WEBVTT - Mario Cordero Talks Port Strikes

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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<v Speaker 2>The other major story obviously out there is the day

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<v Speaker 2>one of the port strike here on the East Coast.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean I was looking at some graphics on various

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<v Speaker 2>TV networks and it's pretty much all down the entire

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<v Speaker 2>East Coast, winding around our friends in Florida and all

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<v Speaker 2>the way into the Gulf Coast. You start thinking about,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, that's a lot of territory there that does

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<v Speaker 2>a lot of shipping, so you really want to get

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<v Speaker 2>some perspective on that. You can go to the folks

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<v Speaker 2>on the left side of this country, on the West Coast,

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<v Speaker 2>they had their labor issues a couple of years ago.

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<v Speaker 2>Maria Kodero joins a CEO for the Port of Long Beach. Mario,

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<v Speaker 2>thanks so much for joining us here. What role do

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<v Speaker 2>you believe the West Coast ports, your port in Long

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<v Speaker 2>Beach can have and maybe relieving some of the pressure

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<v Speaker 2>on shippers who can't unload or load their goods on

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<v Speaker 2>the East Coast. How are you guys approaching that?

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<v Speaker 3>Well, thank you for the invitation. I mean, I think

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<v Speaker 3>when you talk about Long Beach, we're part of the

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<v Speaker 3>largest container gateway for the nation. So I think the

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<v Speaker 3>road that we play is a continued row that we

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<v Speaker 3>move a great percentage of the nation's trade, and I

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<v Speaker 3>think we're in a very good position to handle whatever

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<v Speaker 3>search comes our way. And last, I'll make the point

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<v Speaker 3>that August we had a historic number of containers moving

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<v Speaker 3>through the Port Long Beach. That number was nine hundred

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<v Speaker 3>and thirteen thousand plus containers. That's a historical high number

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<v Speaker 3>for US, a record number. And when you add the

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<v Speaker 3>Port of LA for August, we approximate about one point

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<v Speaker 3>nine million containers in this gateway the Sanpeter Bay complex.

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<v Speaker 3>So our role here is to continue to move cargo

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<v Speaker 3>in an efficient manner. And again, Port Long Beach has

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<v Speaker 3>a tremendous capacity right now, in that words, good capacity

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<v Speaker 3>around seventy percent, so we are prepared to continue to

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<v Speaker 3>move that containerized cargo that comes our way.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm curious what kind of lessons did you end up

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<v Speaker 1>learning from the pandemic because we had so many supply

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<v Speaker 1>related issues with the chains there, and how could that

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<v Speaker 1>help you try to navigate this instance?

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<v Speaker 3>Great question, a lot of lessons learned. Number one, expanding

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<v Speaker 3>operation hours. I've been a big spokesperson for twenty four

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<v Speaker 3>to seven operations. Again to qualify that or put that

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<v Speaker 3>in perspective. You know, we're not going to go twenty

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<v Speaker 3>four hours a day, seven days a week anytime soon,

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<v Speaker 3>but there's a framework of expansion of hours. So in

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<v Speaker 3>Long Beach we've done that, We've done staging areas, and

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<v Speaker 3>again this is going to be very beneficial for us

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<v Speaker 3>if in fact we need to stage containers outside the terminals.

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<v Speaker 3>And I think the lessons learned from COVID. Again, it's

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<v Speaker 3>a supply chain issue. So the warehouse that is the

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<v Speaker 3>end product here of the supply chain in this region,

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<v Speaker 3>they also are very collaborative with us and making sure

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<v Speaker 3>that inventory moves. So again, a lot of lessons learned

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<v Speaker 3>from COVID nineteen supply chain crisis. So we're applying those

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<v Speaker 3>lessons and hopefully again as we're as I just noted,

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<v Speaker 3>we're moving a record amount of cargo here at to

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<v Speaker 3>poor Long Beach without any congestion or bottlenecks whatsoever.

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<v Speaker 2>Hey, Marie, if I'm a shipper, got a ship at

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<v Speaker 2>sea in the Atlantic steaming towards New York or something,

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<v Speaker 2>and that's closed, Now, what are the economics for me

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<v Speaker 2>to say, Oh, I'll go to the Panama Canal, go

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<v Speaker 2>through there, then I'll come up to your port in

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<v Speaker 2>Long Beach. Is that realistic? Is that a decision option?

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<v Speaker 3>Well, I mean that decision for the shippers based on economics.

