From being a cargo storage facility to the place for distribution and packaging of goods to one of the most complex container handling logistics system, ports have played many roles in the supply chain system. Today, ports are no more just a gateway to goods. Rather, they have been very quickly adapting to their new role as the information hub in the supply chain system.

America’s major share of economic growth depends on the commerce its ports generate. The Port of Los Angeles (POLA) is the busiest container port in America. Around 1.3 billion worth of cargo moves in and out of this port every day.

Every year billions of dollars are spent in developing and restoring port infrastructure to me meet the growing demand on the pacific rim. Alliances between the shipping companies to consolidate the freight moves and development of larger container vessels have put enormous pressure on the ports to develop appropriate infrastructure to consolidate machinery, labor and management to adjust to this sudden change.

To have a deeper understanding of the container supply chain ecosystem at the port of Los Angeles, various visits were made to West Basin Container Terminal, Port of Los Angeles. Container terminals are a complex network of various operations like Vessel Operation, Yard Operations, Rail Operations and Gate operations.

Limited availability of resources like equipment, land and labor keep these operations interdependent on each other and thus they remain sub-optimized.

Container supply chain system is a complex network of different systems within a system which is highly human intensive. The complexity of trucking operation at the container terminals often leads to the gate congestion and other inefficiencies in the terminals ecosystem and its immediate stakeholder ecosystems. 

To get a deeper knowledge of the issues identified from the contextual inquiry, a series of interviews were done with trucking companies, truck drivers, freight forwarding companies, container terminal, and providers of information technology. The questions asked in this exercise were aimed to analyze the subjectivity of the information among all the potential stakeholders.

Planning is the key. There must be enough transparency among the concerned stakeholders to communicate well in advance and plan things better. Informational transparency in the system will encourage accountability, alleviate frustrations and develops trust among the stakeholders.

Due to the presence of large ocean carriers and the fluctuating global economic condition, many of the shipping companies have made alliances among themselves to combine freight. And, by doing so, they have reduced the target markets.