Invest in People over Robotics
Around the globe, ocean carriers and terminal operators are aggressively pushing automation and artificial intelligence into ports and logistics hubs. These investments are often sold to the public as progress, faster cargo, cleaner terminals, higher productivity. But beneath the glossy presentations and consultant reports lies a far more troubling reality. Job killing technologies are hollowing out our communities, distorting productivity metrics, and threatening the economic foundation of future generations.
This is not an anti technology argument. Dockworkers, logistics workers, and transport workers have always adapted to change. Containerization itself was a massive technological leap, and labor evolved with it. The difference today is intent. Much of the current push for automation is not about safety, resilience, or efficiency. It is about removing people from the equation altogether.
The Productivity Myth
One of the most misleading claims used to justify full or semi automation is higher productivity. But productivity compared to what, and under what conditions.
Automated terminals are frequently benchmarked against pure transshipment hubs, where cargo is discharged from one vessel and loaded directly onto another. These terminals do not deal with truck gates. They do not manage local logistics. They do not handle chassis pools, rail interfaces, or appointment systems. They do not face the same regulatory, customs, or labor environments.
Comparing those terminals to gateway ports that serve domestic economies is fundamentally dishonest.
A gateway terminal must process tens of thousands of truck moves per day. Rail intermodal connections. Local distribution networks. Real time human problem solving when systems fail.
When productivity is measured purely as moves per crane hour or boxes per acre, the human complexity of these operations is ignored. You are not comparing like with like. You are comparing two completely different business models.
There has never been a comprehensive, independent global study measuring productivity that accounts for truck gate congestion, labor reliability, equipment downtime, cyber vulnerability, weather disruptions, and system overrides required in automated environments.
Until that happens, claims of superior productivity remain selective statistics designed to justify labor elimination.
The Astronomical Cost of Automation
Fully automated terminals require billions of dollars in capital expenditure. Automated stacking cranes. Automated guided vehicles. Complex software ecosystems. Redundant power and data infrastructure. Cybersecurity systems to defend against constant threats.
This is not cheap, and those costs do not disappear.
To recoup these investments, companies inevitably look for one thing. Cutting labor costs. Jobs are eliminated. Headcounts shrink. Skills are devalued. Communities that once supported middle class families are left with fewer pathways to economic stability.
Meanwhile, these same companies report record profits, quarter after quarter, year after year.
At some point, a serious question must be asked. When is it enough.
The Role of Port Authorities and the Cost of Doing Business
Port Authorities also play a major role in hurting our industry and our communities.
Take the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, as an example. This agency is supposed to function as a landlord port authority. Instead, through recent terminal lease agreements, it has positioned itself as a financial burden that directly threatens volume growth and competitiveness in the region.
Today, the price of operating in the Port of New Jersey is now approaching two billion dollars. On top of that, Marine Terminal Operators are responsible for berth repairs, purchasing all cargo handling equipment, and funding every capital improvement necessary to expand or modernize a terminal.
These costs are not absorbed in a vacuum.
They do not just hurt the hardworking men and women of the ILA. They hurt the citizens and consumers who live in our state and our region.
This is a highly competitive global business. When the cost of doing business in the Port of New York and New Jersey becomes a major disadvantage compared to other ports, freight does not disappear. It simply moves elsewhere.
That cargo is then railed or trucked back into our state and region.
And who absorbs that cost.
The citizens. The daily consumers. Families already struggling with inflation, rising housing costs, and higher prices for basic goods.
Poor port policy does not punish corporations. It punishes people.
The Social Consequences No One Wants to Talk About
Some tech leaders, including Elon Musk, openly talk about a future built on Universal Basic Income, suggesting that mass automation will require governments to support displaced workers indefinitely.
But this vision ignores a basic truth. People want dignity, purpose, and the ability to provide for their families, not dependency.
Commerce may continue to move, but who will be buying the products if millions can no longer earn a living wage. What happens to local tax bases, public schools, small businesses, housing markets, and generational skills passed down through families.
A society where people are consumers but not contributors is not progress. It is managed decline.
Invest in People Not Replacement
There is a better path forward.
Technology should assist workers, not replace them. Improve safety, not eliminate jobs. Enhance efficiency without destroying livelihoods. Keep human decision making at the center of operations.
Automation that removes workers entirely increases cyber risk, system fragility, national security vulnerabilities, and operational failures during crises.
Human workers provide adaptability, judgment, and resilience that no algorithm can replicate.
A Call to Action
We cannot stick our heads in the sand and pretend this problem will solve itself. It will not.
Workers everywhere must unite across borders and industries. Demand transparency in how productivity is measured. Push for independent studies on the economic and social impact of job killing technologies. Hold legislators and port authorities accountable for protecting jobs, communities, and regional competitiveness.
Ports are not just industrial assets. They are economic lifelines.
The decisions being made today will determine what kind of society we leave to future generations.
This moment demands courage.
This moment demands unity.
Our time is now!
Submitted by:
Dennis A. Daggett