AAPA’s CEO outlines the challenges and strengths of Western Hemisphere seaports
Q & AThe American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) has collaborated with Green Marine as an association member since they both signed a Memorandum of Understanding in October 2013. The MoU focuses on their mutual goals of advancing environmental protection at Western Hemisphere seaports. AAPA furthermore encourages its seaport membership to seek Green Marine certification if they deem the program beneficial to their sustainability initiatives.
Founded in 1912, AAPA currently represents 140 seaport authorities in the United States, Canada, Latin American and the Caribbean with more than 300 sustaining and associate members, firms and individuals with an interest in seaports. Cary S. Davis, who became AAPA’s new CEO, as well as General Counsel, in October 2023 spoke with Green Marine Magazine’s contributing writer Julie Gedeon at GreenTech 2024.
What prompted you to accept the CEO position after being AAPA’s head of Government Relations since 2019?
It’s simple: port people are great people. The more I get to know the people who make things happen in the port realm, the more I want to represent their industry.
Why so?
It doesn’t take them long to identify problems, but also the root causes and possible solutions. One of my favourite aspects of this job is asking them for ideas. I can’t guarantee all their views will be prioritized in our legislative agenda, but there’s always value to what they’re saying – some aspect we can incorporate in what we advocate for the industry in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere.
What are the biggest challenges facing seaports?
Cost, and financing. Equipment availability at competitive prices. Timeliness in permitting projects. Public dollar procurement restrictions, also known as domestic preference. Grid capacity and electricity availability. I’ve just rattled off several major challenges that I’ve heard being discussed at GreenTech and that we hear from our members daily. I would encourage everyone to read our AAPA and ABS report on the challenges that seaports face in terms of electrification and other approaches to decarbonization.
There have also been the pandemic’s stressors on the supply chain, the “great resignation” that followed, along with the smaller pool of younger workers being sought after by various job opportunities means that has us headed for, if not already in, serious labour shortages within maritime supply chains. AAPA is working to address this in part by using U.S. Department of Labour funding to recruit more apprentices.
How is AAPA staying on top of all these issues on behalf of its membership?
AAPA regularly obtains information directly from port sources on a broad range of industry-related issues and relates it in a straightforward manner. I’m proud to see our gathered data often cited by the industry, the academic community, as well as governmental agencies. AAPA has a step-by-step process for gathering data: it includes thorough fact-checking, technical committee reviews, as well as a legislative policy council through which all major decisions are run so that we really are as broad a voice for our industry as possible.
I’m also proud of the Port Opportunities with Energy, Resilience, and Sustainability (POWERS) program that Ian Gansler, AAPA’s director of Government Relations, manages.
That program has really helped ports to navigate the once-in-a-generation funding being made available to improve supply chain resilience, as well as address climate change issues.
Are you satisfied with the funding to date?
As Jim Walker, a valued AAPA mentor of mine, always said: “We’re grateful, but not satisfied.” There’s a lot more that needs to be done and ports can’t do it on their own.
Do you expect additional funding to be forthcoming to help with decarbonization and other necessary transitions regardless of who may be in power soon?
One data point that I think proves that yes, that will be the case, is that there is now a supply chain caucus in the U.S. Congress that didn’t exist in the past. It’s a bipartisan caucus with moderate members, several of whom are now running for Senate and could soon be in more influential governmental positions. This caucus has resulted from the entire transportation system and supply chain’s stakeholders getting together with Congress members to emphasize our need to have more regular serious conversations about funding and support for the U.S. supply chain.
Some ports and terminals at GreenTech discussed the difficulties of obtaining funding on their own but success in collaborating with others. Is AAPA able to help in this regard?
Absolutely! We are the preeminent meeting place for private industry and public port authorities to get together to compare best practices and priorities, do some business development and possibly deal flow, and to ultimately charter a path forward for collaboration.
You’ve said that U.S. seaports are underappreciated asset. Is that still your view?
A lot of it is relative. Latin American countries are heavily tied to maritime trade and are trying to leverage these ties. Canada has a proud maritime legacy, and ship owners there have significantly invested in renewing their fleets.
And now in the U.S. there’s been unprecedented government funding. And numerous maritime trading corridors are being established. So, yes, seaports are a much more appreciated asset in the Western Hemisphere now.
However, if you look at the larger global competitive trends, including China’s Belt and Road Initiative that will involve huge investments globally, and the ongoing Red Sea Crisis, as well as the role of shipping in decarbonization/energy transition in transportation overall, there’s more to be done to make regular folks aware of the importance of seaports to most everything we have in our lives.
How is AAPA helping its membership to prepare for the future?
The people at ports are doing amazing things. Just look at the boundaries that they are pushing in terms of ports being everything from hubs of historical legacy to places of gathering and showcasing Indigenous art, to mixed-use retail hospitality food and beverage locations, to energy production centres for hydrogen and offshore wind marshalling, to entertainment zones where cruising and tourism passengers can spend more of their time at ports of call and/or between voyages.
Port managers and their staff are rich with innovative ideas.
As a trade association, AAPA always tries to provide a platform for sharing and promoting these ideas and, if it makes sense, to help secure the investments and other resources for their further development.
AAPA noted that the Port of New Orleans, which will be hosting GreenTech 2025, recently set a record in terms of moving containers on barges. What do you regard as the potential by seaports to not only make their own transportation more environmentally friendly, but to help with a modal shift to achieve the necessary decarbonization to slow global warming?
We sometimes forget that most everything of substantial weight or size is moved by water.
I often remind policymakers and many others that the U.S. Capitol itself was built using canals because there was no other way to move those marble stones back in the day. I think there’s greater potential to go back to some of the basic way things used to be transported. I don’t think it’s outlandish at all to have hub-and-spoke models using water transportation or more shortsea shipping routes or to continue to increase barge traffic on our major arterial rivers. At the same time, by the U.S. government’s estimates, international trade by water is expected to increase in our hemisphere in the order of 10-to- 15% over the next 25 years. So, it is imperative for our industry and the economy to accommodate increasing maritime freight, which is what Green Marine is all about: sustainable development with shipping being the cleanest, greenest, safest way to move anything.
Why is it important for AAPA to be a Green Marine Association member?
Plain and simple: Green Marine is the standard for environmental certification in our space.
Part of AAPA’s role as a trade association is to point people in the right direction when it comes to the goals they’re seeking to achieve. I see the representatives of many of our influential ports at GreenTech and that they care deeply about their Green Marine certification and about improving further on their environmental performance.