By George Lauriat, AJOTFormer Speaker of House and a Massachusetts political icon, Thomas “Tip” O’Neil is once remarked, “All politics are local.” To a degree that holds true for the Port of Boston’s box shippers. “It’s a local market, and that’s not a bad thing,” says Mike Leone, Massport’s Maritime Director. Of course, being local in this case, is more akin to being a New Englander than a Bostonian. But the shoe, or at least the sneaker fits. Probably more than any other East Coast box terminal, the importers and exporters are locally based businesses and subsequently are able to vote with their feet, if they are unhappy with the service at the Port. With the mega-Port of New York/ New Jersey to the southwest, Montreal to the north and Halifax to the northeast, shippers are ringed with options. That is what makes the recent climb in Massport’s Conley Container Terminal numbers so remarkable. In 2007, the terminal posted 220,339 teus – the second straight year over 200,000 teus - a volume not too long ago considered unattainable. However, even during this exceptionally unusual period, with imports generally off and export soaring, the results for the terminal are very consistent. For example, the full box figures for Jan-March of 2008 amount to 39,180 teus divided 22,898 teus inbound and 16,282 outbound. This is slightly upon Jan-March figures of 2007, when the Port handled 38,589 teus total broken out 22,914 teus inbound and 15,675 teus outbound. The real difference between the first three months of ’08 versus ’07 is that empties are already off a thousand, reflecting the tight equipment situation. When asked about the numbers Leone said “it’s not so much that they [the numbers] are indicative of the industry as a whole but reflect that we have been able to capture a greater segment of the local market with all-water services.” The concept of the working with local businesses is important to Massport’s overall strategy for improving the port’s facilities. “If the brokers, truckers and shippers, see the direct benefit of doing business with the Port, they’ll be far more interested in supporting us in projects that can improve the facilities,” Leon remarked. Certainly, increase in Conley’s box totals reflects the rise in trade with Asia. Container volume on the Asian route has increased by more than 400% since 2002. But beyond markets part of the reason for the increase in boxes is that the Port itself has been able to make more efficient use of the existing terminal footprint. CONLEY TERMINAL UPGRADES In 2005, Massport began a two-year $28 million effort to upgrade Conley Container Terminal. The upgrade for Conley included reconfiguring the terminal with a new layout that allows higher and wider container stacks. The addition of eight, new Rubber Tire Gantry cranes (RTGs) and four other machines to handle empty containers also helped increase efficiency. Additional improvements to the terminal included new reinforced pavement and painted markings, and the implementation of new drainage and lighting. The result of the upgrade was 50% increase in capacity through improved efficiencies. Since the project’s completion, truck turn-times have averaged 36 minutes as compared to 58 minutes in 2005. However, other than some operational fine-tuning the property is nearly maxed out. In late January, Massport began negotiations with El Paso Corporation to purchase the property of its subsidiary, Coastal, a former oil terminal north of East First Street in South Boston. The 30-acre site, lies next to Conley Container Terminal on the Reserve Channel, and has long been coveted for terminal expansion. Leone noted, “In the short term we want to clean up the property and use it for perhaps a dedicated truck route, container operations and storage. Long term we’d like to add a third deep water berth, which will help us increase capacity at Conley.” Another are scheduled for expansion is the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal. The port handles around 116 calls annually with well over 200,000 p