WorldCargo News Online

WorldCargo
APRIL 2006
news
PSA buys 20% of Hutchison
In its biggest single investment
ever, PSA is to purchase a 20%
stake in Hutchison Whampoa Ltd
(HWL)’s portfolio of ports -
Hutchison Port Holdings Ltd and
Hutchison Ports Investments Sàrl
- for a total cash consideration of
US$4.388B (HK$34B).
HWL said it will make a profit
of US$3.15B on completion of
the deal, its biggest disposal for
several years. It posted losses of
more than US$9B on 3G operating
licenses in 2004 and 2005,
HWL group managing director
Canning Fok said the terms
of the deal “set an attractive
benchmark for the group’s remaining
interests in the port business
that we will continue to control
and manage.”
Fock Siew Wah, chairman of
PSA International Pte Ltd, said the
deal “allows us to benefit from a
well-diversified spread of assets.
PSA will continue to expand its
global footprint by investing in
opportunities that make good
commercial sense to us.”
Last year HPH sold 20% and
10% of HIT and COSCO-HIT
respectively to PSA for a cash price
of US$925M (WorldCargo News,
June 2005, p1). PSA handled
41.2M TEU worldwide in 2005,
while throughput at HPH’s 42
ports in 20 countries rose 8% to
51.8M TEU last year. On this basis,
a 20% stake increases PSA’s
2005 volume retrospectively to
51.56M TEU, not counting minority
interests in HPH terminals.
The deal poses some interesting
questions about why PSA
made a counterbid for P&O Ports
that forced DP World to increase
its bid from £3.3B to £3.9B.
When PSA “conceded defeat,” it
said that it did not have “bottomless
pockets filled with oil money.”
HPH accounted for 12.4% of
HWL’s turnover in 2005 but
31.4% of EBIT. The major contributor
to throughput and profit
was YICT Yantian, where volumes
rose 21% and pre-tax profit 22%.
Six more berths are being added
at YICT that when completed in
2010 will make it the largest single
container terminal complex in
southern China.
The European Commission
may have something to say about
the deal. Only last month, Fotis
Karamitsos, its new head of maritime
transport at DG Tren, said the
Commission was concerned
about concentration in the European
port sector! The new deal
TransLumi for NETSS phase 2
The establishment of the
TransLumi AB subsidiary of
Rederi AB Transatlantic marks the
start of a new service linking Oulu
and Kemi in the Gulf of Bothnia
with Gothenburg, to be followed
by Lübeck by the end of the year.
The base cargo will be Stora
Enso’s SECU cargoes, under phase
2 of the shipper’s NETSS programme,
with each of the northern
Finnish ports anticipated to
export 500,000 tpa.The first ship,
currently under construction at
the Aker Rauma shipyard in Finland,
is scheduled to load Oulu on
30 June, Kemi on 1 July and discharge
in Gothenburg on 3 July.
When all three ships are in
service by the end of this year, a
fixed day, three calls/week service
will be established, including
Lübeck.The ships are on 15 year
time charter to StoraEnso, although
TransLumi has entered
into a 5-year slot agreement with
Artist’s impression of the new ships for the North Finnish SECU traffic
the paper group for third party
cargoes in both directions.
TransLumi’s office in Gothenburg
is headed by Mårten
Carlquist, ex-MD of DFDS Tor
Line until moving to B&N that
subsequently became Transatlantic
following the merger with
Gorthon Lines.The office is adjacent
to Cobelfret’s Swedish office
and the lines will work closely together,
with TransLumi using the
same booking and freight system
as Cobelfret’s Gothenburg-
Zeebrugge SECU route.
Relocatable buildings
The Port of Djibouti
WiikHall 25 x 69 m
The Port of Gothenburg
WiikHall 10 x 600 m
The Port of Oslo
WiikHall 25 x 72 m
Dry Goods Store
WiikHall 20 x 36 m
Bulk Storage
WiikHall 40 x 44 m
Warehouse
WiikHall 40 x 150 m
O.B.Wiik was established in 1912.
WiikHalls have been installed in more than 50 countries.
The steel construction is hot dipped galvanised.
Choose between our 12 standard colours to match existing environment.
may lead to a rapid EC inquiry.
● HWL and PSA are investing in
Dalian Port Company’s (DPC)
IPO in Hong kong. The IPO is
set to raise a total of HK$2.16B
(US$277M). NYK Line of Japan
is the biggest single investor, having
agreed to subscribe for
114.8M of the IPO shares, representing
4.1% of its enlarged share
capital. China Shipping Terminal
Development will take 4% (112M
shares), while PSA and HWL have
agreed to subscribe for 1% (28M
shares) each.
Together, the four companies
will get 168M (33.6%) of the
840M offered shares. DPC,
brought to market by UBS and
BNP Paribas banks, is offering
shares at US$2.175-US$2.575
each, for a price-earnings ratio of
between 15.09 and 17.87 times.
This will allow them to offer
seamless transport between northwest
Europe and northern Finland
and book cargoes for each other.
As Kemi/Oulu claim the shortest
gateway to the Kola Peninsula,
TransLumi anticipates this route
has considerable potential.
TransLumi will also offer a container
feeder service between the
Finnish ports and Hamburg/
Bremerhaven using Transatlantic’s
operations out of Gothenburg.
The ships are based on the
Wagenborg/Cobelfret vessels operating
the Gothenburg-
Zeebrugge route under charter to
StoraEnso, although slightly larger
at 2944 lane-m over three decks.
In keeping with the earlier design,
there are no internal ramps
as the ships will use doubledeck
linkspans in all four ports to give
direct access to the weather deck
and main deck.This reduces their
flexibility and resale value, but the
length of the charter makes it
worthwhile, as it means shorter
turnaround times and takes away
internal ramp work for 100t
SECU boxes and trailers.
Propulsion systems are similar,
with the main plant located forward
and a long propeller shaft
passing under the cargo space.
However, whereas the
Wagenborg/Cobelfret ships are
fitted with a single, slow speed diesel
engine, the TransLumi vessels
will have two medium speed diesel
engines driving the shaft
through a twin input/single output
reduction gearbox due to the
higher power requirement necessary
for full ice-class notation.
Durable PVC
coated fabric
covers on
clearspan steel
frames 9-40
metre
O.B.Wiik AS
Industriveien 13
2020 Skedsmokorset
Norway
Tel: +47 64 83 55 00
Fax: +47 64 83 55 01
e-mail: obw@obwiik.no
www.obwiik.no
Distress sale for
BTI equipment
The bankruptcy division of the
Rome Civil Court (TCR) has
ordered a sale by sealed bid (vendita
senza incanto - ie no public bidding)
of the virtually unused
equipment park, none of it more
than five years old, of Bríndisi Terminal
Italia (BTI).
As previously reported (World-
Cargo News, January 2006, p9),
BTI was earlier relieved of its operating
concession by the
Bríndisi Port Authority (APB),
having handled virtually no traffic
since it was set up in 2000.The
whole affair has created a bit of a
stink not only in Italy but also in
Malta, as Malta Freeport (MF) was
the sole shareholder of BTI.
Originally BTI was 40:40:20
JV of MF, Papalini and APB respectively.
MF took over APB’s
and Papalini’s shares when the latter
company, which was Kalmar’s
Italian dealer for reach stackers and
FLTs, went bankrupt in 2003.
Under the original plan BTI
should have been handling
300,000 TEU/year by now, mostly
Far East o/d traffic, along with
general cargo and bulk cargoes.
The TCR judge has stipulated
that sealed bids for the equipment
in whole or part be submitted by
3 May, with the envelopes to be
Two Liebherr LHM 320s are included
in the sale
opened on 10 May. He reasons
that sealed bidding is likely to attract
more bidders and a better
price for BTI’s creditors than a
public auction.
The equipment is as follows:
two Liebherr LHM 320 harbour
mobile cranes; three Kalmar DRD
420 reach stackers; one Kalmar
DCD 160 mast truck; six (Sisu)
Magnum 4 x 2 terminal tractors;
six Houcon RBA trailers; two
Smag Peiner motor grabs; and one
Fantuzzi Reggiane SP 415 container
spreader.
Wagons to go on RAFTS
Rail Ferry Transport Services Ltd
(RAFTS) has obtained an EU
Marco Polo grant of €2.5M towards
creation of a “seamless” rail
freight corridor to link middle and
northern Britain with the Continent
via a Hull-IJmuiden train
ferry. An “east-west” rail freight
corridor could cater for any kind
of unitised or wagon freight, including
hazardous cargoes.
The link is aimed at “replicating
the through rail functionality”
of the Channel Tunnel rail link.
As traffic on this corridor has stagnated
due to technical barriers,
price issues and political problems,
prospects for an alternative “rail
bridge” may be brighter and,
moreover, an IJmuiden gate would
feed into the Betuwe Line due to
open next year.
RAFTS is a consortium made
up of Focal, which is also the designated
Marco Polo administrator,
Associated British Ports, PD Port
Services, VCK, EWS Fastline,
Railion Nederland, DHL, Exel
and Inter-Ferry Boats.
The consortium takes the
form of a “group of economic
interest” (usually referred to as a
GIE after the French initials).This
means that the members are responsible
for their own risk and
not jointly or severally liable for
those of the other GIE members.
The rail ferries for the new
services have been lined up from
Stena and the target start date is
November this year, subject to
completion in time of new
linkspans in Hull and IJmuiden.
Design work on the linkspans is
nearing completion and orders
should be placed shortly.
Over the years several ideas
have been aired for re-introducing
a train ferry between Britain
and the Continent, including renewing
the former Harwich-
Dunkirk link, and/or the former
Dover-Dunkirk link, and starting
a new link between Zeebrugge
and Tilbury, or between IJmuiden
and Tilbury or IJmuiden and Harwich
(See, for example,WorldCargo
News, May 2002, p16).
IN THIS ISSUE
NEWS
New Hyster reach stacker 2
Still out of Linde first? 3
Port 2000 inaugurated 4
Stowaways in Seattle 6
Genoa row rumbles on 8
Betuwe deal reached 10
Cronos buys claim 13
Boulogne pulls a fast one 14
PORT DEVELOPMENT
Spain/Portugal survey 13
CARGO HANDLING
Sabah shuttles explained 18
Terminal tractor update 21
Tico goes retail 21
Heavy lift truck review 23
More translifters ordered 30
Intermodal woodchips 31
ROLL-ON/ROLL-OFF
No go for ro-ro in US? 26
Problems ahead for Dover 28
Ro-ro ship shortage 29
TANK CONTAINERS
European specials review 33
Utilisation rates climb 34

WorldCargo
news
Hyster launches new reach stackers
Hyster has announced the availability
of a new RS series of reach
stackers, to be introduced in three
phases over the next 12 months.
Container handling models
RS 45-27 CH, RS 45-31 CH and
RS 46-36 CH will roll off the
production line from September.
Intermodal handlers models RS
45-24 IH, RS 45-28 IH and RS
46-33 IH combi-handlers for
containers and swap-bodies/trailers
will be available from November.
Front stabiliser models S-CH
and S-IH with additional capacity
for 3rd container row/ 2nd rail
handling will be introduced in
1Q/2007.
The new machines replace
what Hyster calls the A222-series
machines, based on the Hyco
designs that have been manufactured
at Hyster Europe’s big truck
centre in Nijmegen since 1995.
They retain the proven frame,
boom and spreader structures as
well as the front drive axle and rear
steer axle, says the company.
The engine and transmission,
steering and cooling systems, plus
certain auxiliary features, are common
with the successful H40.00-
50.00XM-16CH dedicated container
handling mast trucks introduced
in 2004/2005. They will
also feature Hyster’s proven “Vista”
cab that offers several advanced
features to achieve maximum productivity
in each shift.
The focus is on driver comfort,
ergonomics and excellent visibility:Air-conditioning
is featured
as standard, as is an air-suspension
seat.The dash display is positioned
to the driver’s right-hand side, to
avoid unnecessary distraction from
the operation in hand, and maximise
forward visibility. The newly
developed joystick offers intuitive
control of boom lift and spreader
functions.Noise level is 74 dB(A)
at driver’s ear.
A powered sliding cab is offered
as a standard option. The
backward position, for example,
provides the most comfortable
view angle for 4-5 high stacking
and may also be preferred by drivers
who feel more comfortable behind
the lift cylinders.
The cab can slide > 2.6m fully
forward .A full-forward cab is generally
deemed essential for IH
models when handling swap bodies
or trailers. Some drivers also
prefer the fully forward position
for low height container handling.
Extra steps and handrails are
provided on the left hand front
fender, for cab access/exit. Also
included is a second set of rear
view mirrors on the front fenders
The RS is fitted with the Tier
3 Cummins QSM 11, 10.8 litre,
6-cylinder in-line engine as standard,
with a maximum 224 kW
(300 Hp) @ 1800 rpm and
smooth torque delivery of 1424
Nm @ 1000-1400 rpm. For intensive
operations, this engine is
available with 272 kW (365 hp)
@ 1800 rpm and max. torque of
1674 Nm @ 1000-1400 rpm.
The 365 hp engine is combined
with a bigger Spicer Off-
Highway TE-32 4-speed
powershift transmission, instead of
the standard TE-27 model. The
extra power means faster acceleration,
a 12% higher laden lift speed,
and a 2 km/h faster unladen drive
speed, says Hyster.
The hydraulic system features
power on demand and “2-speed
lift” functions. The practical 4-
mode average lifting speed across
the range is as high as 0.41 m/sec.
Maximum drive speeds are competitive
at 20 (with load) to 23
km/h (w/o load), with the standard
224 kW (300 Hp) engine.
CARGO HANDLING NEWS
Liebherr’s Scottish fling
Liebherr Container Cranes has
won a second quayside gantry
crane orderfrom Forth Ports for
Grangemouth. The new order is
an exercised option by the port.
It is scheduled for delivery during
the third quarter of this year
and will work adjacent to the one
recently installed (two months
ahead of schedule).
In both cases, outreach is 32m,
lift height is 25m, rail span is
19.8m and backreach is 15m.
SWL is 40t under spreader and 50t
under hookbeam. Hoist speeds are
45/100 m/min and trolley speed
is 150 m/min.Crane Drives are
Liebherr dc and they are equipped
with the Liebherr Winscan crane
management system.
Liebherr also reports that it has
finalised a supply contract with
KGL International for Ports Warehousing
Company, Kuwait, for the
supply of three Panamax gantry
cranes to Mina Saqr Container
Terminal, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE.
Liebherr has traditionally been
strong in the Arab ports world, but
this is its first deal for Mina Saqr.
Outreach is 38.50m, rail span
30.48m and backreach 15m. Lift
height above and below rail are
30m and 15m.SWL is 45t under
spreader and 50t under hookbeam.
Hoist speeds are 60/130 m/min
and trolley speed is 180 m/min.
Crane drives are Liebherr dc and
Liebherr’s new Visuscan crane
management system will be fitted.
Consent Equipment AB
The specialist in operational
leasing of Terminal, Transport
and Cargo Handling Equipment
www.consent.se
Still to be sold first?
Hamburg-based FLT manufacturer
Still, part of the Linde AG
group, could change owners as
early as this summer, according to
reports from Germany. Several financial
investors from the US and
Europe have reportedly expressed
interest in Still, which is back in
the black after a difficult time.
As previously reported
(WorldCargo News, February 2006,
p41), there had been widespread
speculation that the whole of
Linde’s materials handling business
segment - Linde, Linde HTD, Still
and O M Pimespo brands - would
be offered for sale. In total the sale
could raise more than €3B, to help
finance the €7.6B agreed purchase
price for BOC, as Linde AG focuses
on industrial gases.
The purchase of BOC went
through and then Linde AG chairman
Wolfgang Reizle announced
at the AGM that the material handling
division would be offered for
sale. The division employs some
19,300 people, of which 6000 are
at Still, with annual sales of €3.6B
(of which €1.1B from Still).
The financial institutions interested
in Still include include
like Apex, Cinven, BC Partners,
Blackstone, CVC, Kohlberg and
KKR (which owns Gottwald).All
have sufficient funds for a takeover
bid.Apex is considered to be
the favourite candidate since it
already negotiated with Linde in
2005. It is expected once the sale
is finalised that the new owner will
place Still on the stock market.
A takeover by one of Still’s
competitors is unlikely.Toyota, the
market leader, would not get the
“OK” from the competition authorities
and companies like
Jungheinrich probably do not
have sufficient funds. Still is due
to present its latest results in May.
* rolltrailers
* 13.6m & 45’ palletwide box units
* 40’ palletwide containers
Consent Equipment AB
PO Box 4143, SE-400 40 GOTHENBURG, Sweden
Phone: +46 31 12 42 45, Telefax: +46 31 42 86 59
UK Office: Consent Equipment UK Ltd, Prince Henry House,
Kingsclere Business Park, KINGSCLERE, Hampshire, RG20 4SW
Phone: +44 1635 299999, Telefax: +44 1635 299993
Bromma’s twin yard boom
Bromma has reported a raft of
new orders for twinlift and
separating twinlift spreaders for
yard gantry cranes. The company
says that in the first two
months of this year it received
orders for more than 50 twin
20 Marathon spreaders - 20
separating types to ZPMC for
delivery to DPW Jebel Ali, 13
to APMT Los Angeles, 10 to
Liebherr for Gulf Stevedoring
Jeddah North, five to KCI
Konecranes for CUT Long
Beach and three to FELS
Cranes for JNPT near Mumbai.
As noted in last month’s RTG
survey (pp22-24), the Liebherr
RTGs for Jeddah North are
rated at an unprecedented 65t
in twin 20 mode.
Bromma’s order rush in the
first two months of this year follows
orders for a total of 37
Marathon separating twin 20
yard crane spreaders in 4Q/
2005 - nine to Aqaba, nine to
SPS Oman, nine to Gujarat
Pipavav and 10 YTS45s to KCI
Konecranes for TdS Málaga (six)
and DPW Caucedo (four). Earlier
in 2005, MTL Hong Kong
had ordered 25 YTS45s.
Customer interest in twinlift
container handling in the CY,
says Bromma, is connected to
the surge in separating twinlift
container handling on ship-toshore
cranes.The company says
that its STS45 design is today its
best-selling single product. In the
first two months of this year,
ZPMC and SPMP alone purchased
a total of 57 STS45s in
connection with cranes on order
from operators in Dalian,
Panama, Yangshan,Saudi Arabia,
Nansha, Jamaica,Taicang, Lázaro
Cárdenas, and Ningbo.
“Boosting ship-to-shore
productivity by just a small
amount, say from 25.0 to 25.5
moves per hour, can have a dramatic
impact on terminal operating
profits, and boosting productivity
is, of course, always the
starting point for terminal
growth strategy,” says Lars Fredin,
Bromma’s VP, sales.
“Yet the bottleneck in the
terminal is often in the yard operation
and not the quayside operation,
and this is one reason
why many customers are taking
a closer look these days at how
twinlift and separating twinlift
spreaders might push forward
their yard operations.”
2
April 2006

CARGO HANDLING NEWS
Kalmar wins
Nelcon refurb
contract
Following the contract to maintain
Finnsteve’s straddle carriers, FLTs and terminal
tractors in Kotka, Kalmar has secured
a refurbishment deal from the Port
of Tilbury to upgrade 13 of its straddle
carriers. However, in this case, Kalmar will
effectively be refurbishing third party
machines as the contract relates to Nelcon
diesel-electric machines delivered before
Kalmar acquired Nelcon and no longer
manufactured by Kalmar, having been replaced
by its E-Drive designs.
The machines have been assessed individually
and major repairs identified,
prioritised and programmed according to
the actual requirements. This process,
Kalmar considers, provides better value
for money than simply renovating each
machine according to set guidelines.
Michael Quinn, terminal engineer at
TCS, states: “Our Nelcon machines are
now around 10 years old and we want
them to last 15 years. It had become obvious
that without major refurbishment,
reliability would become a real problem.
Initially, we planned to do the work ourselves
and costed the project on this basis.
However, in talks with Kalmar, it became
clear that their people could do the work
within our budget, leaving our team to
focus on cranes and breakdowns.”
Each of the straddle carriers had covered
around 20,000h, so overhaul of the
Volvo Penta engines was the first priority,
to give a further operating 10,000h.
As they are constant speed engines driving
a generator, this is achievable. TCS
had also identified increasing reliability
problems with the steering and braking
systems and so these were renovated, as
were the electrical drive systems, including
the ac invertors.
● Kalmar has established its own subsidiary
company in South Africa for sales of
straddle carriers and RTGs. Kalmar Industries
South Africa (Pty) Ltd, located
in Durban, will manage ongoing deliveries
of straddle carriers as well as the new
RTGs that Kalmar is believed to have on
order from SAPO (last month’s
WorldCargo News, p4). African National
Engineering continues as Kalmar’s service
partner for straddle carriers and RTGs.
Kalmar reach stackers and lift trucks will
continue to be sold through Saficon.
●The Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ) has
ordered 24 4-high Kalmar CSC 450 straddle
carriers and six 7-high Kalmar ECH
mast trucks for its Kingston facility. New
business secured last October will boost
throughput by some 500,000 TEU/year
and push the terminal through its 1.5M
TEU/year theoretical capacity. Because
land expansion is not feasible in a short
time frame, PAJ decided that the best solution
would be additional stacking density.
As well as a notional 50% capacity
gain in the CY from 2- to 3-high, the 7-
high ECHs will clear an additional footprint
for loaded containers.
The first units are to be handed over
this month, with delivery completion
scheduled for July.The order will bring
the total number of straddle carriers in
operation at Kingston to 74.The price of
the CSC450s has not been disclosed although
a statement from Cargotec says
that “unit prices for straddle carriers vary
between €700,000 and €900,000.
Kingston will continue to use 1 over 2 machines
under the cranes because of limited clear heights
under the portals
Liebherr-Werk Nenzing (LWN) is introducing
individual wheel drive to its LRS
645 reach stacker with hydrostatic transmission,
introduced in 2004. Independent
wheel drive is a standard feature of
LWN’s harbour mobile cranes.The development
on the LRS645, says the company,
“offers outstanding opportunities such as
minimising side forces on the steer wheels
and more effective driving gear.”
The first machine with the new drive
is being delivered to Howland Hook
Marine Terminal in NY/NJ, already a
customer of Liebherr Container Cranes.
The basic principle of hydrostatic
transmission is its high power density that
means small dimensions of components
as well as small induced masses.This gives
the reach stacker fast acceleration and a
high efficiency factor and all acceleration/
WorldCargo
news
Reach stacker “revolution”
deceleration is entirely stepless.This has a
positive impact on the lifetime of various
components and adds to driver comfort
Conventional designs also induce
high tyre wear on the steer axle and the
axle support limits the degree of turn
anyway. Liebherr is now fitting individual
wheel hubs with integrated planetary
gears and hydrostatic drives for the driven
wheels. Every driving wheel or every pair
of wheels can be controlled individually.
It is thereby possible to supply different
drive powers to the individual wheels
Factory shot of new front wheel drive
arrangement. (Note also the offset cab position)
The power of innovation.
The visionary new Reachstacker from Linde.
With its outstanding agility, superb precision and smooth control the new Reachstacker from Linde
embodies all the finest qualities of refined power.
Much more than just the sum of its parts, here is Man and machine in harmonious action. The fully
integrated, versatile and responsive control and operating system is a visionary concept designed to
make life easier. Combine this with Linde’s truly global service, spares and technical back-up and you
can understand why we are world leaders.
The visionary new Reachstacker from Linde: the next generation of working solutions delivering
greater productivity and efficiency.
and a strong torque can be built up that
supports the steering movement and the
stability of the reach stacker. Lateral forces
at the steer wheels are reduced almost
completely. Other claimed advantages are
reduced strain on the steer wheels and
better running performance. Traction is
increased on slippery surfaces as the
wheels can be individually supplied with
more driving torque depending on the
traction present. Even anti-slip control for
each individual wheel is possible.
There is no time delay when steering and
the greater stability and reduction in “wobbling”
can help with productivity. Fuel and
gear oil consumption are also lower.
Linde Heavy Truck Division Ltd
Linde Industrial Park, Merthyr Tydfil CF48 4LA, GB
Phone +44 (0) 1443 624200, Fax +44 (0) 1443 624302
E-mail info.forklifts@linde-htd.com, www.linde-htd.com
Head Office
Linde Material Handling Division, PO Box 62, 63736 Aschaffenburg, Germany
Phone +49 6021 990, Fax +49 6021 99 1570
E-mail info.forklifts@linde-mh.com, www.linde.com/linde-forklifts
Linde Material Handling
April 2006 3

