If anyone suggests that performance, or indeed, anything else needs to be measured, then the next obvious question is: what should we count?
There are some fairly obvious candidates: total vessel time in port, the difference between “time in port” and “time at berth”, and crane rates (boxes moved per berth hour).
Metrics that count
As a statement from the World Bank reads: “It [the CPPI] emphasizes total vessel time in port as a key indicator of operational efficiency, which is crucial for understanding the resilience and reliability of global trade”. Although a note of caution is warranted because, as the CPPI points out, ships may stay in port for reasons other than loading or unloading.
Such reasons include staying at anchor or berth because of bad weather, the need for convoys (in security-risky areas), waiting for times, bunkering, repairs and many more.
“To reiterate, a longer time in port is not necessarily a negative indicator for the operations that take place at the berth. At the same time, [all things being equal], ships and cargo incur waiting and inventory holding costs if they have to wait without obtaining any desired additional services. And the latter needs to be included in an indicator of port performance… the purpose of generating and publishing the CPPI is to provide an index of port performance, not of berth performance. And a port can improve its performance if waiting times before berthing are minimized”.
However, the report also adds that, “ultimately, it is the containers moved per berth hour that count, subject to minimizing the difference between time in port and time at berth”.
Oi! You! Pick one!
If one metric and only one metric can be picked, Shipping Australia would opt for total time in port owing to its simplicity and trackability (although even that is tricky – does time at anchor count? What if there is bad weather? and so on).
However, in the modern age, there’s no good reason why they can’t all be counted and published. We believe it would be in the public interest if they were in fact counted, verified, and published freely (both free of charge and freely available) on a public website, such as on a website run by the Commonwealth’s Department of Infrastructure, Transport and the Rest of It.
If a policy maker is looking for a clear, simple, and beneficial policy to implement, ongoing publication of port performance data is one that could be adopted.
