Canada tries to standardize port performance metrics

The sharing of port and terminal performance metrics has been a considerable challenge in the U.S. and Europe, but Canada’s port network has a program underway, shipping industry attendees heard at Cargo Business News’ fourth annual Port Productivity Conference in Long Beach, Calif.

Tom Ward, chief engineer for the largest U.S. terminal operator, Ports America, said he’d like to see other supply chain stakeholders’ metrics, but doesn’t want to share his.

From the European perspective, the sharing of metrics will need to be done by everyone at once or else it won’t work, according to Maria Feliciana Monteiro with the transport and applied economics department at the University of Antwerp.

There is an initiative in Europe to create a Container Terminal Quality Indicator (CTQI).

In Canada, Transport Canada, the federal transportation arm of the Canadian government, has already launched what it terms a national gateways and trade corridors system-wide approach.

Canada has already invested $1 billion in its federalized port system, including the recent amalgamation of the British Columbia ports, according to Daniel Oliver, a senior analyst with Transport Canada.

The impetus for establishing a system-wide benchmarking program for Canada’s supply chain was from a marketing angle, Oliver said. The Canadian government went to Asia to meet with trading partners there and received some critical feedback on Canada’s port network, jumpstarting what Oliver explained was the development of key indicators on the reliability and competitiveness of that country’s supply chain networks.

Stakeholders in the Canadian program include big retailers like Wal-Mart and Canadian Tire, Oliver said.

Striving for greater accountability in the management of federal assets and studying international trends helped Transport Canada and its partners evaluate how Canada’s gateways compare to others around the world, Oliver said.

Transport Canada came up with aggregated numbers in order to protect proprietary information from stakeholders, specifically with the British Columbia ports.

British Columbia’s benchmarking results include: gate fluidity in minutes; avg. truck turn time in minutes; berth utilization by TEUs; vessel turnaround time by seconds and per-TEU; vessel dwell in hours; average container dwell; port productivity; crane productivity; and container throughput.

Oliver conceded only 4.6 million TEUs are handled throughout Canada; however he also pointed out the government there has identified its ports as national assets.

He said the biggest risk to the program is that participation thus far has been voluntary and “any operator could pull the plug.”

Ports America’s Tom Ward commented he found mountains of data culled from Ports Americas’ terminal operations, “but when 25 trucks arrive at the same time, it makes sorting the data more difficult.”

“I don’t see the [return on investment]” on a CTQI approach in the U.S., Ward said.

Stacey Jones, the ports practice manager for consulting engineer firm, Halcrow, said “cooperative performance [in the U.S.] will [mean] better performance, and attract more funds.”

In This Issue

Up Front

News, Trends & Analysis
New Items

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Supply Chain
How are you planning for the rebound?

Trade compliance often has a broader scope

Features
Optimism characterizes inaugural Southeast Freight Conference

Gateway at a glance: Northern California

Ports & infrastructure
Prince Rupert looks towards Memphis

Canada tries to standardize port performance metrics

Global players jockey over Arctic shipping routes

Port Products
Terminal management systems

Commentary
Roll up your sleeves for the next phase

On the Horizon
The Internet of 2020

Casualties