Safer Tomorrow thought leadership series: Jerry Hopkins

In this second article in our PSS Safer Tomorrow series, Jerry Hopkins, executive chairman for PD Ports speaks to PSS CEO Debbie Cavaldoro, about what he has learned over 40 years in the industry — and how those lessons can help shape the future of safety in ports.

All Jerry opens with an arguably uncomfortable truth: the only way to really deliver a safer tomorrow for ports is to have fewer people ‘in the line of fire’.

This isn’t an anti-labour argument, he stresses, but a realistic recognition of the need to separate people and plant, and an acknowledgement that automation and AI might help to make this a reality.

“In the not-so-distant past, trucks would turn up in the port without any process, people worked on the quayside with containers overhead, and there was generally always someone wandering the terminal,” he recalls.

“This created huge opportunities for people to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. With fully automated container terminals – remotely managed and using smart technology – we can move into a new era of safety.”

Jerry acknowledges that increasing the use of technology in ports will bring its own challenges, but he also sees tremendous opportunities for safer, higher-skilled work. He believes tomorrow’s port workforce will need a different skill set: more technical capability and less of the ‘burly docker’ image that characterised his early days in the mid-1980s.

He also points to a cultural shift that is already underway. Many of the attitudes he experienced in his early career, seem unthinkable today. However, he warns that there can be a tendency to look back at the past with ‘rose-tinted glasses’ and reminisce about ‘the things we used to get away with’.

“No one who has been through the experience of losing a colleague at work — meeting the family, working through the personal grief — ever wants to go through it again,” he says. “When you talk to people about it, they get it. They swear they’ll never do anything like that again — but they do. That’s just human behaviour.”

Jerry recalls three near-fatal collapses of steel stacks at PD Ports within a six-month period, highlighting the importance of continuous vigilance.

“Our near-miss reporting is getting better all the time,” he notes. “But behavioural education — not just training — is crucial to understanding why accidents happen.”

“We have to help people understand how and why we behave the way we do. That way, when they’re in a high-risk environment, they can make conscious decisions based on that understanding — and correct their own course.”

Finally, Jerry points to leadership style as a key lever for a safer tomorrow.

“The best place for chief executives is not sat in an office in endless meetings; it’s out in their places of work, observing what is going on so that they can guide managers on how to drive the business forward safely.”

Visible leadership, he argues, enables CEOs to really understand what is needed to drive the business forward. They should be in the middle of the feedback loop: encouraging employees to call out unsafe behaviours, listening to customers while emphasising that safety is non-negotiable, and enabling managers to lead effectively.

“A CEO should not get lost in a world of bureaucracy and administration,” he concludes, “but live in a world of reflection, and thought leadership and demonstration of leadership.”

Many thanks to Jerry for taking the time to contribute to our campaign, his reflections serve as a powerful reminder that a safer tomorrow relies not just on systems and standards, but on how we think, lead, and behave. Embracing technology, investing in behavioural understanding, and demonstrating visible, values-driven leadership are not abstract ideals—they are practical, necessary steps. His decades of experience underscore that real safety culture is built through conscious choices, continual learning, and the courage to challenge outdated norms.