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More than two dozen giant red robots wheeled cargo containers along the docks at the Port of Los Angeles, handing the boxes off to another set of machines gliding along long rows of stacked containers before smoothly setting the boxes down in precise spots.
The Wall Street Journal says the tightly designed dance at TraPac LLC's Los Angeles terminal demonstrates how global trade will move in the near future — using highly automated systems and machinery, with minimal human intervention.
Many in the shipping industry believe automation is critical to the ability of ports to cope with the surging trade volumes and the super-sized container ships that are beginning to arrive in the U.S. Analysts estimate the technology can reduce the amount of time ships spend in port and improve productivity by as much as 30 percent.
"We have to do it for productivity purposes, to stay relevant and to be able to service these large ships," said Peter Stone, a member of TraPac's board.
Yet the TraPac site is one of only four cargo terminals in the U.S. using the technology. That is fewer automated terminals than there are at the Port of Rotterdam alone.
Supporters of robotic cargo handling will get a boost this month with the phased-in opening of an automated container terminal at the Port of Long Beach, next door to the Los Angeles port. The Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. facility, at a cost of over $1 billion to complete and the capacity to handle 3.3 million TEUs — is likely a sign of the future.
A successful operation in Long Beach could
persuade other U.S. ports to follow, said Mark
Sisson, a senior port planner with infrastructure-
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development group Aecom. "The industry at a global level is rushing hard into this technology," he said. "That trend is only going to go in one direction. It's just a question of timing."
Experts in port-terminal infrastructure and operations say the U.S. has been slow to adopt the technology because of years of resistance by longshore labor unions. Some studies have shown robotic cargo handling can reduce the need for longshore labor by as much as 50 percent.
In 2002, the issue came to a head as West Coast port employers locked out workers during bitter contract talks, shutting down the Pacific ports for 11 days.
The West Coast's International Longshore and Warehouse Union has since agreed to allow for automation technology in its contract, which the East Coast's International Longshoremen's Association contract also includes. But both labor unions still fight fiercely over the steps along the way to put the technology into use.
The president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union's Local 13 in Los Angeles, Bobby Olvera Jr., said the union has been working to obtain "minimum manning standards" and training on automated terminals, to "ensure there's a future for workers."
The unions' efforts to keep as many longshore jobs as possible on automated operations, can lead to lengthy negotiations over which jobs require humans at the helm. Adding jobs raises the final operating costs, making it tougher to get a return on the hundreds of millions of dollars typically required for automated machinery and technology.
For more of The Wall Street Journal story: www.wsj.com
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