FMC supply chain innovation teams to turn focus on exports in 2017

After determining U.S. supply chains could benefit from a national information portal, a new set of innovation teams led by three port executives will look at issues affecting U.S. exporters next.    Federal Maritime Commissioner Rebecca Dye said Wednesday that port executives from Houston, South Carolina, and the Northwest Seaport Alliance would anchor the next phase of the Federal Maritime Commission’s supply chain innovation team project.
   While briefing the commission about the findings of the import phase of the project, whose teams were led by executives from the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, and New York/New Jersey, Dye said the export phase next year will be led by Jim Newsome, president and chief executive officer of the South Carolina Ports Authority, Roger Guenther, executive director of Port Houston, and John Wolfe, CEO of the Northwest Seaports Alliance.
   Dye called the first phase of the project a success and she hoped it would act as a stimulus to some sort of pilot project to increase terminal efficiency and visibility at U.S. ports. She said, however, that it was not up to the government to undertake such a pilot.
   FMC Chairman Mario Cordero lauded the work of the supply chain innovation teams and said that the project succeeded in eliciting communication between previously siloed stakeholders.
   A week ago, Dye went public with the concept, borne of discussion within the supply chain innovation teams, that U.S. supply chains could benefit from a national information portal. Such a portal would include status information for container clearance, chassis availability and drayage capacity.
   The new innovation teams, headed by Newsome, Guenther and Wolfe, will dive into port issues affecting U.S. exporters in 2017. The goal of the program is to identify private sector solutions to U.S. supply chain problems.
   Dye mentioned Wednesday that the next phase will include the role of warehousing in broader supply chain fluidity.