Port officials said they will use the feedback to develop a punch list of tasks that could lead to incremental improvements in congestion for drayage companies and shippers.
Here are some of the top concerns expressed, as detailed in an executive summary produced by the VMA:
- Chassis: Evaluate the chassis triage system and adjust the process for identification, segregation, labeling and communication related to bad-order chassis; prevent parking of chassis needing repair in “good” chassis area.
- Hours of operation: Consider extending the daily gate hours, continue weekend gates and explore a PierPass solution.
- Service: Increase terminal staffing and improve supervision of labor, especially in driver service areas; ensure well-maintained equipment is available at all hours, especially at start of day to prevent falling behind.
- Training: Need more dockworkers to follow same standard operating procedures for truck processes, such as gate and yard inspections; prevent containers from being placed in stacks backwards.
- Ship operations: Improve communications about berth schedules and availability, including an earlier daily release of berth plan.
- Truck flow: Measure efficiency at each point of truck transaction and use more accurate metrics for turn-times; explore “peel & go” stacks for large volume shippers.
- Capacity: Shippers, motor carriers and third-party logistics providers should come together to identify ways to make street turns so trucks, chassis and drivers don’t make empty backhauls.
- Better information: Communicate sooner when ad hoc extended gate hours will be implemented; provide real-time information on vessel bunching and delays.
This article was published in the January 2015 issue of American Shipper.
