Inbound Logistics | January 2023

implemented by the GPA, a state authority governed by a 13-member board of directors, have enabled the country’s ports to efciently handle growth even while pandemic-related challenges have strained resources. Also notable for its leadership in this regard is South Carolina Ports (SC Ports), which maintained uidity for vessels calling the East Coast while handling a record number of containers in September 2022. SUPPORTING PRODUCTIVITY To quickly work vessels, SC Ports offers an express lane for vessels with 1,000 moves or less and prioritizes vessels with balanced imports and exports. Hiring more than 150 people in operations and deploying new ship-to-shore cranes further supports berth productivity. “We have invested in capacity to efciently handle the cargo owing into the Southeast port market,” says Barbara Melvin, president and CEO of SC Ports. The port authority’s $2.6 billion capital plan includes equipment purchases and upgrades for its terminals, including the Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal that opened along the Cooper River in North Charleston in March 2021. It was the country’s rst container terminal to open in more than a decade. Phase one of the Leatherman Terminal adds 700,000 TEUs of annual throughput capacity and an additional

Hyster is testing a top-pick container handler powered by hydrogen fuel cells at Fenix Marine Services in the Port of Los Angeles. The top pick is designed to provide the zero emissions benefits of a battery electric option.

In the neo- and post-Panamax era, the look of many U.S. ports has signicantly changed. Throughout the country, seaports have continued dredging and widening projects to accommodate wider vessels while simultaneously outtting terminals with new cranes and cargo-handling equipment to handle increased demands. U.S. ports are proving that equipment conversions and expansions can serve both evolving demands and environmental imperatives. The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA), for example, reports that electric ship-to- shore cranes at Georgia’s ports have integrated generators to capture power while lowering boxes. In this way, the cranes produce enough energy to power themselves for 18 minutes of each operating hour. Innovations such as those

The project is a vital piece of the port’s ongoing rail infrastructure capital improvement program aimed at shifting more cargo to rail, Hacegaba says. On the Gulf Coast, meanwhile, investment is likewise robust. “In the past few years, we have focused on building capacity,” says Michael Rubin, president and CEO of the Florida Ports Council. “We have tried to build that capacity whether it is on-port or off-port relief for container storage and other services.” In Alabama, APM Terminals Mobile is doubling its capacity for future growth to more than one million TEUs in 2025 supported by the Mobile harbor channel deepening and widening project. The harbor improvements will make Mobile the deepest harbor in the U.S. Gulf, attracting more ocean carrier services. Still more growth is occurring in Georgia, where a major expansion project has been completed at the Port of Savannah. The Mason Mega Rail Terminal has increased the Port of Savannah’s rail lift capacity to 2 million TEUs per year. CHANGING THE PICTURE In its 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure , the American Society of Civil Engineers rated U.S. ports a mere B minus, while noting that varied ownership structures can affect— positively or negatively—the relative investments that ports make. According to the report, an industry saying is: “Once you’ve seen one port, you’ve seen one port.”

The Port of Long Beach received a $30.1-million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to deploy the nation’s largest fleet of manually operated, zero-emissions cargo handling equipment at a single marine terminal.

126 Inbound Logistics • January 2023