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<v Speaker 3>So obviously, if they're going to come to the West Coast,

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<v Speaker 3>I think that decision comes into play that for them,

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<v Speaker 3>it's a reduced cost with regard to the option that

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<v Speaker 3>potentially could happen. But in that regard, yes, there's increased

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<v Speaker 3>transportation costs for sure, But I think again, I think

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<v Speaker 3>it's going to be a scenario which we'll be able

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<v Speaker 3>to manage that and move forward as we have in

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<v Speaker 3>previous instances. We talked about COVID nineteen. But again we

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<v Speaker 3>have a lot of lessons learned from COVID nineteen, and

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<v Speaker 3>one of them is we are prepared no matter where

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<v Speaker 3>the options are in terms of cargo flow, we're going

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<v Speaker 3>to be moving to cargo here.

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<v Speaker 1>What other ports along the West coast do you first

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<v Speaker 1>see field cargo that ends up getting re routed? I'm sorry,

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<v Speaker 1>repeat that question, So what other ports along the West

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<v Speaker 1>coast do you foresee other sort of field cargo end

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<v Speaker 1>up getting re routed at this point?

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<v Speaker 3>Well, number one poort of Los Angeles. Again, they're part

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<v Speaker 3>of this gateway, the Port of Oakland in northern California,

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<v Speaker 3>and you also have the Port of Wayanimi. So there's

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<v Speaker 3>other ports in the West coast here and again if

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<v Speaker 3>you go to the northwest port of Seattle and Tacoma.

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<v Speaker 3>So I think the West Coast is in a very

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<v Speaker 3>good position to make sure that we not only receive

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<v Speaker 3>the cargo, but continue to move it inland to the

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<v Speaker 3>nation's midwest. Maria.

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<v Speaker 2>One of the topics that I guess the long shoremen

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<v Speaker 2>and the shippers have is a wages of course, and

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<v Speaker 2>presumably that will work itself out. But the other one

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<v Speaker 2>is automation and what that means for jobs. How do

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<v Speaker 2>you guys talk to your long shorman about the need

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<v Speaker 2>for you guys to automate to remain competitive versus their

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<v Speaker 2>need to preserve jobs. What's that discussion like these days?

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<v Speaker 3>Well, I mean you mentioned an issue here. Automation robotics

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<v Speaker 3>has been a continued concern in all sectors of labor.

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<v Speaker 3>So for the poor lombies, I think the way we've

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<v Speaker 3>been able to navigate well with our labor partners is

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<v Speaker 3>anyone who's interested in better developing the terminals of the

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<v Speaker 3>Poor Long Beach. Number One, you have to have a

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<v Speaker 3>meeting of the minds with the IOWU, so that collaborative

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<v Speaker 3>partnership and works well for us. So in that regard,

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<v Speaker 3>that's been our policy. Anybody who wants to expand or

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<v Speaker 3>develop their terminals, they have to go through the iow first,

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<v Speaker 3>and that mitigates any serious differences as we go down

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<v Speaker 3>the road. So for us, it's been a successful path.

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<v Speaker 3>But on the other hand, again keep in mind, this

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<v Speaker 3>is an issue across the board in terms of workforce

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<v Speaker 3>in the nation, if not the global community.

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<v Speaker 1>Do you have a sense from retailers how they're potentially

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<v Speaker 1>making contingency plans as of now.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, I think what I can tell you is I

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<v Speaker 3>gave you these record numbers that we're moving here at

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<v Speaker 3>the Poor of Long Beach for August. That's almost a

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<v Speaker 3>thirty four percent increase year to year. So I think

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<v Speaker 3>the retailers and the shippers have already anticipated a scenario

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<v Speaker 3>that's occurring in the East Coast and they've already made

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<v Speaker 3>that decision to move their cargo to the West Coast.

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<v Speaker 3>And again, the August numbers for both these ports Los

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<v Speaker 3>Angeles and Long Beach here in the San Pedo Bay

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<v Speaker 3>complex are historical numbers, so that basically answers the question

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<v Speaker 3>that I think they've already made those decisions, and I

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<v Speaker 3>do expect to have additional cargo. But have me said

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<v Speaker 3>all this, I want to make sure that again from

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<v Speaker 3>the poorer lobbies, we encourage that the parties in the

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<v Speaker 3>East Coast moved to the resolution because any bottleneck and

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<v Speaker 3>the supply chain in the nation is not good. So

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<v Speaker 3>for my perspective, I think again it's not about additional

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<v Speaker 3>cargo that we're going to get. It's about hopefully these

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<v Speaker 3>parties come to a mutual resolution soon so that we

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<v Speaker 3>don't impact the nation's supply chain anywhere in the country.

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<v Speaker 2>Hey, Maria, thank you so much for joining us. Really

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<v Speaker 2>appreciate getting some of your time. Maria Cordero, he's the

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<v Speaker 2>CEO of the Port of Long Beach, giving us a

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<v Speaker 2>sense of kind of they're busy