Insights - May 2015 - 7

Exclusive to Intermodal Insights

Supply Chain Optimization to Enhance Velocity
at Port of Long Beach, Operations Executive Says
A collaborative, end-to-end supply chain optimization initiative is the
key to swiftly and efficiently handling
container volumes from increasingly
large ships at the Port of Long Beach,
according to Dr. Noel Hacegaba, the
port's chief commercial officer and
managing director of commercial
operations.
In an exclusive April 13 interview
with Intermodal Insights, Dr. Hacegaba shared how the Southern California container gateway has been
clearing its cargo backlog and how
efforts from a gray chassis pool to an
off-dock container yard are enhancing flows.
Dr. Hacegaba, who holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the
University of Southern California and
a doctorate in public administration from the University of La Verne,
manages the business development,
customer service, terminal operations
and security functions at the Port
of Long Beach, which ranks behind
only neighboring Port of Los Angeles among U.S. ports in import and
export container volume.
What actions are being taken to enhance velocity of containers through
your port's facilities? And how are
you measuring the results?
There is no higher priority than
clearing the backlog. As you know,
U.S. West Coast ports - Los Angeles
and Long Beach in particular - are
quickly climbing out of cargo backlog
following months of congestion.
At the peak of congestion, there
were as many as 28 container vessels
at anchor. That's down now to single
digits. As of this morning [April 13],
there were only four, and we are
well ahead of where we thought we
would be at this point in time.
When the tentative agreement
between the PMA [Pacific Maritime
Association] and the ILWU [Inter-

national
Longshore
and Warehouse Union]
was first
announced
[Feb. 20], the
thought was
that it would
be 90 days
Dr. Noel Hacegaba, chief
before we
commercial officer at the
were back to
normal opera- Port of Long Beach, sees
tions. Based on the container gateway
the dwindling collaboratively working
number of ves- on multiple fronts to
sels at anchor, speed cargo flows.
it looks like we
will get there much sooner.
That's what our shippers expect,
and that's what we we are delivering.
And, I credit the hard work of all of our
logistics partners, including the terminals, railroads, truckers and labor.
While I am pleased to report that
our recovery efforts are going well, our
key objective going forward is to make
our port more efficient by increasing
velocity. To that end, we have an initiative under way where our goal and our
focus is to work with all of our supply
chain partners to optimize the supply
chain.
That means improving velocity and
not just through our gateway here at
the port but throughout the supply
chain. We believe that's what is needed,
not just to keep our gateway competitive but to keep the industry going.
It is our firm belief that, if we can
optimize the supply chain, everyone in
the supply chain wins. There are a lot of
efficiencies that can be achieved, and,
certainly here at the Port of Long Beach,
we're looking at everything we can do
to improve the supply chain.
We are looking at all possible
solutions to increase velocity, improve
efficiencies and offer superior service to
our customers. What we're doing in the

short run is clearing the backlog, but
we're also looking at longer-term solutions, such as the gray chassis fleet,
which was a huge step forward in getting that particular issue resolved, and
solutions such as off-dock sites. We are
also looking at ways to improve the
handoff between the different nodes
in the supply chain.
Over the long term, what we envision here at the Port of Long Beach
is to facilitate a process where the
supply chain can have a coordinated
and efficient end-to-end system where
a container that crosses our gateway
reaches its destination in the most efficient, cost-effective and seamless way.
Also, the Port of Long Beach has
opened a temporary container pickup
yard to help move containers off of the
terminals as quickly as possible. We've
created an online "vessels at a glance"
Web page that provides daily updates
on the diminishing backlog of containerships. And we're also looking at adding weekly updates on the improving
truck turn times.
So we're doing all of these things
in an effort to win back the confidence
of the shippers who run their cargo
through our ports, and we're very, very
serious about pursuing the supply
chain optimization that will help us
maintain our competitiveness over the
long term.
How do you evaluate the early
returns on the pool of pools? Has the
question of ILWU jurisdiction over
M&R [maintenance and repair] been
sufficiently addressed given that
most of the equipment owners are
not parties to the longshore labor
contract?
Everything we've heard so far since
March 1, when this gray chassis fleet
was first deployed, has been good.
We've heard from terminals, truckers
and the chassis providers that things
Long Beach - continued on page 9

May 2015 | Intermodal Insights 7
Insights - May 2015

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