to invest in digital solutions identified by the respondents (23%) was the difficulty of integrating new with existing technology. Older ships needed investment in modifications, crews had to be given additional training in operating new systems.
One comment deserves to quote; Systems become obsolete within five years, which was little time to achieve a decent return on investment. The industry remains interested in digitalization as a cost but not yet interested enough to invest. “It’s not just what we are doing now, we need to think about what we’ll be doing next.”
Perhaps the greatest challenge for digitalization in shipping is a reluctance to share data.
This is usually explained as an unwillingness to give rivals a competitive edge, yet it is often the reason why the connections between vessels and ports are poor. However, without collaboration, it is much harder to use digitalization to improve operating efficiency and reduce emissions.
Read more:
https://lloydslist.maritimeintelligence.informa.com/LL1128436/Why-is-shipping-so-slow-to-digitalise
Fleet expansion – mega ship order
The board of directors of Evergreen approved in the middle of August the order of five to six 23,000 TEU and the chartering of four to five additional mega-container-ships. No information was provided on delivery dates, but the vessels should begin coming online from 2022 and will be destined for the Asia-Europe trade, the only route that has the terminals to handle such large ships. Evergreen joins HMM and MSC, which have also ordered a series of 23,000 TEU vessels. MSC is scheduled to take delivery of eleven ships of 22,000 to 23,000 TEU from August, while CMA CGM has nine 22,500 TEU vessels that will be delivered from December, and HMM’s twelve ships of 23,000 TEU will start arriving in 2020.
OOCL which is expected to net US$ 1.3 billion from the agreed disposal of the Long Beach Container Terminal to a consortium led by Macquarie Infrastructure Partners is spending time for thinking carefully and seriously about ordering new ships.
Read more:
https://www.joc.com/maritime-news/evergreen-doubles-down-mega-ship-order_20190814.html
New York & New Jersey makes first delivery with electric drayage truck
A trucker in the Port of New York & New Jersey has completed the port’s first delivery by a zero-emissions electric truck as ports across the country try to reduce pollution while maintaining cargo flow.
Best Transportation delivered a 6,350 kg container from its Port Newark warehouse to Costco Wholesale in Monroe, New Jersey, about 58 km away on July 19 with a second-generation battery electric drayage truck. The vehicle, the only commercially available zero-emission drayage truck, is powered by a battery pack that enables the truck to travel 201 km per charge, with a cab that can carry a combined weight of 47,628 kg.
The port has begun to plan for greater use of electric-powered vehicles including to buy electric yard tractors in the port. Read more:
Maersk works to monetize TradeLens
With new members tipping TradeLens into the “critical mass” threshold, Maersk is working to monetize the blockchain initiative by charging cargo-owners access to all the data on their shipment. That would give the largest global container line another revenue stream not tied to ocean shipping, furthering its effort to become an integrator.
One of the roadblocks to adoption of blockchain-backed systems is the perception that it is difficult for developers to monetize such solutions. The lion’s share blockchain enterprise products are still in a pilot or proof of concept stage, particularly in price-sensitive areas such as logistics. “The concept for TradeLens is that the shippers will be the customers,” Maersk CEO Søren Skou said during the company’s second quarter earnings call on August 19.
As the solution develops and matures, Maersk might be open to a profit-sharing model with other carriers or entities driving adoption and use of the platform.
Read more:
https://www.joc.com/technology/maersk-works-monetize-tradelens_20190819.html
ILWU Canada’s automation study warns of deep job losses
Marine terminal digitalization and automation at the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert could reduce dockworker jobs by 50-90%, according to a study performed on behalf of International Longshore & Warehouse Union Canada.
The study by Prism Economics and Analysis comes as longshore unions and employer organizations in the US and Canada grapple with creeping automation. ILWU Canada in June signed a new five-year contract with British Columbia employers which included a framework for automation. The frameworks for automation attempt to balance the goal of terminal operators to reduce operational costs with the union’s goal of protecting as many existing jobs as possible while ensuring that dockworkers are trained to handle the new, but fewer jobs created by automation.
Labor accounts for more than 50% of a terminal’s total costs, according to the study this summer by Moody’s Investors Service. Although automation creates new jobs such as maintenance and repair and backroom positions, the jobs created from automated equipment are unable to offset the high number of longshore jobs lost as a result of automation, the report stated.
Read more:
https://ilwu.ca/wp-content/uploads/prism-ilwu_report-a3-aug14.pdf
http://www2.laufer.com/moody%E2%80%99s-forecasts-more-automated-container-terminals.html
Container Line Group Maps Data Flow Standards
A body of container lines banding together to develop data standards released its first set of recommended data flows to undergird the movement of cargo, containers and vessels. The Digital Shipping Association includes five founding members – Maersk, CMA-CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, Mediterranean Shipping Co. and the Ocean Network Express (ONE) – and four further members – Evergreen Line, HMM, Yang Ming, and Zim Integrated Shipping Services.
DCSA is calling its first release of standards the industry Blueprint (or IBP 1.0). The standards documents include data and process flows governing the journey of specific shipment, from booking request to shipment closing, for different types of cargo (including dry container, reefer and hazardous cargo). The second group of standards cover the provisions of containers from monitoring an available box to complying with the verified gross mass (VGM) container weight regulation to tracking the container. The third group applies to the movement of vessels including stowage planning, managing customs manifests and communicating departure and arrival times.
Read more:
https://www.joc.com/technology/container-line-group-maps-data-flow-standards_20190902.html