42 American Journal of Transportation American Journal of Transportation ajot.com WHEN OTHERS SEE OBSTACLES, WHEN OTHERS SEE OSTA ES WE SEE A SOLUTION. WE SEE A SO TON WHEN OTHERS SEE OBSTACLES, WE SEE A SOLUTION. Ports don’t slow down and neither can our customers. When a reach stacker needed to move down the Delaware River from one port to another, it wasn’t just a transport job—it was a challenge that demanded the right plan, the right expertise, and the right partner. Complex logistics. Heavy equipment. Tight timelines. Solved. TAYLORNORTHEAST.COM 1-800-762-2500 (SURVEY – continued from page 18) not meet our needs - 4% “The gap between expectations and provider performance is becoming more pronounced as supply chains grow more complex. Nearly half of leaders (47%) believe providers are least prepared when it comes to maintaining up-to-date tech- nology, while 45% cite deficiencies in real-time market responsiveness,” the report states. “At the same time, expec- tations are expanding beyond core oper- ational performance. These gaps have tangible consequences, as companies whose providers met all needs were more than twice as likely to report effectively meeting demand speed. As a result, logis- tics partnerships are increasingly being evaluated not only on capacity, but on their ability to deliver intelligence, inte- gration, and coordinated execution to keep up with both the speed of demand and ever-shifting market dynamics. More than ever, performance differentiation is tied to technology enablement.” Lineage said the demand for refrig- erated and frozen foods continues to rise, with 72% reporting an increase. “The findings point to a broader industry shift, with supply chain lead- ers indicating they want their cold chain network providers to deliver not only storage and transportation, but also the flexibility, visibility and resilience to navigate a more dynamic operating envi- ronment,” the report states. “The findings suggest that food and beverage compa- nies are no longer treating disruption as a temporary factor and are adjusting their strategic frameworks to accommodate it. The responses also reveal how customer priorities are evolving across demand planning, technology, trade strategy and partner expectations.” say, ‘there’s no substitute for experience.” Looking ahead, Menzies said 2026 has been filled with different challenges and he expects companies, port users and the MPA to react accordingly. “2026 has been a year of constant change, and we don’t see that letting up. Tariffs, freight rates, inventory levels, labor, insurance, fuel prices — the vari- ables keep moving, and in a climate like this, flexibility is a must-have in a com- pany’s supply chain. We’re seeing some cautious optimism. Companies aren’t sitting still, but they’re hedging, making shorter-term calls about how they move goods to market, keeping their options open, and spreading risk rather than locking in one long bet. For the rest of the year, we expect customers to keep leaning on partners who can absorb the exceptions and keep them flexible,” he said. “The (MPA’s) long-range plan- ning process is the right moment to set priorities, and there’s real opportunity here. Keep the channel deep, the berths productive, the trucks moving, and the rail connected — and protect the indus- trial land around the port, because once that land converts to other uses, the warehousing, transload, and equipment capacity that makes Baltimore function has nowhere to go. The bigger opportu- nity is telling Baltimore’s story. There’s been tremendous investment here - from both the port and operators like us - but cargo owners across the country still don’t know the full picture. Marketing that progress and putting real incen- tives behind it would bring more cargo through Baltimore, and that lifts every- one in this community. The foundation is here. The work now is making sure the rest of the country/world sees it.” (BUSINESS – continued from page 26) consideration not only the channels and the depth of the channels and maintain- ing through a robust operations and main- tenance program with the Army Corps of Engineers, but also how those depths impact terminal development and exter- nal transportation infrastructure that’s going to be necessary for us to allow for efficient movement through the entire supply chain process… But we’re trying to remove what can be oftentimes seen as the negative .... And an example of what we’re doing there right now is it’s not only about the removal, but it’s about the placement of dredged material in an environmentally sensitive way that allows us the opportunity to meet the obligations for the amount of material that’s taken out of the channels in the Chesapeake Bay and in the Baltimore Harbor. We currently manage two dredge material containment facilities as well as we are coming to the end-of-life replacement for what we call Poplar Island, and that’s the site that takes the majority of the material that’s down in the Chesapeake Bay channels. And in order to set ourselves up for decades of available placement, we are in the process right now of constructing what’s called the Mid-Chesapeake Bay Island Resto- ration Project. And that will be rebuilding both Barren and James islands and that will give us capacity for at least the next 30 years. Arrival of the Next Generation When Arthur C. Clarke wrote, “Trying to predict the future is a discour- aging and hazardous occupation,” he could have been talking about forecasting the future sizes of containerships. Twenty years ago, the average size containership was around 2,200-2,500 TEUs — today, that is basically the size of a small con- tainer feeder ship. And forecasting the size and shape of a containership 20 or 30 years into the future is indeed a hazardous venture. Already a new generation is on the way, underscoring the importance of dredging and channel maintenance. Bal- timore’s main ship channel is at 50-feet, which is the desired depth for container ship calls on the US East Coast. When asked about how the MPA keeps up with boxship trends, Daniels answered, “That’s where we would work hand-in-hand with the carriers and our terminal operators here to make some level of determina- tion as to what that’s going to look like. First and foremost, our responsibility is to maintain the existing channel depth…and that takes care of the current workforce vessels that call the port.” A new generation of vessels will be calling soon. “Evergreen currently calls weekly service with vessels in excess of 15,000 TEU. They have indicated that they are going to be starting to come out with a 16,000 TEU vessel in the not-too-distant future. So, that string of vessels calling will be able to be accommodated within our existing depth and channel configuration. Now with that, there will be an expan- sion of a dredging project here with the authorization of what we call the Cedar Loop project, and that’s going to allow us the opportunity to dredge and expand the channel closer to the Seagirt terminal and allow for more effective and safer turning operations when accommodating vessels of that size coming into and coming off of the Seagirt Marine Terminal, which of course is our primary container dock.” For the MPA, the opportunities for tomorrow’s new markets and new carri- ers begins with a roadmap drawn from the planning done today. (PLANNING – continued from page 27)
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