they deserve a pay increase on starting and post-trained wages.  they deal with boom juice and the blob chemicals all day, and they do so in bad weather, ice, snow, rain, and stormy seas. they're necessary for national security, not everything can be automated and not all ports shipping to the us are capable of labeling for our automation. items ship during transit, and non-standard items are common, such as bridge forms, windmill arms, and other machines and pre-built structures.  ship forms are non-standardized, and putting all your docks on electrical power puts you at risk of anything that knocks out power, such as flooding, y2k, or other. imo, not having looked at the mix off goods, i would estimate that roughly 80% of the shipping could be standardized to computer assistance without a hitch 99% of the time.  but the other times, you need people. and if there's a black swan, you'll want people there who have some idea what to do with the incoming and outgoing.
United States