WorldCargo
news
Bathside Bay gets green light
The UK government has given
the formal go-ahead for
Hutchison Ports (UK) to develop
a new container terminal at
Bathside Bay, to be known as Harwich
International Container Terminal
(HICT).
The announcement comes just
three months after the government
issued its “minded to approve”
decision for this controversial
project, subject to clarification
on a number of points (WorldCargo
News, January 2006 pp18-20).
This is likely to be of some
concern to the Port of London
Authority and P&O Ports (now
DP World) and Shell. The green
light has still not been given for
the London Gateway container/
ro-ro terminal and logistics park
project at the former Shellhaven
in the Thames Estuary, even
though the “minded to approve”
letter in this case was published in
January 2005.
Conditions imposed on
HPUK for HICT to proceed include
provision of compensatory
habitat at nearby Hamford Water,
under the EU’s Habitat Directive,
WorldCargo
news
VOLUME 13 NUMBER 4 • ISSN 1355-0551
Hutchison’s uncontroversial FSR
scheme got the go-ahead last month
EDITORIAL:
CHRIS MUNFORD • PUBLISHING DIRECTOR
E-Mail: cmunford@worldcargonews.com
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and upgrade of the A120 road
between Hares Green and Harwich.
“Although we have secured
the necessary approvals to construct
the container terminal,” said
HPUK’s CEO Chris Lewis,“permission
is still needed for the required
upgrade to the A120. Securing
these consents will, inevitably,
take some time.
“Work needs to have begun on
the road upgrade before we are
allowed to start construction work
on the first phase of the Bathside
Bay project.This will not be possible
before 2009, at the earliest.”
HICT will provide simultaneous
berthing for four large container
ships along 1400m of deep
water quay, with a depth of 15m
alongside and with 11 ship-toshore
gantry cranes. Storage capacity
will be 52,000 TEU and
dynamic capacity 1.7M TEU/year.
It will have an on-dock
intermodal railhead.
The “minded to” reasoning
makes clear that intermodal rail is
expected to account for about
22.5% of inland distribution. In
practice rail is used for distribution
to the English Midlands and
northern Britain.
HPUK argues that the Haven
cluster, including HICT and its
uncontroversial Felixstowe South
Reconfiguration that got the official
go-ahead last month (1000m
of new quay with 9-10 cranes) will
be the only UK hub capable of
providing sufficient volumes to
support daily shortsea feeder services
to the main feeder ports.“The
increased use of feeder sailings will
help relieve the pressure on the
country’s busy road network,” says
HPUK.
The assumption in the
“minded to” reasoning is that 24%
of HICT’s throughput will be seato-sea
transhipment moves. Overall
demand over the Haven cluster
is forecast to be 4.065M TEU
by 2010 rising to 5.317M TEU
by 2020. Even if one assumes not
only that sea-to-sea accounts for
24% but also that it is all coastwise
and none of it is non-British
o/d traffic, and further assumes a
generous 25% rail share of inland
moves, this means 1.5M FEU
truck trips/year by 2020.
● A public hearing into Mersey
Docks & Harbour Company’s
£80M post-Panamax container
terminal project in the Port of
Liverpool will commence on
26 April.
Eleven years since Le Havre’s
lockless Port 2000 container terminal
project was first unveiled, of
which no less than seven were
taken up by various technical and
feasibility studies, environmental
permits, etc.The site at the mouth
of the Seine is a particularly sensitive
one and no less than 5% of
the total budget of E1B has been
spent on habitat protection and
other environmental concerns.
But at last it’s a reality. At the
end of March, the first 2-berth
terminal, named Terminal de
France (TdF) and operated by
CMA-CGM affiliate GMP, was
officially inaugurated. The 700m
long quay has a depth of 14.5m
alongside at any state of the tide
and is equipped with six 22-wide
cranes from ZPMC on a 35m rail
gauge and twin 40ft hoists.
TdF was further delayed by the
> 5-year conflict over who employs
the crane drivers - the port authority
(PAH) or the terminal operators
who have financed all the
cranes and other superstructures,
but at last the “win-win” compromise
formula promoted by PAH
(WorldCargo News, February 2006,
p32) finally seems to have won out.
The second 2 x 350m berth
module, called Terminal Porte
Océane (TPO) and operated by
Terminaux de Normandie
(AMP Terminals) is now expected
to open on schedule, in
the second half of 2007. Both
GMP and Terminaux de
Normandie have options on a
third 350m berth module.
Up to six more 350m berths
with associated backlands can be
built at Port 2000 and PAH’s president
Jean-Pierre Leconte has
stated that the port’s aim is to double
container throughput to 4M
TEU/year by 2010.An option on
the third terminal has already been
taken by MSC, in association with
Terminaux de Normandie.
A weak point for le Havre remains
inland distribution, with
road accounting for 85%. Despite
improvements in the local road
network, it faces saturation.As also
previously reported (WorldCargo
News, February 2006, p32), inland
distribution overtook inland rail for
the first time in 2005 (98,000 TEU
against 95,000 TEU), but direct
barge access to Port 2000 is not yet
possible, due to failure to agree on
a new canal lock costed at €150M.
Starting next year, trials will be
carried out with river-sea self-propelled
barges, on the Zeebrugge
model. A new on-dock intermodal
railhead, equipped with a ZPMC
RMG (a second arrives next year)
has been set up at Terminal de
France.This will be operated by a
mixed company under the rubric
of SIATH.
The French track authority,
RFF, is investing €92M to improve
train formation capabilities and
main line access. However, PAH’s
long hopes of a direct rail link to
eastern France/Germany that
would bypass the congested Paris
region remain unfulfilled.
● In January the Port of La Rochelle-La
Pallice joined the ranks
8-52 to.
used container forklift trucks
and terminal equipment
Forklift trucks,
reachstackers
and terminal equipment
Cap. Type Year Liftheight
8 t. Svetruck ECS42/5H 01 12500 mm
8 t. SMV SL6ECA 00 17890 mm
10 t. Kalmar DC10-600 87 5500 mm
12 t. Svetruck 1260-30 99 5500 mm
15 t. Kalmar 15120-35 02 4000 mm
16 t. Svetruck 16120-38 96 4000 mm
16 t. Svetruck 16120-38 04 4500 mm
18 t. SMV SL18-1200A 95 3000 mm
25 t. Svetruck 25120-45 92 4000 mm
25 t. SMV SL25-1200A 99 5000 mm
28 t. Svetruck 28120-45 full free lift 99 5500 mm
30 t. LMV 30D 76 5000 mm
42 t. Kalmar DC42-1200 triplex 87 7050 mm
45 t. Svetruck 45120-57 94 7000 mm
N.C.NIELSEN A/S · DK-7860 BALLING · DENMARK
TEL. +45 99 83 83 83 · FAX +45 97 56 46 24
www.nc-nielsen.dk · linde@nc-nielsen.dk
PORT NEWS
Le Havre’s Port 2000
project inaugurated
CMA-CGM’s TOSCA makes the inaugural call at Terminal de France
Cap. Type Year Liftheight
Reachstackers
10 t. SMV SC108TA6 03 15800 mm
41 t. Linde C4130TL5 97 15900 mm
45 t. CVS/Ferrari 178H1 94 14700 mm
46 t. Hyster RS46-30IH 96 14750 mm
Terminal tractors
17 t. Mafi MTL17 swapbodymover 97 630 mm
25 t. Douglas NS8/220/4 4x4 92 1000 mm
25 t. Terberg TT20 4x4 97 1000 mm
25 t. Terberg TT20 4x2 97 1000 mm
32 t. Sisu TRX191 4x4 99 1000 mm
34 t. Terberg YT220 4x2 01 1000 mm
34 t. Terberg TT222 4x2 02 1000 mm
35 t. Kalmar TA3544 4x4 95 1000 mm
36 t. Mafi MT36R 4x4 97 1000 mm
ncnielsen
of France’s premier ports, the ports
autonomes. This means the state
becomes directly involved in the
port’s projects.
The port is investing €8M this
year (50% up on 2005), notably
in new equipment.Three old grab
cranes are being replaced by a single
new crane with a capacity of
700 tph. Work on a 160m quay
extension with 10 hectares of
backland has been started. It
should be completed in 2008.
Vladivostock
gears up
Russia’s Far East Port of
Vladivostok has been acquiring
new handling machinery and upgrading
existing handling equipment.The
port has signed a contract
with Gottwald PortTechnology
for two HMK 170 EG harbour
mobile cranes for 4-rope
grabbing, for delivery this year.
Last year the port acquired two
new Bromma spreaders for its
container cranes, and Noell in
Germany supplied it with components
to upgrade its two Sokol
portal cranes.
Two 1.5t and two 4t FLTs
from Toyota were acquired, while
Potecs Corp in Korea delivered
five lifting magnets for handling
scrap and pig-iron. Uneco, one of
the stevedores in the port, acquired
two Mantsinen rubber-tyred hydraulic
cranes on Cat excavator
platforms, equipped with scrap
and timber grabs.Two reach stackers
are due to be delivered shortly.
The separate Vladivostock
Fishing Seaport was also active on
the equipment side, acquiring four
Kirovets wharf cranes from
SevMorMontage for a total price
of €1.1M. Under their respective
renewal programmes for 2005-
2015, the two ports plan to form
specialised handling divisions.
Riga plan
The Port of Riga plans to invest
US$88M in a new container terminal
on the northern part of the
island of Kundzinsala. This will
require Latvian Railways to build
a new line, as the exisitng lines are
on the south side of the island.
General manager Leonid
Loginov says the project will enjoy
EU loan support, but the private
sector will also be called on
to invest substantially. Informal
talks have been held with Chinese
and Russian firms, but a European
tender will have to be organised.
Loginov believes the north
side of the island is the right place
for development. The existing
container terminal, Baltic Container
Terminal (BCT), is on the
south side and is only 50% utilised.
Presently there are two major
stevedores operating on
Kundzinsala, BCT and Man-Tess.
4
April 2006

Experience the
Progress.
Liebherr-Export AG
General-Guisanstraße 14
CH-5415 Nussbaumen, Switzerland
Phone: +41 56-296 1111
Fax: +41 56-296 3900
www.liebherr.com
The Group

WorldCargo
news
Chinese stowaways
cause US concern
More questions about port and
container security have been
raised in the US after 22 Chinese
stowaways were discovered
in Seattle this month. The 18
men and four women, all in their
20s and 30s, let themselves out
of a 40ft container that had been
used to smuggle them from
China, US officials said.
The stowaways seemed in
good physical condition after
two weeks in the container, said
Michael Milne, a spokesman for
US Customs and Border Protection.
Water bottles, food,
blankets and toilet facilities were
found in the container, which
was loaded on a China Shipping
Container Line ship (CSCL) in
Shanghai, Milne said.
Port security guards spotted
the group, believed to be smuggled
by an organised human trafficking
ring, at 01.00h on 5
April. Some were found in the
terminal and the rest were spotted
trying to get through a gate.
The stowaways had prized
the container open and lowered
themselves about 7ft to the
ground, Milne added. CSCL officials
in Hong Kong declined
to comment on the case.
The container, the second
from the bottom in a stack of
four, had been flagged for special
examination, but that had
not been carried out before the
group was caught, Milne said.
US Senator Patty Murray
said the incident highlighted the
need for greater port security.
“This appears to have been a
case of human smuggling, but
that container could have been
filled with anything from a dirty
bomb to a cell of terrorists.”
There was a flurry of people
smuggling from China along the
NAWC range in 2000 and 2001.
Almost all of those caught were
deported, but there were no
wider security issues then.
ICTSI weighs up safety
Philippine port operator International
Container Terminal
Services Inc (ICTSI) is now
weighing all full container load
(FCL) export containers at its
flagship Manila International
Container Terminal (MICT) to
ensure the safety of cargo in the
terminal and at sea.
All FCL export containers pass
through the new MICT Central
Gate, where four lanes of 100t
capacity weighing bridges have
been installed.
“The weighing of containers
is a value-added service to MICT
users as it assures the safety of
cargo in the container,” said
MICT general manager Francis
Andrews.“We have to weigh containers
as we cannot risk the safety
of cargo with bigger and fast moving
vessels.”
The exercise also helps terminal
planners to accurately plan the
stacking of containers in the yard
and stowage on the vessel, he said.
Cargo pilferage is also detected
when the actual weight is found
to be less than the declared weight
of the container.
Shippers and consignees are
assured that port authorities and
customs offices in other countries
will not question the cargo
as the actual weight is declared
in the Bill of Lading, Andrews
said. Overweight containers are
not loaded onto the vessel, and
remain at MICT until they are
made fully compliant with
safety standards.
● ICTSI’s foreign terminals did
remarkably well last year with
BCT Gdynia lifting its throughput
by 6.2% to 395,757 TEU and
TSSA Suape by 25.9% to 179,473
TEU. Revenues from these two
concessions were up 14% and
34%, respectively.
Even Madagascar International
Container Terminal Ltd,
(Taomasina) that commenced operations
only last October turned
in the equivalent of PhP184.1M
in revenues from its throughput
of 18,874 TEU.
All told, ICTSI’s overseas concessions
contributed 36.8% of its
consolidated revenues of
PhP10.44B nd 34.1% of its consolidated
income of PhP1.34B.
PORT NEWS
Fraser Surrey Docks in British Columbia has handled its first vessel with
an 11.5m draft after a dredging project was completed in March. Later that
month SANKO REJOICE delivered 38,237t of steel to the port’s general cargo
terminal, the first time a fully loaded vessel carrying more than 30,000t of
steel had berthed at the port for a complete discharge.The steel was a mixture
of structural beams, plate, coil and pipe destined for various projects in BC
and Alberta.“Fraser Surrey Docks is a vital terminal in the Pacific gateway
for breakbulk cargoes such as this steel delivery,” said Gino Crisanti, the
port’s president and CEO. “Our facilities, location and skilled workforce
enable us to operate a true general cargo terminal that is efficient at handling
both breakbulk cargo and containerised goods”
Tuticorin expansion plan
Tuticorin port in south India
has unveiled a major expansion
plan which involves an investment
of R40B over the next
few years, the port’s chairman
N K Raghupathy said.The port
plans to invest R8.8B in the first
phase to increase the draft from
10.7m to 12.5m.
The first phase, as previously
reported in WorldCargo News,
(September 2005, p9) includes setting
up a second container terminal.
From the original list of bidders,
five have been short-listed -
PSA and SICAL that operate the
port’s first container terminal as a
joint venture - Chettinad Logistics,
Larsen & Toubro and DP
World. Raghupathy said their
names had been forwarded to the
shipping ministry for approval
ahead of inviting financial and
technical bids.
The first phase expansion is expected
to be completed by 2008
while the second phase is expected
to be completed by 2012.The plan
for the second phase includes expanding
the outer harbour and increasing
the depth to 14.5m, construction
of breakwaters and
lengthening the approach channel.
Converting berth no. 8 into a
container terminal is expected to
cost R1.5B. It will have a capacity
to handle 450,000 TEU. The
existing terminal at Tuticorin has
a quay length of of just 340m and
this limits the number of vessels it
can receive.The port handled 17.1
mt of cargo in the fiscal year ended
March 2006 against 15.8 mt in fiscal
2004-5.
● The deadline for Hutchison’s
much delayed pitch for Mumbai’s
offshore terminal has now been
postponed for a sixth time to 10
May. Chennai Port Trust has also
postponed the deadline for submitting
financial bids for a second
container terminal to 10 May.
Other bidders are increasingly fed
up that the goalposts are being
moved all the time because
Hutchison still does not have security
clearance to bid.
Although Hutchison has previously
been given permission to
bid for port projects in India, these
two developments are particularly
sensitive because, as previously reported,
they are located near a
naval base and Hutchison
Whampoa’s close links with the
Chinese government are a cause
of concern. India and China
fought a border war in 1962.
● The Indian government has approved
a plan to import seven
fixed and mobile scanners for ports
after a scanner installed at
Jawaharlal Nehru port near
Mumbai proved its utility.A fixed
scanner will be installed at
Mumbai and one fixed and one
mobile scanner each will be installed
at Chennai and Tuticorin
ports in the south and Kandla in
the west.
Privatisation protests
Christchurch City Holding
Limited’s (CCHL) thwarted attempt
to take over Lyttelton Port
Company (LPC) and sell a majority
stake to a new company
led by Hutchison Port Holdings
(HPH) has sparked a debate on
port privatisation in NZ.
A group called “Keep Our
Port Public” (KOPP) was set up
to oppose any sale of LPC’s assets
in general. HPH pulled out
of its deal with CCHL (last
month’s WorldCargo News, p6),
and KOPP wants to “return the
port to full public ownership and
control.”
Unions are warning that
Lyttelton is just the beginning
and more port companies will
come under pressure to sell to
overseas investors because NZ
has too many ports vying for
container business. At a recent
meeting five Christchurch MPs
blamed the problem on “the socalled
shipping reforms of the
1990s” that established a competitive
environment. In a joint
statement they said the current
pricing regime was unsustain-
able and some ports would fold
unless competition was reduced.
Some ports are making very
little return on assets.The Port
of Timaru handled just over
50,000 TEU in the 2005 financial
year and made an after tax
profit of under NZ$1M. On assets
of over $45M this represents
a dismal return.
Port Otago Ltd spoiled
CCHL’s plan by purchasing 15%
of the shares in LPC and it wants
the two ports to cooperate.
Chairman John Gilks said collaboration
and alignment between
ports is in the best interests
of port companies, shareholders
and local communities
and that it has a strategy for how
cooperation would work.
CCHL is still smarting over
Otago’s actions but have said
they will work with it if they fail
to come to another arrangement
with HPH. Gilks has referred to
each port specialising “in the
services that they are best placed
to provide.” A sticking point is
bound to be containers as both
ports have dedicated terminals.
6
April 2006

PORT NEWS
North Harbor on the block
The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) is
finalising the terms of reference for the
privatisation and upgrading of the Manila
North Harbor - the country’s main
domestic terminal and the first major
government port facility to be put up for
sale in almost 20 years (MICT was privatised
in 1988).
It is expected that the bidding process
could start by May or June, after the draft
terms have been approved by the National
Economic and Development Authority's
Investment Coordination Committee.
Although it would not go into any
financial details, the PPA has confirmed
the general plan to divide the North
Harbor into three blocks consisting of two
cargo terminals and one passenger terminal
in lieu of the earlier three cargo/
one passenger terminal scheme.
The 52.5-hectare North Harbor has
six finger piers and five wharves with a
total quay length of 5.2 kms. In 2004 it
handled 14.45 mt of domestic cargoes and
2.54M passengers - down by 7% and
24.6% respectively from the 2003 levels.
PPA officials have suggested that foreign
companies may join the race in joint
venture with local contenders.They have
ruled out, however, participation by shipping
lines or their nominees, in order to
ensure that the privatised facilities would
be accessible to all port users.
A provision has also been included in
the terms of reference that would minimise
the displacement of PPA.The ports
agency has been coordinating with the
Philippine Chamber of Commerce and
Industry and other private groups and has
adopted some of their suggestions.This is
expected to prevent the kind of protests
that blocked attempts in the 1990s to privatise
the North Harbor.
Brunswick, NC steps out
North Carolina State Ports Authority
(NCSPA) has announced that it is to seek
bids from individual firms or consortia
to manage the development process of the
proposed North Carolina International
Port (NCIP) on Cape Fear River in
Brunswick County.
As previously reported (WorldCargo
News, January 2006, p22), this is a 600-
acre undeveloped industrial site, nine
miles from the Atlantic Ocean, and adjacent
to the Military Ocean Terminal
Sunny Point and Progress Energy’s Brunswick
Nuclear Plant.
Conceptual plans for NCIP envision
a major international container terminal
with a capacity for 1.5M TEU/year. It
would provide 4000ft of linear berth and
an industrial park on site for distribution
centers or related operations.
“We plan to launch the environmental
impact study process as soon as possible
to give the public opportunities for
input at the earliest possible stage,” said
NCSPA’s CEO Tom Eagar.“In the meantime,
we have been actively seeking input
from elected officials and community
leaders around the area.”
The NCSPA has discussed dredging
the Cape Fear River navigational channel
to 50ft with the Corps of Engineers.
The Corps has agreed to Congressional
resolution language to authorise a “reconnaissance
study,” the prerequisite to a fea-
WorldCargo
news
NCSPA is also investing in Wilmington
sibility study that the Corps must perform
for the dredging to be authorised.”
Financing to purchase the property for
US$30M from Pfizer was obtained
through port revenue bonds. NCSPA will
seek a private sector partner to invest in
the development of the port facility.
www.gottwald.com
Brunei seeks
backers
The government of Brunei Darussalam
is offering to put up 70% of the construction
cost in a bid to find a backer for a
new container terminal. Brunei has long
been mooted as a location for a major
transhipment hub and the government has
already given the PSA a concession to
operate the Muara container terminal.
However, the PSA obviously has no
intention of developing another transhipment
hub so close to its own facilities in
Singapore and Muara is handling around
110,000 TEU/year of mostly local cargo.
Some time ago the Brunei Economic
Development Board (BEDA) engaged
Halcrow Group to prepare a feasibility
study for a new terminal on Pulau Mera
Besar, an island opposite the existing
Muara terminal.
BEDA senior business analyst
Desmond Lim says the government views
a transhipment terminal as a key plank in
Brunei’s economic development and as
well as funding 70% of the development
cost is willing to give the operator full
ownership of the facility.
The final plan is open to negotiation
but the concept is to develop a new deep
water container terminal on Pulau Muara
Besar linked by a new bridge to the mainland.
A quay line of 1.3 km is envisaged
initially, but this could be extended to up
to 5 km. Construction of the first phase
including dredging to a depth of 16m is
estimated to cost US$450M.
Lim says the terminal needs to attract
1.2-1.5M TEU/year to break even and
BEDA is ideally looking for a shipping
line to invest in the project. It is, however,
open to proposals from any investor including
the PSA. As well as location on
the main east-west route, a major attraction,
says Lim, is the low cost of development
as the site is just two nautical miles
away from water depth of 20m. BEDA is
also trying to attract other business to the
island including liquid gas industries, an
industrial park and an aluminum smelter.
New Freyer
box terminal
Freyer GmbH, which up to now has concentrated
on conventional cargo handling
in the German port sector, is set to open
its new container terminal in
Germersheim next month, equipped with
a barge-to-shore gantry crane, a jib crane
with heavy lift capacity and reach stackers
for ground work. An RMG for rail/
road transfer work is also available.
The terminal area can be expanded
to 5 hectares and the berth extended to
400m. In addition to the trimodal container
handling and container storage,
Freyer also offers CFS and on-carriage
by road using its own road fleet.
30.5. - 1.6.2006
The New Generation 5 –
Carrara Knows Why
Hall 12, Stand C04
With the new Crane Generation 5 from
Gottwald Port Technology, port handling
is advancing in impressive dimensions.
In the Port of Carrara, Italy, for example.
Recently, two G HMK 8710 cranes were
put into operation. With a lifting capacity
of 200 tonnes, they are the largest Mobile
Harbour Cranes in the world. Naturally
with diesel-electric drive. Customised
for professional handling of marble,
containers and heavy loads. An example
of customer-oriented, efficient solutions.
An example taken from the many different
variants of the new Generation 5 from
Gottwald. For terminals of every size, for
all ship sizes and for all types of handling.
Gottwald Port Technology GmbH • Postfach 18 03 43 • 40570 Düsseldorf, Germany
Phone: +49 211 7102-0 • Fax: +49 211 7102-651 • e-mail: info@gottwald.com • www.gottwald.com
Porto di Carrara SPA • Viale da Verrazzano • Varco Portuale di Levante • 54036 Carrara (MS), Italy
Phone: +39 0585 7844 30 • Fax: +39 0585 7844 13 • www.portodicarrara.it
Generation 5 – You Name it, We Crane it
April 2006 7

