thoughtleaders CURTIS J. FOLTZ
were being diverted to the East and Gulf coasts, was there
a point where you became concerned that Savannah had
reached the limits of its ability to handle the new business
and still run its operation?
AEverything has its limits, but you don’t know what those limits are until they’re tested. We saw a tsunami of
diverted and incremental shipments headed to the East Coast
and the Gulf. We’ve never handled anything like that before.
On a normal day, we handle an average of 42,000 containers.
At the peak [of the labor crisis], we had spiked to 60,000 containers a day. I was proud of how we survived the test. I think
“concerned” is too strong a word, but we were aware of what
was going on and actively planning for it on a daily basis.
QHow would you characterize relations with the International Longshoremen’s Association(ILA)?
AWith us here, they’re outstanding.
QIn your view, as you look around the port network, what are the main issues that ports need to put at the
top of their priority list to make productivity improvements
sustainable?
AOn the sea side, we all need to invest in newer and larger container-handling equipment, so we can more efficiently turn the vessels. The second part is to improve the velocity
of the trucker turn times at our terminals. That’s something
we could all improve upon and need to stay focused on. It
is a part of our industry that’s in serious need of attention.
QDoes the introduction of megavessels (ships over 10,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit, or TEU, capacity) put ports
in a more difficult position, with essentially having to live
with whatever the steamship lines bring them?
AOther than water depth and the issues involved in working around it, fewer and larger ships play to our
advantage because of the scalability of our terminal. As you
look around the U.S., however, the ships are causing pretty
severe challenges at ports that have multiple or smaller proprietary terminals and are not set up to handle the increased
throughput and the large surges.
I hear noise in the industry as to how quickly the issue has
become front and center. But this has been a discussion for
five to six years. I think it’s true that the big ships came on a
bit faster than we expected. But for those who weren’t preparing for it five years ago, I blame them more than I blame
the ocean carriers.
QDo you see yourself running another port?
AI don’t see myself running another port. I came here for a lot of reasons. Georgia gets it right, and it was an honor
and pleasure to be here for 12 years. My expectation is that I
will go back to the private sector side, and that’s where I will
spend the rest of my career.
