Principle Objectives
In this joint study, the WAVE Program is looking for information on the current situation of management methods, the control, construction, operation (including logistics practices) of major North American container ports and Japanese container ports so that comparisons can be made and a solution can be found to provide the most effective way to build, control, and operate container terminals. This joint study looks at the major Japanese container gateway ports in Tokyo Bay, Osaka Bay, Ise Bay and North Kyushu as well as the major container ports in the container gateway ports in the West Coast of North America (Vancouver, B.C., Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, Oakland, Long Beach, and Los Angeles). This comparative study of marine container terminals in Japan and major West Coast North American ports makes it possible to spread the best practices found to all those concerned. These best practices include various types of institutional arrangements.
Market changes in container trade and increases in trade in East Asian major ports have weaken the position of Japanese ports resulting in lost revenue and jobs. In order to draw shipping companies and ships passing back into Japanese ports, the development of gateway ports and the expansion of International feeder routes is an important consideration. In order to do so, important considerations are:
1. new institutional arrangements for container port management and operation;
2. new arrangements to make the ports more “user-friendly”;
3. the development of a Japanese port to serve as a regional hub;
4. identification of problems/difficulties in container terminal operations;
5. a search for better production methods (system, process, and improvement) of marine container terminal operations; and
6. a solution to improve efficiency or “the most effective way to operate a container terminal”.
Regulatory arrangements in the area of ports and harbors have been a focus of strong interest both in the Japanese deregulation movement and on the part of foreign players-especially U.S. marine carriers. This study is a forward-looking approach by WAVE to address the problems associated with competition in this new era of global exchange. The hope is, that in the long run, this will facilitate sustainable trade in all regions and will promote safe and environmentally friendly growth providing a higher degree of prosperity for all.
Container Terminals (their structure and situation over time)
Container Ports in the West Coast of the United States and Canada operate under different types of institutional and management structure than that of Japanese ports. These ports, in many cases serve the same shippers, carriers, and terminal operators. In all of the container ports, in the three countries studied, labor considerations are significant. Other areas of importance given consideration were: the type of institutional arrangement for each port's container terminal involved in international shipping which includes the various types of lease arrangements between the ports, the marine carriers, terminal operators and/or others; the markets served; the types of technology employed to make the container terminal “user friendly”; and the productivity of the terminals.
