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Wednesday, May 25, 2011 Top Story Economist: West Coast ports could be competitive in environmental era Environmental factors in the shipping industry are going to matter, and it’s possible that could be a competitive advantage for North America’s West Coast ports, according to a shipping economist. “As consumers and businesses start to use environmental scorecards in their supply chain, they will increasingly look to compliance or performance measures that are not just in terms of cost and liability that traditionally transportation carriers have striven to optimize…they’re also going to need to be able to demonstrate environmental compliance in order to retain business,” said Paul Bingham, economics practice leader for Wilbur Smith Associates, speaking at Cargo Business News’ 4th Northwest Intermodal Conference in Portland, Ore. on May 17. Bingham talked about trade being directly impacted by environmental issues on the operations of ports and all of the carrier modes, including the fuel types used, use of alternative shore-side power, and the effects of emissions controls on the equipment deployed in the industry such as yard equipment at port terminals, or on the truckers that are serving the ports. “Environmentally driven factors like slow steaming, adopted first to save money, are actually being sustained, especially out of pressure from places like Europe with emissions and carbon compliance,” Bingham said. As a result, there might be commercial benefits to getting ahead of the environmental curve, according to Bingham. “It’s going to be a differentiator as a competitive factor, where the West Coast ports have a lead, and that actually may give them an advantage,” he said. “That’s not something I would discount in terms of ability to capture, in the long run, some environmentally-friendly shipping compared to those ports, especially on the Gulf Coast or East Coast, that are behind in trying to be compliant or to be as green a port as possible with their operations,” he said. However, Bingham also cautioned on how far environmental factors might go. “There’s a limit to that. If environmental controls and factors get priced to such a degree that it makes sense to shorten supply chains up to be bringing that production back somewhere in North America, for example, in Mexico – and if we get to that point in terms of clusters of near-shoring production and trade – that can have a dampening effect in the long term on trade capacity and volume.” More Newswire stories Container leasing demand surged 120 percent since end of 2009 DP World plans to list on London Stock Exchange AAPA to put on port security event in Big Easy CSX freight trains collide near Charlotte; two crewmembers killed Today's Cargo News Archives	Click to browse past stories on these topics: Logistics Ports & Infrastructure Economic Outlook Environmental Impact Technology
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Economist: West Coast ports could be competitive in environmental era