Photography by Michael T. Mallon – www.delawareriveraerials.com
Collaboration. Agility. Innovation
For more than 25 years, The Howland Group, Inc. has led successful, collaborative enterprises for domestic and international commercial, government, military and law enforcement organizations.
THG’s New Mission: Deploy the U.S. Agile Seaport Network (USASN) to address the serious global logistics challenges due to COVID 19
On May 7, 2020 Gene Seroka, the Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles, the largest port in the United States, called for a National Port Community System. He said, “we can help the economy recover through good data sharing and the ability to speed up our shipments through the United States port gateways.” Listen to learn more about what the Port of Los Angeles is doing.
The Challenge
COVID-19 has created both a global health and economic crisis, leading to chaos for global supply chains. The U.S. seaports are the hubs in these global supply chains, linking U.S. companies to their global trading partners. Securing efficient and continued movement of medical equipment, supplies, food, and goods through the many seaports in the U.S. is critical to meeting national health and economic needs.
Solutions must be developed to accelerate, improve, and ensure the continued flow of critical goods through these ports. Those solutions must address the near term demands of the crisis, in a way that makes the seaports and their stakeholders more resilient and globally competitive. Doing so will improve U.S. national and economic security in both the near and longer term. That is the big challenge.
THG has developed a National Seaport Community System before
THG led a collaborative effort between the Commonwealth of PA, United States Department of Defense, U.S. Maritime Administration and the Institute for Defense Analyses. We developed and operated RAPID Center, the nation’s first and only national Seaport Community System during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. RAPID Center provided real time visibility of military equipment moving between the U.S. and two war theaters—giving military, law enforcement, seaports, railroads and trucking companies real time information and knowledge to successfully orchestrate the rapid and secure movement of cargo to support our war fighters. Now we wish to provide the same capabilities to the commercial sector.
The Solution – Collaboration
Each U.S. seaport is an island of information and knowledge; its own ecosystem of data. No real sharing exists between them, their stakeholders, and their federal partners. Without collaborating and sharing knowledge, decisions made can become ineffective or problematic, particularly in rapidly evolving situations. Creating visibility for critical supply chain stakeholders, and sharing real time information, means supplies and equipment can be moved where needed, when needed, faster and more efficiently.
Operation: United States Agile Seaport Network (PDF)
THG’s Our Services
Collaborative Business Strategies
Photography by Michael T. Mallon
www.delawareriveraerials.com
THG’s Contribution to Our Community and Our Nation
Our mission focused efforts have tackled tough challenges confronting the Delaware River maritime community and responded to real time national security challenges. We build teams of experienced and respected professionals. These agile and multi-disciplined teams execute complex, innovative multi-stakeholder business strategies to overcome difficult problems and create new opportunities.
THG’s collaborative approach to problem solving is based on industry knowledge, competitive intelligence and unique solutions that reflect the shared mission of multiple stakeholders representing a broad spectrum of commercial, political, policy and security interests.
Our successful collaborative efforts have resulted in more than $500M in new public and private investment in new physical infrastructures; developed and evolved new global virtual information sharing strategies and capabilities; generated more than $100M in new business revenues, protected and grew the waterfront workforce and landed new federal designations improving the competitiveness of the Delaware River’s maritime industrial base. Additionally, these initiatives protected critical maritime industrial capabilities, improved homeland security and supported national defense missions.
THG has managed more than $35M in public and private project management and technology development costs for our clients. Our projects were completed on time, on budget and exceeded the expectations of the project sponsors.
National Security
RAPID System – US First Agile Port
THG Partnered with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States Maritime Administration and United States Department of Defense in the first United States demonstration and a multi-year operating proof of concept of advanced “Agile Port” strategies that connect the seaport in Philadelphia to other inland and global military and commercial locations. Agile Ports are the ports of the future. These next generation seaports are the “collaborative hubs” for the many and varied stakeholders involved in global distribution.
RAPID Center – Global Virtual, Neutral & Secure Information Sharing Platform
THG Partnered with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States Maritime Administration, United States DOD and Institute for Defense Analyses (FFRDC) to provide real time visibility of critical military cargo movements between the United States and multiple war theaters. These virtual visibility capabilities are the critical foundation to support rapid and secure information sharing between public, private and law enforcement organizations involved in the global movement of both commercial and military supply chains.
Homeland Security
RISK Alert – Maritime Domain Awareness
THG Partnered with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States Maritime Administration, Coast Guard, Joint Terrorism Task Force/US Department of Justice and United States DOD, Institute for Defense Analyses (FFRDC) and local, state and federal law enforcement, to provide virtual information sharing and improved global visibility of vessel movements and operations of cargo & crew for improved homeland security; and enhanced maritime domain awareness during critical military operations.
