Attending the AAPA 2021 Annual Convention & Expo September 26-29 gives you the added benefit of exploring the city of Austin, Texas. Take this opportunity to jump back into all the engaging travel experiences you have been missing.

Discover all that Austin has to offer at www.austintexas.org for resources to help plan your full convention travel experience. Register for the AAPA 2021 Annual Convention & Expo today at www.aapaAustin2021.org. We look forward to seeing you there!

 

If you are planning to register five or more attendees for the Annual Convention, make sure you take advantage of an exclusive Ports Day group discount AAPA is offering through the end of April! Visit the Ports Day Membership Center for more info.

AAPA’s Annual Awards – the port industry’s foremost recognition program – are designed to highlight premier best practices throughout the Western Hemisphere. Just as AAPA has refreshed its brand to reflect a new era, the association’s awards have been reimagined as well. Renamed the AAPA Lighthouse Awards, our goal is to recognize the best port programs and projects that stand as a beacon of excellence across the industry. Now incorporated into one prestigious awards program, the Lighthouse Awards will acknowledge excellence in four disciplines:

AAPA will begin accepting entries on May 1, 2021, for all categories and will close the application period on June 1, 2021. Judges will evaluate nominations and present the Lighthouse Awards of Excellence at the AAPA Annual Convention & Expo, September 26-29 in Austin, TX. Review the steps below and begin preparing your submissions!

1. Review application guidelines via the individual Submittable links above to become familiar with nomination criteria such as eligibility, project timeframe, required and supplementary materials.
2. Speak with your port leadership and determine which organizational accomplishments you will highlight in your awards applications.
3. Gather all the information needed for your application. Reports, data, pictures, graphs, and other visuals help tell the story of your project to competition judges. Remember to complete the 2021 PowerPoint slide template.
4. Submit full application and pay application fee online through the above Submittable links by the deadline: June 1, 2021.

 

AAPA and the International Association of Maritime and Port Executives (IAMPE) held a highly successful Marine Terminal Management Training (MTMT) – Part 1, virtual event, last week. This informative program hosted 46 participants and received enthusiastic feedback from the attendees. AAPA is excited to announce MTMT – Part 2, in-person training, June 28-30 in Miami, FL. Visit the MTMT – Part 2 event webpage to register today. Be sure to make your hotel reservation by the June 6 deadline to receive the group rate.

AAPA and NearshoreNetworks will host a webinar on Weather Response Through A Single Source of Truth on Wednesday, May 5, at 2:00 p.m. EDT. NearshoreNetworks is an AAPA member focused on global maritime services with a team of engineers constantly vetting new technologies searching for operational efficiency and safety improvement for maritime port and fleet operators. Researching various weather tools available revealed the accuracy and response effectiveness has remained unimproved for years. NearshoreNetworks introduces Tomorrow.io in this educational webinar as changing the way we plan for and respond to weather to impact productivity, safety and action that AAPA members should know about.

CONSOR Engineers LLC (CONSOR) is a hybrid engineering and commercial diving firm. Over the 29 years, it has evolved into a nationwide structural inspection and engineering firm both above and below water, performing waterfront facilities inspections, as well as protection, repair and rehabilitation design.

In an AJOT interview, Derek Chow, deputy director, Hawaii Department of Transportation, Harbors Division, discusses a strategy that the state of Hawaii is pursuing with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study the construction of a lock and dam system for the Honolulu Harbor ship channel entrances to combat rising sea levels.

On Earth Day, the Port of Los Angeles released an ecological study that shows high biodiversity and thriving marine life in San Pedro Bay. The study confirms the port’s environment initiatives to protect water quality and critical habitat while operating a commercial port can coexist and flourish. Port Tampa Bay and the Propeller Club of Tampa Bay joined forces to sponsor Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful’s inaugural event, the first-annual “Great Port Clean-up” on Earth Day, to remove trash and marine debris from several sites in and around the port.

The Port of Long Beach announced a new sublease agreement with SpaceX (Space Explorations Technologies Corp.) to provide the company with a marine terminal for its West Coast rocket recovery operations. “This is a good fit for the port, as we offer the industry-leading facilities and services that are perfectly suited to SpaceX’s mission,” said Mario Cordero, executive director of the Port of Long Beach. “I would like to commend our port team, especially our real estate division, for developing this agreement with SpaceX.”

Securing grants is one of the optimum ways to finance port projects. And there are a lot out there with just that purpose. The first steps to accessing those funds are knowing what’s available and having the know-how and personnel who can fulfill all of the requirements needed to secure them.

The Port of Tacoma is dedicated to enhancing the environment by managing stormwater runoff, a leading cause of water quality pollution. Learn more about the port's stormwater improvement projects to remediate pollutants at the source, before reaching its waterways.

The Northwest Seaport Alliance welcomes MSC's Santana service to Tacoma Harbor beginning in May. The MSC Nerissa will call Tacoma's Husky Terminal as part of its Yantian – Shanghai – Tacoma – Yantian rotation. "The Tacoma Harbor has welcomed many extra-loader MSC vessels over the past few months, providing relief from congestion at other ports and further showing that our gateway has the capacity to meet growing demand now and in the future," NWSA's co-chair and Port of Tacoma Commission President Dick Marzano stated.

The Port of Corpus Christi has joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Green Power Partnership as part of its ongoing commitment to the port’s leadership role as an environmental steward in the Coastal Bend. The EPA’s Green Power Partnership seeks to reduce the negative health impacts of air emissions through the use of renewable energy. The close of 2020 marked Port of Corpus Christi’s third consecutive year operating on 100% renewable energy.

The Port of Baltimore reported autos, roll on/roll off farm and construction equipment and containers had significant gains last month. With 58,032 units in March 2021, autos and light trucks showed a 229% increase compared to its low point in May 2020 during the pandemic. The Northwest Seaport Alliance handled a total of 330,175 TEUs in March, growing 25% compared to March 2020. Full imports increased 66.5%, while full exports decreased 11.6%. Year-to-date volumes improved 11.8% to 881,794 TEUs, with full imports growing 27.5% and full exports declining 12.8%.

Port of San Diego’s director of information technology, Tracey Sandberg, has been recognized by the San Diego Business Journal as a Woman of Influence in Technology. This distinction recognizes trail-blazing women executing on their companies’ goals and pushing their businesses forward. She is featured in the San Diego Business Journal’s April 26 special report on technology.