10 Minutes With … Jim McCarville
The Waterways Journal
25 April 2011
By Tom Gladders
Special Contributor To The Waterways Journal
James McCarville has served as executive director of the Port of
Pittsburgh since 1994. He previously served as executive director of
the Port of Superior, Wis. (1977–84), and Richmond, Va. (1984–90). As a
port consultant (1990–93), he advised the governments of Brazil,
Uruguay and Mexico on matters concerning port organization, operational
efficiency and privatization and, for the governments of the United
States and Panama, he was one of two permanent experts hired to develop
the strategic transition plan for the transfer of the Panama Canal.
Pittsburgh is the nation’s second-largest inland river port, serving 12
southwestern Pennsylvania counties; 200 river miles on the Ohio,
Allegheny and Monongahela rivers; 17 sets of locks and dams; and 200
privately owned river facilities. Annual tonnage runs from 30 million
to 40 million tons a year, bringing an estimated $800 million in
economic benefits to the region.
In the past 17 years, McCarville has secured significant federal funds
for rebuilding aging infrastructure in the Port of Pittsburgh and
developed new technologies for river transportation. Among these is
“SmartLock,” for which the port obtained a patent. He was a moving
force in creating the “SmartRivers” conferences, a benchmarking
exercise for U.S. and European inland ports. After SmartRivers 2011, to
be held in September in New Orleans, the conference will be picked up
by PIANC International to benchmark best river transportation practices
worldwide.
McCarville has been active on the boards of numerous national
waterways-related groups over the years, including Waterways Council
Inc. and the National Waterways Conference, and serving as a past
president of Inland Rivers Ports & Terminals. In 2007 he was
elected eastern region vice-president of PIANC-USA.
A native of Wisconsin, McCarville is a graduate of Regis College in
Denver and holds advanced degrees in foreign service from Georgetown
University and urban studies from Roosevelt University, Chicago.
WJ: Growing up in Wisconsin, did you have a mentor or two? What
life lessons did they impart?
McCarville: My best coaches were my father and mother. He was a
focused engineer and she was an eclectic writer, one a Republican and
one a Democrat. They might switch sides from time to time, to vote for
the best person, but it wasn’t unusual for them to switch at the same
time. What I learned from them was that it was OK for me to make up my
own mind, but to always respect the person who holds the opposite view.
WJ: Pittsburgh has been transformed over the past 30 years from
an industrial powerhouse to a city focused on finance, medical
services, research and innovation. How has the port changed over this
period? How does it continue to contribute to the economy of
southwestern Pennsylvania?
McCarville: Perhaps surprisingly, except for this recent
downturn, the Port of Pittsburgh has grown consistently over the years.
The Clean Air Act, requiring coal blending, was a big boon to the
tonnage. But, credit is also due to the entrepreneurs who took over old
steel yards and converted them into waterway-oriented industrial parks.
Now those same entrepreneurs are looking at coal exports and new
cargoes related to the natural gas developments with the Marcellus
Shale. According to an economic impact study done by Martin Associates,
the waterways support 45,000 direct jobs in transportation,
manufacturing and logistics. Today the port is engaged not only in
promoting transportation, but in promoting new technologies and best
practices as well.
WJ: How do you foresee the outlook for infrastructure investment
on the inland waterways system given the current budget issues facing
Congress and the administration?
McCarville: It’s a cultural problem, it runs deep and it is
contrary to the traditions that have made us what we are. People once
believed that good infrastructure and good transportation led to
prosperity. I wish we still did. Today, we are not even maintaining the
infrastructure that a short time ago was touted as the envy of the
world. The same complaint might go for much of our electrical grid,
underground water pipes and sewage disposal systems. If we wait for
everything to fall apart, we may never be able to fix it. So, until we
wake up, I am in the pessimistic camp for improving our waterway
infrastructure. …But we have to wake up!
WJ: Citing budget pressures, the Corps of Engineers recently
reduced operational hours at several locks on the Allegheny. Will this
have a material effect on the port’s operations or a negative impact on
the image of the port in attracting new industry?
McCarville: When the Corps learned they would have to make operations
and maintenance cuts on the Allegheny River, they spent a lot of time
with industry and with recreational boaters to minimize the operational
impacts. Not everyone was happy, but the cargo will be able to get
through, even if it requires appointments. “Rec” users will have some
weekend activities curtailed. Two of the uppermost locks, with little
to no commercial traffic, will be put in “caretaker status.” For
practical purposes, they will be closed. Armstrong County commissioners
are investigating a “voluntary Corps,” to assist in the grass cutting
and limited operations, but it will require resolution of legislative
and liability issues. This limited reduction in hours of operations,
however, does not scare me nearly as much as the cuts to maintenance
throughout the system. With virtually no maintenance on the Allegheny
and grossly inadequate maintenance on many other rivers, are we
creating problems for generations to come. And next year it may be a
river near you.
