The problem investigated involved the improvement of the productivity of operations for a major container port located on the West Coast of the United States. The general research question investigated was as follows:
How can the Port of Tacoma improve its level of operational productivity in view of the escalating volume of container traffic?
The proposed strategy for improving productivity at the Port of Tacoma is the implementation of a sophisticated advanced terminal operations and management system. Based on the proposed strategy, the specific research question that was investigated was as follows:
What is the level of agreement among stakeholders of the Port of Tacoma that the implementation of the proposed advanced port management system will lead to operational productivity improvements that will assure that the Port remains viable in environment of rapidly increasing container traffic?
A survey questionnaire was administered to a sample of 75 stakeholders to obtain the data required to investigate the research questions. Members of the research sample was asked to evaluate the proposed solution for (a) comprehensiveness, (b) scalability, (c) capacity to provide a competitive advantage for five years, and (d) capacity to provide a competitive advantage for 10 years.
The data analysis found that a strong perception existed among stakeholders of the Port of Tacoma that the implementation of an advanced port management system would lead to productivity improvements in the Port's operations. It was found further that these productivity improvements likely would assure that the Port retained a competitive advantage for the coming 10 years.
1. INTRODUCTION ..................................... 1
1.1 Introduction to the Study .................... 1
1.2 Research Overview ............................ 1
1.3 Research Focus ............................... 3
1.4 Context of the Research ....................