As a looming strike of East Coast port workers spanning more than 30 major ports that process over half of U.S. container activity threatens to clog up the movement of goods into, out of, and throughout the United States, the matter of automation plays a key role in negotiations.
According to International Longshoreman’s Association Executive Vice President Dennis Daggett, “Automation, which I believe we are going to be battling for the rest of our existence, is a high-priority issue.”
In particular, Daggett pointed to the port in Mobile, Alabama, which he said is using automation that ILA members believe is in violation of their contract. That automation is a gate system that processes trucks entering and exiting the APM Terminals without the use of ILA labor.
A single gate system may seem like a small issue — perhaps one worth ceding to the union by agreeing to use workers for increasingly antiquated tasks. But the wages paid to “protect” some port workers’ jobs from automation are a drop in the bucket compared to the widespread gains that would be lost by banning automation.
Consider the relative seamlessness of driving full speed through a toll facility today. Pre-E-ZPass, that wasn’t the case. I recall childhood car rides to my grandparents’ house, during which the dreaded Breezewood, Pennsylvania, toll booth frequently put an additional 30 minutes between us and my granddad’s jelly bean jar.
The automation of tolls has literally saved people millions of hours in congestion and billions of dollars’ worth of fuel. And yes, it eliminated the jobs of people who sat in booths that weren’t climate-controlled and collected tolls, but it also created new jobs in toll administration systems, allowed people to get to their jobs faster, reduced emissions, and even improved infant health near automated tolls.
While the ILA’s current contract already includes protections against full automation and semi-automation, the ILA wants to tighten up those prohibitions. But the problem with banning automation is that just as automated tollways enable cars and trucks to move more efficiently across the roadways, automated gates and other port operations enable goods to move more efficiently into, out of, and throughout the U.S.
The lack of automation is a primary reason that U.S. ports rank near the bottom of global port efficiency ratings. According to the World Bank’s 2022 Port Performance Index, the average North American port ranking is three times lower than East Asian ports, almost twice as bad as Central American, South American, and Caribbean ports, and not far ahead of sub-Saharan African ports.
One of the most efficient ports in the U.S., ranked No. 44 out of 348, is Virginia Beach. It’s likely not a coincidence that the Virginia Beach port is one of the only ones that includes some automation, which Daggett said the ILA was forced to inherit. The Mobile port ranks No. 238, and five other East Coast ports rank No. 300 or worse, with Savannah, Georgia’s port ranked dead last in the world.
While most people view automation as a way to improve U.S. ports, the ILA would rather destroy it. According to Daggett, “We see the automation that they’re implementing in certain ports and we’re not going to allow that cancer to come here on the East Coast.”
Likening automation to cancer is wrong and short-sighted. Yes, automation can eliminate certain job functions, but it also creates new jobs — usually as many or more than it eliminates. And that includes jobs within the same industry and outside of it.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Moreover, when ports move containers more quickly, they can move more total containers, generating higher revenues that support rising wages and new jobs. And, when goods move more quickly through the supply chain, that translates into lower costs for consumers.
With recent high inflation continuing to pressure household budgets, people cannot afford cost increases and shortages that would likely come from strike-related supply chain disruptions. They should not have to forgo the widespread gains that would come through efficiency-enhancing automation at East Coast ports.
Rachel Greszler is an economist focused on the workforce for the Economic Policy Innovation Center.