For the third year, Realm is a proud Diamond Sponsor of the Georgia Foreign Trade Conference (GFTC) in Sea Island, Ga. The three-day conference is a time for us to reconnect with our client partner, the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA), and meet other key decision makers in the industry. One of the greatest opportunities is to get a pulse for the shipping industry and see how others are weathering the economic climate.

Just as UPS is an economic indicator for the United States government, the GPA represents a similar perspective for Realm and our other client partners in the transportation space. The GFTC gives us an unedited glimpse of what shippers, 3PLs, truckers and railroads have been experiencing globally over the last year, and the opportunity for industry leaders to share their visions for the year ahead. This provides us with valuable information we can share with other client partners going into 2010, enabling us to help them see opportunity and avoid pitfalls.

Here are the 2010 GFTC highlights:

•  Governor Sonny Perdue gave a riveting address that not only explained why GPA is vital to Georgia’s economy but to the entire Southeast economic recovery effort. He explained that perseverance and unwavering support from Georgia’s leadership has been a huge part in moving GPA from the sixth to the fourth largest port in the United States. Governor Perdue also congratulated Doug Marchand, former GPA executive director, on his 15 years of service and being voted “Georgian of the Year” by Georgia Trend Magazine.

•  Dr. Walter Kimmsies, chief economist from Moffat & Nichol, gave an in-depth view of the world economy and his personal view of how the shipping industry has been affected and influences the global marketplace. He spoke to three clear themes:

1. The U.S. economic state is being hampered by a weakened financial system and global imbalances driven by China.
2. Trends remain steady but the U.S. needs more exports to balance trade.
3. Bulk container volume could exceed volume growth as emerging markets economies mature.

All three themes have been evident in prior years, but after more than 20 billion dollars in reported losses, attendees seemed especially interested in the 2010 forecast.

The results: The consensus was that container volume could and hopefully, should return to 2007 volumes by 2012 providing that the financial systems stabilize, China moderates it’s currency stance and there are further removal of trade barriers.

•  Another great presentation at the conference was the expansion update of the new Panama Canal given by the Panama Canal Authority CEO Alberto Aleman Zubieta. Fascinating is the word that comes to mind about this topic. The shear volume of earth moved in the various excavation projects is beyond words. The planning and coordination of such a huge project is daunting.

After 2014, shippers will be able to ship cargo from Asia to the East and West coasts in nearly the same amount of time. The ports of Savannah and Brunswick will greatly benefit from this innovation since both ports enjoy easy and timely road and rail access to more of 70 percent of the U.S. population within 24 hours.

Many ports along the East coast and Gulf are expanding capacity in order to accommodate the larger Post-Panamax vessels. Channel dredging, container field expansion and heavy lift equipment upgrades are just a few of the appropriations being made to get ready for the larger ships. GPA expansion projects along with the Panama Canal completion will increase port throughput from its current capacity of 2.62 TEUs to 6 million TEUs by 2018.

All in all, having the opportunity to stay abreast of the shipping industry and look forward to industry opportunities allows us to make better decisions about our own business and help direct our client partners. We hope to be in attendance and a key sponsor of the GFTC for years to come.
 

For more information about the 2010 GFTC, click here.