The cargo hub partners with the Port of Los Angeles to comprise the busiest port complex in the nation.
Cordero’s experience is deep, his expertise established. So he understands quite well that he — along with his L.A. peer, Gene Seroka — has challenges to face.
What’s on the horizon? Oh, only the shipping industry emerging from an international slump, a massive infrastructure project, looming labor contract talks and the tightening of already challenging environmental standards.
Good luck, sir.
Here are five of the most pressing scenarios awaiting the ports:
1. REGULATION
The California Air Resources Board is in the midst of formulating new rules that could require all docked cargo vessels to cut emissions beyond levels that are already among the toughest in the nation.
Currently, 70 percent of all container and cruise ships must plug into electric power well at berth, but regulators want to see improvement by 2030.
Regulators also want terminal operators to replace many of the fossil-fuel-burning cranes, tractors, yard trucks and forklifts with cleaner-fueled alternatives.
Meanwhile, Gov. Jerry Brown is pushing for more zero-emission cargo trucks.
And the twin ports are developing new clean-air requirements aimed at reducing greenhouse gas and smog-forming particulates.
It won’t be cheap.
Consulting firm Moffat & Nichol estimates the price tag for the two ports and Oakland to replace equipment with all zero- or near zero-emission technology at $23 billion.
Sure, both ports have committed to the cleanup. But the question remains: Who will fund it?
2. LABOR
Nobody wants a repeat of the crippling labor slowdown that rocked the docks in 2014 and 2015.
The standoff rippled through the nation’s economy, left businesses unable to stock shelves and stuck farmers with rotting produce on the idled docks.
By some estimates, the slowdown cost the economy more than $7 billion. And it marred the ports’ image among retailers and suppliers.
Delegates representing 20,000 International Longshore and Warehouse Union workers at 29 ports will meet at district headquarters in San Francisco in the coming weeks to discuss whether to extend their current five-year contract, which expires on July 1, 2019.
Last year, nearly two dozen members 0 Comments. Industry officials are watching closely.
