Vancouver Business Journal

The ships are in

It’s been a year since the Port of Vancouver shelled out $3.4 million for a giant mobile harbor crane.

It’s been a year since the Port of Vancouver shelled out $3.4 million for a giant mobile harbor crane.

Partly due to the addition of the crane – the largest of its kind in North America – the port has seen wind energy business boom and most recently, the Pacific Maritime Assoc. added 26 longshore positions to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 4, which provides longshore services to the port.

Business has been so good, in fact, the port will have the Austrian-made Liebherr crane paid off within 15 months of its purchase – much to port officials’ surprise.

And longshore workers couldn’t wait to get their hands on it.

Developing a workforce

By contract – between the ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Assoc. – all operators must be trained on new equipment, but with the Liebherr crane, that wasn’t an issue.

“We all really couldn’t wait to get our hands on it, no doubt about it,” said Cager Clabaugh, president of the ILWU Local 4.

But there was a wait to climb aboard.

Each of the 23 trained crane operators at the port had to receive 40 hours of training on the Liebherr crane before they could run it, and all training was done according to seniority – on top of the steady work that was coming into the port.

As equipment continues to get more complex, the operators grow more and more eager to learn how to use it.

“Anymore, that’s the way it is,” Clabaugh said. “The equipment we’re getting is so nice, we can’t wait. Guys are always rushing to get trained. When the crane came, I was saying ‘Come on – get me trained.’”

For some of the lower-ranking operators, it was nearly three months before they could begin training.

The Pacific Maritime Assoc. paid for crane training, which was done by two of Local 4’s senior crane operators who were interested in becoming trainers.  

Longshore workers are not employed by the port, but the port tenants. ILWU Local 4 exists because the port exists, and Local 4 has a contract with the port to provide their services. On average, longshore workers at the Port of Vancouver earn about $60,000 annually.

Liebherr sent technicians from Austria to train the two senior crane operators, and once they were certified, they began training other operators according to rank and file.

Clabaugh said there is certification training available to work with skilled equipment, but the majority of longshore worker training is on-the-job.

There is no designated apprenticeship program in place, but training has gotten more formal over the years.

Training is essential with the bigger, faster, more-specialized equipment because with it comes increased safety and far less damage to cargo, he said.

Because longshore work is specialized and there are few jobs to be had, there is concern about the fate of the industry if and when the forecasted worker shortage shows itself.

Jonathan Eder, the port’s Human Resources manager, said that a partnership between local colleges and employers would be beneficial.

Demonstrating a need

There are now 201 registered longshore workers at Local 4 – a nearly 14 percent increase over last year.

Alastair Smith, senior director of marketing and operations at the port, said the addition is unprecedented. Normally, the union receives one to four workers at a time.

Clabaugh points to the crane: “This was basically done with no substantial improvements to the port with the exception of getting that crane,” he said. “It’s attracted cargos that make up a large portion of our man hours.”

The wind energy cargo brought by Vestas, a leading wind turbine manufacturer, makes up half of the workers’ man hours – a huge shot in the arm, he said.

Last year, with one wind energy project, workers were able to load more than 1,000 trucks with windmill components. This year, the port expects to load more than 4,000.

Large projects consist of as many as 120 windmills, each with about nine enormous components.

But Smith said there’s more to it.

To secure more workers, the port had to show PMA the increased work is sustainable, not just a temporary spike.

To guarantee that, port officials secured rare long-term contracts with eight key breakbulk customers – a rarity in the shipping business, Smith said.

Star Shipping, Saga Forest Carriers, Swire Shipping, SK Shipping, STX Pan Ocean, Hyundai Merchant Marine, New Zealand Lumber Shippers all negotiated five-year contracts, and Vestas signed a three-year contract.

The contracts guarantee that the port will provide space for the customers to unload in exchange for all of their business.

Smith, a shipping veteran, said normal contracts for the breakbulk sector are for a year.

To secure the contracts, the port had to make the commitment to upgrade its infrastructure.

It revamped the docks at terminals two and three, and it now has 700,000 square feet of covered warehouse space – important for breakbulk. The Port of Vancouver receives 90 percent of the nondedicated breakbulk cargo that makes its way down the Columbia River.

And there’s the crane – popular with shippers because of its speed and accuracy.

“Employers tell us all the time – if the ship’s not moving, it’s not making any money,” Clabaugh said.

In the notoriously territorial industry, Smith said the port went out on a limb in showing PMA its wind energy forecast, but ultimately decided the benefits would outweigh any risks.

“If you don’t share your information, cargo’s going to come and there’s going to be no one to unload it,” he said.

With the renewable-energy initiatives that recently passed in Washington and Oregon and are being discussed nationally, Smith is confident the port will see a tremendous amount of wind-energy business in the future.

Clabaugh said with the Liebherr crane, the port has created a niche for itself.

“Marine cargo is really busting at the seams,” Clabaugh said. “Shippers are looking for ports and they’re all congested.”

A second crane will be under discussion at the next budget session, but there is a giant question mark as to whether the port would be able to sustain a second large mobile harbor crane.