SHENZHEN (OCTOBER 14, 2015) – Changing the way we think is necessary to help ease some of the congestion issues at ports, according to Andy Lane, partner at CTI Consultancy.

"An improvement journey is required and in order to start that improvement journey, we need to have a little bit of a change in mindset and beliefs," said Lane, who was speaking at the TPM Asia conference in Shenzhen. "If we believe that we are already operating at maximum efficiency, then there is no reason to think about trying to improve, because we've already convinced ourselves that we cannot."

Lane said he didn't think that the increasing size of container ships is the main cause of port congestion.

"What I think causes the cargo surge is the collective mentality that, apparently in East China and South China, you're only allowed to berth ships between Friday and Sunday," he said. "Of course, the terminals are open, but there is this mentality that unless you offer an end-week closing, you will not fill your ship."

Lane added that this phenomenon is actually not just experienced in China.

"Every port in the world on the East-West trade lanes suffers from the end-week peak surge closing," he said. "So this is man-made."

Once we believe that there is room to improve, we need to start the conscious process of systematically improving through business performance management and closer collaboration among ports, terminals, lines and shippers, Lane said.

By Jeffrey Lee

Asia Cargo News