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PORT NEWS
RFQ for Daniel Island
The South Carolina State Ports
Authority (SPA) is soliciting bids
for 1300 acres of property on
Daniel Island in Charleston
Harbor. Responses to the Request
for Qualifications (RFQ) are due
by mid-May, to be be followed by
a formal Request for Proposals
(RFP).The selection of a buyer
could be finalised by October.
SPA acquired the land in the
1990s for development as a container
terminal, but faced strong opposition
from residents. In 2002, the
project was abandoned in favour of
port expansion on the former
Charleston Naval Complex.
In another important development,
the final pieces of the old
Cooper River bridges over
Charleston’s main shipping channel
have been removed, leaving a
vertical clearance of 186ft at mean
high water. The former bridges,
which date from 1929 and 1966,
had a vertical clearance of 150ft
The old bridge clearance means unrestricted access for bigger ships
at mean high water.
The new Ravenel Bridge,
which opened last July, is the largest
cable-stayed bridge in North
America.The two bridge towers
are spaced 1500ft apart, enabling
New DPW terminal for Djibouti
DP World has announced plans
to develop a new container terminal
facility in Doraleh at the
Port of Djibouti. DPW already
manages the port and says the
US$300M investment will enable
it to handle an additional 1.5M
TEU annually.
The new facility will be located
11 kms from the existing
one and DPW plans to start work
on the site within the next few
months. The terminal will have
eight superpost-Panamax gantry
cranes on a quay length of 900m
and is expected to commence
operations in late 2008.
The existing port has the capacity
to handle 10 mtpa of cargo
and 500,000 containers per year.
DPW says that under its management
container productivity has
more than doubled to 25 per hour.
“When completed, this facility
will give DP World a very
strong platform to service our
customers’ operations in Eastern
and Southern Africa,” said SVP,
the channel to be widened from
600ft to 1000ft in future.
Charleston’s recently completed
harbour deepening project brought
the channels to 44ft at MLW and
the entrance channel to 47ft.
operations, Joost Kruijning.
“Our commitment to investing
in this project is long term and
I look forward to working closely
with our partners to develop
Djibouti into a key regional transhipment
hub.”
DP World has already announced
a US$30M investment
in the Doraleh Oil Terminal
project.The Government of
Djibouti has contracted DP
World to manage the terminal
once it is completed.
Malaysia looks to new plan
Malaysian port operators have
generally welcomed the government’s
9th Malaysian Plan on Seaports
that calls for volume to be
lifted from 12M TEU in 2005 to
18M TEU by 2010, but there is
still plenty of debate over priorities
for government funding.
Recently PTP chairman
Datuk Mohd Sidik Shaik Osman
was elected President of the Federation
of Malaysian Port Operator
Companies (FMPOC) and
said his task was to increase the
competitiveness of Malaysian ports
and ensure a level playing field
with regional ports that enjoy a
strong government backing.
Officially, Port Klang is still the
“national load centre” but other
ports are not prepared to accept
“regional’ demarcation and want
to attract direct calls.
Penang is asking the government
for around US$28M to
dredge the channel to its
Butterworth Container Terminal
from 11.5m to 13m to attract
direct services to China
and India and push its volume
over 1M TEU.
The new national plan sets the target of container throughput going up 50% to
18M TEU/year by 2010
Growth in Malaysia levelled off
last year to 4.5%, mainly due to
consolidation at PTP Tanjung
Pelepas after three years of spectacular
growth. In the absence of
major new transhipment customers,
ports have turned their attention
to logistics and free zones to
attract manufacturing. Port Klang
is due to open its Free Zone later
this year and the Malaysian Industrial
Development Authority says
it is modelled after Jebel Ali in the
UAE and Klang will become a
regional hub for shipping, manufacturing,
commerce and distribution
activities.
Port Klang terminal operator
Westport, however, is calling
for the Ministry of Transport to
liberalise the port charging regime
and allow ports to set their
own tariffs to make them more
competitive.
Skodaexport for South India
Czech major Skodaexport Company
has announced plans to build
an integrated port complex in the
south Indian state of Andhra
Pradesh in collaboration with Infrastructure
Corporation of
Andhra Pradesh Ltd. (Incap).
The complex will include a
port, a special economic zone, a
power plant and a urea manufacturing
unit. It will cost US$1B and
take four years to build.The port
will be located at Nizampatnam,
between Visakhapatnam and
Chennai ports.
“India has been identified as a
strategic investment opportunity
and we plan to take up more such
projects,” said Skodaexport's CEO
Jaroslav Hubacek.
“The SEZ alongside the
port complex will host a 250
MW captive coal-based power
plant and a 500,000 tpa urea
plant.While the detailed project
report would be ready within a
year, we expect to achieve financial
closure shortly thereafter
and complete these projects simultaneously
by 2010.
“The project envisages modernisation
of the existing harbour
to a mid-size port that has the
potential to handle bulk cargo,
coal, granite, cement and agriproducts.
“The port will also serve as a
base for bringing in imported coal
for the power plant. Our studies
show there is a huge potential for
such a port as it is centrally located.”
A separate joint venture company
will be formed for the
project. It is understood that
Incap’s equity will come mainly
in the form of land for the port
complex and SEZ.
WorldCargo
news
April 2006 9

WorldCargo
news
Betuwe deal struck
After months of infighting, the
Dutch Minister of Transport Karla
Peijs has been forced to backtrack
somewhat on the question of who
should manage the new Betuwe
dedicated freight rail line that will
link Rotterdam with Germany.
Peijs has found it difficult to
find a commercial consortium to
take on the concession. Last year
she appointed ProRail, the Dutch
rail infrastructure management
company, for a period of 3-5 years,
but Parliament rejected that.
Then a consortium of the
ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam,
TowRail and Babcock &
Brown was appointed, to work
with ProRail. However, this group,
known as Green Tulip Railway
Company (GTRC,) dropped out,
complaining about the terms and
conditions. Prorail, then set up a
daugher company to manage the
new link, but the GTRC “smelled
a rat” and the case was taken up
again by Parliament.
Under the new settlement
ProRail and the ports of Rotterdam
and Amsterdam co-own
BREM (BetuweRoute Holding
Company) on a 50:35:15 basis.
The ports have declared their willingness
to reduce their stakes to
5% each, if the other 40% is
wanted by one or more commercial
concerns. In the meantime,
Rotterdam and Amsterdam will
invest €10M and €3M respectively.
The Betuwe Line has been
fraught with controversy. Railion
Nederland complained that the
government and ProRail wanted
to use it as a cash cow and force
users to pay unreasonable infrastructure
charges.Then private rail
operators complained that only
Railion would be able to use it
because of the costly, electric loco
and signalling specifications.
The costs of building the
Betuwe link are closer to €5B than
the €2B first envisaged and there
is widespread concern that user
charges will be too high to compete
with road and inland waterway.
In turn, however, inland navigation
organisations such as
CBRB, Schuttevaer and Kantoor
Binnenvaart have complained
about “unfair’ subsidies being provided
to ProRail.
DESTINATION /
FUTURE
UNIT45 / INTERMODAL INNOVATORS
www.tts-marine.com
Eurotunnel
record
Eurotunnel’s freight shuttle traffic
grew by 2% last year to 1.309M
units, but yield increased by more,
thanks to the success of the new
arrangements with leading haulier
customers. In addition, by concentrating
availability of its 16 freight
shuttle sets (including the lighter,
stronger and easier-to-maintain,
second generation wagons from
Arbel) into peak times, Eurotunnel
now offers up to six departures/
hour and 250 departures/day.
Eurotunnel has formed a
working group with EWS and
SNCF Fret, but at the moment
things are going backwards.
Through rail freight fell 16% last
year to 1.587 mt, with intermodal
performing particularly poorly.
Furthermore, the minimum usage
charge, worth £72M in 2005, expires
this November.
Eurotunnel is also looking to
form partnerships with other rail
operators on the continent and it
has renewed the so far unused
French operating licence of its
Europorte 2 rail freight arm.
Russia’s transport ministry has
oultined its plan to develop the
so-called Northern Shipping Corridor.
Russian coal, oil and timber
are already exported through
the port of Murmansk and Moscow
is eager to extend the range
of cargoes and the shipping lane.
Recent increases in Russian
rail tariffs have decimated the TSR
container landbridge (last month’s
WorldCargo News, p1), but the aim
is to create a new bridge between
China/Far East and the USEC.
The TSR would convey goods
to Murmansk for onward shipment
to the USEC. Compared to
transpacific or via Suez routings,
sea miles would be at least halved.
During the January meeting of
G8 and Asia-Pacific countries’
transport ministers in Tokyo, the
Russian delegation presented a total
of six variants of this ambitious
project. Boris Novoseltsev, a senior
MoT official, is convinced that
one or more of these variants
could attract foreign investment.
However, the cost of shipping
with ice-class vessels is one issue.
Another is the limited capacity of
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you and the sea – it’s what drives us
auto mooring | container terminal technology | heavy load handling | linkspans |
material handling systems | port and terminal equipment | production systems
In bringing the best in marine engineering to the market, we’re constantly fixed on our two most important critics –
you and the sea. That’s why we ensure that all our solutions, from the simplest to the most creative, inspire trust
throughout the entire breadth of your cargo handling requirements.
The International Tank Container
Organisation (ITCO) has
published a safety protocol, Prevention
of Falls From ISO Tank
Containers, developed in cooperation
with the UK Health and
Safety Executive. The HSE is
encouraging the use of the
ITCO protocol throughout the
global tank container industry.
“The new protocol lays down
recommended industry best practices
for working on top of ISO
tank containers,” said Reg Lee,
ITCO president.“It asks everyone
in the tank container supply chain,
from consignors, loading depot
operators and rail and shipping
terminals to repair and storage
depots, customer receiving facilities
and tank container operators,
to look at what their roles and responsibilities
are for safe access.”
The ISO tank container industry is
promoting the availability of gantry
walkway arrangements at all facilities
handling tanks.This picture shows a
fixed gantry walkway at Isotank’s
Teesside depot
INTERMODAL/TANK NEWS
Northern Shipping Corridor?
the Port of Murmansk, which is
expected to handle 14.3 mt,
mainly coal, this year. Rail tariffs
and capacity are also important.
The number of containers transported
in deep sea trades last year
by Kühne & Nagel (K&N), the
world’s leading NVO, grew by
19.4% to a record 1.9M TEU. Income
from seafreight, still K & N’s
most important activity, reached
FS7.5B (53% of turnover), with
EBIT seafreight growing by 32.9%
to FS243M (54% of total EBIT).
K&N says that the attraction
of “merchant haulage” is growing
all the time.The company can
offer two sailings/day from every
leading Far East port - and an integrated
supply chain with a single
IT solution covering every
mode. In the UK, K&N’s sea
freight volumes grew by 28%, far
outstripping the growth of 8% in
the overall UK deep sea container
market, says Peter Ulber, CEO of
Kuehne & Nagel Ltd.
Ulber adds that the volume
committed by K&N to rail in the
UK last year reached 75,000 TEU.
This was the first full year for
K&N’s intermodal rail initiative
and means that the company is
running ahead of its initial target
of carrying 200,000 TEU in the
first three years.
K&N uses services from both
Freightliner and EWS. It is the first
international logistics provider to
charter full capacity in the UK -
in the shape of a contract train
from Freightliner’s Logico division
Vostochniy would continue to be the
Far East gate
Aleksandr Davydenko, the
head of Russia’s Federal Agency
for Sea and River Transport, admits
that the railway route is currently
limited to 500,000 containers/year,
but that is a significant
amount. Electrification of the St.
Petersburg-Murmansk line and
reconstruction of the port branch
line could allegedly increase capacity
to 2M TEU/year, but the
costs involved are astronomical.
K & N logs new records
between Felixstowe and Daventry.
“It costs about £2M/year to
commit to a full train and you
need to have 90-95% utilisation
to make it pay,” says Ulber. The
service is very successful for K&N
and frequency is being stepped up
from five to six train pairs/week.
K&N’s overall spend on rail in the
UK is running at £5-6M/year, or
about £10M when the associated
trucking costs are included.
K&N says its worldwide
seafreight and airfreight volumes
grew at twice the market rate, with
airfreight growing by 9.4%, despite
volatile business environment
characterised by high fuel surcharges.
K&N aims to outperform
the market again this year in both
seafreight and airfreight. New tonnage
in main east-west trades has
led to a softening of seafreight
rates, notes the company.
Last year contract logistics accounted
for 10% of overall turnover
of FS14.05B (€8.95B), but
there will be a “quantum leap” this
year following the €440M acquisition
last October of UK/Irelandbased
ACR Logistics. ACR is
strong in markets where up to
now K&N has been weak in this
field (eg, UK/Ireland, France).The
acquistion will push K&N’s annual
contract logistics turnover to
more than €2B, making it the global
No. 3 in this dynamic segment.
ITCO on fall prevention
As a first step, the protocol calls
for the tank industry to minimise
the need to access the tops of tank
containers, not least by encouraging
provision of bottom loading
facilities at the point of loading
and bottom discharge arrangements
at receiving terminals.
The protocol recognises that
the need to access the top of tank
containers cannot always be eliminated
and that workers need additional
levels of protection.
Collapsible handrails of the
type fitted on road tankers are not
suitable for ISO tank containers
and are likely to suffer damage due
to both the many modes of transport
encompassed in a typical tank
container journey and their stowage
on container ships. An estimated
60-70% of the global fleet
of 250,000 tanktainers are engaged
on deep sea routes.
The protocol calls for responsibility
for preventing falls to be
shared by all depot and terminal
facilities handling tanktainers
through the provision of appropriate
and effective control measures,
such as fixed gantry and
walkway arrangements, with
handrails where appropriate.
Kevin Allars, head of HSE’s
chemical industries division in the
Health and Safety Executive, said:
“Falls from the tops of tank containers
can result in serious injury
or death.This initiative by ITCO
should, over time, make an important
contribution to the reduction
in injury and death in this area.”
10
April 2006

TANK/CONTAINER INDUSTRY NEWS
Eko-Flor a step nearer
Canada-based Conforce International
has entered into the final
phase of internal product formulation
testing on its Eko-Flor
composite container flooring
system and expects the process
to yield positive results over the
next few weeks.
Once the internal testing
phase has been completed, the
product will enter the final external
testing phase whereby an
Eko-Flor prototype container
will be submitted to an independent
third party testing organisation
for final certification.
The design profile for flooring
to be retrofitted to standard
and open top containers, has also
been finalised. Open top con-
tainers are particularly susceptible
to wood floor deterioration.
The newly-developed profile is
planned for launch in conjunction
with the initial design for
newbuild containers.
According to Conforce,
Manlio Ginocchio of Costa
Container Lines has indicated a
strong interest in specifying Eko-
Flor for newbuild containers and
in retrofitting it to a portion of
the current Costa fleet.
As previously reported
(World-Cargo News, February
2006, p21), Conforce has entered
into an exclusive supply
agreement for Eko-Flor with
PVC extrusion company Royal
Group Technologies.
GE SeaCo gets CDI audit
GE SeaCo reports that it has become
the first tank container leasing
company to be audited by the
UK-based Chemical Distribution
Institute (CDI). Over the past 10
years, says GE SeaCo, the CDI has
raised standards by introducing
best-practice and assessment
schemes throughout the chemical
industry.
The CDI audit scheme is
backed by leading chemicals shippers
and tanktainer operators and,
says GESeaCo means that its own
stringent safety and quality systems
have been assessed independently
in a uniform manner.
“This confirms that GE SeaCo
is committed to demonstrating the
highest levels of compliance with
health, safety, environment and
quality in providing supply chain
services to the chemical industry,”
said CDI’s technical manager Capt
Terry Frith.
Marcello Delfino, GE SeaCo’s
business compliance and quality
manager said that the CDI audit
“shows that we are ahead of the
game and fits in well with our
company ethos, verifying suppliers’
safety systems and allowing
customers to be secure in the
knowledge that GE SeaCo is a safe
and quality partner.” The audits
were carried out at GE SeaCo
offices in London, Antwerp, Miami
and Singapore.
CIMC compensation bill
Port operator and container lessor
Cosco Pacific will spend up
to CY4.24B (US$530M) to
compensate shareholders of
China International Marine
Containers (CIMC) from a possible
price decline resulting
from the reform of the latter’s
shareholding structure.
The Hong Kong-based company
will offer shareholders seven
“put” warrants for every 10
CIMC shares as it converts its
16.23% non-tradable A shares in
CIMC into tradable stock, a move
that could dilute the earnings of
already tradable shares.
The company has proposed an
exercise price of CY10, giving a
premium of 8.4%, thus putting a
Euro 45fts
Dear Sir
I read your article “Clock ticking
for 45ft boxes” (February
2006, p50) with interest. It is
incorrect simply to state that
chamfered Euro castings and
profiled corner posts are sufficient
for 45ft containers to be
legal after 1 January 2007.
This is only true if the container
is mounted on a
newbuild chassis with the securing
device underneath and
not, as is the case with most
chassis in Europe, equipped
with a bolster or a vertical securing/locking
pin inserted
from the front.This would interfere
with the swing radius
and reduce it below the minimum
requirement of 2.04m.
If 45fts are secured in such
a manner they will still be illegal
after 1 January next year
and the road traffic authorities
will be able to issue penalties.
Yours faithfully
Erik Hansen
Container Consult Ltd
Soborg, Denmark
floor under the stock’s value.The
option scheme must be exercised
within 18 months. CIMC’s
Shenzhen-listed B shares will not
be affected.
Under China’s regulations,
Cosco Pacific would have to wait
at least 12 months from the time
of converting its non-tradable
shares before offloading them onto
the market.The company said it
would sell no more than 5% of
CIMC’s total issued shares after 12
months and no more than 10%
after 24 months.
Cosco Pacific said that if all the
options were exercised, it would
have to pay CY4.24B and end up
with a 37.26% equity stake in
CIMC.
The reforms are part of China’s
drive to revitalise its lacklustre
stock markets by boosting liquidity.
Until April last year, when
Beijing initiated the reform, nontradable
shares accounted for
about 70% of China’s stock market
capitalisation.
But analysts said a mass exodus
from CIMC ‘A’ shares was
unlikely. “Despite CIMC’s disappointing
earnings outlook
because of port overcapacity and
a plunge in container prices,
earnings should rebound when
the cyclical downturn of the
shipping industry ends,” said
South China Brokerage analyst
Ben Yang.
“Cosco Pacific could sell noncore
assets such as its 20% stake in
Liu Chong Hing Bank to pay for
the CIMC shares it has pledged
to buy.” ABN Amro China research
head Fan Cheuk-wan said:
“It would appear Cosco Pacific
doesn’t want to dilute its stake in
CIMC.”
CIMC’s profit plunged 97% in
the fourth quarter of 2005, after
slipping 29% in the third quarter,
as excess supply undercut prices
and demand for containers. However,
orders have started to pick
up again and it is rumoured that
Chinese container plants may revert
to two shifts shortly.
Cronos purchases
claim for US$4.1M
Leasing company Cronos says it
has purchased all the known creditors’
claims against Transocean
Equipment Management and
Trading Ltd (TOEMT), in a bid
to bring to an end litigation
brought against it in the UK.
The company set aside
US$4.1M in the last quarter of
2005 for this purpose and, as a result
of the purchase, says it expects
to see “a significant reduction in
litigation expenses in 2006.”
The liquidator of TOEMT
filed claims totalling “at least
US$41M plus interest and costs”
against Cronos in December 2004,
alleging that Cronos had wrongfully
participated in the diversion
of funds from TOEMT, dating
back to 1991.
Cronos states that the claims
are without merit, but the time
and legal expenses required to
defend the action would be excessive
and be detrimental to its
normal business operations and
hence to the interests of its share-
holders, customers and employees.
“With the purchase of the
claims of the only known creditor
of TOEMT,” said Cronos’
chairman and CEO Dennis J
Tietz,“we intend to exercise our
rights as creditor to bring an end
to the litigation brought by the
TOEMT liquidator.
“Now that we are the real
party with an interest in the
TOEMT insolvency proceedings,
there is no point to the prosecution
of the litigation brought by
the liquidator against Cronos.”
Cronos has reported revenues
of US$148.3M in the year
ended 31 December 2005 compared
to US$140.5M in 2004,
with gross lease revenues increasing
by 6% to US$139M.
Net income fell, however, to
US$7.8M from US$8.9M in
2004, as the net result of various
extraordinary items.
These included the US$4.1M
TOEMT creditor purchase provision,
as noted, as well as
NYK Line, Oki Electric Co Ltd
and the HILLS Corporation
have developed a passive IC tag
equipped with a temperature
sensor that can be attached to
the outside of any type of container
and detect and record the
internal temperature. Patents are
pending.
The tag has been developed for
the transport or interim storage of
high value items that require temperature
control, such as medical
and chemical products, precision
equipment, foodstuffs, etc.
The underlying principle is
that the internal temperature can
be detected through insulation
used to block electromagnetic
waves. The tag uses a wave frequency
that is not susceptible to
moisture interference.
In addition, as the tag is passive,
it has no internal power sup-
WorldCargo
news
New temperature tag
US$2.4M in legal expenses primarily
related to that matter and
certain other payments and income
recovery items.
● Cronos has also announced the
66 units
16 units 60
units
ply to worry about.The tag is also
waterproof and can be used repeatedly
over long periods of time,
says NYK. As with standard tags,
it is equipped with a rewritable
memory in which information
can be easily stored, information
such as the time/date of receipt/
delivery of merchandise and the
name of personnel responsible.
NYK says the tags will first
be sent to manufacturers, distributors,
and logistics companies for
pilot studies before becoming
commercially available.
Oki will provide the tag and
HILLS the temperature-controlled
containers for the pilot project.
NYK says it will collaborate with
other logistics companies to provide
opportunities for use of these
IC tags in global transportation
and storage. Sales are forecast to
reach 1M tags by 2008.
appointment of John Keir, formerly
of GE SeaCo, as its exclusive
agent for the growing Russia,
CIS and Baltic States container
leasing market.
April 2006 11

WorldCargo
news
Spanish short sea shipping line Trasmediterranea, part of Acciona, is to start a new ferry
operation between Portsmouth and Bilbao in May.“We are delighted to welcome Acciona
Trasmediterranea to Portsmouth.With a focus on providing a better service for freight to and
from Spain, this new service will extend our offer providing different opportunities for both
freight and passenger customers,” said port manager Martin Putman.The ship servicing the
route to Bilbao is the 172m LOA FORTUNY, built in 2001, with capacity for up to 1000
passengers and 330 vehicles.Three sailings/week will be offered in the June-September high
season and two/week in May-June and September-December
Boulogne pulls a fast one
CCI Boulogne has announced a €20M
investment in a new ro-ro berth, due into
service in June 2007, dedicated to fast jet
cargo carriers. The stainless steel, BGVs
(Bateau Grande Vitesse) are trimarans and
will link Boulogne with Drammen in
Norway, Santander in northern Spain and
Sheerness in Kent, England.
Orders have been placed by Norwegian
company NorFerries for three BGVs.
Two 180m loa vessels will have a capacity
for 94 trailers and one larger vessel
will be able to cater for 175 trailers.
All three vessels will have an average
speed of 35 knots.The biggest one will
operate on the southern route between
Boulogne and Santander and the other
two on the northern routes between
Boulogne, Sheerness and Drammen. Journey
times are touted as: Santander–
Boulogne, 20h; Boulogne–Sheerness, 2h;
and Boulogne–Drammen, 20h.
Boulogne’s BGV ferry berth will be
located on the site of the former Comilog
ferro-manganese plant that closed in 2003.
“We are convinced that the BGV service
can attract road hauliers between the
countries it will operate to and from,
notably for the transport of fish, seafood
and fresh produce,” said CCI Boulogne’s
president Francis Leroy. “This is an important
way to support EU initiatives to
move some freight cargo from the roads.”
Confirmation of where the vessels are
Cavotec in action.
SHIPPING NEWS
to be built must be made soon as construction
is expected to begin this summer,
so that services can start next year.
“Colorful”
MacGregor
MacGregor, part of Cargtotec group, has
received an order for ro-ro access equipment
for two high speed ferries for Norwegian
ship owner Color Line. The
equipment will be delivered in 2007-
2008.The order is valued at around €9M.
MacGregor will design and install bow
doors and ramps, stern doors and ramps,
hoistable tilting ramps, hoistable car decks,
car deck access ramps and pilot and passenger
doors.The ferries will be built at
Aker Yards shipyard in Rauma, Finland.
The first vessel will be operated between
Kristiansand and Hirtshals, and the second
between Larvik and Hirtshals.
● The world order book for new ferries
at the end of February 2006 stood at 45
vessels, according to Sweden-based research
and publication company ShipPax
Information. Capacity of the ferries under
construction was 51,630 passengers
with 14,122 berths for overnight accommodation,
and a car deck capacity of 8170
cars or 81,668 lane/metres.
The total order book was estimated
at US$4.38B, of which North European
shipyards accounted for about half.With
a 73% market share, the EU is still highly
competitive on the international market.
“There is still a need for a modernised
fleet to replace old ships...order books
are likely to remain fairly strong for ropax
ferries,” said Klas Brogren, managing
director of ShipPax Information. “Current
trends for sophisticated interiors even
on ro-pax ferries may result in the industry
re-defining such vessels as “ro-cruise.”
12
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IN ACTION 36
GNSL moves
Geest North Sea Line (GNSL), acquired
by Samskip last year, is restructuring its
operations in the Scandinavian and Baltic
markets, including Russia.The changes
will boost capacity and provide better integration
between these former Samskip
services and GNSL’s established intermodal
network based on Rotterdam.
There are major changes to the company’s
Swedish and Latvian services, larger
ships, a switch from Terneuzen to Rotterdam,
a new hub operation based on
Helsingborg and new direct calls in Denmark
and Lithuania.
Currently GNSL links the UK, North
Continent and Sweden with a weekly
service calling Hull in the UK,Terneuzen
in the Netherlands and Wallhamn and
Halmstad in Sweden, while GNSL’s sister
company Van Dieren Maritime provides
a daily rail link between Herne in Germany
and Älmhult and Norrköping in
Sweden.The weekly Latvian service links
Riga with Moerdijk in Holland and Hull
and Blyth in the UK.A southbound call
in Sölvesborg, Sweden, is also offered.
The Swedish service is being totally
revised. Ports of call will become Hull,
Rotterdam, Ålborg in Denmark, and
Helsingborg and Varberg in Sweden while
a 500 TEU ship will be drawn from the
Geest pool to replace the 350 TEU vessel
that currently operates on this service, thus
providing a 50% boost in capacity. The
port rotation becomes Hull – Rotterdam
-Ålborg - Helsingborg – Varberg – Hull.
In May, Moerdijk, Blyth, Sölvesborg and
Riga will go out of the Latvian service. In
will come Helsingborg (thus giving a twice
weekly link between the new hub port and
Hull) Ventspils and Klaipeda.Again, capacity
will be increased, with two 350 TEU
ships replacing two 210 TEU ships.
Rotterdam will be connected to Latvia
and Lithuania by transhipping over
Helsingborg, the services being synchronised
for same-day connection. “The
switch of the Swedish service from
Terneuzen to Rotterdam Shortsea Terminal
means we can plug in to the road, rail
and barge service network already used by
Geest for its UK, Irish and Spanish services,”
said GNSL’s commercial director
Gerard de Groot.
April 2006

