Title

Innovation: Global Trade and inland waterways/a new paradigm in international and domestic freight movement

Speakers

Sandy Sanders, Executive Director, Plaquemines Port Harbor and Terminal District

Sal Litrico, CEO, American Patriot Holdings

Takeaways

This session focused on Plaquemines Port Harbor and Terminal District (PPHTD), located at the mouth of the Mississippi River and providing water access to 33 states, and American Patriot Holdings (APH), which has designed a vessel that can provide domestic inland transportation that competes with trucking and rail.  

• APH’s vessel was designed to exceed Six Major Elements necessary for success
• Reliability
• Cost efficiency
• Speed
• Cargo Payload
• Safety and Environmentally Friendly
• Cargo Flexibility
• Combined benefits: substantial cost savings for mid-America shippers, improved reliability, enhanced operational safety, and reduced environmental impact.
• There have been recent shifts in trade patterns. There is growing demand for increased commodity containerization. Alliances are pooling assets and slots to improve vessel utilization. The expectation is that terminals will improve productivity.
• A new logistics system is required to take advantage of the expansion of the larger Panama Canal and Suez Canal.
• PPHTD and APH are partnering with Midwest ports through Memorandums of Understanding. They’re working on Sister Port arrangements with joint marketing initiatives. They are working to build strong relationships as the ports are not competing against each other.
• They are ultimately working to create long-term partnerships to ensure long-term logistic competitiveness and mutual success.