WASHINGTON—During a symposium on U.S. competitiveness in a global economy sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce held here last month, experts said that this nation’s heightened security measures are taking a toll on our ability to compete economically. The overarching theme: Growing freight and logistics bottlenecks at U.S. ports and borders are threatening America’s ability to compete in a global economy.

The speakers warned that increased security measures are creating costly delays at these locations and, in turn, are reducing the nation’s productivity and competitiveness. Going forward, they said, security concerns must be measured against the economic need for smooth freight flows in and out of this country. “Bottlenecks and delays increase costs and decrease productivity,” said Dr. Chip White, who holds the Schneider National chair in transportation and logistics at Georgia Tech.

However, according to White, there is a two-pronged solution to this “thickening of the border.” The answers involve greater use of information technology and increased investment in highways, rails, ports, and other centers of logistics and commerce.

Kevin Smith, general director of global customs for General Motors Corp., suggested that additional security measures must be added only as necessary, not willy-nilly such as Congress’s recently passed law that would require 100 percent physical screening of freight at airports and ports. “If we roll out all the programs such as 100 percent screening of ocean containers and air freight, programs such as just-in-time inventory will come to an end,” said Smith. “There will be no more just-in-time deliveries.”

The speakers agreed that most of the congestion is not at the ports, but on the road side and the rail side of these facilities. Lack of capacity at railheads in Chicago, Houston, and elsewhere is causing delays because of aging infrastructure. “That affects our ability to move costs quickly and efficiently,” said White, who added that the trend in freight is “better, cheaper, and faster.”

That trend, said White, has led to the explosion in trade from the Far East, mainly China, which is threatening efficiency at West Coast ports and other facilities. Truckload productivity has been declining since 2002 due to that congestion, he said. “However, we’re not the only ones with congestion…There are huge congestion issues in China and Europe as well.”

But the United States has a particularly acute problem because of increased security measures begun after the 9/11 attacks. “The security-trade dichotomy is going to be an issue in logistics for a long time to come,” said C. Randal Mullett, vice president of government affairs for Con-way, a $4.7 billion trucking company. “It’s a modern-day holy grail that we are all searching for.”

GM’s Smith said delays of 16 hours or so at the border were not uncommon in the immediate days following the 9/11 attacks. Though necessary, those delays were costly and eventually hurt efficiency.

“How many layers of security does it take before we’re actually secure?” Smith asked. “There is a real and direct cost to the private sector for these security layers. These security layers have the ability to become non-tariff barriers to trade.”

Smith warned against spreading security “like peanut butter across the entire supply chain” without really knowing what the real costs or benefits are. He called for greater use of risk management programs and railed against “fear-based decision-making,” such as Congress’s recent call for 100 percent physical screening of both air and ocean cargoes that most experts criticized as unrealistic and overly burdensome.