Dive Brief:
- The Port of Long Beach supports the concept of developing a single, interoperable truck appointment system for the 12 San Pedro Bay container terminals, Deputy Executive Director of Administration and Operations Noel Hacegaba told Supply Chain Dive in an interview.
- But such a system — requested last week by the California and Harbor trucking associations to boost productivity and lower turn times — will require buy-in from private terminal operators, he said.
- “Conceptually, we support anything that drives interoperability and enhances efficiency,” Hacegaba said. “How we get from the concept to an on-the-ground solution will require the engagement and support of all the parties involved.”
Dive Insight:
Missed appointments contributed to supply chain disruption in recent years, the Harbor Trucking Association and the California Trucking Association said in their Jan. 25 letter to Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka and Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero.
A single, interoperable system would lower costs and boost efficiency for drayage providers and Terminal Island’s container terminals, the groups said. The Port of New York and New Jersey lowered turn times by 45% after implementing a new truck appointments program.
Los Angeles and Long Beach port officials are both onboard with the notion. Connecting the San Pedro Bay terminals’ disparate truck appointment systems has been proposed by the ports in recent years as part of their Clean Air Action Plan, Hacegaba said.
“It just makes more sense for our drayage community to be able to book appointments across 12 different terminals in in a more seamless way,” he said.
While Hacegaba acknowledged the potential challenge in getting the terminals and other stakeholders to join the effort, he echoed one of the points in the trucking groups’ letter: A completely new system may not be needed, especially if the necessary digital infrastructure already exists at one or more of the terminals.
“From our standpoint, we would want to make sure we do this in the least disruptive fashion,” he said.
