(PTI) Collaboration is a trend increasingly witnessed across the supply chain, could
you explain ways in which the Port of LA is collaborating with new partners?
(Gene Seroka) We're working through collaborative efforts across the supply chain today, beginning
with our work with the Port of Long Beach on our supply chain optimization
steering committee, core group and working groups. As authorized by the Federal
Maritime Commission back in February we received unanimous approval to work on
all issues of the supply chain; infrastructure, safety, security and our
environmental strategy, with the exception of terms and price on our
customer, between the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles; that work is really
fanned out to bring in new stakeholders to the conversation on the technology
side, energy, as well as environmental. This is work that we're very proud of at
this time, but there's much more to do in raising the bar along the lines of
optimization as well as our other strategies and tactics that were
implemented today.
(PTI) As the CEO of America's biggest port you've looked at
a number of ways the supply chain can be optimized, would you care to share some
of your insight with us?
(Gene Seroka) What we're hearing from the cargo owners and other
stakeholders is that we need a predictable transparent supply chain
that gives us the opportunity to compete on the world stage. With that we have
broken out the various nodes of stakeholder groups within the chain
itself which is very complex and tried to be the entity that brings those folks
together. So far we're gaining a lot of traction in the dialogue and
implementation of quicker solutions that need to be implemented as fast as
possible the longer-range and strategic planning is also now taking hold
within our core group of stakeholders that has been assembled under the supply
chain optimization work with the Port of Long Beach and Los Angeles. As we look at
those specific nodes within the supply chain we've seen areas that need work
we've also seen folks come to us with potential solutions trying to make sure
that we're
prepared for the larger ships that are coming our way and that will be with us
as a matter of fact in the supply chain or the beginning of that discussion.
Having vessels in Asia loaded sequentially, or what we call in the
industry 'block stowage', will allow us to better prepare for secondary conveyance as
vessels arrive and discharge here in Southern California. Of equal importance
is the work that we're doing with the Western railroads, the trucking community
and secondary conveyance operators. That work also needs to have transparency and
visibility as to the cargo that's coming their way for planning purposes. At the
same time we're working very closely with the export community so we can have
a predictable look at the cargo that's moving west-bound as well.
Tying all these nodes of the supply chain together is of paramount
importance to us because the more collaboration that is taking place
the more dialogue that is happening every day will create the solutions
necessary for us to improve on not only our performances service providers but
add value to the cargo owners here as well as Asia.
(PTI) Can you explain the role technology is playing in your collaborative efforts?
(Gene Seroka) Quite simply, the feedback that we've received from the stakeholders is that; although we have
data points throughout the universe, no one system today can harness all that
data so we can use it for forecasting purposes, the work that we need with
visibility tools, or quite simply understanding where cargo is at any
point in time from a cargo owner's perspective. With that we're working on a
number of areas today to help bring these data points together so again we
can give the cargo owner a different look and a different angle of
transparency than they've ever seen before, and in collaborating with some of my
counterparts around the world we believe this will be a first in kind step the
Port of Los Angeles is taking along with its work at the Port of Long Beach