Port of Oakland Bets on its “Location” for Volume and Supply Chain Efficiency

While there's always a lot of news generated at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals' annual conference, the association's regional roundtables are also valued sources of perspective.

Indeed, “location” was the theme at the Northern California CSCMP roundtable featuring Port of Oakland director, Chris Lytle. In his address, he noted that geography will be a differentiator as Oakland competes with other ports for business over the next decade.

“The Port of Oakland's proximity to the Central Valley makes us a vital link in the global agricultural supply chain,” he says. “For our customers—that means greater reliability and reduced travel times through Oakland.”

According to Lytle, importers will find Oakland's location increasingly attractive as the economies of the greater Bay Area, Northern California and even Nevada continue to blossom. More than 80 percent of the port's inbound cargo volume goes to those areas.

As one of the nation's leading export gateways, Oakland's proximity to major California growing centers will continue to benefit agricultural exporters, Lytle says. Already, he pointed out, the port is the preferred outlet to Asia for Central Valley fruits and nuts, Salinas Valley greens, and wines from the entire northern half of the state.

Lytle maintains that more of the food chain will find its way through Oakland, too.

The port is working on a 400,000 sq. ft. “Cool Port” cold storage facility for refrigerated export commodities. This facility, say spokesmen, will strengthen Oakland's role as “America's meat and poultry gateway.”

The port's planned Seaport Logistics Center may also provide beneficial cargo owners (BCOs) with an entirely self-contained “one stop” facility for warehousing and distribution.

Spokesmen contend that the main advantage of the Logistics Center's location is that it will be built adjacent to marine terminals and railyards. This will speed up overall goods movement in Oakland.

Finally, the port's latest supply chain efficiency measure includes permanent night gates Monday-Thursday from 6PM – 3 AM. Implemented by Oakland's largest terminal operator, Oakland International Container Terminal.

Oakland port spokesmen say this option gives truckers greater flexibility while reducing terminal congestion, although some shippers have objected to the added expense.

The terminal also implemented a truck appointment system to improve efficiency. These ideas arose from the Port's Efficiency Task Force which is comprised of maritime stakeholders. Both measures are designed to create greater supply

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