National Transportation Policy Initiatives
America Marine Highway – Ben Franklin Corridor
THG partnered with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, American Shipping, Boeing, Philadelphia Regional Port Authority, Columbus Regional Port Authority and Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission to submit a America Marine Highway of national significance proposal to the United State Maritime Administration. This Pennsylvania proposal included new dual use (commercial & military) ship construction; better utilization of U.S. domestic waterways to mitigate landside congestion caused by larger ships; and a foundation to support virtual information between a myriad of stakeholders connecting the seaport with commercial and military inland locations to improve infrastructure capacity, supply chain visibility and enhanced security.
Regional Projects
Meyer Werft Initiative – Commercial shipbuilding at former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
THG acted as the United States Representative for Meyer Werft, the world leader in new cruise ship construction and innovation, as it sought to transition the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard into a commercial shipbuilder for the United States shipbuilding market. Our work included creating a new partnership with labor to usher in new labor management agreements and a customized business plan to support the transition from military to commercial operation. While this effort was not successful, the resulting labor agreements, business plan and public financing made available for the Meyer Werft project supported community efforts to attract another European shipbuilder to the shipyard that subsequently transformed it into a successful commercial shipbuilding enterprise.
RailPort – New Rail & Ocean Services at Port of Philadelphia
RailPort created new rail and ocean services which lead to the completion of our nation’s first transcontinental double-stack rail network.
THG led and managed efforts supported by Tom Holt, Sr and Dennis Colgan, Jr to restore competitive rail service to the Port of Philadelphia by assisting the Canadian Pacific Railroad in its’ acquisition of the Delaware and Hudson Railway. This created a near dock intermodal transfer facility to speed cargo movement to Eastern Canada and landed new container ocean services business. RailPort’s success led to the first public-private partnership between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Conrail, CSX and Canadian Pacific to invest in double-stack rail clearances between the port and key markets in the United States and Eastern Canada. This public-private partnership resulted in the completion of the last links needed to connect the US West coast and East coast double-stack rail network.
Ship Philadelphia First – a not-for-profit shippers association to attract cargo to the Port of Philadelphia
THG Led and organized Ship Philadelphia First. This effort was sponsored by Tom Holt, Sr and Dennis Colgan, Jr. to attract and market the Port of Philadelphia to international shippers.
Our Principal
Susan Howland is the Principal of The Howland Group, Inc. Susan is a leader, an innovator and a visionary. She has developed and successfully executed many complex multi-stakeholder collaborative enterprises on the Delaware River for more than 35 years. Many of these efforts were critical to national security, homeland security and have improved the competitive position of the Delaware River maritime industrial base. Susan began her career as a staff person to United States Senators Robert Taft, Jr. (R. OH) and John Heinz (R. PA) for nearly ten years. Her professional experiences include projects for investment banks, energy companies, domestic and international maritime related businesses, government and not for profit organizations. She began the Howland Group, Inc. in 1992 to represent maritime and other transportation related clients. She is an avid reader, learner and shares her knowledge and experience by mentoring other entrepreneurs in the industry. Her work and contributions have been acknowledged by maritime organizations, government, research organizations and the media. Additional professional recommendations and postings are available on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-howland-6189804/
Experienced and Respected Team
Thomas C. Beck
For over 20 years, Thomas Beck has worked with senior leadership of large and small organizations, to provide insights, often reframing critical issues allowing creative and effective problem solving. Tom has conducted extensive work on High Value Time Sensitive (HVTS) Cargo Transport between North America and Europe. He has analyzed HVTS cargo networks in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region; examined air, rail, and truck cargo requirements, transit times, and costs, in support of determining likelihood of modal shift; conducted planning analysis to assess needs for staging, flow and delivery of goods; and has managed a Planning, Pre-Construction Investigation and Design Contract for an East Coast Maritime Terminal, ensuring parties met commercial, military, and regional requirements, timelines and budgets. Recently Tom has facilitated improvements to the Caucasus Transit Corridor. He has examined cargo flows throughout Central Asia, identifying volumes, routes, bottlenecks and key challenges, particularly between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. He has conducted financial sensitivity analysis for a Georgian Trade Facilitation System, highlighted potential impacts on local, regional and global trade flows from improved information exchange, transit time reduction, and trade agreements. He has an MBA from Cornell University, and an MS and BA in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania.
Our Values
Trust—is the foundation of collaboration
Integrity—without it—you have nothing
Knowledge—learning is a dynamic and life- long experience
Innovation—underpins our thinking and our work
Team Work—no one wins alone
Humility—with it comes wisdom and service
