Globalised trade, the lifeblood of modern economies, is here to stay. Yet, as international commerce expands, the world’s ports face an unavoidable challenge: their physical and operational limits. Shorelines suitable for deepwater facilities are finite.
Expansions, such as Vancouver’s Roberts Bank Terminal 2 – built on reclaimed land in a river estuary – highlight the immense effort and expense required to increase port capacity. Even if new terminals and rail connections materialised overnight, constraints on available space make the existing ports indispensable, bestowing extraordinary leverage upon port workers.
This sway, however, has come at a cost. Labour action has secured significant gains for workers but left third parties – farmers, miners, manufacturers and consumers – to shoulder the burden of such disruptions.
In 2014, a protracted stand-off between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and US West Coast terminal operators left billions of dollars worth of goods in limbo, paralysing trade for months.
Last year, British Columbia port workers froze operations at Vancouver and Prince Rupert during a 13-day strike, affecting shipments also worth billions of dollars. More recently, strikes from Maine to Texas on America’s East and Gulf coasts further underscored the fragility of a system reliant on human labour at critical junctures.
Meanwhile, ports like Singapore and Rotterdam have embraced automation, setting new benchmarks for throughput and reliability. PSA Singapore’s port terminals are equipped with autonomous cranes and vehicles. With continuous operations, it handles 39 million container units annually, making it a world leader.
