CONTAINER FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM
' Improving freight efficiency using existing and upcoming infrastructure at the Port of Los Angeles and make Los Angeles a better place to live '
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.
Contextual Inquiry
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.
Container Terminal Ecosystem | Field Study
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
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.
ETHNOGRAPHY | Understanding Stakeholder Frustrations
This system is said to be still running in its stone age, where stakeholders work in their own silos for their own good. There isn’t any means to break the communication barrier between them, which in turn creates blind spots in the system and makes it impossible to relay information.
Stakeholder Interviews
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.
Summary
Affinity Analysis | Insights
Data points of results of interviews which are usually attitudinal in nature, are evaluated using Affinity diagramming, Pareto Analysis (plotting data on a severity and occurrence graph) to find the impact of the problems identified through research. A QC story methodology is applied to analyze the root cause of these problems.
OPPORTUNITY MATRIX
System behavior | Cultural Opportunity Context
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.
System Landscape | Physical Opportunity Context
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.
Desired Opportunity Matrix
Port Appointment System & Truck Drayage Productivity Tool
SAAS based ecosystem to facilitate appointments, automate billings for the concerned stakeholders and allow them to plan their freight moves well in advance to mitigate the effects of any unannounced disruption.
Please click here to see Port Appointment System & Truck Drayage Productivity Tool