SPAIN: PORT DEVELOPMENT
WorldCargo
news
Port investments gathering pace
International interest in Spain’s
Mederranean ports has intensified, with
Dubai Ports World’s decision to join a
consortium to bid for Barcelona’s future
container terminal at the Prat Wharf that
is aimed at doubling the port’s space for
container handling when it opens in January
2008.The rail-connected terminal will
have a total quay length of 1500m with a
depth of 16.5m alongside.
“Our priority, when considering bidders,
is that new traffic is brought to Barcelona,”
said Joaquim Coello, chairman
of the port authority (APB). He adds that
70% of the evaluation procedure on the
offers will to be based upon the promise
to bring new traffic to the port.
“Container traffic from the Far East
will be the principal generator of new
traffic at the port, Coello believes.“We
have had 50% growth rate in trade from
China and overall Asian container traffic
is growing by 20%.”
In the battle to win the concession to
operate the port’s future 93-hectare container
terminal,APB has confirmed that
DP World had made a joint bid with
CMA-CGM. Effectively this is the
PortSynergy grouping of P&O Ports and
CMA-CGM, although Spain’s Naviera
del Odiel is also understood to be involved
in the biding with them.
Two other bids have been received -
from the port’s existing container terminal
operators, TCB (Terminal de
Contenidors de Barcelona) and Grupo
Mestre’s Terminal de Catalunya (Tercat).
As previously reported in WorldCargo
News, Tercat has teamed up with
Hutchinson Port Holdings (HPH) to
make an offer for the tender. HPH has
agreed to purchase 50% of Tercat if their
joint bid for the 30-year Prat Wharf concession
succeeds.
APB says it will announce the winners
of the tender this July. If TCB or
Tercat win the concession, their existing
terminal space will be made free to develop
other traffic types. Barcelona’s Ship
Agent Association, Asociacion de Vaixells
de Barcelona, has long called for APB to
ensure the future diversification of traffic,
especially for short sea trade.The opening
of Prat Wharf is expected to relieve,
in part, the port’s current congestion
problems that have arisen from several
years of solid growth.
New low profile crane
Months before the tender process for Prat
Wharf container terminal had ended,
APV’s chairman Rafael Aznar Garrigues
Muelle Fangos, Prat Dock and other
major schemes follow hard on the heels
of the recently announced expansion
programmes at Algeciras
TCB, the port’s largest container terminal
operator, ordered three superpost-
Panamax cranes from ZPMC.
As previously reported, cranes at Prat
Wharf have to be low profile cranes due
to the proximity of the terminal to the
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city’s international airport. No-one has
built a low profile crane with such an
enormous outreach until now, so these
cranes break new gorund in this respect.
By ordering them now,TCB is making
a statement of intent.The operator is
A constrad
is born!
particularly keen to win the new terminal
that would provide it with a total capacity
of 2.5M TEU/year.
Almost saturated
Last year TCB’s throughput at its Dock
Sud facility increased by 8% to 1.15m
TEU last year. As its current maximum
capacity is 1.3m-1.4m TEU and taking
even a modest 5% annual growth prospects
into account, the terminal will
shortly reach saturation point.
TCB management has been reorganising
existing capacity to avoid congestion
at the terminal. Some sheds
have been knocked down and machinery
has been brought to enable TCB
to keep growing.
To reduce the “footprint” of the EC
stacks, two more 8-high FLTs have been
acquired from Kalmar. The attachments
have double hooks for 1 on 1 lifts, so they
can lift 2 over 7.TCB’s fleet of 51 straddle
carriers already includes 25 1 over 3s.
Fangos soon
Barcelona will face even stiffer competition
for Asian Asian o/d container traffic
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April 2006 13

WorldCargo
news
SPAIN: PORT DEVELOPMENT
from Valencia when Mediterranean
Shipping Company (MSC)
opens its 350,000 m 2 dedicated
terminal this September
MSC has invested €120M in
the Fangos terminal that is set to
become its major hub in the western
Mediterranean. Despite Barcelona’s
major expansion programme,
the Port of Valencia,
which handles most of Madrid’s
seagoing trade, remains confident
about growth prospects.
“There is open competition. I
believe in the market and I believe
the winner will be the port
that has a strategic location, is able
to provide a strong economic hinterland
and to ensure that there is
no strangulation on efficiency, on
productivity rates and on costs,”
said Rafael Aznar Garrigues, chairman
of the Valencia port authority
(APV).
“Valencia is close to the critical
mass areas of trade,but we will
need to work on rail and road
networks to bring us even closer
to markets.”
The two amigos
Barcelona is Valencia’s greatest
competitor in Spain as the Port of
Algeciras’ hinterland is limited
Hutchison will buy into Tercat if their joint bid for Prat Dock is successful, but
there is stiff competition from Grup TCB and a group led by DP World
economically, argues Aznar
Garrigues. “To ensure further
growth at Valencia. we aim to
develop logistics and technological
platforms for the transfer of
documentation.”
The port’s short sea shipping
prospects, meanwhile, have been
bolstered by a new weekly
intermodal rail-sea link called
MARIS linking Valencia with
Livorno in Italy.APV is continuing
to battle in Brussels to ensure
that the port is included in future
EU TEN rail links.
Not taken off
Unlike Barcelona, Valencia’s
planned logistics zone (ZAL)
aimed at attracting value-added
business has not taken off. Even
so,Aznar Garrigues remains optimistic
about growth prospects for
Valencia.
He points out that the staging
of the Americas Cup in Valencia
in 2007 means that the port has
new sheltered areas for further enlargement.This
means it can look
at new dedicated container terminals
as well as terminals for specialised
trades.The port is aiming
to achieve a throughput of 6.5M
TEU/year by 2015.
Boost from China
Ahead of the opening of MSC’s
Fangos terminal this September,
the prospects of Terminal de
Contenedors de Valencia
(TCV), majority-owned by
Grup TCB, have been boosted
by the increased presence of
China Shipping. In line with the
rise of Far East imports to Europe’s
Mediterranean ports,
Tercat is an important bulk handling operator as well as strong competition for
Grup TCB, Barcelona’s biggest container handler. This picture shows two
Mantsinen 110 RCT hydraulic cranes acquired recently for scrap handling
China Shipping has become
TCV’s leading client.
According to the line’s
agents in Valencia, it increased
container movements at TCV
by 50% last year, moving
170,000 TEU, boosting the
terminal’s overall throughput
by almost 30% to 553,094
TEU.
Exports are growing but
not as quickly as imports,
which account for 60% of
Spanish o/d traffic at TCV.
However, transhipment volumes
have also grown and account
for 25-30% of traffic at
the terminal, said company
spokesman Miguel Ruiz.
China Shipping started calling
at Valencia in 2001 at Marítima
Valenciana, but moved operations
in the same year to TCV.
“Marítima Valenciana said at the
time that it could not provide the
service we required for the
amount of cargo we wanted to
bring, so in 2001 we moved to
TCV,” said Bibiana Martínez, secretary
of China Shipping (Spain)
in Valencia.
“At that time we also had a
Traffic still growing
strongly in Spain
Sustained growth at Spain’s commercial
ports continued in 2005,
with trade rising at an average rate
of 7.4%, well above the country’s
3.4% GDP growth rate last year,
reports the national ports entity,
Puertos del Estado. In total, 440.77
mt of goods moved last year across
Spain’s 46 ports. Container traffic
increased 11.8% to more than
11M TEU.
The Mediterranean ports of
Barcelona, Valencia and Algeciras
account for close to half of all traffic
and two thirds of container
traffic.Traffic at the three ports has
been boosted mostly by the continuing
rise in imports from Far
East Asia and in transhipment demand.
Container transhipment at
Spanish ports rose 11.8% to 5.2M
TEU in 2005, with throughput at
Algeciras rising 8.25% to
3,179,614 TEU. Algeciras is now
Europe’s fifth largest container
port. Container traffic at Valencia
increased 12.33% to 2,409,821
TEU. traffic. At Barcelona the
growth rate was slower at 8.05%,
with traffic rclimbing to 2,070,726
TEU.
Richest of all
Barcelona remains Spain’s wealthiest
port, due the value of cargo
moved in export/import traffic
and its low reliance on transhipment
traffic.The port’s net profit
shot up by 56% to €55.9M
(US$68.9M) last year.The record
results have been attributed to a
33% increase in turnover, as income
rose 11% to €129.7M and
expenditure was cut by 3%. More
than €200M was invested in the
port last year.
Barcelona has been the fastest
growing port in the Mediterranean
in terms of overall traffic levels
according to Josep Oriol, managing
director of Barcelona port
authority. Last year overall
throughput increased 12% to
45Mt, with all categories showing
healthy growth. Barcelona is
also Europe’s leading cruise port
and cruise passenger traffic rose
20% to more than 1.2M. Overall
passenger traffic went up 12% to
close to 2.2M.
Bilbao issue
Bilbao, Spain’s largest Atlantic sea
port, remains in fourth position in
the country’s commercial port
league and container traffic here
topped 500,000 TEU. The University
of the Basque Country in
Spain has identified a real need to
improve freight transport infrastructure
in Bilbao.
Failure to do so could result
in a real bottleneck developing
and prevent future growth of the
Basque region, says the university
in a report that stresses the urgency
of integrating the Bilbao into Europe’s
emerging “sea motorways”
network, as well as upgrading connections
between the port and the
rest of the network through the
establishment of inland distribution
terminals.
However, all initiatives to improve
road haulage provision to
and from the port of Bilbao are
dragged down by the inability of
the Basque government to resolve
the near-monopoly provision of
these services - a thorny issue for
a number of years.
Unless this situation improves,
the overall competitiveness of
the port will be negatively affected,
says the report. The
Basque government is due to
present a framework document
in December explaining how
transport provision will be revamped.
It will be implemented
by the end of 2007.
● The Spanish river port of Seville
is to have a scheduled container
service linking it with the
north of Europe, according to
Manuel Fernández, president of
the port authority. He declined to
reveal the name of either the shipping
line or the proposed frequency.
Once operational, the
service could easily double the
existing throughput of the port in
containers. Seville is currently limited
to serving markets in the Canary
Islands and Morocco. This
traffic increased last year by 4.12%
to 115,670 TEU. ❏
14
April 2006

SPAIN: PORT DEVELOPMENT
WorldCargo
news
Newly-delivered post-Panamax Paceco España
Portainer at Terminal del Sudeste, Málaga
Training focus
The company has a strong focus on
training to boost productivity.This has
already increased, it claims, from 16
moves/crane hour to to 20 moves over
the past two years.
Grup TCB recently reinforced its
position in TCV by acquiring the 8%
stake held by Dragados-SPL, thus increasing
its own stake to 67.4%, with
the remaining 32.6% held by four
smaller shareholders.
New record
Dragados-SPL group reports that its
flagship operator Marítima Valenciana
increased productivity last year by 12%.
Container throughput rose by 9.3%
and reached an average daily figure of
4721 TEU, 400 TEU more than in the
previous year.
Total throughput for 2005 was a terminal
record, reaching 1.699M TEU.All
shipping lines using the terminal registered
increases in traffic. Main client MSC
handled 1.125M TEU during 2005, although
Maersk, UASC, Hanjin-Senator,
Cosco and Evergreen also generated substantial
amounts of traffic.
In a typical day in 2005, Marítima
Valenciana received 4.24 vessels, undertaking
3292 maritime container moves
and 3272 terrestrial container moves space
(rail or road). Road movements encompassed
2546 trucks, up 12.4% compared
to 2004.Vessel calls rose 21% to 1528, with
the average ship being 1112 TEU in size,
itself a 7% increase over 2004.
In terms of overall productivity, an
employee working an average six-hour
day handled an average of 115.7 moves
Paceco España Portainers in partly-erected state
at MSC’s dedicated new Fangos terminal in
Valencia, to be operated for it by Marítima
Valenciana, its existing handler in the port
hub in Gioia Tauro but there was chaos
there so we moved more trade to Valencia,”
said Martinez.
TCV is continuing to expand. The
quay has been extended by 400m and this
quay has an alongside draught of 15.2m.
Last year 13 RTGs and two post-Panamax
cranes joined the equipment park, to be
joined this year by six more RTGs and
16 Mafi tractors. Some of the older cranes
have been refurbished.
By the end of this year,TCV will have
an extra 32,000 m 2 in the CY and by the
end of 2007 it plans to have a further
40,000 m 2 available for container traffic.
It is also taking steps to try and reduce
average dwell times in the CY.
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TCB eyes
Topolobampo
Spain’s Grup TCB has indicated an
interest in operating a container terminal
in the Mexican port of
Topolobampo. The move has been
revealed by the commercial director
of the Integrated Port Authority,
Carlos Solís.TCB has asked for
permission to undertake soil analysis
in the port area, which it says
will help determine the exact type
of quayside gantry crane that would
be best suited to the terrain.
The Spanish container terminal
operator is already aware that it is not
possible to use doublestack operations
on the Texas-Pacific rail corridor, although
Solís was not sure whether this
would affect its eventual logistics operation
in Mexico. Ferromex currently
uses Topolobampo, but only as a “dry
port.” Incoming containers arrive by
road and are dispatched by rail.
TCB already has a concession for
container handling in Mexico, at the
Port of Progreso in the Yucatan peninsula.
Tecon Yucatan joins its longerstanding
stake in the container terminal
in La Habaña, Cuba.
Following a shareholder reshuffle
in 2000, Grup TCB has become an
established international container operator.
It also has terminal interests in
Paranaguá, Brazil. In Spain its biggest
operation is in Barcelona.
It also operates in Valencia, Gijón
and the Canary Islands, but pulled out
of TCA in Algeciras last year, officially
because its stake was too small to influence
majority owner Acciona’s approach.
Subsequently Acciona sold the
concession on to Maersk. Its overall
throughput in 2005 came to 2.8M
TEU.
● The director general of Mexico’s
Port and Economic Development organisation,
Miguel Rolón, has revealed
that the government is looking to
build a new maritime terminal at
Pajaritos, which would help boost
economic developments in the south
of Veracruz state. ❏
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April 2006 15

WorldCargo
news
SPAIN/PORTUGAL: PORT DEVELOPMENT
per shift.This equates to an average
hourly productivity per crane
of 19.28 moves. In respect of
MSC, individual workers had productivity
of 145-170 moves.
Grup TCB has increased its control over TCV,Valencia’s second container terminal
operator, where traffic has also been rising strongly
New IT platform
These figures can be improved,
insists the terminal, through the
introduction of its new terminal
operating programme, CATOS,
from Total Soft Bank in Korea.As
previously reported (WorldCargo
News, February 2006, p24),
Marítima Valenciana has invested
€3.5M in the new system, including
vesel planning and yard management
functions.
By making good use of the
system, Marítima Valenciana hopes,
for example, torbe able to reduce
average container dwell time,
which was 12 days in 2005, and
thus increase dynamic capacity.
The aim is to restrict export containers
to a stay of no more than
seven days and imports to no more
than 10 days, with transhipment
containers averaging seven days.
Marítima Valenciana faced the
prospect of losing a huge proportion
of its traffic when its main
customer MSC opted for its own,
dedicated terminal, but the operator
secured a deal last year to operate
the facility on MSC’s behalf.
An internal road will link the two
terminals to enhance transhipment
movements.
At present, Marítima
Valenciana has a total of 950,000
m 2 available, but planned expansion
works will bring the total to
nearer 1.4M m 2 . Its terminal has
1500m of linear berth line and
another 340m is on the East Dock
transversal. It will gain 500m more
of quay at Costa Dock.Alongside
draught is 16m.
Goosenecks, up to 45 tonnes
Málaga pitch
With transhipment traffic at Spanish
ports rising to 11.8% to 5.2M
TEU in 2005, Dragados SPL has
not lost out from Maersk’s purchase
last year of TCA (Terminales
de Contenedores de Andalucia) at
the port of Algeciras.
Despite initial fears that
Dragados SPL’s Terminales del
SudEste (TdS) at the port of
Málaga, (located close to
Algeciras), would see a fall in traffic
of benefit of TCA,TdS has continued
to witness stunning growth
since it became operative in 2004.
Director Elías García says that
throughput amounted to 283,000
TEU last year, with calls by 315
vessels. He forecasts that throughput
this year will amount to
470,000 TEU.
Leaving aside TCA, Maersk
España has a major, €48M programme
to increase annual capacity
at its main operation on
Algeciras’ Juan Carlos I quay to
4.1M TEU by 2007.This was previously
announced by the
Algeciras port authority (World-
Cargo News, February 2006, p12).
Phase 1 completed
TdS has completed its initial
€125M implementation phase
with the introduction of a fourth
Castellón's Centenario quay, the location of the two new multi-purpose terminals:
Castellón Terminal Portuária and Terminal Polivalente de Castellón
quayside gantry crane, another
superpost-Panamax Portainer
(61t-60m) from Paceco España.
Of the total investment,€53M has
been spent on civil works, which
encompass 360m of quay.
RTGs on the way
TdS has also ordered a total of
12 RTGs from Konecranes,
whilst a fifth gantry crane is
scheduled to arrive early next
year. Full development of the
terminal is due for completion
in 2007, by when it is hoped
that traffic from Maersk will
have grown to 500,000 TEU.
It is planned to extend the
quay to 723m in phase 2, along
which seven gantry cranes will be
deployed.The CY today occupies
20 hectares, but can be practically
doubled in phase 2.
Some 95% of TdS’ traffic today
is transhipment traffic and it
acts as a buffer terminal to
Mearsk’s transhipment hub in
Algeciras.“Despite the prospect of
a new terminal in Tangiers, and
the acquisition of TCA by Maersk,
the figures show that there is room
for all of us,” said García.
Growth prospects at TdS have
just been boosted by the first call
of a new regular Maersk line service
between North Continent
and the Far East. Maersk will employ
eight vessels in this service,
including three of > 6000 TEU
capacity.
The ships will arrive at
Málaga from Rotterdam,
Felixstowe, Hamburg and Dunkirk
and will sail to SSCT East
Port Said on the way to the
Chinese ports of Qingdao,
Shanghai and Ningbo.
The operations at TdS will
consist in unloading full containers
coming from northern
Europe to African and Mediterranean
Ports, as well as the loading
of full and empty boxes to
the Far East.
In November and December,
the first calls also commenced
from car carriers, with a total of
seven calls offloading 3225 vehicles.Traffic
is generated by Ford,
which uses Málaga to distribute
vehicles throughout Andalucia,
Extramadura and Murcia. García
forecasts that throughput this year
will amount to almost 30,000 cars,
rising to 200,000 units within a
couple of years. ❏
Roll trailers with safety hooks
Other equipment:
Skeletal trailers with container guides, up to 60 tonnes
Multi-trailer systems, up to 60 tonnes
Skeletal trailer with Rockerbeams, up to 70 tonnes
Cornerless "bumpcar" with "Rockerbeams"
Cassettes for self-loading lifting trailers
Self-loading lifting trailers with cassettes,
up to 120 tonnes
Roll trailer with fixed gooseneck
Used equipment available!! Ask for details.
Leixões makes progress
Portuguese container terminal
operator TCL Terminal de
Contenedores de Leixões has
launched a €7M investment programme
including an order for a
new Panamax crane and upgrading
of existing equipment at its
facility. The investments will enable
TCL to cater for more traffic,
following the deepening of the
port’s access channel to 12m, that
will enable Panamax ships s to call
by 2007.TCL is also extending an
existing crane to Panamax.
TCL registered hardly any traffic
growth last year. “In terms of
volumes, 2005 was below our expectations,”
said company director
Lopo Feijo.“There was a modest
increase of 2.32% compared
with our own forecast of 5.5%.
“The main reason for this disappointing
growth was the Portuguese
economy. GDP grew by
only 0.8% and the forecasts of the
Bank of Portugal and the government
for 2006 are not as bright as
we would like them to be.”
In 2005,TCL handled 352,585
TEU - just 1% up on 2004’s figures,
compared to a 10% growth
rate in 2004 compared to 2003.
Nevertheless, TCL is confident
that its new handling capacity will
boost traffic to 450-550,000
TEU/year by 2007.
Transhipment accounts for 4%
of container traffic handled at
Leixões. “The Far East, Africa,
South America and Mediterranean
areas are becoming more and
more important trade lanes for our
importers and exporters, never
mind the usual and always strong
trade between north Continent/
UK and North America,” continued
Lopo Feijo .
Lines and feeder operators are
moving cargo via Leixões either
directly or indirectly. Maersk,
MSC, X’Press Container Lines,
Transinsular and Gracechurch
Container Line are the top five
operators in terms of volumes.
TCL is owned by the Tertir
Group that also has port interests
in Mozambique and Guinea-
Bissau. Portuguese-speaking
countries, claims Lopo Feijo, are
developing fast with special emphasis
to Angola and trade with
Brazil and other countries will
increase significantly in the years
to come.
“Particular attention is being
given to Brazil were we are eyeing
possibilities for point ventures
with local players.”
Lisbon update
Tertir Group’s Liscont container
terminal in the Port of Lisbon
claims that congestion problems
experienced in recent years have
been resolved following a €12M
investment in equipment. In the
past two years, Lisbon has lost traffic,
as MSC switched to PSA’s new
termnal in Sines.
Container traffic at Liscont
came to 240,000 TEU last year,
compared to 280,000 TEU in
2003. Overall container traffic in
Lisbon fell by 0.15% last year, but
the port authority (APL) hopes
that recent and forthcoming improvements
will enable the port
to recapture the 15% growth rate
it achieved. in 2003.
APL is understood to support
the petition from Tertir to
extend Liscont’s current concession
beyond 25 years.As things
stand, the concession expires in
2015, but Tertir says it will not
make further investments to
enlarge the terminal unless it has
guarantees that the concession
will be prolonged.
Meanwhile, Spain’s Dragados-
SPL is to invest in a multi-purpose
terminal in the Port of Setúbal. ❏
16
April 2006