WJ: “Cap and Trade” may yet rear its head through Environmental
Protection Agency regulatory fiat, despite ongoing efforts to kill it
through Congressional appropriation bans on implementation funding for
EPA. Should Cap and Trade eventually be implemented, what impact would
it have on the port?
McCarville: “Cap and Trade,” as far as I can tell, is dead. I am
not sure what may take its place, but whatever it is, coal is going to
remain a big part of the nation’s electricity supply for a long time to
come and waterway transportation is still going to be the cheapest way
to move it.
WJ: “SmartLock”—what is it and is the Corps looking at using it
systemwide?
McCarville: Think of SmartLock as a GPS on steroids for river
pilots entering lock chambers. It is a virtual navigation system that
we developed with Carnegie Mellon University.
SmartLock is only one part of a strategy to bring new technologies to
river transportation.
We are now working to develop a wireless broadband test bed for the
rivers. We are only at the beginning of what applications may develop
out of this. The Corps, partially in anticipation of this, has already
conducted high-accuracy surveys of its locks and is digitizing all its
information for commodities and locations on the river. Once completed,
not only the Corps, but towing companies, river terminals, cargo
interests and many others will be able to have inexpensive real-time
visibility via secure, broadband Internet services.
WJ: You’ve been involved in strategic planning for the Panama
Canal and its transition to Panamanian control. What were the most
difficult issues facing each country as this transition took place?
McCarville: The biggest problem was simply getting the two sides
to start talking. Remember, our mission was shortly after the U.S.
invasion to arrest President Noriega. Almost every historical event,
including key traffic arrests, had two very different versions.
After the talking started, there was a genuine interest at getting to
solutions. People on both sides recognized the complexity of going from
one set of laws (regulating accounting, labor relations and
environmental protection, etc.) to another completely different set.
Take the example of the “sexual harassment” issue. Panamanians viewed
it quite differently than many Americans. The compromise was beautiful
in its simplicity. They agreed to recognize any precedent in U.S.
legislation or case law decided before December 31, 1999, and only new
Panamanian legislation or case law decided after that date.
WJ: With the pending expansion on the Panama Canal, should we
anticipate benefits flowing to the inland river system in the U.S.?
What commodity flows would likely most benefit?
McCarville: The expansion of the Panama Canal will have a
beneficial impact on trade flowing on the inland rivers, especially for
grain and possibly even coal exports to China and India.
WJ: For decades, it seems, the industry has been talking up
“Container on Barge” development, and you have had an interest in that
topic. What will it take to bring some juice to growing that market?
Are the infrastructure needs to develop that market so great that
progress will be nigh on unobtainable?
McCarville: The No. 1 obstacle to developing inland waterway
container-on-barge is that of organizing a very large and complex
marketplace, including multiple ports, commodities, schedules,
shippers, rates, origins and destinations, especially if we are to
organize the domestic container-on-barge market. Shippers want to talk
to one person who can speak to door-to-door deliveries anywhere within
the river system. New information technologies are now available to
organize what would have been very difficult in the past.
The second, and perhaps more difficult, obstacle, especially for the
upper rivers, is the poor condition of locks and dams that could create
unexpected delays in deliveries.
The third obstacle is expertise. Terminals that do not have experience
in handling containers find it hard to estimate and quote rates.
The fourth obstacle is equipment. Existing vessels could be used to
start a system, but may not be as efficient as “Rhine” type vessels
used in Europe. Terminal handling equipment, especially for terminals
capable of handling steel coils, could also start a system of COB.
Improvements in vessels, yard equipment and mobile cranes could be
added as the cargo grows.
Fifth, we don’t think about transport the same way they do in Europe.
They have learned to translate the public benefits of reducing road
congestion and air pollution into market incentives to move goods in
the most socially efficient manner. We haven’t reached that concept yet.
Unfortunately, many parties want to start with building a new
facility. This is the least important obstacle to container-on-barge
growth.
WJ: If you could spend one hour with President Obama, what
advice might you offer?
McCarville: If we don’t find a way to fix our inland waterway
infrastructure now, it will cost much, much more to do so later;
• and later on, the accumulated cost will be so
great that we may or may not be able to afford to fix it;
• and in the process of delaying the fix, we
risk destroying a lot of wealth-generating waterway transportation
activities that make this nation prosperous, and the jobs that go with
it.
WJ: What is your favorite cable channel and why?
McCarville: C-SPAN, or anything but the cable news networks.
WJ: What will you be doing 10 years from now?
McCarville: There are a lot of things I would like to do for
myself. I would like to write and travel, a little consulting and a lot
of grandparenting. If I am really lucky, I will still be looking for a
job to do, but perhaps not looking all that hard.