Halifax port weighs robots versus longshoremen with unions unhappy

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By Andrew Rankin

Things are about to get a whole lot busier at Halifax’s two container terminals.

Both are owned by Portugal-based PSA International Pte Ltd., the world’s largest port operator. Its plan is ambitious. In the next couple of years, it intends to handle twice the number of containers here, Daniel Ramos, commercial manager at PSA Halifax operations, said. That would mean 1.2 million containers a year.

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But there’s a fight brewing over who or what will do the work.

Hundreds of dockworkers in Halifax are nervous. The union representing them believes their jobs are in jeopardy and the company is intent on bringing in robots to replace them.

Ramos wouldn’t say whether there are plans to automate Halifax’s port operations, but, globally, PSA has already embraced automation. It already boasts the world’s largest automated container terminal at the Tuas Port in Singapore.

So far, Halifax has bucked the trend. People run the machinery that offloads cargo from container ships. Kevin Piper, president of the Halifax International Longshoremen’s Association, wants to keep it that way.

A few months ago, Halifax PSA chief executive Jan Van Mossevelde told the union about its plans to handle more shipping containers, Piper said. But there was no mention of bringing on board more workers.

“He wants to double the volume and wants to keep the workforce at the same level,” Piper said. “Our position is if you’re going to double the volume, then the workforce should also double.”

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Right now, the cranes that move containers have a cab with a person inside. Some newer rail-mounted yard gantries used to stack containers have built-in artificial intelligence and anti-collision systems, and can automatically sense the weight of the load. They also work any time of day or night and don’t require overtime pay.

They are showing up more in ports around the world. All 10 of the largest container ports in the United States are using some form of automation technology to process and handle cargo, according to the U.S. government. An International Transport Forum study in 2021 said around 90 per cent of current dock work might disappear by 2040 due to automation.

Piper believes that if the company has its way, the port will effectively be run by robots. That means good-paying jobs will disappear, along with the other spinoffs to the local economy.

“Once they start introducing semi-automated machinery, where does it end? That’s our concern in Halifax,” he said.

The union has launched a public advocacy campaign: Robots Don’t … Port Workers Do. It includes a website that aims to stir up people in the city where dockworkers spend their pay and get them to pressure elected officials to hit the pause button on PSA’s automation plans.

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Automation has been going on for years in the industry, and it’s here to stay, said Jean-Paul Rodrigue, a professor of maritime business administration at Texas A&M University, whose expertise is in maritime shipping, port operations and supply chains. He said the trend is accelerating, as bigger ships are deployed.

“There’s pressure on terminal productivity and automation is a way to address that,” he said.

Ports compete for shipping lines’ business and margins are tight. Rodrigue said that an automated terminal generally decreases the number of people needed by about 20 per cent.

The transition creates administrative jobs and there’s still work to be had watching the cranes, typically one supervisor for four machines, he said.

But unions fear many of the cranes will be run remotely.

Rodrigue said he sympathizes with Halifax’s dockworkers and others up against the same technological forces. That includes over 40,000 longshoremen in U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports who went on strike Tuesday.

For months, the International Longshoremen’s Association threatened to shut down 36 ports if employers, such as container ship operator Maersk A/S and its APM Terminals North America, did not deliver significant wage increases and stop terminal automation projects.

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The professor said terminal owners are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

“If you don’t, you start having an impact on your productivity, on your competitiveness,” Rodrigue said. “That’s why most terminal operators in the world, particularly in North America, are treading cautiously. But pretty much all of them have plans for automation down the line. That’s where it’s going; technology is maturing. It’s available, it’s productive and it’s efficient.”

The big picture boils down to the competitiveness of the Canadian economy, he said.

“It’s (the) ability to accommodate these ships,” he said. “If you don’t do that, the U.S. will say thank you.”

• Email: arankin@postmedia.com

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