SPAIN: PORT DEVELOPMENT
More ports opt for the box
Barcelona’s Prat Dock is probably the
most high profile, container terminal
project in Spain, but others are springing
up throughout the country. Both Alicante
and Vigo are planning construction of a
second container terminal, while Tenerife
is awaiting permission from the EU’s
Environmental Commissioner to construct
a completely new port at Granadilla.
And Almeria, despite its proximity to
Málaga, also wants to build one.
Three other new facilities opened last
year.Throughput at Castellón de la Plana
increased by 24.9% last year as two new
multipurpose terminals began trading.
One of them, Castellón Terminal
Portuária (CTP) opened its doors in January
and had reported traffic of 26,000
TEU by the end of the year, as well as
another 400,000t of general cargo.
Upbeat mood
CTP’s owners Viuda de Enrique Gimeno,
Terminal Marítima de Castellón and
Dragados-SPL group member Marítima
Mallach are confident that there is more
traffic to be had. Much of the traffic that
CTP anticipates handling will be generated
by the local ceramics industry, which
currently dispatches 600 containers/day
through Valencia. However, CTP emphasises
that it is not in competition with
Valencia or Barcelona. Castellón serves a
niche business, built around ro-ro and
feeder vessels, feeding hubs such as
Algeciras and Gioia Tauro.
CTP covers an area of 180,000 m 2 ,
has 400m of quay and alongside draught
is 12m-14m. It is equipped with a single,
post-Panamax (14-across) Liebherr gantry
crane, as well as a 4-rope Liebherr
LHM 400 mobile harbour crane used for
bulk and heavy cargo duties.Three other
cranes are also deployed on the quay - a
Liehbherr LHM 320 and two Regianne
LH 35s. The latter are mostly used for
handling pallets or big bags.
With the current set up, CTP’s managers
say it could easily handle 200,000
containers/year, assuming an average yard
dwell time of 12-14 days. Productivity, at
an average of 29 moves/crane hour, is
encouraging. It will drop as traffic builds
up, but is not expected to dip below an
average of 25 moves.
Empty heading
MSC uses CTP for repositioning of empties.The
line offloaded around 8000 TEU
last year, generating about 500 TEU per
call. Of the three ro-ro clients, Italy’s
Messina Line is the largest, averaging 400
TEU per call. Fast Line and Sloman
Neptun also call, along with Black Sea
and Mediterranean feeder operators.
The CY is equipped with three reach
stackers, from CVS Ferrari (two) and
PPM.A terminal planning system has also
been implemented, developed locally by
Portel.To support ro-ro traffic CTP has a
fleet of nine tractors, from Terberg, Douglas
and Ferrari, while 75t container
bombcarts have come from Fabrisem.
In January, work began on a rail connection
to the terminal, while a new direct
link to the local motorway network
is on the verge of being introduced.
New in Marín
Last August, a new container terminal
opened in the small Spanish port of Marín,
operated by Pérez Torres Marítima.The
port’s throughput last year came yo just
30,000 TEU.This might seem insufficient
to justify a new terminal, but there is considerable
untapped potential.
“The Port of Marín has 320,000 m 3
of cold storage facilities,” explains the terminal’s
director, Jorge Calvo.“At present,
most of the frozen fish that is imported
into this area arrives at Vigo and is trucked
to Marín. However, importers based here
are currently negotiating with several foreign
shipping lines with a view to securing
direct calls, hence the need for a modern
container terminal.”Target areas for
growth include Chile and South Africa,
both of which export considerable quantities
of frozen fish to Spain.
The new terminal is little different
from the one it replaced, in that it covers
an area of 70,000 m 2 . However, up to
23,000 m 2 of additional space could be
added through additional infill, which
would in turn increase the available
draught from 12m to 14m. The 250m
long quay can be lengthened to 480m.
Presently, Marín’s main customer is
Naviera Pinillos, which undertakes a
weekly cabotage service to the Canary
Islands.The Panamax gantry crane (from
Kocks) achieves 28 moves/crane hour on
typical 750 TEU vessels operated by the
line. Many out-of-gauge consignments
unitised on folding flatracks are handled.
Second Kocks crane
Marín has now acquired a second, similar
Kocks crane, from the Port of Hamburg
Safe
for €1.8M CIF.“If we use both simultaneously,
we forecast productivity per crane
dropping to 25 moves per hour, but that
is still very good indeed,” stresses Calvo.
The second-hand crane has been the
only “big ticket” cost item, although a new
maintenance warehouse has also had to
be built. One new reach stacker is on order,
to join three reach stackers and one
heavy mast truck that were moved from
the former terminal. ❏
Puerto Marín’s new container terminal. One
of the vessels at the berth is a Grupo Boluda
ship from the Canaries (Naviera Pinillos) and
the other is an MSC feeder
MANTSINEN
The mark of efficiency
Precise
MANTSINEN
Economical
Efficient
www.mantsinen.com
Tel. +358 13 252 5500 Fax +358 13 252 5555
WorldCargo
news
April 2006 17

WorldCargo
news
Shuttle carriers at the buffer zone
In 2004 the Suria Group took
over the operation of Sabah’s key
ports from the Sabah Ports Authority.
Suria Group subsidiary
Sabah Ports Sdn Bhd is now responsible
for port operations and
has embarked upon a major modernisation
and equipment replacement
programme.
Last year an order was placed
with Kalmar for seven shuttle carriers,
four reachstackers, nine ECH
machines and 26 terminal tractors.
The shuttle carrier stack 1 over 1,
have a hydrostatic drive system
with a Scania engine and Rexroth
hydraulics and a maximum speed
of 30 kmh.
18
The Port of Kota Kinabalu has lifted productivity by
using Kalmar shuttle carriers to manage a quayside
buffer stack between terminal tractors and its new
harbour mobile cranes
Shuttle carrier about to straddle a trailer outside CFS
Different purpose
At the time the order was placed
it was thought the shuttle carriers
would be a replacement vehicle
for terminal tractors and used to
dray containers between the quay
and the yard.This is not the case
and Kota Kinabalu is using them
as an interchange/buffer machine
on the pier and as a conventional
straddle carrier at the
road truck interface.
The quay at Kota Kinabalu is
Tel: +358 207 431 120
Fax +358 207 431 121
www.meclift.fi
AGENTS
WANTED
on a pier built out in the harbour
and linked to the shore by two
bridges.The distance between the
quay and the yard stacking area is
around 500m - the type of journey
the shuttle carrier was designed
for. However, the shuttles
cannot make the journey with a
loaded container because their
wheel loads would be too high for
the bridges.
Shipshape
Until recently Kota Kinabalu had
no purpose-built harbour cranes
and used ships gear to discharge
containers directly on to chassis.
Sebran Bin Ahmat, Sabah Ports
senior manger , west coast port
operations, says this was less than
ideal. Crane operators were provided
by the shipping line and did
not always work the same hours
as port gangs and, more importantly,
productivity was just 6-7
moves per hour. Last October the
port took delivery of two
Gottwald HMK 170E cranes, the
largest in the Gottwald range that
the pier can support.
Landing problems
Using ships gear the main limitation
on productivity was the difficulty
landing containers directly
on chassis. Even with harbour
mobile cranes this is still not easy
as the port cannot use telescopic
spreaders with a CoG adjustment
and rotor much of the time.
The cranes were delivered with
Bromma telescopic spreaders, but
these cannot be used beyond the
eighth row because of the weight
restriction and the port has purchased
very light Stinis single
beam fixed frames with guide
arms and automatic twistlocks.
Using a reach stacker or FLT
to allow harbour mobile cranes to
ground containers and decouple
the quayside exchange is relatively
common, but the wheel load restrictions
on the pier meant this
was not possible.
Sabah has a fleet of straddle
carriers but Ahmat considers these
too tall and probably too heavy
to use in conjunction with the
harbour mobile cranes.With the
new mode of operation, containers
are discharged to the ground
and the shuttle carriers either load
them directly to the tractor/trailer
sets (IMVs) or stack them in a
buffer area that holds up to 50
containers.
The buffer stack is generally
not needed unless two vessels are
berthed at the same time or both
cranes are working over the same
vessel. One shuttle is used per
crane and a third for the buffer
stack. Empty containers are handled
in a separate buffer stack by
the new Kalmar ECH mast trucks.
Yard operations
In the yard the shuttles manage
the import and export stacks together
with 1 over 2 straddle carriers,
again with empty containers
managed separately by FLTs.
Some of the straddle carriers are
now 15 years old and the port
prefers to use the shuttle carriers
where possible.
Their 1 over 1 configuration
obviously reduces yard capacity
considerably but shipping agents
in Sabah have implemented a system
of charging shippers for leaving
containers at the terminal for
long periods. Dwell times have
been cut from up to 15 days to
four or five. This, says Ahmat,
means the yard can mostly be
managed with ECHs and the
shuttle carriers while dramatically
improving truck turn times.
With regard to the impact on
labour costs Ahmat says the shuttle
carriers and the new mode of
operation have actually cut the
labour requirement per shift.
Previously four quayside
workers were needed for each
ships crane to position the container
correctly over a chassis.They
are no longer required with a
grounded operation, although
some quayside ground workers are
still needed to change between
20ft and 40ft fixed frames during
vessel operations.
Good performance
Overall,Ahmat is very happy with
the shuttle carriers and, he adds,
so are the drivers.The Gottwald
cranes have obviously helped improve
productivity, but he says that
when they began supporting them
with the shuttle carriers productivity
leapt from 10 to 15 moves
almost overnight.
CARGO HANDLING
Average vessel productivity has
increased with the shuttle carriers
to 15 moves per hour and
Ahmat expects this to go higher
as the crane drivers are still adapting
to the harbour mobile cranes.
Productivity on some PIL vessels
has reached 20 moves per hour
and maintaining this at a consistent
level is the new target. Last
month one vessel was handled
with a gross productivity of 24
moves/crane hour.
Importantly, the higher productivity
is being sustained over
bigger exchanges as the port attracts
more business. Prior to getting
the new equipment Sabah
Ports thought that a third berth
would be needed to eliminate vessel
queues but Ahmat says with the
harbour mobile cranes and shuttle
carriers this is no longer necessary
as time in port has more
than halved.
With the vessel queue problem
gone, lines are putting more
business through the port. Exchanges
have grown to 800 containers
on some vessels and the
port has attracted its first regular
direct service from Hong Kong
with a 1000 TEU vessel.
Sepangar Bay
The Suria Group is not putting
money into upgrading the civil
infrastructure at Kota Kinabalu
because it is developing a new
container terminal at Sepangar
Bay, 20 kms away and adjacent to
a new industrial park.
The terminal will have a
500m berth built on a pier connected
to yard with a 500m long
bridge and is on target to be
completed in 2007 at a cost of
RM400M. Suria Group wants
to develop Sepangar Bay into
the premier port in the region
and convert Kota Kinabalu into
a cruise terminal and residential
development.
Sepangar Bay cannot be developed
with the yard directly
behind the quay as the cost of
dredging or infilling the harbour
is prohibitive. Sabah Ports
has, therefore, been watching
the shuttle carriers in operation
at Kota Kinabalu and thinking
very hard about how it will use
them at Sepangar Bay and its
other terminals as well.
Bigger Gottwalds
The pier at Sepangar Bay will be
built much stronger to support
Gottwald HMK 300E cranes and
two have been ordered.The pier
will also be able to support reach
stackers or FLTs and the bridge
will be able to support laden shuttle
carriers, so Sabah Ports can
make its equipment decisions
without wheel load factors limiting
the options.
Ahmat explains the thinking
at this stage is to use the shuttle
carriers to manage a buffer stack
on the pier and IMVs for the
transfer to the yard. He says this
is mainly because the company
has plenty of IMVs, but also
because he has become convinced
that the best way to use
the shuttle is as a dedicated vehicle
for the quayside buffer.
Compared to reach stackers
or FLTs, the shuttle carriers
travel fast and are more manoeuvrable,
suffer from less wear
and tear, are easier to operate
and more productive.They have
also proved easier on the terminal
surface as FLT/RS drivers
often dig the containers into the
surface by not completely stopping
before grounding them.
As throughput and call exchanges
grow and crane productivity
increases the buffer stack will
become even more important and
Ahmat thinks the shuttle carriers
are a better option for the buffer
than FLTs or reach stackers.
The yard at Sepangar Bay will
April 2006

CARGO HANDLING
WorldCargo
news
Left: the new cranes and shuttle carriers have
led to a dramtic improvement in productivity
and lines are calling with bigger ships and
making more exchanges. The picture on the
right shows the buffer storage area
ture with TrackWheel, a previous Kalmar
dealer, to supply and maintain the cargo
handling equipment. SP Satria is the exclusive
supplier of port equipment to
Sabah Ports and also the exclusive agent
for Kalmar and Gottwald in Sabah.
SP Satria aims to provide services not
just to Sabah Ports but eventually to other
ports in Malaysia and the south east Asian
region.The Suria Group has a one year
consultancy agreement with Kalmar Asia
under which Kalmar will train SP Satria’s
maintenance and operational staff. Malay
speaking engineers from Kalmar Singa-
pore have been training around 80 SP
Satria service personnel on site and some
have been sent to Kalmar training centres
in Shekou and Finland. ❏
be managed by reach stackers and SP
Satria is finalising an order for 14 machines
with Kalmar. Stacking capacity is
the main reason for selecting reach stackers
and they are expected to be sufficient
until throughput hits 300,000 TEU, at
which point RTGs will be considered.
Throughput at Kota Kinabalu grew 2%
to 142,000 TEU last year, so the switch is
some way off.
With no shuttle carriers required for
yard work, only five of the seven machines
will be taken to Sepangar Bay; the other
two will be used at other terminals in the
Suria Group. Some of the straddle carriers
may be transferred elsewhere as well
or else sold off. This is Ahmat’s preference
as many are very old and they are
being phased out anyway.
Other systems being implemented at
Sepangar Bay include Cosmos operating
software and a new billing module being
developed by Suria Group’s IT subsidiary
Tricubes Suria Sdn Bhd.The Cosmos
TOS will replace the existing system developed
by Malaysia’s Portrade.
Training and maintenance
Sabah Ports has met lines’ requirements
for 15 moves per hour but recognised it
needed to improve driver behaviour and
maintenance to sustain and improve this
over time.A subsidiary company, SP Satria
Sdn Bhd, has been set up in a joint ven-
Sabah irony
There is no small irony that the biggest
application for shuttle carriers so far is in
harness with tractor/trailer sets (IMVs)
and not a replacement for them!
As originally conceived for high
throughput container terminals in northern
Europe, the shuttle carrier is a “short
circuit” interface between the quay cranes
and the shipside end of an automated container
stack that is aligned transversally to
the quay. Shuttle carriers are not good
“running mates” for RTG stacks, however
they are aligned, because the conventional
road lane is not wide enough
for two machines to pass.
Depending on design, number ordered
, etc, a “ballpark” price for a shuttle
carrier is thought to work out at around
2.5 times the price of an IMV, but it probably
needs to replace only two IMVs to
be cost-effective because of the saving in
manpower.
If one adds the productivity bonus of
breaking the handling chain at both the
stack and quayside interfaces compared
to a conventional IMV yard-quay dray,
the cost:benefit ratio looks likely to favour
the shuttle carrier even more.
The drawbacks are machine complexity
and higher costs for maintenenace
and service, along with driver training issues,
possible restrictions on wheel loads
and the general “unfamiliarity” with straddle
carriers in many RTG terminals.
One way to reduce deadweight is to
cut the shuttle carrier down to 1 over 0
or 1 over chassis size This reduces flexibility.
In the early days of shuttle carrier
concepts, there were outline designs for
these lower height versions, but interest
in them waned.
However, there is evidence that interest
has increased again, as “niche” machines
for low throughput operations inland
as well as portside. Kalmar, Noell,
CVS and Consens are all believed to have
some interesting designs on the way. ❏
April 2006 19

CARGO HANDLING
Tractor makers feel the pressure
After experiencing very strong
demand for the past two years and
more, terminal tractor manufacturers
considered that there would
be a slowdown in growth this year,
but to date this has not been the
case. Mafi, for instance, says that
on average it manufactures 120-
150 tractors/year but during the
first three months of this year it
booked more than 90 units.
Among significant orders received
was one for 32 MT25 YTs
for MSC Valencia while 41 tractors
have been ordered by SAPO,
South Africa.The German company
also received several orders
from UK, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark
and Germany and it has further
offers out that it expects to
convert to firm orders soon.
Capacity constraints
It seems that capacity limits and
longer lead times are the biggest
concern of manufacturers. CVS
Ferrari cites this as a brake on orders,
while Terberg has entered
into a joint venture in Malaysia to
boost capacity and Kalmar has
started production at its new
Lingang, Shanghai plant.
Assembly of Ottawa trucks for
the Chinese domestic market is,
according to Kalmar, proceeding
well. The original Wai Gao Qio
site in Shanghai’s free zone is now
used as a spares and service depot.
The new site is purely an assembly
plant, and Kalmar argues
that its global sourcing power
makes this the most efficient production
system. However, it is
starting to source more components
locally, recently adding Chinese-sourced
Allison gearboxes,
although the axles still come from
Finland. Chassis are starting to be
sourced from China and are even
being supplied from China to
Kalmar’s Tampere plant for some
tractor classes.
Battle of Britain
While market leader Kalmar
claims that its tractor business “is
developing in line with our projections,”
it is keen to recapture
market share in northern Europe
and the British Isles from Terberg.
It recently beat Terberg to an
order for two 4x4 units for Dublin
Ferry Terminals (DFT), although
in this case Kalmar was
Terberg RT 382 with sliding cab (for SECUs) at Project Enterprise,Tilbury
able to meet DFT’s requirement
for a “tall” cab that is not an option
available with the corresponding
Terberg design.
One leading market where
Kalmar tractors have not been the
most popular for some time is the
UK where Transtec, Terberg’s
agent, sold 100 units last year into
the port sector.This does not include
trailer shunters from
Terberg-DTS. This year Transtec
is forecasting sales of 80-85 units.
An order for 21 Terberg
YT222s to Felixstowe has been
completed, while 20 units for
Sheerness (16 4x2 TT222s and
four 4x4 RT222s), started operation
in March. As previously reported,
last year Hutchison split
its 4 x 2 terminal tractor requirement
and ordered 21 YM422 units
from MOL for Felixstowe as well
as another 13 for Thamesport.
Trainer cab
Conversely, Terberg won Felixstowe’s
4 x 4 tractor business for
the first time. Following the delivery
of six RT222s to the port
in February, Hutchison has placed
an order for a further four units,
one of which will be equipped
with a full width trainer cab.
It will be interesting to see
how Felixstowe employs this particular
tractor. A full width cab
does not present any operational
problems for terminal chassis duties,
but the extra visibility required
when working in the close
confines of a ro-ro vessel may reduce
the productivity of the design
in the ro-ro line of work.
Still in the ro-ro sector,
Transtec has booked six Terberg
RT222 machines for Maersk
North Irish Ferries while seven
similar units have gone to P&O
Ferries for its Irish Sea operations.
This is part of a rolling contract
signed last year that is still in place
despite the change of ownership
of the ferry operator.
Meanwhile six heavy duty
RT282 units have been booked
by DFDS Tor Line for its
Immingham terminal. Three of
these will be equipped with the
Terbrg/Catracom Safeneck attachment,
as will be two RT282s
for ABP Hull.
Revving up
CVS Ferrari (CVSF) has steadily
built up its international sales on
the basis of strong domestic sales
growth, although it has yet to establish
a production plant outside
Italy. However, it is set to move to
enlarged premises in early 2007,
as it considers that “production capacity
is more than anything the
real limitation to our order book”
CVSF forecasts that demand
will be in excess of 100 units this
year. As previously reported, the
company received a significant
order for 34 type TT2516VA tractors
from AP Møller for its
Algeciras terminal; these are currently
in production. CVSF previously
won orders for 61 units
over the past few years from this
Spanish terminal, although in a
recent round of contract negotiations
it lost out to what it claims
is “a much cheaper machine”
The company has also secured,
through Mafo, an order for four
heavy duty TT2516 tractors from
Eurogate, while the Port of Alexandria
has booked four smaller
FYT 220 tractors that are scheduled
for delivery this May.
South African operator SAPO
Increase your global business
by using the new Yard Tractor
MT 25 YT
WorldCargo
news
Model YM422 terminal tractor from MOL at SCCT East Port Said
has booked ten FYT 220 tractors
for its Richard’s Bay operation
This is the first time CVSF has
broken into this market. Given the
ambitions and importance of
SAPO, the “breakthrough” could
be significant.
Also in Southern Africa, CVSF
is to deliver three TR2516V roro
tractors to MIPS Maputo.
CVSF would like to build on these
orders, possibly with a common
sales/support base and thus compete
in the way that manufacturers
such as Mafi and Kalmar do.
CVSF has traditionally been
strong in its domestic Italian market
and so far this year has received
orders from SMEPP, TDT
Livorno, Secondo Consorzio
Pulicoil e Nicober, Hangartner
and Venezia Passenger Terminal.
CAN-do
In terms of product development,
it is more the case of refinement
rather than breakthrough, led
mainly by more advanced engine
designs forced by tougher emission
control regulations.To comply
with new and planned regulations,
the diesel engine’s fuel in-
New Tico sales drive
Tico Tractors, part of Savannahbased
Terminal Investment Corporation,
has started selling terminals
tractors and trailers to third
parties. It has already booked an
order for 50 tractors and a number
of its Pro-Safe bombcarts from
P&O Ports North America for
various locations.The first deliveries
are slated to go to Baltimore
next month.
Tico has 30 years experience
of tractor/trailer operations and
operates neutral pools in the ports
of Savannah, Charelston, Jaxport
and Houston. Based on the requirements
for high uptimes,
maintainability and ability to
remanufacture for second-hand
equipment sales, it started building
its own tractors about 20 years
ago. There are around 1200 of
these in service today and, says
Tico’s SVP operations,Tim Orr,
the proven design offers low operating
and servicing costs as well
as durability and low lifetime costs.
Tico has an unmatchable interest
in low cost of ownership
because up until now it has only
built tractors and trailers for its
own outsourced fleet requirements
But about one year ago, explains
Orr, Tico was approached
by Frank Tubbert, who was for
years general manager of Ottawa
Trucks in Kansas and later president
when Sisu (later Kalmar) finally
succeeded in buying Ottawa.
Tubbert was looking for a fresh
challenge with an independent
company. The opportunity arose
when Tico’s chairman and CEO
Randy Booker bought the former
Armor Chassis container chassis
plant in Ridgeland, South Carolina,
just 35 miles from Savannah.
The facility provides 110,000
ft 2 of manufacturing space and
7000 ft 2 of offices. It gives Tico
the opportunity to increase its
output and, for the first time, it is
selling the products to third parties.Tubbert
joined Tico in January
this year and is both head of
production at Ridgeland and director
of retail sales - a completely
new post within the company.
The P&O Ports’ order may
seem a big one for a first time
commitment, but in fact the company
has good experience of
Tico’s products from neutral pools
and dedicated lease and rental
agreements. With the new sales
set-up.Tico aims to expand into
the US west coast and eventually
into overseas markets. ❏
● cost efficient
● powerful and robust
● fast and flexible
simply:
the best choice for your fleet
For more details: www.mafi.de - sales@mafi.de
April 2006 21

