Automate our ports for the good of us all

Any time a business is at the rock bottom of a worldwide report analyzing operating efficiency, it's time to take stock, wouldn't you say?

For instance, the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles found themselves in the absolute last two positions in the World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence's 370-member Container Port Performance Index for 2021.

It's true that United States ports in general tend to be less efficient than other giant ports in Europe and Asia especially, and that New York, New Jersey and Oakland were all in the bottom half of the global list.

But there's the bottom half and then there's dead last. Everyone involved, from management to (extremely highly paid) longshore workers, should be given pause by the simple facts at hand.

Instead, management gets defensive and has quibbles with the methodology of the report, and dock workers as usual scream bloody murder about the very idea of automation that makes other ports around the world so much more efficient and less expensive to places in which to unload goods.

As everyone in Southern California saw during the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer demand for goods during the stay-at-home lockdowns were at least partially responsible for a massive backup at the ports, with dozens of giant freighters anchored offshore waiting weeks at a time to unload.

As Bloomberg and staffer Donna Littlejohn reported this month, “Maritime transport moves more than 80% of global merchandise by volume; even before the COVID-19 outbreak, ports were already handling more cargo, which pushed those with weaker infrastructure to `the limits of their capacity,' said S&P Global Market Intelligence Associate Director Turloch Mooney, one of the authors of the report.”

That's why the Pacific Maritime Association Automation released a report touting new automation projects that “will enable West Coast ports to remain competitive, facilitate growth in both cargo and jobs, and reduce greenhouse gasemissions, according to a new study by Dr. Michael Nacht, Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley,

and former Assistant Secretary of Defense, and Larry Henry, founder of ContainerTrac, Inc.”

The study found that in the few small experiments with automation here along the lines of what foreign ports do, “cargo handling was accelerated, terminal capacity was expanded and longshore work was generated `significantly faster' there than at conventional terminals.”

While the rest of the entire world appropriately rushes to automation in the name of efficiency, the artificially tiny membership of the local ports' dock worker unions pushes back. The report is “a self-serving document by one party to a labor contract, and even worse (it) is an insult to all workers who have seen their jobs outsourced to machines.”

That latter bit would be a point worth hearing — if it were true. All of us who work, from supermarket checkers to even lawyers and other formerly lucrative jobs involving human labor and intellect, have reasons for concern when it comes to being replaced by automation and by artificial intelligence algorithms.

In this case, though, in fact, the study shows that the dock workers at the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles very much stand to gain from automation. In the two small-scale experiments in automation that have been allowed here in our ports, “Paid ILWU hours at the two automated terminals rose 31.5%, more than twice the 13.9% growth rate at the nonautomated terminals. The registered ILWU workforce in Los Angeles and Long Beach grew 11.2% compared to 8.4% for the other 27 West Coast ports.”

Technology replaces old-fashioned stevedore-type jobs with other work. It does not eliminate jobs or workers. “Leading ports in Rotterdam, Singapore, and along China's coast are technological marvels that fuel world trade,” the report said. “For its size, the United States lags behind the number of automated terminals and cargo volume handled by them.”

Let's join the modern world and automate the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles for the sake of American supply-chain efficiency, for growing the Southern California economy and for creating more jobs for our workers.

Proposed tax to fund affordable housing

Re “Voters to decide tax on $5M homes” (June 16):

Another tax to help alleviate homelessness. Taxpayers with homes valued at $5 million plus are not responsible for homelessness. So why tax them? What happened to the $1.2 billion raised on HHH in Los Angeles?

The funds just seem to dissipate or excuses are made for its failure. This tax on homelessness will go the same way as similar endeavors, special groups associated with the disbursement of funds (politicians and their supporters) will benefit while the homeless will continue to sleep in the street.

This is just another liberal measure to punish those who have accumulated wealth by spreading it, supposedly, to others.

Jan. 6 protest

Re “Jan. 6 protest could have been prevented by House” (Letters, June 15):

It's unconscionable that the newspaper would print a letter that contains disinformation about the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The claim that then President Trump recommended to Nancy Pelosi that she authorize the deployment of 20,000 troops to provide security at the Capitol is not true, and there is not a shred of evidence that it is.

One would presume that such a request was made in an email, at least.

If, in fact, Trump made such a request, Pelosi did not have the power to reject it. Pelosi was no more in charge of Capitol security than Mitch McConnell was. This was just another attempt by Trump to shift blame and downplay the attack on the Capitol, which he claims was “peaceful” and “lawful.”

After so much evidence has and will be presented that proves Trump and his cult planned a coup and more, there are still sheeple following him.

Ranked-choice primaries are not a solution

Re “Top-two primary tweaks suggested” (June 15):

You ran a piece bemoaning the poor voter turnout for the primaries, and it suggested that a ranked-choice system might be better.

I see two problems. After one week, we still don't know the exact results of the voting in our simple primary in which each voter had to pick a single candidate for an office.

Just how long would it take to tabulate the ranked choices and determine winners? Further, if ranked-choice is supposed to be a solution to low voter turnout while at the same time demanding even more of the relatively-uninterested voter, just how?

Jan. 6 House hearings

The hearings of the House committee investigating the

Jan. 6 Capitol attack gives me new hope that the authorities in charge will actually finally do something about the crimes committed during that horrific day.

It's been 21/2 years now since Trump initiated this violent coup attempt, and so far he seems to have gotten away with it, without any repercussions.

There have been arrests and convictions for this crime, but these have been only for the foot soldiers who were whipped up into the insurrection frenzy by the main criminal Donald Trump.

Until Trump himself is held accountable for his crimes against the state and punished with a prison term, our democracy is in deep peril, setting the stage for future attempts by tyrants to reverse lawful elections without any fear of retribution.

Drug war

Re “Now is the time to end the failed War on Drugs” (June 17):

Immediate incarceration with no amenities in jail is the sentence that should be given to drug dealers both those supplying the drugs and those selling the drugs.

So many individuals at a young age lose their lives because they are struggling with becoming adults and are very vulnerable and feel the need to feel good fast.

So sad that money plays a big part in keeping this roller coaster going.