"Every two years since 1984, AAPA has assembled a top-notch program of speakers and activities designed specifically for port facility engineers," said Kurt Nagle, AAPAs president and CEO.  "This one promises to be one of the best and most comprehensive to date, covering the hottest topics in port facility design and laying the groundwork for future marine terminal and equipment operations."

Examples abound as to the diversity of the engineering topics that the seminar will cover.  Day one of the business program includes a two-part transportation logistics panel, exploring the effectiveness of various freight mobility alternatives and then discussing the port impacts of three significant freight-handling developments: the Panama Canal expansion projects, Americas Marine Highway initiative (a.k.a., short-sea shipping) and land bridge shipping (moving goods long distances overland before or after they are loaded to/unloaded from ships).  The day will conclude with a discussion of two award-winning port engineering case studies and the strategy being used by four Bay-area California ports to prioritize security projects on a regional basis to improve their chances of winning federal Port Security Grant dollars.

Day two will begin with a presentation on the use and benefits of public-private partnerships to finance port authority marine terminal development.  The session will be followed by a group of experts, led by Virginia Port Authority Chief Engineer Jeff Florin, who will focus on port automation trends, which, until recently, have generally been relegated to automated gate operations in the Americas.  But, as Mr. Florin will point out, the recent opening of the APM Terminal in Portsmouth, Va., is a clear signal that all of that is about to change.  The afternoon sessions will cover the significant challenges that ports worldwide are likely to face in responding and adapting to climate change impacts, and a look at integrating landside operations with new marine terminal cranes that can simultaneously lift two 40-foot-long shipping containers.

The seminars final two sessions on Nov. 9 will cover new design standards for port infrastructure that go beyond conventional building codes to address continuing operation of critical facilities following major earthquakes, and containing spiraling costs related to materials, equipment, labor and insurance when designing and constructing marine terminals.

For more information, please send your e-mails to swm@infothe.com.

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