Today’s Pickup: Survey highlights LA Port challenges

Good day,

For every action there is an equal and usually opposite reaction. Port of Los Angeles executive director Gene Seroka delivered a mostly upbeat State of the Port address yesterday, but an assessment posted that same day by the L.A. Controller was slightly less sanguine. The Industrial, Economic and Administrative survey identifies some rocky terrain ahead, including increased competition from other ports, and the need to diversify the Port’s portfolio. Other concerns include cyber security and outdated tech systems. Perhaps anticipating the reaction, Seroka announced during his address that the Port’s cargo tracking system, the Port Optimizer, was live as of yesterday.

Did you know?

According to a study by the National Safety Council, 66% of drivers say they text or talk on their phones while searching for empty spaces in parking lots.

Quotable:

“Every single one either failed or was a disappointment in one way or another.” 

-Dan Doctoroff, chief executive of Sidewalk Labs, assessing the history of “Smart City” projects

Source: Wall Street Journal

In other news:

Amazon robots coming to Seattle suburb

Six robots will deliver packages in Snohomish County. (Bloomberg)

A $67 million waterfront expansion is open for business at the Port of Oakland

The TraPac marine terminal opened its newest vessel berth to arriving container ships. (PortofOakland)

Shippers, pay attention to millennials

…by reshaping systems around tech, marketing and personal experience. (InboundLogistics)

Apple’s secretive autonomous division lays off 200

“We continue to believe there is a huge opportunity with autonomous systems,” a spokesperson said. (CNBC)

Final thoughts:

You can’t talk to a tech CEO these days without hearing a tech-lash mea culpa.  Microsoft’s chief opined to the Wall Street Journal yesterday about “how to avoid a dystopia,” while Nova Dynamics director Joseph Sullivan worried to FreightWaves that the deluge of delivery robots will lead to a rash of ordinances banning autonomous delivery — or, at the very least, consign said robots to the same fate as e-scooters, in which “the basic idea is fantastic, but everyone kind of hates it.”

Hammer down everyone!

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