Vancouver fears cargo loss to US as productivity pace slackens

STIFF competition from the neighbouring US ports of Seattle, Los Angeles and Long Beach is spurring Canada's Port Metro Vancouver to increase efficiency, an effort that both management and unions say is vital.

"You can't have a container sitting on the dock for a week if Americans can get it off in a day or two," said Mark Keserich, president of International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 500. "We're in different times. Containers can go through any port. Nobody wants to see the work go to an American terminal."

Experts believe an improved port would help kick-start Canada's productivity engine, which has stalled in recent years, reported the Toronto Globe and Mail. Canadian productivity has only crawled ahead by 0.7 per cent annually over the past decade, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

"The roots of the port's problem are tangled. The terminal operators that handle containers have a long history of discord with the railways that move the cargo. Strained labour relations with the longshoremen on the docks compound the problems," the report said.

"At the centre of it all is Port Metro Vancouver, born in 2008 out of the amalgamation of three local port authorities... It has little direct power to order changes and functions more as a referee, overseeing the various players that use the port."

Robin Silvester, president of the port since April 2009, wants 90 per cent of containers moving through the port in three or fewer days, but he isn't predicting how quickly that will happen. "I'm loath to commit to a date, but we're already seeing substantial improvement," he said.
(Source:www.schednet.com)