WorldCargo
news
CARGO HANDLING
take can only be controlled and
managed electronically. Once the
electronics platform is there, building
on it is a natural progression.
Stage 3 engines are more expensive,
as a result of the fuel management
electronics, but it is a level
playing field for all tractor manufacturers.
Some operators, such as
the Port of Gothenburg, go further
and specify soot filters and
exhaust gas scrubbers that are expensive
to install and maintain and
not yet mandatory.
New i-tractors
Kalmar has developed a new
model range, the i-series (World-
Cargo News, February 2006, p40)
designed around this on-board
electronic concept using CANbus
technology to plug the engine’s
intelligence into the rest of the
tractor’s functions and produce an
integrated machine management
tool.To date, orders for around 20
i-machines have been booked,
even though the design is around
5% more expensive than the
standard unit.
However, while Kalmar has
developed a model range around
the CANbus system and intends
to roll it out to other models, initially
at the top end of the range,
this system is available to other
manufacturers. MOL, for instance,
which fits Stage 3 engines from
Cummins, Deutz, Mercedes,
Scania or Volvo, incorporates
CANbus technology for receiving
engine data for display in the
cab and also for maintenance and
protection.
CVSF also incorporates a
CAN bus communication protocol
based on an overall approach
to integrate all its product range -
tractors, FLTs, reach stackers, etc,
- in order to minimise component
and relevant spare part costs, reduce
maintenance time and standardise,
as much as possible, on
hardware and software tools.
It has found the system to be
particularly useful in supporting
its dealer network as only one software
package is required to make
a complete diagnostic check on
any of its machines equipped with
the CANbus system.
Home comforts
Tractor manufacturers are also
keen to point out the advances
made in cab design, particularly
with regard to driver comfort as a
means of increasing the driver’s
productivity. However, this appears
to be leading to a different approach
aimed at specific markets.
A terminal tractor driver in
Gothenburg who arrives at work
in a Volvo, for instance, will have
different expectations of his cab
environment than, say, a driver
who cycles to work to a Far Eastern
terminal and yet may well
have a greater daily workload.As
such, are the increasing levels of
cab sophistication, which can be
expensive to maintain, necessary
at the moment?
Kalmar has a strong following
in the Far East with its Ottawa
designs that, coming from a US
background, are robust and lack
some of the “frills” of the output
from its Tampere plant . However,
there are some cab design improvements
that do not increase
overall investment and maintenance
costs, such as improved
cabin suspension, greater internal
space, improved visibility, easier
access to the air coupling lines for
road trailer and ro-ro operations,
and lower internal noise levels
through better design and well
positioned sound proofing.
Air conditioning, as in cars,
is a useful feature that soon becomes
a standard, but it is also a
cost centre and accordingly better
designed ventilation systems
for operators not considering
this option, makes for a comfortable,
lower cost, working environment.
Schematics of CVS Ferrari’s Container Runner (above) and Consens Transport
Systeme’s ConRunner (below)
Low vibes
Reducing vibration in the cab and
providing a smoother ride are also
seen as key features in improving
driver comfort. Normally this is
accomplished by an air-sprung
seat in conjunction with a dampened
cab, which can either be
conventional rubber blocks or
hydraulic dampers.While there is
suspension on both the front and
rear axles, the rear axle system is
not normally operative in the fully
loaded condition.
Mafi has investigated this problem
and its MT 25 YT design incorporates
an enhanced rear axle
air suspension capable of accommodating
a 20t loading on the fifth
wheel.The fifth wheel has a maximum
rating of 25t, so for 80-90%
of all loaded moves, reckons Mafi,
the rear suspension will remain
active.The air suspension on the
new MT 32 will also support a
20t load on the 32t rated Holland/
Eurohitch fifth wheel.
Lateral thinking
As CVSF recognises, the terminal
tractor/trailer set is a mature product
in that, as ship sizes increase
and require a corresponding crane
productivity increase, conventional
tractor/trailer systems can
only “respond” if the operator increases
overall fleet size. However,
beyond a certain number serving
a crane, the number of units deployed
can actually prove counter-productive.
AGVs offer a partial solution
but even then, argues CVSF, they
must queue under the crane. If 4
TEU spreader configurations, as
tested by DPW and APMT, prove
themselves, then the conflict between
crane productivity and terminal
productivity in feeding the
stacks becomes more acute.
CVSF has concluded that
“throwing more tractors” at the
crane will not improve landside
productivity to meet the shipshore
rate.Accordingly it has developed
a hybrid design of shuttle
carrier able to drop and lift the
container independently of the
quayside or yard cranes.
Shuttle carriers, as designed by
Kalmar, Noell or Consens, are attractive
in terms of productivity,
but are still relatively expensive.
Essentially a shuttle carrier is a cut
down straddle carrier complete
with spreader and wire rope hoist.
CVSF has looked at the application
from a different standpoint
and has designed a “mobile
spreader” with its own lifting system
based on hydraulic cylinders
rather than hoist winches.
Mover plus
The system can be compared with
the Sisu Container Mover or the
CCH Contlift.These movers give
terminal tractors “autonomy” because
they can pick up and ground
the container. However, they still
require a terminal tractor for motive
power and, as such, have to
be reversed over the container.
Therefore, they are unsuitable for
mainstream duties and are aimed
at low throughput applications.
Cutting down
CVSF says its “Container Runner”
is scheduled to enter extended
trials this summer ready for
full production in 2007 at the
same time as its new factory is
completed. The company claims
that the design of the machine will
allow it to cut manufacturing costs
by at least 30% compared to a
shuttle carrier.
This is still more than a terminal
tractor/trailer, but increased
productivity provided by independent
pick and carry operations
means a lower fleet size and hence
lower investment and a smaller
wage bill. This argument only
holds true if the terminal is handling
a high percentage of 40ft or
45ft containers, unless CVSF develops
a twin lift spreader design.
CVSF believes the Runner can
be considered an innovation related
to the tractor market because,
if it lives up to expectations it may
well “erode the tractor market
quite significantly...if the design
could take 20 to 30% of the world
market of 3000-4000 tractors we
would be very happy.”
Press ups
The design eliminates the rope
hoist system and portal structure
and instead employs a central
girder, integrated with the
spreader, which is supported on
two legs. Each of these supports a
wheel at each corner through a
double parallel linkage operated
by a hydraulic cylinder.
These cylinders are extended
to allow the machine and container
to rise, with the two wheel
support arms, acting in a similar
manner to a twin boom level
luffing crane.This ensures that the
wheelbase remains constant. No
details of the design, for which
patents have been applied, are yet
available, but it is assumed that a
hydrostatic drive will be specified
with four wheel steering.
Consens is known to be
working on similar concepts -
one called ConRunner, basically
another “spreader on
wheels“ design, and the other
called ConVeyer. No details are
available at this juncture.
The Consens design portfolio
includes a raft of high, low and
medium throughput machines, all
based on a straddle concept, for
port and industrial applications. ❏
22
April 2006

CARGO HANDLING
WorldCargo
news
SOM others do have them!
Much of the growth in the lift truck market
over the last few years has been driven
by the Asian market and it is not expected
to slow down significantly in the next two
years.The Asian Development Bank has
just released its forecasts for developing
Asian economies and forecasts that the
region will achieve overall expansion of
7.2% in 2006 and 7% in 2007. However,
growth is not evenly spread as China, India
and Korea make up 66% of demand
in developing Asia.
China production
Both Kalmar and SMV Konecranes have
begun assembling ECH mast trucks in
Shanghai in recent months, joining
Fantuzzi that has been turning out reach
stackers and heavy FLTs from the Noell
China plant for some time. Kalmar built
its first ECH machines at its new facility
in Lin Gan, Shanghai, near the foot of
the Donghai bridge to Yangshan Island.
Lift truck and ECH product line manager
Dan Petterson did not want to discuss
the customer but stated that “serial
production has started and there will be a
constant flow of deliveries from the new
plant.”To begin with the plant is assembling
DCE80 45E 7- and 8-high versions
with a standard specification for “various
Asian markets, not just China,” said
Petterson.“We are continuously evaluating
how to use our existing assembly
plants in an optimal way and the Chinese
plant is no exception.”
Kalmar’s Ottawa facility in the US is
currently assembling some medium FLTs
(9-18t range,) but there are no plans to
extend this to include the new DCF laden
container handling mast truck in the immediate
future.
Two more manufacturers are assembling
big lift trucks in China, while in India a
major customer is asking for supply,
operate and maintain (SOM) contracts
China the ‘local’ content of machines can
logically be expected to rise.
Kalmar’s CEO Christer Granskog has
said that one of Kalmar’s focuses in product
supply is to increase supplies from
“new cost competitive suppliers” including
China. As other industries develop
Chinese facilities more components will
be able to be sourced locally.
Indian file
In a straw poll of lift truck agents at the
TOC Asia exhibition in Busan last month
India was tipped for strong growth in the
next two years. Container Corporation
of India (Concor) is about to embark on
a major equipment replacement programme
and has issued a request for expressions
of interest to supply 25 reach
stackers with 5-high capacity with a 45t
load.This is believed to be the largest single
order for reach stackers in India.
The tender invites expressions of interest
for “manufacture, supply, operation
and maintenance” (SOM) of 25 reach
stackers for 11 inland container depots
across India. The operation and maintenance
period is for five years from the date
of commissioning “extendable by another
3-5 years on mutually agreed terms.”The
machines have to be delivered over a one
year period from June 2006.
While service contracts are becoming
more and more common, requiring
the manufacturer to provide drivers is still
relatively rare in most markets. In India,
however, Concor has been entering into
this type of agreement since 2002 with
Indital Construction Machinery.
Indital ’s director Ravi Kumar explains
that Concor has long used contractors to
own and operate equipment at its terminals,
but in 2002 decided to try a new
scheme where Concor would purchase the
equipment and the manufacturer or supplier
would operate and maintain it.
SMV as well
SMV Konecranes has also begun assembling
machines in China and the first
ECH unit was assembled late last year. In
2002 Konecranes opened a factory at
Futurity Industrial Park in Putou District
for EOT cranes and other industrial
equipment and this was expanded last year
to start production of heavy trucks.
SMV Konecranes’ sales director
Mikael Andersson says production for this
year will be on a smaller scale but in 2007
volume should increase to around 100
units/year and include both EC and laden
container handlers. To begin with production
is just for Chinese customers but
the facility is intended to serve a wider
geographical area eventually. The company
has no plans to scale back its production
in Markaryd and with sales
growth of over 40% for the last two years
needs the extra capacity to meet demand.
Assembling machines in China is always
a difficult strategic decision as manufacturers
have to negotiate a difficult import
environment that can mean it is actually
more expensive to bring in all the
components and assemble them than to
just import a machine made in Europe.
They also have to decide how to manage
Chinese expectations that a domestic
machine will cost less than one built overseas.
In other industries, automotive manufacturing
for example, manufacturers
sometimes use other specifications and
locally sourced components to produce a
cheaper ‘Chinese standard’ unit.
Andersson says that SMV Konecranes
decided early on against trying to develop
a low price specification just for the local
market. Although there are still important
differences between regional markets,
the company is aiming for a global specification
where possible. Furthermore,
many customers within China and the
surrounding markets are global operators
that want a global standard anyway.
There and back again
This approach does not necessarily preclude
using “Chinese” components.When
Kalmar began assembling terminal tractors
in Shanghai it found some of the
components shipped from the US in the
first knocked down kits actually came
from China in the first place.As more and
more industries begin production in
April 2006 23

WorldCargo
news
The first SOM tender was for
four new reach stackers for
Concor’s Tughlakabad terminal in
New Delhi.This was followed by
another covering three existing
machines; a 1994 Indital EC reach
stacker and two Belotti units.
Indital won both contracts and
since 2002 has been operating and
maintaining the seven machines
through a sister company, Contstar
Material Handling Services Pvt
Ltd.The contract includes providing
the operators, assistants, service
technicians, diesel, oil lubricants,
other consumables such as
filters, tyres and all the spare parts.
Kumar says this type of contract
has numerous advantages for
the terminal operator. Machines
are properly maintained with service
at correct intervals using genuine
spare parts, greatly increasing
service life. Machine availability
is mutually agreed upfront when
the contract is negotiated and the
supplier is responsible for all the
necessary back up.
Concor now has three years
experience with this type of contract
and, says Kumar, it has been
a success. Other customers, however,
still want a maintenance only
contract that excludes fuel and oil.
24
Fantuzzi 8-high ECH mast trucks handling 2 over 7 in Shanghai.The company
started assembling heavy mobile plant in China several years ago
Indital has recently delivered two
reach stackers to Jawaharlal Nehru
Port Trust and has won an order
from the Kolkata Port Trust for
two machines on these terms.
SOM you win
Concor’s Mr. Pankaj says the company
has been pleased with the
SOM arrangement and adds that
Concor sees this type of agreement
as a way to get round the
problem of not having the necessary
skill set among its workforce
to operate and maintain a large
fleet of reachstackers. Pankaj says
Concor is not alone in this thinking
and that Gateway Terminals in
Mumbai has recently entered into
a similar agreement with Kalmar
for the 29 RTGs it is supplying.
Concor has, however, been disappointed
with the response to its
call for expressions of interest, with
only “about 10” responses including:
Kalmar, PPM, Indital, Linde,
ABG India, Fantuzzi, SMV
Konecranes and Dalian Forklift.
FOR PRECISE & SAFE CONTAINER HANDLING
All the companies that expressed
interest have an arrangement
with an Indian company but
Pankaj stresses this is not required
at this stage and companies should
still express interest, even if they
form a tie up with a local partner
to provide the operators at a later
date. He adds that this order for
25 machines is just the first in a
series and is only sufficient for 11
of Concor’s 56 terminals. It will
likely be followed by another for
25-30 more machines and further
subsequent orders.
Poses a challenge
Concor’s requirement for drivers
is a challenge for European manufacturers.
Liebherr says it decided
against trying to put together the
package. As previously reported
Kalmar has acquired 51% of
Indlift, its Indian agent, but product
manager for reachstackers Per
Rosengren did not want to comment
on how this might affect the
way Kalmar would meet the
driver requirement. He did say that
Kalmar has met a similar requirement
in other markets previously.
In the current environment
where demand is very high and
delivery times have become a
10-B Peenya Industrial Area, II Phase, Bangalore - 560 058, INDIA
Tel. +91-80-39225641. Fax: +91-80-8395702. E-mail: info@indital.net www.indital.net
problem some manufacturers may
have decided that Concor’s conditions
are too much of a risk.
Linde’s marketing manager
Mark Timothy, however, says it is
normal for a local agent to support
all roles associated with the
business and “therefore this would
take away the direct responsibility
[for service and operators] to the
equipment manufacturer.”
But if the existing agent is not
able to supply drivers this creates
a further problem as the manufacturer
then has to decide
whether to try and look for another
arrangement.
SMV Konecranes’ Andersson
adds that the Indian market is very
large and each contract is very individual,
so it is difficult to judge
whether Concor’s move indicates
a trend. However, the company is
not looking to change the nature
of its Indian agency in any way.
What is more likely to be
putting some companies off, however,
is the tariff on imported machines,
believed to be in the region
of 35%.Tariffs normally apply
to spare parts as well so over a
5-year SOM deal the ongoing cost
would be considerable. The size
of the order, however, is such that
European suppliers would have to
wonder whether it can be met
from inside India and, therefore,
they have a better chance than
with a smaller order.
Kumar says meeting the requirement
would be “no problem”
for Indital as its current reach
stacker capacity is 36 units/year.
A new 1800 m2 assembly hangar
is under construction and this will
lift reach stacker production to 48
units per year and also increase
ECH production capacity.
Service, please
For equipment manufacturers
having a strong position in the
service section of the market is
becoming more important both
as a source of revenue and as a way
to get closer to the customer and
boost success in the replacement
market. In a recent presentation
to Capital Market Groups in New
York Kalmar’s Granskog said that
the market for mobile equipment
such as reach stackers and FLTs is
driven more by replacement and
service than new units.
Kalmar is looking to extend its
share of the service market and it
is an area where it is looking to
grow by acquisition. Recent purchases
include, as previously reported,
a majority stake in Indlift
and 100% of US crane maintenance
and engineering service
company East Coast Cranes.
Other manufacturers are of
course also looking harder at the
service and leasing sector, including
SMV Konecranes that recently
set up SMV Rentals Ltd for the
UK market.
Leasing is also becoming more
popular in Australasia where
Omega has a rental fleet of 30
heavy FLTs in Australia and New
Zealand and between 60 and 70
machines on fully maintained operating
leases.
Omega’s managing director
Alan Foulkes says the transition to
CARGO HANDLING
One of 11 Kalmar DCE330 33t ro-ro FLTs ordered byWallenius Willhelmsen,
seen loading in Bremerhaven.The machines have Tier 2 engines and catalytic
exhaust purification systems to reduce emission levels.They are also equipped
with an automatic safety feature that shuts the machine off if they are overloaded
maintenance leases makes sense
and Omega has moved to adapt it
as required. It has had one inquiry
about providing an operator but
not entered into any such contracts
at this stage.
More common, considers
Foulkes, will be systems that
monitor the machine condition
and how it has been treated by the
driver including driver access control,
shock monitoring and engine
condition. Omega has fitted this
technology itself and, in the case
of P&O Ports, worked with its
telemetry and vehicle monitoring
subsidiary Sattel.
Demand down under
The last two years have both been
record periods for Omega as demand
in Australasia and the Pacific
Islands has been strong.
Omega remains interested in the
wider Asian market where it has
several machines, but “local” demand
has been such that the company
has not had to look for new
markets for two years.
Its business is split roughly
70:30 between the container handling
and industrial sectors and its
FLTs dominate Australian and NZ
markets for container handlers.
P&O Ports, now DP World, is a
particularly good customer and
recently took delivery of 10 new
machines, bringing its fleet to over
100, of which 30 are the most recent
D and E series designs.
In the Pacific market, a nickel
mine in New Caledonia has purchased
two 50t FLTs that will be
used for containers and other
items. In Fiji, the Port of Suva purchased
a 35t ro-ro truck and is
likely to purchase additional container
handlers when it takes delivery
of three Gottwald HMK
300E harbour mobile cranes - two
for Suva one for Lautoka - later
this year.
While other Australian manufactures
in the mining and steel
fabrication business are struggling
with the fast rising costs of raw
materials Foulkes says things are
nowhere near as bad as sometimes
made out. The “hysteria” generated
over steel prices last year
turned out to be misplaced and
actual price increases have been
more modest than predicted.
The only difficulty at present
is tyre supply but Foulkes says this
has brought an unexpected upside.
Miners facing a severe problem
with large earth mover tyres have
begun to treat them as an asset and
manage them better. Omega has
seen an increase in sales and enquiries
for FLTs fitted with tyrehandling
attachments.
Dana Chapter 11
By and large, big truck manufacturers
are not too concerned about
the recent move by Dana Corporation
and 40 of its subsidiaries to
file for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy
reorganisation order. Kalmar is
monitoring its deliveries very
closely, but so far sees no problems
with supply and Linde reports
a similar situation.
Omega represents Dana for
several product lines and fits its
axles to FLTs. Foulkes says “it’s
April 2006

CARGO HANDLING
WorldCargo
news
Control layout in the CVS Ferrari reach
stackers just supplied to the local CMA-CGM
operation in Montoir (Saint Nazaire)
hp and self-weight of just 65t, the 277.5
is both fast and imposes relatively low
ground pressures, matching the customer’s
operational requirements.
In order to increase productivity, the
drive and control system is integrated in
the driver’s seat with two joysticks available
for the operator. The joystick
mounted on the left arm has all the controls
to turn, change gear and direction.
The joystick on the right controls boom
and spreader functions. In this way the
operator can use all the main controls
without changing hands.
CVS Ferrari introduced its Mark 3
reach stacker range aobut two years ago
but, as this sale shows, there is still a demand
for the series 2 designs. In this particular
case, explains the company, the
customer already has a model F269 reach
P & O Ports (now DP World) has been a
good customer for Omega in Australia
stacker and needed a machine with a little
bit more lift capacity but with the same
performance levels.
“Being satisfied with the F269,” says
marketing manager Patrizia Ferrari, “they
wanted to buy a model that would not
have differed too much from the one they
had already, both because it was working
well and because of commonality in relation
to service and maintenance.”
The spreaders being supplied with the
new F277.5s are designed and manufactured
by CVS Ferrari,They are equipped
with 10ft lifting eyes that are useful for
handling pleasure boats. Being close to
the resort of Baule, the terminal is often
used to handle and park boats. ❏
very much business as usual” and does not
expect difficulties with availability or delivery
times from Dana’s reorganisation.
Getting heavy
Terminals using mobile harbour cranes
often opt to use a FLT or reach stacker
on the quay because it enables much
higher crane productivity. Landing containers
suspended from a single hook on
chassis is much more difficult than with a
gantry crane as the load rotates. Grounding
the containers and then using reach
stackers or FLTs direct to the yard or to
load IMVs increases productivity.
One issue with this type of operation
is the wheel loads of a heavy FLT or reach
stacker are often more than the wheel
loads of the harbour mobile cranes which,
although much heavier machines, are fitted
with pads to spread the load over a
much larger area and reduce ground pressure.
As reported elsewhere (pp20-21),
Kota Kinabalu in Sabah is using shuttle
carriers because its pier will not support
the wheel loads of an FLT or reach stacker.
In New Zealand a number of ports
use FLTs on timber-piled piers and wheel
loads are an issue. Omega lost an order
from one of its biggest customers, Port of
Napier, recently because of weight and
the port purchased a Kalmar DCD450-
12CSG instead of an Omega 54D. Foulkes
says Omega has now come up with a light
weight version that matches Kalmar.
Weight off
Everything forward of the front axle was
reconsidered and weight was taken off in
several places including the mast assembly
where hollow lift rods were used, and
light weight fenders fitted. Foulkes would
not say how much weight was saved except
that it was “enough” to meet Napier’s
requirements.
He added that Napier is its only customer
with this specific weight issue and
he is not expecting other customers to
switch from the standard Omega design.
In any case it is not clear whether Kalmar
still has a weight advantage as its new design,
the DCF, is a higher capacity machine
and heavier than the DCD.
Safety of heavy FLTs on some piers is
in the spotlight in NZ after an FLT driver
was killed at the Port of Napier when his
Omega FLT overturned last month.The
FLT ran over a steel plate covering an
unsafe section of the surface which gave
way, overturning the FLT and crushing
the driver.An investigation is underway.
This accident follows a near miss at
the Port of Timaru in 2004 when an ECH
driver strayed off the strengthened part
of the wharf and on to a wooden planked
section. The front axle crashed through
the deck and the machine very nearly
tipped into the sea.
French deliveries
CVS Ferrari reports delivery of three
model 277.5 Ferrari reach stackers, rated
at 45t in the first row and 25t in the second
row, to a long-standing customer in
France, a CMA-CGM company in
Montoir (Nantes-Saint Nazaire).
The new machines are equipped with
a 12-litre Scania engine and Dana Spicer
Clark transmission, connected to the latest
Rexroth hydraulic system integrated
with two variable displacement pumps
and with a LUDV load sensing system
that, says CVS Ferrari, allows a fuel saving
up to 40%.With engine output of 330
Corbis/ TCS
Do you need to get it there fast?
Get exactly what
you need from Hyster
When it comes to moving heavy cargo or containers fast, you
want more than top-quality materials handling equipment. You
also want a partner who understands your operation and how
to optimise it with the right handling solution. This is exactly
what you get from your Hyster dealer. In addition to providing
strong and reliable lift trucks, container handlers and reach
stackers, our dealers offer flexible financing, rental schemes,
fast service, accessories programmes and a whole lot more.
So when you have to think big and fast, visit us at
www.hyster.co.uk or call 0031 24 374 2555.
April 2006 25

