Page Siplon knows logistics.
The former director of the Georgia Center of Innovation for Logistics has moved to the private sector as CEO of Alpharetta-based TeamOne Logistics, but he’s still in demand as a speaker, especially in the Savannah area.
Thursday at Chemical South Transport in Savannah, Siplon addressed the Georgia Motor Trucking Association, bringing the group up to date on the status of the Savannah port expansion and the impact it’s expected to have on trucking and intermodal freight in the near future.
The $706 million Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, in its first year of construction, will begin dredging at the entrance to the channel, extending it farther out into the ocean; construct dissolved oxygen systems in the river; remove the CSS Georgia, a Civil War-era ironclad from the bottom of the channel; construct a water storage impoundment upriver; and continue environmental monitoring at the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge.
The project is desperately needed, Siplon said, because the Port of Savannah ranks second on the East Coast — and fourth in the country — for containers, having moved some 3.3 million boxes last year.
“It’s also the fastest growing container port in the country,” Siplon said.
“But here’s an important statistic you don’t hear as often: Of all the major container ports in the world, Savannah’s is the shallowest.”
With the deepening, which Siplon said could be complete as early as 2018, the port will undoubtedly experience container growth.
Asked when the port would be able to handle the bigger ships predicted to arrive with the expansion of the Panama Canal, he answered with what has become Georgia Ports director Curtis Foltz’s mantra: They are already here.
“Although we are a shallow port, we are blessed with tides that average as much as 8 feet,” Siplon told the group.
“So the post-Panama ships that are coming through the Suez Canal can make port in Savannah now. They just have to wait for a tide window,” he said, adding that the port already has 48 feet at all its container berths to facilitate loading and unloading.
“It’s definitely not the most efficient solution. When those same ships come in after the deepening is complete, most of them won’t have to wait for high tide — they can sail in and out.”
While the number of ships expected to come in won’t grow substantially, the number of containers will continue to increase as ships become more efficient, he said.
Additional containers will put more stress on an already stressed supply chain, he said. To that end, Siplon had a few predictions for logistics in the future.
“E-commerce will continue to reshape logistics networks. Nationally, infrastructure will remain underfunded and intermodal volumes will continue to grow market share,” he said.
Supply chains, he said, all want to be faster, better, cheaper.
“You can probably do two out of three, but if you are faster and better, it’s not likely you’ll be cheaper. Above all, supply chains have to be reliable,” he said.
Perhaps the most critical issue facing logistics companies today is the driver shortage, Siplon said, adding that the problem is not going away any time soon.
“The truck driver shortage will worsen in 2015,” he said.
“The American Trucking Association estimates some 100,000 new drivers will be needed each year for the next decade,” he said, adding that some of that will be because of industry growth as container volumes increase, but just as much will be because of retirement.
“Truck drivers are getting older,” he said. In 2013, 56 percent were over 45, fewer than 5 percent were under 25 and only 17 percent were in the 25 to 34 age range.”
Companies have to find ways to not only maintain their current employees, they have to find the best ways to engage 25- to 34-year-olds.
“We’ve done a poor job of recruiting young drivers,” Siplon said. “We have to turn that around.”
Speaking of harbor deepening
The first bill to make it through both the Georgia House and Senate in the current legislative session won unanimous support, passing Thursday — just two days shy of the midpoint, Morris News Service reported.
The measure, Senate Bill 5, clarifies legal issues holding up federal funding for the deepening of the Savannah River shipping channel.
“We typically don’t pass senate bills until after crossover, but this is so important,” said Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah.
For most bills, the House and Senate only consider measures proposed by their own members before the 30th day in the 40-day session. That’s because after that day, bills that don’t cross over to the other chamber are effectively dead for the year.
Some side work has begun on the channel deepening, but the bulk of it is yet to start. The bill is necessary to iron out liability issues between the state and federal government.
The Senate also passed the bill without any objections.
Senior business reporter Mary Carr Mayle covers the ports for the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow. She can be reached at 912-652-0324 or at mary.mayle@savannahnow.com.
Following are the ships expected to call on Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City and Ocean terminals this week. Schedules are supplied by GPA and are subject to change.
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