Port Operations, Panama Canal Efficiency, and Terminal Location

Port Management: Positive and Negative Factors

From a management perspective, there are quite a few both positive and negative factors that contribute to port operations. Most recently, economic conditions around the globe have introduced many negative factors into port management. With fewer ships moving and fewer goods being produced, port managers are often placed in the precarious position of having to restructure or reorganize the labor and logistics concerns of the port, since reduced traffic usually means reduced revenue. Managers must also get creative in trying to find solutions that generate more work and productivity with fewer resources.

Labor concerns relative to port management often represent significant factors affecting port operations. Depending on a country's government and labor restrictions, managers and owners frequently must work within the confines of particular maritime labor laws (Rodrigue, Comtois, and Slack, 2009). This can make or break a port, as some countries are able to provide cheap labor while others are not. Ports located in regions that are geopolitically less stable than others face additional complexities that increase the difficulty of the manager's or owner's role.

From the positive standpoint, as regions begin to grow economically from port activity, new and lucrative business opportunities can arise for port owners. Owners can begin to create a transportation infrastructure around the port itself if it is sufficiently successful and busy to generate economic activity beyond its immediate operations (Rodrigue, Comtois, and Slack, 2009). New ports located in regions where economic growth was previously stifled can begin to generate fresh growth and opportunities. As a port manager, it is important to recognize where new economic gains and logistics advantages can be obtained, and to implement strategies that promote positive economic growth both at the port itself and within the surrounding region.

Reducing Vessel Berthing Time at the Panama Canal

Rodrigue, Jean-Paul; Comtois, Claude; and Slack, Brian (2009). The Geography of Transport Systems. Routledge: New York.

The Panama Canal, built in 1913, is one of the world's major transportation hubs. It has served ships and economies for nearly a century and helped drive further economic and technological development around the world. However, the canal was built at a time when supertankers and large modern vessels did not exist. In contemporary times, the volume of ship traffic and the size of vessels needing to pass through the canal have changed dramatically, and the canal must be retooled in order to take advantage of increased volume and to remain viable as a transportation hub.

As more and more vessels make their way to and through the canal each year, the issue of berthing time becomes increasingly complex. Each ship must move to the canal, load or offload cargo, and continue on its way to the next destination. While not all ships load or unload at the canal, the berthing time functions for these vessels are extremely complex, and computer software and planning solutions are becoming increasingly necessary to help move ships through this narrow waterway as efficiently as possible (Rodrigue, Comtois, and Slack, 2009). When the canal is widened, builders will need to account for berthing time factors, allowing for future growth in technology and a reduction of logistical constraints.

One such software solution is dynamic planning, or DP (Ting and Tzeng, 2003). This type of planning is executed by computers programmed to function within certain scheduling constraints. It identifies costs related to both fixed ship schedules and the services along a ship's route — in this case, passage through the Panama Canal. This software also accounts for unforeseen time and space obstacles, helping transportation and port managers respond to situations as they arise. In order to achieve more efficient flexibility and increased productivity, ships moving through the canal should be subjected to this kind of dynamic planning.