Accredited by the
Dutch Council for
Accreditation
WorldCargo
news
North America - no go for ro-ro?
Despite the growing interest in
short sea shipping in North
America as a means of relieving
highway congestion, in practice
the concept is making little headway.
Ro-ro loading and discharge,
the simplest way to make short sea
shipping work, is finding only limited
appeal in the region, outside
established ferry operations.
Matson Navigation is planning
to convert one of its diesel-powered
C-9 container ships, probably
the MOKIHANA, into a combination
container/ro-ro vessel but the
US$45M project is aimed at providing
more car-carrying space on
the Hawaiian run rather than any
short sea employment.
Matson gave the short sea concept
its biggest test in North
America several years back when
it operated a West Coast feeder run
between Vancouver, BC and Los
Angeles that refused to make
money. No one else has stepped
forward to try that type of operation.
Instead, the focus is on highly
congested regional areas, such as
San Francisco Bay and Puget
26
Series CTX CTX Max
On-board processor
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BRIDGING
Sound, where an efficient water
service might provide a short cut
around restricted freeways.
New Bay ferries?
The San Francisco Bay Area Water
Transit Authority has its sights
set on opening eight new ferry
routes and adding 44 ferries to
various San Francisco Bay runs by
2015, but progress has been slow
to date.
Most of those ferries - if they
are built - will be for commuters
and tourists rather than trucks.
Nevertheless, a potential service
for heavy cargo on the Bay is being
studied by the ports of
Oakland and Sacramento.
The Port of Oakland has taken
over operations at the Port of
Sacramento and formed a new
company, Maritime Management
Services, in an effort to keep the
smaller, river port financially solvent
while gaining additional
cargo-handling and storage space
for the larger port.Although both
ports are linked by road and rail
the idea of a regularly scheduled
barge service, for containers as well
as breakbulk, is under study.
Ro-ro or lo-lo cargo handling
has yet to be decided upon but
barge capacity would be about
150 FEU, with two round trips
made daily. Funding will be a
problem but state and federal
“clean air” money could be
brought into play if supporters can
show the barge operation will remove
trucks from the freeways.
Puget Sound, where there are
a large number of vehicle carrying
ferries courtesy of the Washington
state ferry system, has yet
to see a boat placed in competition
with the I-5 freeway corridor
that runs north-south between
Canada and Mexico.
Sound idea?
Environmentalists have suggested
a dedicated freight ferry service
between the northern Puget
Sound community of Everett and
the southern Puget Sound city of
Olympia be started to help remove
heavy trucks from the congested
Seattle-Tacoma stretch but it is not
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known whether truck drivers
would take advantage of it.
This question is paramount to
the establishment of any successful
short sea shipping service along
the North American seaboards.To
date, truckers, many of whom are
independent owner-operators,
have shown little interest in leaving
land. One major exception is
the long haul to Alaska from the
lower 48, where the truck drive
amounts to days rather than hours,
and customs must be passed
through twice - entering Canada
and re-entering the US.
Totem Ocean Trailer Express’
investment in two new Americanbuilt
ro-ro ships for this trade several
years ago underlines the sea
route’s strength.Although the warbuilt
Alcan Highway is mostly
paved, the 2313-mile drive between
Seattle and Fairbanks is one
most commercial drivers try to
avoid, either by using the TOTE
ships or, for getting to Alaska Panhandle
communities, the Alaska
Marine Highway System.
If a short sea ro-ro service
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along the US West Coast were
considered financially viable it
would probably be TOTE that
would try it - and they haven’t.
Timber!
However,Westwood Shipping, the
maritime division of lumber giant
Weyerhauser, expects to launch
a new coastal service between
British Columbia and Long Beach
in May using the 10,200 gt sto-ro
vessel WESTWOOD POMONA.
The ship, built in 1985 as the
KENT LOYALIST, was acquired from
Finland’s Birka Group and will
be used mainly for Weyerhauser’s
own forest products, giving it a
strong base cargo, but will also be
available for third-party freight
when space allows, including
breakbulk and containers.
Although fitted with a stern
ramp WESTWOOD POMONa is not
expected to handle third party
truck trailers in the manner of the
TOTE ships, but will make use of
side ports to allow faster discharge
of unitised lumber shipments.
ROLL-ON/ROLL-OFF
The City of Rochester, NY has pulled the plug on its fast but costly high-speed
ro-ro service across Lake Ontario using the Australian-built SPIRIT OF ONTARIO
Not a success
Although ro-ro services are progressing
between Mexico’s Baja
California peninsula and the
mainland (last month’s WorldCargo
News, pXX), Mexico’s Gulf coast
ro-ro operations have not fared as
well. Just over a year ago the Texas
port of Corpus Christi signed a
letter of intent with Sophlex Ship
Management to offer a ro-ro ferry
service to Veracruz, Mexico.
Little became of the venture,
spearheaded by US-based Marine
Growth Ventures. It centered on
the acquisition of a 12,000 gt
cruise ferry capable of handling
autos and commercial traffic as
well as 1000 passengers.
Prior to the Sophlex venture,
ro-ro ferry operations had been
tried between Veracruz and
Brownsville and between Progreso
and Tampa, but the traffic was not
available to sustain either operation
and both folded.
Similar ventures involving roro
railcar movements between the
US and Mexico have come and
gone although one, CG Railway,
a subsidiary of International
Shipholding Corporation, has
managed to hang on for six years.
Ironically, the line decided to
shift its US base of operations from
Mobile, Alabama to New Orleans,
Louisiana just before hurricane
Katrina struck. Severe flooding
of its rail yard south of New
Orleans closed down service for
several months but the line was
up and running by November
using its two 20-year-old ro-ro
ships BALI SEA and BANDA SEA.
These 14-knot Singapore-registered
vessels, each recently given
second decks to expand their rail
car capacity from 56 to 124 units,
have proven adequate for the limited
rail traffic moving between
southern Mexico and the US/
Canadian mainline system.
Short sea services for containers
and breakbulk along the US
Gulf coast have also not materialised
to any great extent, despite
the tremendous amount of dry
and liquid bulks being moved by
barge along the sheltered
Intercoastal Waterway daily.
Houston-based Osprey Line
has successfully introduced a regularly
scheduled, lo-lo containeron-barge
service between Houston
and New Orleans, and up the
Mississippi River to Baton Rouge
and Memphis.
Osprey can handle ro-ro traffic
if demand arises. Once it
moved 850 military vehicles on 49
barges pushed by just one tug. For
the time being ro-ro cargo moving
on the Gulf Coast is limited
to international freight to Caribbean
and Central American destinations,
and the Puerto Rico
cabotage trade.
Quick comeback
Crowley Maritime has remained
the main US provider of ro-ro
tonnage on the Gulf, and was able
to place its devastated Gulfport roro
operation back in business
within weeks of Katrina.
Crowley has been using a single
ro-ro berth at the head of the
man-made harbour, and two roro
ships, the similar-sized GOTHICA
and SENATOR, to serve ports in
Guatemala and Honduras.
Crowley is also the main roro
operator to Puerto Rico, using
triple-deck barges, but this service,
like Matson’s Hawaii operation,
along with a similar Puerto
Rico service operated by Trailer
Bridge, is not competing with any
possible land link.
Along the East Coast, Columbia
Coastal Transport has been
operating a lo-lo container feeder
barge service similar, but on a
larger scale, to Osprey’s Gulf Coast
operation. Columbia Coastal has
also been operating a regular,
scheduled container-on-barge
service along the Hudson River,
between New York and Albany, as
part of the PortAuthority of New
York and New Jersey’s Port Inland
Distribution Network
launched in 2002.
Enter Bridgeport
Traffic on this latter route has been
less than anticipated. Without its
government and port subsidy it
would not be commercially viable.
A similar container-on-barge
feeder service is now being put
together from the Port of New
York to Rhode Island’s Port of
Bridgeport using a US$1.5M
State of Connecticut grant.
Bridgeport PortAuthority has
appointed Bridgeport Barge Service,
a joint venture of Pace Motor
Lines and David D’Addario & Associates,
to operate the barge terminal
although a barge operator
is still to be selected.
To be operated with a barge
fitted with ro-ro ramps, the operation
is expected to remove
more than 70,000 trucks from the
heavily congested I-95 corridor
each year.With this in mind, the
State of Connecticut has offered
to pay another US$5.5M for
dredging and bulkhead construction
and the port plans to add a
0.5M ft 2 storage facility.
Lakes’ services
The North American Great Lakes
have also been targeted for more
short sea shipping, with two fast
vehicle-carrying ro-ro ferries introduced
to the region over the
past few years. However, one of
these, operating across Lake Ontario
between Rochester, New
York and Toronto, Ontario, was
April 2006

ROLL-ON/ROLL-OFF
WorldCargo
news
The only successful short sea ro-ro service operating out of the US’s biggest port complex at Los
Angeles/Long Beach has been a tug and barge shuttle run for limited commercial traffic moving
between the mainland and the offshore island of Catalina
wound up in January after Rochester’s
recently elected Mayor, Robert Duffy,
eliminated the service.
The operation, using the Australianbuilt
774-passenger SPIRIT OF ONTARIO,
was set up by private operator Canadian
American Transportation Systems (CATS)
but was taken over by the City of
Rochester last year for US$32M after
CATS went bankrupt. Duffy noted that
the fast ferry had burnt though its entire
US$8M cash reserves in about 10 months.
The second fast-ferry operation,
which makes use of the US-built catamaran
LAKE EXPRESS on Lake Michigan
between Muskegon and Milwaukee, also
faces difficulty.This year it is being forced
to increase passenger tariffs by 12% and
vehicle rates by 10% because of steeply
rising fuel costs. Last year it was forced to
tack on a US$5 fuel surcharge to all tickets
for the same reason.
A company spokesperson said the firm
has been paying in the range of US$2.50/
gall for diesel fuel this year compared to
US$1.90 at start-up. Ironically, the fast
ferry’s main competitor on the lake, the
historic coal-burning ro-ro ferry BADGER,
is still accepting 2006 reservations at 2005
prices, and expects to increase its tariffs
only marginally this summer because coal
prices have remained stable.
No Erie silence
Watching these ferry operations has been
the State of Ohio’s Cleveland-Cuyahoga
County Port Authority, which has received
a US$6M federal grant to help it
launch a new ro-ro ferry service across
Lake Erie.The money, part of the recently
passed US$286B US Transportation Bill,
is to be invested in the construction of a
30,000 ft 2 terminal that will be located
near Cleveland’s North Coast Harbor.
Over the past two years the port has
invested more than US$1M in studies to
determine whether a ro-ro passenger and
cargo service to Port Stanley, Ontario
would turn a profit. It has been negotiating
with Holland’s Royal Wagenborg to
operate the proposed service but Royal
Wagenborg has said it will not make the
required investment, including the acquisition
of a ship, without a long-term operating
license.The port authority is still
awaiting a legal opinion on this.
Ownership of the harbour at Port
Stanley is also a problem as the Canadian
government is currently liquidating its
port holdings, including Port Stanley, action
that will leave Cleveland and Royal
Wagenborg without a negotiating partner
until a new port owner is chosen.
Detroit-Windsor bypass
One small ro-ro operation on the Lakes
that has been making money is the Detroit-Windsor
truck ferry. It provides
commercial operators with a quick 20
min transit between Detroit, USA and
Windsor, Canada using a tug and barge
combination.
In this case everything works to commercial
advantage. Customs clearances are
completed on site and the barge makes
regularly scheduled runs throughout the
day.This makes the crossing highly competitive
for truckers, compared to the congested
and clearance-restricted tunnel that
links the two cities.
Both Canada and the US, as well as
Mexico, have signed a memorandum of
cooperation to establish short sea shipping
as a viable entity for the three nations
but funding will be difficult to find.
Studies on the subject, and there have
been many, have all come to the conclusion
that government agencies must be
engaged for funding purposes.
This comes at a time when the US
foreign debt hit a record US$804.9B last
year, with more of the same expected this
year, and Congress recently passing a plan
to allow the US federal debt to grow to
almost US$9T.The US Maritime Administration
and its parent agency, the US Department
of Transportation, have created
the SEA-21 initiative in order to develop
more use of water transport in the country
but both are still searching for money.
This will be difficult.The government’s
audit office (GAO), which “watchdogs”
such projects, has already urged government
entities to evaluate the pros and cons
“in more depth” before embracing any
taxpayer-supported short sea schemes.
The Waterfront Coalition, which represents
importers, exporters and other
supply chain members, holds a similar
view and has recommended that the federal
government moves cautiously on
short sea shipping initiatives until all the
public and private benefits are known and
short sea shipping is shown to be a viable
alternative to trucking and rail, based on
transit time to market and total cost.
US maritime unions may also repre-
The ro-ro ferries operated by the Alaska Marine Highway System are perhaps the most successful
short sea ships operated within the US public sector, but they are well aged and highly subsidised
sent a hurdle. A recent union newsletter
noted that any development of the initiative
with Canada and Mexico “must
be monitored carefully’” to ensure that
short sea shipping does not become an
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avenue for “weakening or eliminating” the
Jones Act and Passenger Vessel Services
Act, the two US cabotage laws that govern
domestic point-to-point shipping and
keep many union members in work. ❏
April 2006 27

WorldCargo
news
Will Dover express come off the rails?
The ports of Dover and Calais have
announced plans to cater for major
increases in ro-pax ferry traffic, estimated
at around £200M and €300-
400M respectively.
Dover handled a record > 2M freight
vehicles last year. Calais, which accounted
for 1.6M HGVs last year, plans to create
a new outer port.Apart from catering for
more Dover-Calais traffic, the port authority,
CCI Calais, wants to diversify and
attract new (unaccompanied) ro-ro services
from Spain, the Baltic, etc.The new
development will be directly rail-linked.
The difference between the freight
units reported by Dover and Calais is the
Dover-Dunkirk traffic - 420,000 HGVs
last year and still rising.The Dunkirk port
authority (PAD) has reported an increase
of 3% to 2.35 mt in Norfolkline’s freight
carriage in the first quarter of this year.
30 year plan
Dover’s Eastern Docks Ferry Terminal is
reaching full capacity and has no room
for more berths. Under its 30-year
masterplan, Dover Harbour Board (DHB)
plans to create up to four new ro-pax ferry
berths in the Western Docks, which are
not intensively utilised today.This requires
reclamation of the Tidal Dock and
Granville Dock marinas, and creation of
a new marina in the outer harbour.
With the main A20 port access road
under strain from the record levels of traffic,
DHB says the Western Docks area offers
a part-solution to the town’s road
congestion as well as sufficient ferry capacity
for the next few decades.
Based on several forecasts, DHB’s plan
is based on the port’s traffic doubling
within the next 30 years.To manage flow
rates through the town and within the
port, DHB wants to create a “buffer zone”
for HGVs off the A20 between Folkestone
and Dover.At peak times (normally
weekday evenings), trucks would be held
in the buffer zone and released as ferry
capacity “catches up.”
Dover already has air quality and traffic
congestion problems. On the basis of
a 23h day, 360 day year, a figure of 4M
HGVs equates to a flow rate of 480
trucks/h. It is hard to see how this cannot
choke the town, or how the whole
of the M20 cannot become a “lorry park,”
to say nothing of passnger car traffic,
“booze cruise” vans, etc.
Monomodal
Dover is entirely dependent on road access
and caters almost exclusively for accompanied
freight, apart from some lolo
container traffic. Calais and Dunkirk
are also catering for accompanied UK o/
d freight, but both have rail access and,
moreover, the rail lines are cleared for high
cube containers/C75 swap bodies to the
Belgian border, in effect providing high
cube clearance into and beyond Germany.
Calais has no intermodal rail traffic
today and nor does Dunkirk, even though
relative to overall throughput, Dunkirk is
the biggest rail port in Europe. All that
rail traffic is devoted to bulk. However,
because Dunkirk and Calais have rail access,
they have the potential to offer services
for unaccompanied unitised freight.
Dover does not. It is unique in British
main port terms in not having rail access.
Intermodal rail over Dunkirk finished
a couple of years ago when CNC Transports
slashed its services to French ports
in order to staunch losses. However, the
prospects for it returning are now looking
much brighter. PAD has completed a
€5M project to electrify the 7.6 km long
rail track that links the Western Docks
with the main line.
This means a diesel shunt no longer
has to be performed, saving both time and
money.Although the main driver for this
project is mineral bulks traffic, it could
also benefit the container and ro-ro terminals.
Furthermore rail freight services
in France look set to become more competitive.
France has finally adopted liberalisation
and as of the end of last month a
number of “newcomers” are authorised
to operate on the French network, at least
in theory:Veolia Cargo France (Connex),
Europorte 2 (Eurotunnel), Euro Cargo
Rail (EWS), Rail4chem, Luxembourg
Railways and B-Cargo (SNCB).
Ripping yarn
Dover’s rail line was ripped out by BR in
the early 1990s in order to kill off for all
time the prospect of a rail ferry ever competing
with the Channel tunnel rail link.
The rail right of way still exists, but Network
Rail has advised DHB that it would
cost £5B just to lay a new connector track
to the main line and provide signalling.
As DHB’s corporate affairs director
Howard Holt explains, it is hard for the
port to justify this investment, given the
economics of rail haul today. According
to Holt, almost half the HGVs passing
through Dover have o/d points in London/South
East England ( 100 miles)
and most of the rest are within 200 miles
of the port.Trunk haul distances are not
long enough to offset modal transfer costs
at the port and inland (de)training points.
Any dim prospect of reintroducing
conventional wagon freight for a train
ferry has receded even further in any case.
One finding of the now completed FI-
NESSE project co-sponsored by the EU,
SEEDA and French local authorities was
that a rail freight ferry service would not
be commercially viable. This is despite
hazardous cargoes not being permitted
through the Channel tunnel, either by rail
or Le Shuttle Fret.
Given the high turnaround for a rail
ferry on the short Dover-Dunkirk or
Dover-Zeebrugge routes, the FINESSE
findings do not suggest there is much of
a future for rail ferries.All the more surprising,
then, that serious money has now
been allocated to the IJmuiden-Hull rail
ferry project (see p1).
ROLL-ON/ROLL-OFF
In future Dover may face difficulties without rail access, as roads become more congested
Red herring
But in any event the rail ferry was always
a bit of a “red herring” as far as Dover is
concerned. It does not follow that rail
access should not be re-introduced to the
port. Over the next 30 years the economics
of rail haul may change. If, as seems
increasingly likely, road pricing is introduced,
the rail distance threshold will fall,
particularly for “mass flow” traffic such as
the London market.
Antithesis
In a literal sense, Dover is easily Europe’s
biggest short sea port. But if it caters exclusively
for driver-accompanied freight,
it is arguably the antithesis of short sea
shipping whose “vocation” is modal shift.
DHB appears to have ruled out the
prospect of Dover acquiring more
shortsea/feeder lo-lo traffic. However, a
rail link would allow it to pitch for unaccompanied
swap body traffic.This is already
a substantial market and is growing
as longer-distance markets in Central and
Eastern Europe open up. Furthermore, for
the reasons outlined above, Dover’s core
road haulier market may in future be
forced to accept rail as a partner.
Of course, the Channel tunnel is supposed
to be the rail route to Europe. But
at present through rail traffic is in the
doldrums. Even if all the technical barriers
and price issues holding back progress
were resolved, operators would not want
to put all their “eggs in one basket.”
Can’t win
The underlying case for rail at Dover is a
strong one and ought to qualify for a
freight facilities grant. These have been
suspended in England, so DHB would
have to finance the work itself, with no
guarantees that it could ever amortise the
investment.And what guarantees does it
have that intermodal railheads would be
built in the regions that it serves?
Furthermore, the rail tunnels through
the Shakespeare Cliffs have a restricted
gauge. Network Rail has rejected gauge
enhancement on cost grounds, but this is
not an insoluble problem, as low bed wagons
are available. They would probably
need to be well wagons with normal size
wheels, as the reduction in train
“paylength” would work out much
cheaper than relying on flat cars with small
wheels, as maintenance costs associated
with the latter are very high.
Faint hope?
Holt says that DHB is involved in a second
European study project with SEEDA,
called IMPACTE (Intermodal Port Access
and Commodities Transport in Europe).
This will examine again Dover’s
position, but there are no easy solutions.
Trucks are not going to go away and
driver-accompanied road freight will continue
to grow.The mass flow associated
with the London market would allow rail
to offer attractive frequency, but road
trunking will always be more flexible.
EU road cabotage, for example, helps
explain the success of Norfolkline’s Dunkirk-Dover
service. Reefer hauliers re-
28
April 2006

ROLL-ON/ROLL-OFF
turning to Spain from the UK can pick
up Antilles bananas landed in Dunkirk and
“triangulate” with a premium cargo as
part of their backhaul.
Nevertheless, as road haulage costs rise,
hauliers and forwarders will look even
more closely at mileage and driver costs.
For freight flows on the England-south
west Europe axis, western and mid-Channel
crossings are “more natural” than
Dover-Calais. Channel Freight Ferries’
service for unaccompanied trailers between
Southampton and Rouen
(Radicatel) could not compete with the
low prices on the Dover-Calais axis that
result from the cut-throat competition
between “tunnel and funnel” on the Dover-Calais
axis. But, long term, the ogic
of this routing is undeniable.
Despite all their fine words, all governments
in Europe are terrified of road
pricing, because of the consequences for
price inflation and the resistance of powerful
road haulage lobbies. But road pricing
will happen.And it will go some way
to levelling up the playing field with road
and water. To this extent, the source of
Dover’s success in the past may be the
source of failure in the future. ❏
Use ro-ros
as feeders
Can shortsea ro-ro cater for deep sea container
feedering requirements? Yes, says
Dr Jan Tore Pedersen, a director of LogIT
AS in Norway. LogIT is one of the parties
involved in the EU-backed D2D
project aimed at providing cost-effective,
information-based solutions for complex,
door-to-door, deepsea transports.
Speaking at the ITL conference in
Bilbao last November, Pedersen argued
that ro-ro is the way ahead for container
feedering in Europe, taking advantage of
the fast loading and discharge provided
by ro-ro cassette systems and new ship
designs that can cater for TTS-Liftec
AGVs (robotised translifters) and cassettes.
The AGVs can be “platooned” into
“virtual” trains and achieve loading rates
of 1000 TEU/ship hour - the same as the
TTS Drøbak train loading system for the
Fastship project.The AGVs were successfully
demonstrated in Gothenburg (Ro-
Ro 2004) and in Italy under the EUbacked
IPSI Integration project.
Measured over the whole transport
chain, he said, ro-ro is only 20% of the
cost of lo-lo but 10 times more productive.This
is based on comparisons of lolo
and StoraEnso SECU services over
Gothenburg, taking into account volumes
transported and the longer port dwell
times of containerships,viz: 36h for the
lo-lo ship and 12h for the ro-ro ship with
the same TEU equivalent load. For
shortsea distribution, ro-ro cost per move
is more competitive for containers than
lo-lo, even though ro-ro ships are more
expensive than lo-lo feeders.
A key aim is to get deep sea container
lines to accept ro-ro ships as feeders using
cassettes with 4 TEU loads (doublestack).
This in turn will help the ro-ro
operator provide the frequency that trailer
operators require, and thus help short sea
shipping compete with road trunking.
TTS’s famous Sète-Gioia Tauro-Istanbul
example illustrates this. A ro-ro ship
departs from Turkey with containers double-stacked
on cassettes to be transhipped
at Gioia Tauro as well as trailers bound
for France. In Gioia Tauro, it exchanges
the containers with those from the Far
East bound for France. For virtually the
same trip miles and little delay due to the
fast (un)loading of the cassettes, it carries
extra cargo and adds value. On the return
leg, the procedure is reversed.
Ports such as Dunkirk and Zeebrugge
that cater for lo-lo as well as British o/d
ro-ro flows, must surely also offer opportunities
for deepsea feedering by ro-ro.
Pedersen also claims that TTS-Liftec
AGVs and cassettes can cut the number
of passive AGVs used in advanced lo-lo
terminals such as ECT Rotterdam or
CTA Hamburg by > 60% (!!) because of
their self-buffering capabilities.The suitability
of the TTS-Liftec AGV for lo-lo
terminals was demonstrated at CICT
Cagliari as part of IPSI Integration. ❏
WorldCargo
news
Ro-ro...but there is no boat to row
East Asia’s car export boom is widening
the gap between demand and supply of
ro-ro shipping
East Asia’s boom in vehicle exports is creating
a large strain on the world’s ro-ro
vessel capacity, say regional shippers.And
things look set to get worse. Increased
global demand for cars and trucks coupled
with the growing output levels in
East Asia have been tightening the gap of
world ro-ro ship availability.
Current trade figures don’t seem to
help matters. South Korean car makers’
All over the world
Antwerp
Dubai
Genoa
Gothenburg
Hamburg
Hong Kong
Lisbon
London
Madras
New York
Rio de Janeiro
San Francisco
Seoul
Shanghai
Singapore
Sydney
Taipei
Tokyo
March 2006 exports were reported to be
up 24% over 2005 and in February 2006
Japanese car makers recorded more than
a 13% increase from January’s export volumes,
the seventh month in a row of
climbing vehicle exports.
But the big news for the long run is,
and will be, China. Although China’s
overall auto exports are currently around
10% of Korea’s and only 5% of Japan’s,
• 20´ and 40´ Rolltrailers
the solution to unconventional loads
• 62´ available for extra long loads
• 80 tons up to 120 tons
• Low overall height – 700mm
• Big wheels
22´´ on 80 and 100 ton units
28´´ on 120 ton units
• ISO Apertures for
20´,30´ and 40´
• Steel floor support
for stacking
Contact your local Cronos office or visit
• Wooden decking
www.cronos.com
Chinese customs reports that vehicle export
growth from 2004 to 2005 was a
massive 266% year-on-year, and this trend
will continue for the foreseeable future.
• Stanchion pockets
• Heavy steel frame
• Safety hooks
• Full length lashing bars
Flotilla needed
According to Geert Van Doorslaer, managing
director of Aan Boord Cargo
(ABC), a flotilla of ro-ro vessels will be
needed to take up Asian exports. But he
doubts that it could be ready in time.ABC,
an Aerocean network member, is a Belgian-owned
company that ships vehicles
from China and Vietnam mainly to the
Middle East and Latin America.
This shortage of ro-ro vessels is problematic
for the East Asia vehicle trade.
“Recently we faced problems ourselves
in finding ro-ro tonnage and in the end
were forced to work breakbulk vessels,”
said Van Doorslaer.“Breakbulk vessels are
not ideal for ro-ro cargoes. Loading by
cranes might create damages to the vehicles
and also loading expenses, sea freight,
and discharging expenses in port of destination
are much higher.”
Van Doorslaer says the large Asian and
European names have already long-term
contracted ro-ro lines and this leaves the
smaller exporters to fight for space.“It is
also difficult to find trampers, because of
the one way trend,” he says.“There is too
Cronos Rolltrailers
Global support
• Solid tyres on large wheels
• Fork lift pockets
See us at
RORO 2006
Stand F12
Ghent, 16-18 May 2006
April 2006 29

