U.S. ports continue to make leaps and bounds within the trade sector, increasing overall twenty-foot equivalent units while breaking new ground and records, as seen this year with the Georgia Ports Authority’s recent confirmation of an impressive 4.36 million TUEs for 2018 and projecting a continuation of success for 2019. The port recorded 8 percent growth compared to the 2017 numbers.

Executive Director Griff Lynch cites the combination of cargo expansion and increased U.S. demand with shifting the global logistics arena toward the deepwater terminals in Savannah. The port implemented a strategy focusing on trade in December that was projected to set them up for continued success.

The Connecticut Port Authority claims that efforts toward integrating solutions that fit individual maritime needs are the driving factors behind its growth and successes.

In a detailed report highlighting deepwater port trends, the environment was the first on the list of increased industry concern and priority, which can prove problematic for trucking companies and beneficial for global shippers that anticipate regulation changes before industry competitors do. In 2020, the IMO fuel sulfur regulation will officially change how emissions are handled, ultimately restricting options for those who want to maintain uninterrupted operations. With this regulation change, there will be a 0.5 percent global sulfur limit on fuel emissions.

Proactivity is the driving force behind the success and stability of shippers looking for solutions for sustainability. Seatrade Maritime News presents three options that shippers should take into consideration sooner rather than later: install exhaust gas cleaning systems; purchase fuels within compliance (which are at a higher cost); or run ships on liquid natural gas. Whatever the choice might be, the demand for each of these tangible solutions is bound to increase drastically and change the pace for the global refineries.

“Global refiners will be put under enormous strain by the shifting product slate,” explains the International Energy Agency. “If refiners ran at similar utilization rates to today, they would be unlikely to be able to produce the required volumes of gas oil. If they increased throughputs to produce the required gas oil volumes, margins would be adversely affected by the law of diminishing returns. In order to increase gas oil output, less valuable products at the top and bottom of the barrel would be produced in tandem, which would likely see cracks for these products weaken and weigh margins down.”