Lanier’s comments make a splash

LanierÆs comments make a splash Robin Lanier, executive director of the high profile shipper advocate group, the Waterfront Coalition, found herself defending recent comments she made decrying the level of 'civil discourse' among stakeholders in the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.
   During a speech Friday at the Maritime Institute of Old Dominion University for the Norfolk, Va. chapter of Women in International Trade, Lanier was asked to compare the Southern California ports to the port at Hampton Roads, Va. Local newspaper coverage of the speech focused on Lanier's criticism of the ports — particularly their inability to effectively grow amidst environmental concerns over new projects that would enhance capacity and efficiency.
   The story was circulated among a widely read e-mail network by Marine Exchange of Southern California Executive Director Manny Aschemeyer, who also defended the Southern California ports by saying they had handled another sizable increase of cargo in 2006 with nary a hiccup.
   Lanier, whose group represents shippers large and small and includes members like Nike and Target, defended herself, saying that she was merely trying to juxtapose the success that the Virginia Port Authority has had in recent years with the bureaucratic process in place in California.
   'You may be aware that public and private stakeholders in Virginia have achieved a number of notable successes in recent years through their cooperative behavior and the leadership of their state and local government,' Lanier wrote. 'For example, the Heartland Corridor — a major a multi-state rail project — has been hailed as an example of public-private partnership and regional cooperation. In addition, of course, the Virginia Ports Authority has also been in the forefront of developing a port-wide chassis pool that has become the pattern for the work OCEMA is doing on this very timely project. The port and several other groups in the Hampton Roads area are also working on a truck driver recruitment project and other efforts to improve the professionalism and the treatment of owner-operator truckers.
   'I contrasted these cooperative successes and efforts, born of civil discourse and leadership at all levels, with recent activities in Southern California where, it seems, everything must be legislated or litigated. No doubt we, in Southern California, will all be rushing off either to Sacramento or to federal or state court to solve our problems, once again in 2007. I suggest that this means of solving problems is dysfunctional. In fact, it suggests a port community that does not respect each other and hardly speaks civilly to each other. Indeed, in some ways, your e-mail this morning underscores my point.
   'So, when I talked about dysfunctional ports, I was not talking about moving freight. I was talking about the nature of the debate and the relationship between and among stakeholders at the ports in Southern California. The inability of the port community in Southern California (terminals, truckers, shippers, railroads, state and local government, the port authorities, labor, management, and communities surrounding the port) to meet in civil discourse to determine how to manage and grow the ports is a serious problem. Instead, we tend, in Southern California, to choose up sides and start screaming, threatening and even insulting each other. This is not the way to solve the problems that face the ports or the people who live near ports. Nor is denying the inevitable growth that is coming our way, and wishing it would go elsewhere. The stakeholders involved in the port community surrounding San Pedro Bay might do very well to take a look at the way the folks in Virginia comport themselves. Their ability to listen, respect, reach compromise, work in bipartisan harmony, and to balance growth and environmental concerns is something the rest of us ought to be emulating. That is an example of a port community that functions well.'