WorldCargo
news
much ro-ro export from Asia, but
hardly any ro-ro import.”
China is the main player
throwing things out of kilter. A
good example is new auto maker
Geely Automobile. Geely currently
targets buyers in South East
Asia, the Middle East and Latin
America, but has plans to enter the
US and EU markets as well.
The company exports only a
small fraction of its cars, but chairman
Li Shufu says it expects to sell
1.3M cars abroad per year by 2015.
Van Doorslaer points out that
it is much faster to build tens of
thousands of cars than to build one
ro-ro vessel.“At present levels it will
take up to the year 2010 to catch
up. There should be more new
builds, but most of the shipyards are
now already overbooked, with long
waiting times,” He also notes it is
hard to reposition some ro-ro vessels
as it is expensive.“Ships would
have to ballast from South America,
the Persian Gulf and Europe.”
The shortage is worse for
larger-sized units.“It is still easier
to find ro-ro vessels for saloon cars,
but for trucks it is nearly impossible,”
said Van Doorslaer, with reference
to the limited deck heights
of most ships. ❏
ROLL-ON/ROLL-OFF/FOREST PRODUCTS
A hive of industry in forest products
Finland-based TTS Liftec Oy, part
of the port and materials handling
business unit of TTS Marine, recently
won an order for four more
4-axled 90t SWL LTH90 ro-ro
cassette translifters in connection
with new Transfennica services
from Finland. This model is the
de facto industry standard for normal
ro-ro cassette duties.
As peviously reported (World-
Cargo News, December 2005, p20),
in January this year Transfennica
Transfennica has invested in more Liftec 90t SWL translifters to provide ro-ro
fast-loading for its new ships
Rauma - Finland's leading paper port
!
introduced new general ro-ro
services, with capacity for high
container intake, from Hanko,
Hamina and Rauma to Rostock
and Gdynia, both of which are
new to cassette handling.
In both ports, the cargo handling
companies, Poland’s Idal
Group in Gdynia and Germany’s
MSB in Rostock, have each ordered
two translifters.
Over the years Liftec has already
supplied translifters to virtually
every port in Finland,
Gothenburg, including SECU
units (30), Lübeck (25 units),
Paldiski (2), DFDS Immingham
(11), DFDS Rotterdam (2)
Zeebrugge (12 units for handling
of SECU handling) Westerlund
(3), and Tilbury (10 units, eight of
which are for SECU handling).
One shot loading
The ACTIW product family from
another Finnish company,
Naaraharju Oy, includes the
LoadPlate system for “one shot”
loading of containers, trailers and
wagons. It has already shown its
efficiency in containerisation of
sawn timber, pallets, pulp bales and
project goods for Finland’s forest
products industry and ports.
Cusstomers include Kemi Shipping
and Hamina Multi Terminals.
Naaraharju is looking to extend
applications to other kinds
of products and unit loads, such
as crates, boxes, tubes and even
project goods of varying sizes and
lengths. LoadPlate was developed
to enable more rapid container fill
Multi-Container version of the LoadPlate “one shot” loader from Naaraharju
and to meet the customers’ requirements
of stuffing containers
with less damage for the cargo. In
addition, the loading system can
be integrated seamlessly with the
storage system, enabling an efficient
shipping entity.
LoadPlate can easily be moved
to different loading spots within
site. Load preparation can be done
in open space around the system,
which saves time and increases
productivity of FLTs. The cargo
space of the containers can be fully
utilised and the risk of product
damage caused by the loading
process is essentially reduced.
As well as the standard version.
the Multi-Container
LoadPlate was developed to
speed up the loading of several
containers positioned side by
side. It is moved along rails from
one container to another for
loading in the required order.
One Finnish forwarding and
transport company is already using
the multi-container LoadPlate
system. Load preparation and container
handling are now separate
operations and independent of
each other.
Space utilisation has been improved,
with more than 60 m 3
being achieved for 40ft containers.
Both the standard and Multi-
Container LoadPlate can load up
to 30t in 20, 40 or 45ft containers
and they can be adapted for loading
trailers and wagons.
Clamping up
Bolzoni Auramo recently delivered
three units of its latest
(third generation) “Intelligent”
paper roll clamp, type CTX G3,
to Norske Skog, in Halden,
Norway. The varying paper
quality, roll weight and diameter
means that clamping force often
has to be changed during
ship loading operations.
To solve this problem, Norske
Skog decided to invest in the three
3t rotating clamps, that adjust the
pressure completely to the roll
weight, to prevent overpressure
damage on the one hand and slippage
and edge damage on the
other.They are installed on new
H45, H50 and H80 Linde hydro-
static FLTs, delivered by Linde’s
Norwegian dealer Hesselberg.
Another leading paper shipper,
StoraEnso, uses Cascade tower
clamps with Adaptive Force Control
(AFC) at Swedish mills to load
product into SECUs without
damage to the rolls.
FLT ID
Although usually associated with
clamps and every other kind of
FLT attachment, Cascade Corp is
working with US software and
technology providers to create an
integrated radio frequency identification
(RFID) system for FLTs.
Cascade’s partner in this
project is Intermec, of Everett,
Washington, which supplies second-generation
RFID technology,
known as Gen 2, and related
equipment including computers.
Intermec has experience with
barcode technology that RFID
may replace.
The two companies are working
with Cisco Systems and
RedPrairie Corp to integrate a
mobile computer into any FLT’s
structure without the hardware
having to be a bolted, taped or
wired add-on.
Cascade’s product manager
Brad Vandehey in Portland, Oregon
said the company is focusing
on two concepts, an RFIDenabled
load backrest that is applicable
to any FLT platform and
an RFID-enabled carton clamp
force solution for palletless warehouse
handling of boxes.
A unified wireless real-time
location system from Cisco improves
a driver’s operational accuracy
and efficiency. Mobile resource
management software from
RedPrairie, of Waukesha,Wisconsin,
complements the Cisco system
or other software. RedPrairie
software provides the X and Y
coordinates of an RFID-enabled
FLT, reports its movements and
monitors the time it spends in
each location.
Chris Johnston, Intermec’s
principal product manager for
RFID marketing, said market introduction
of components for the
FLT RFID system would occur
over many months. ❏
New RFID-enabled concept truck from Cascade and Intermec
30
April 2006

FOREST PRODUCTS
Intermodal replaces tipper trucks
A seamless intermodal transport system
based on open top containers is providing
a mill to mill transport link for Austrian
companies.The system involves the
transport of wood chips from saw mills
to pulp and paper mills in Austria using
special, open top containers and 20ft swap
bodies with fork pockets.
The containers are loaded at the saw
mill and transported by road to the nearest
rail terminal, where they are loaded
onto wagons. If the pulp and paper mill
is not rail-connected, the containers are
transferred to road chassis at the nearest
suitable railhead.At the mills the containers
are emptied using a heavy FLT
equipped with a rotator.
The complete handling operation at
the receival mill is handled by the FLT
equipped with the rotator. Conventional
FLTs equipped with standard fork tines
are employed at the rail terminals and also
at the saw mills.The system has been devised
by Austrian logistics consultancy
group Innofreight, which also operates its
own specialised trucking division based
on open top 20ft containers for bulk commodities
unaffected by moisture and 20ft
and 30ft specialised containers for moisture-sensitive
cargoes that are suitable for
silo loading and tipping.
Sum of the parts
None of the elements in the wood chip
transport system are new or specifically
designed for the project, with the exception
of the “WoodTainer” open top containers
developed by Innofreight. However,
by putting together the different
pieces, Innofreight considers it has arrived
at the most viable way to transport and
handle relatively low value bulk products.
The application of rotating fork carriages
to heavy FLTs to turn and empty
20ft open top containers of bulk loads
is not new. Sweden-based FLT builder
Svetruck first built such a machine in
1991 and has, for example, supplied a
total of six machines to Uppsala Energies
under its woodchips-to-energy
programmes - four 32120-46 FLTs,
one 37120-57 and a 42120-57.
Svetruck also supplied a 30120-46 to
(the then) Svelast AB in 1995 and subsequently
a second similar machine was
delivered to that company.
The Innofreight system is operative at
five different saw mills and paper mills in
Austria. It is thought the system could be
developed to handle other containerised
commodities, such as plastic waste, recycling
materials and even fresh fruits and
vegetables destined for processing. Essentially,
the aim of the system is to replace
long distance tipper truck operations with
short haul road and long haul rail transport
using conventional trucks and wagons
but dedicated containers.
ISO based
The 20ft, open top, high-cube Wood-
Tainers have ISO corner castings to ease
securement on rail wagons and chassis,
although they have an overall width of
2.5m.The units are designed for cargoes
with a mass of up to 500 kg/m3 although
the mass of the wood chip load can vary
between 17t and 25t depending on the
type of wood used and its moisture content.The
containers are coated internally
to prevent wood chips with a high moisture
content freezing to the sides during
winter conditions in Austria.
Initial trials found that a 37t rating was
about the minimum requirement for the
FLT due to the maximum payload and 5t
tare of the Woodtainer, together with the
mass and lost load centre of the Kaup rotator.
This has a depth of 532mm from
the front face of the mast to the inner
edge of the container and weighs 5.4t.
Open choice
The system is based around a fleet of six
37t DCD 370-12 Kalmar FLTs, to be
joined soon by a DCF 370-12 machine
currently in build in Sweden. However,
as the FLTs are standard machines fitted
with a relatively standard type heavy duty
industrial rotator, the choice of machinery
is open to normal market conditions.
It is thought that Innofreight is also
looking at a stationary container tipping
An innovative intermodal rail system for
woodchips using a special, open top
container has been developed in Austria
system incorporating lift, side shift and
rotate, but this is due primarily to space
constraints at a pulp mill.
This design would possibly lift the
WoodTainer unit from underneath and
swing it through approximately 110deg
into a fixed discharge hopper parallel to
The FLTs are fitted with a 360 deg rotating
fork carriage from Kaup
the rail tracks to store the wood chips in
an underground silo.
The 37t FLTs, however, offer a more
flexible solution in that they can also be
employed with forks or a fixed spreader
when the rotator attachment is removed,
to handle containers loaded with paper
products as well as perform general lifting
duties around the mill.
The trucks also have the ability to discharge
directly to an open pile or to an
underground silo or if the door openings
to a flat silo warehouse are sufficiently
wide, direct to undercover storage.
The Kaup rotator attachment is capable
of 360deg rotation in both clockwise
WorldCargo
news
Woodtainer on standard rail intermodal car
Damage Reduction
Europe
Tel: 31.36.5492911
Throughout the supply chain.
www.cascorp.com
and anti-clockwise directions. In wet or
cold conditions the wood chips can stick
to the sides of the Woodtainer, even with
the special coating.To dislodge the residue
once the main bulk has been discharged,
the driver may have to turn the
inverted container both left and right. ❏
At Cascade, our commitment to efficient, reliable materials handling is reflected
in the innovations and unique damage reduction solutions we offer.
Perfect pad placement and optimal clamp force are available for every link in
your supply chain. Show your customer that you can move their product
without damage.
For innovative products, sales and local support all over the world,
Cascade is the company to call.
United States
Tel: 800 CASCADE
(227.2233)
April 2006 31

TANK CONTAINERS
WorldCargo
news
Specials builders at home in Europe
While European tank container manufacturers
may no longer be able to compete
with their counterparts in South
Africa and China in the supply of standard
20ft ISO tanks to the market, a
number of venerable engineering companies
live on in France, the UK, Belgium,
Germany, Spain and Italy, building
special tank containers.
Augmenting the survey of high-volume
producers of tank containers that appeared
in last month’s World Cargo News,
this report focuses on the latest developments
at a number of the leading European
manufacturers of specials.
Magyar builds
In 2005 Groupe Magyar SA of Suerre in
France continued to grow its share of the
European swap tanks and specials market,
the increased demand necessitating
the use of a second production line at the
plant.The company has been able to capitalise
on its strong knowledge base in the
construction of road tankers, rigid body
trucks and rail wagons to further develop
the range of demountable tanks on offer.
“Multi-compartment tanks, baffled
tanks, specialist valving, specialist linings
and independent heating systems are
among the requirements on tanks currently
under manufacture,” states Martin
Laverty, tank container product manager
for Magyar SA. “Although the current
high steel prices have slowed demand
from some customers, most are moving
forward with their tank purchase programmes
in 2006.While not expecting a
record performance over the 2005/2006
period, Magyar SA is confident of steady
progress in this difficult and demanding
market.”
In line with the shift towards the construction
of specials that has been taking
place over the past 20 years amongst European
manufacturers continuing to produce
tank containers, Magyar points out
that a typical “standard” tank for the company
now would be an 35,000-l IMO 4
unit with four baffles and that a 20ft,
24,000-l T11 tank of the type built in large
volumes in China could conceivably be
considered a “special”.“Whatever the requirement,
with the vast manufacturing
experience built up by Magyar over 60
years, we can turn our hand to building
virtually any specification of transport
tank,” concludes Martin Laverty.
Oxygen swap
M1 Engineering of Bradford in the UK
is perhaps best known for the manufacture
of cryogenic road tankers used in the
transport of liquefied natural gas (LNG)
and industrial gases such as oxygen, nitrogen
and argon at low temperatures.
However, M1E is also engaged in tank
container manufacture and, again, the
emphasis is on units for the carriage of
cryogenic and other low-temperature liquefied
gases.
The company reports that sales of specials
for the carriage of cryogenic liquids
and other liquefied gases increased in 2005
compared to 2004 due to strengthening
demand driven in part by growth in the
Asian economies.A total of 75 such specials
were built last year, up from 60 in
2004.
Amongst the notable developments at
M1 Engineering over the past 12 months
has been the launch of a new 26,000-l
'Maximo' swap body cryogenic tank container.
The unit has been optimised for
the carriage of up to 28,000 kg of liquid
oxygen at a mean average working pressure
of 4 bar. M1 points out that the new
tank provides the market with a flexible,
intermodal alternative to road tankers.
Another recent design innovation
from M1 is a 9 per cent nickel and highstrength
carbon steel, vacuum-insulated
tank container for the transport of carbon
dioxide (CO2) which is able to carry
up to 24,000 kg of product at a working
pressure of 22 bar. “This unit is able to
carry 4 tonnes more product, or 20 per
cent more payload, than other standard
20ft ISO containers on the market,” states
Jason Gill, M1 Engineering’s sales director.
Van Hool leads
With an output of 1,500 units in 2005,
European manufacturers of tank containers have carved out a
niche for themselves as builders of specials units
Van Hool of Belgium remains Europe’s
largest producer of tank containers. Output
remained on a par with that achieved
in 2004.
The company regards all the tank containers
and swap body tanks it builds as
specials - whether made of stainless steel,
steel or aluminium; whether dedicated to
foodstuffs or chemicals; and whether for
Van Hool built this foodstuffs swap tank for
the GCA Group
RESPONSIVE PROFESSIONAL RELIABLE INNOVATIVE
Trifleet Leasing (The Netherlands) B.V.
Phone:+31 78 639 09 63
Fax: +31 78 614 22 10
trifleet@trifleet.com
Worldwide Expertise in Tank Containers
Trifleet Leasing (Germany) GmbH
Phone:+ 49 403 255 190
Fax: + 49 403 255 1913
trifleet.germany@trifleet.com
www.trifleet.com
Trifleet Leasing (USA) Inc.
Phone:+1 71 39 619 500
Fax: +1 71 39 611 753
trifleet.usa@trifleet.com
the transport of liquids, gases or powders.
Recent notable developments include
the introduction of new gas tank designs,
including swap body units complete with
an integral pump arrangement, and an
extension of production facilities for such
tanks as part of an ongoing investment
programme.The completion of work to
expand the gas tank production line has
enabled output of these units to be increased
accordingly. The current
orderbook for 1,500 such units confirms
Van Hool’s status as the world’s leading
supplier of gas tank containers. Recent
output has included several series of 30
and 40ft tanks for the carriage of LPG.
Progress at Van Hool has not been limited
to gas tanks.The company has developed
designs for high-capacity tank containers
for the transport of beer on
Trifleet Leasing (Asia) Pte Ltd
Phone:+65 65 352567
Fax: +65 65 354503
trifleet.asia@trifleet.com
April 2006 33

WorldCargo
news
TANK CONTAINERS
A recent three-compartment, 24,000-
litre swap tank from Magyar
intermodal journeys across Europe,
while a series of new swap
body tanks for the carriage of
heated products are under construction.
Other recent output has
included several 20ft ISO tanks
with different types of linings.
Surprise newcomer
The rise and fall in the fortunes
of South Africa’s tank container
manufacturers have been notable
features of the tank container industry
over the past decade. In the
1990s there were five builders of
tanks in South Africa but by summer
2005 only one remained in
operation. The waning of the
South African star has come as a
result of an appreciating rand and
increasing competition from
China in the manufacture of
standard tanks.
However, late in 2005 a new
company - GasCon - emerged to
take over the gas tank container
production line at the mothballed
Consani plant in Cape Town.The
GasCon operation is mentioned
in last month’s tank manufacturers
survey.
More recently, another South
African manufacturing firm has
entered the tank container arena.
This is GRW, a builder of road
tankers for the local South African
and international markets,
which is cooperating with Flax
Field Trading of Rotterdam in the
provision of swap tanks specifically
built for the European intermodal
market.
The design of the GRW swap
tanks has benefited from the input
of Flax Field, the principal
officers of which are former
Consani employees. Flax Field is
also cooperating with Singamas,
the Chinese container builder, in
the startup of a new production
line for the manufacture of standard
20ft tank containers.
As regards the GRW swap tank
design, capacities in the 30-35000-
l range are available. GRW reports
High utilisation boosts lessors
Sustained high fleet utilisation
rates have encouraged tank container
leasing companies to return
to the newbuilding market.
Available from WorldCargo News
“Container Terminal Planning - A Theoretical Approach”
A major study by Dr Itsuro Watanabe (Container System Technology)
This comprehensive 245 page study is an in-depth analysis of capacity constraints, productivity, selectivity and flexibility of different container
handling systems in terminals of different types and sizes: common-users or dedicated; hub centre (transshipment and/or relay) or import/export
vocation; gateway or feeder port;intermodal rail or truck distribution inland; with or without CFS, etc. Profusely illustrated with charts,figures
and explanatory tables. Effects of different call patterns of containerships and dwell day regimes.Predictive power provided through development
of queuing theories. Hundreds of detailed equations.
Price: £165 or US$245 or 245 including postage and packing.
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that the use of its modern manufacturing
plant, where barrels are
manufactured without the need
for an additional circumferential
weld seam, will enable the construction
of low tare weight swap
tanks incorporating features designed
to reduce maintenance and
ensure that operating costs are kept
to a minimum.
Flax Field personnel will liaise
with customers in Europe
to ensure that the swap tank
specifications are tailored to suit
their needs. Flax Field engineering,
sales and marketing and after
sales functions are provided
from the new ITT tank service
centre in Rotterdam Europoort
that the company is sharing
with four other specialist companies.
Purpose-built equipment for
swap tank manufacture is now in
High tank container prices in
2005 curtailed the newbuilding
programmes of tank container lessors,
historically the most prolific
HANSE-MASCHINEN
Handels GmbH ❖ Hamburg-Germany
used forklift trucks, reachstacker
& tugmaster for sale:
cap. make type year features
45 to CVS Ferrari Reachstacker 1996 5-high
45 to Kalmar Reachstacker 1998 5-high
42 to Belotti Reachstacker 1992 4-high
30 to Hyster Forklift truck 1992 5,5m lift
30 to Mafi Tractor 2002 4x2
25 to Sisu RoRo tractor 1988 4x4
16 to Kalmar Forklift truck 2002 5,5m lift
15 to Svetruck Forklift truck 1996 triplex
8,5 to Hyster Containerlifter 2003 5+1high
8 to Svetruck Containerlifter 1990 4-high
8 to Svetruck Containerlifter 1995 4-high
7 to SMV Containerlifter 1996 6-high
more details: www.hanse-maschinen.com
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Tel: +49-40-51 51 50 ❖ Fax: +49-40-511 31 04
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this form to
+44 1372 370111
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New to the European scene - a swap tank from GRW of South Africa
buyers of new tanks. However,
despite the restrained purchasing
programmes and the weakness of
the dollar, lessors have been able
to maintain high fleet utilisation
rates over the past 12 months on
the back of robust demand.
The strong market has been
sustained into 2006, to the extent
that several lessors believe that
improving tank container lease
rates can now support investment
in newbuilds.The current activities
of a number of major tank lessors
are profiled in the following
paragraphs.
Trifleet expansion
Trifleet Leasing, the world’s third
largest tank container lessor, has
experienced a particularly busy last
12 months. In addition to broadening
its customer base and creating
a worldwide operations system
which allows all its offices and
customers to have real-time access
to contract and fleet data, the company
appointed Philip van
Rooijen to take over as managing
director in July 2005.
In addition, ING Lease
(Nederland) BV, the parent company,
made funds available for a
range of new investments, including
a series of gas tanks from Van
Hool and GasCon. In addition,
Carol Maddox departed Trifleet in
October 2005 to start her own
company, Maddox Quality BV.
“Our fleet now stands at approximately
8,100 units,” states
Philip van Rooijen. “Due to the
high purchase prices for new tank
containers, stemming from high
steel prices and an imperfect market
structure on the supply side,
we only added a net 125 tanks to
our fleet in 2005. Nevertheless, In
spite of the weak dollar exchange
rate compared to the euro and the
continuing market pressure on
lease rates, we increased revenues
last year, as a result of strong demand
and high utilisation.
“Our fleet expansion plans for
this year are much more ambitious.
So far, we have ordered approximately
1,000 new tanks from
place at the GRW factory in South
Africa.The Flax Field/GRW partnership
expects to supply 200
swap tanks in Europe each year. ❏
manufacturers in China and South
Africa. These units will join our
fleet over the 2006-07 period.”
Fleet strengths
In highlighting its strengths to the
market,Trifleet Leasing states that
its fleet is comparatively young and
that its tanks incorporate features
as standard that the industry often
considers to be an extra. Such features
include spillbox covers, additional
and horizontally positioned
top flanges and heated bottom
discharge arrangements.
The availability of a unique,
real-time customer log-in area
with extensive information on
technical tank details, rate indications
and contracts is also marketed
as a particular selling point.
“In addition, unlike other major
lessors,Trifleet accommodates
a wide range of customer types,
from major corporations and
transport operators to state-managed
enterprises,” continues Philip
van Rooijen.
“Also, with tanks from our
large, new orderbook now flowing
into our fleet,Trifleet is able
to meet orders for newbuild liquid
and gas tanks on short notice.”
Too much power?
Major leasing companies, with
their periodic orders for large
batches of new tanks, are sensitive
to the availability of tank container
production facilities.This is a critical
issue at the moment, with the
bid by China International Marine
Containers Group Ltd
(CIMC) to acquire Burg Industries
BV currently being reviewed
by the European Commission’s
antitrust branch.
CIMC is the world’s largest
manufacturer of tanks and
amongst the Burg portfolio of
companies is Welfit Oddy of South
Africa, the world’s second largest
tank builder. At the moment, no
other tank manufacturer is able to
match their output.
“To ensure fair competition
and the availability of a good tank
container at a competitive price,
European network
Clean inside. Service outside.
Safety all around.
A 24,000-litre Exsif tank is readied for an export cargo at a Houston tank depot
cleaning facilities
maintenance & repair
Central European contact: cotac europe GmbH, Holländer Str. 1-7, 68219 Mannheim, Germany
Phone: +49 (0)621/8998-101, info@cotac-group.com, www.cotac-group.com
34
April 2006

TANK CONTAINERS
WorldCargo
news
are leased in. One year ago Exsif established
the domestic Chinese leasing company
HAITE to cater for growth potential
in that country. HAITE leases several
hundred tanks to local Chinese chemical
manufacturers and chemical transport
companies for intra-China use. HAITE
has a head office in Shanghai, five satellite
offices in Tianjin, Dalian, Guangzhou,
Xian and Chongxing, and provides the
country with a full service tank container
leasing operation.
Eurasia looks east
Although running a more modest operation
than that offered by the major global
tank lessors, C S Eurasia Leasing
GmbH & Co of Germany has also been
strengthening its commitment to the
Asian market. In recognition of the fact
Trifleet is amongst the first purchasers of gas
tanks from the new GasCon operation in
South Africa
that most of the growth in the global tank
container industry is now taking place in
the Far East, Eurasia has a sister company
in Singapore which is active in developing
the market potential in the South East
Asian region, most notably Singapore,
Indonesia and Thailand.
A mark of the extent to which the
potential in Asia is gaining in importance
for Eurasia is given by the company’s decision
to order 70 new tanks in 2006 compared
to 30 last year.The overall C S Eurasia
fleet now stands at 781 units.The company
also reports improving revenue
streams as a result of higher fleet utilisation
over the past 12 months. ❏
Lessors are concerned about overconcentration
of production in CIMC’s hands
i.e. a price which supports lease rates that
can be realised in the market, our industry
ideally needs at least three experienced,
independent manufacturers with good
technical knowledge and sufficient scale,”
believes Philip van Rooijen.“The country
in which the tank containers are produced
is only relevant insofar as this impacts
on the price and quality of the tank
container, and the relocation costs.”
For its part Trifleet is accommodating
the eastwards shift of the global tank container
axis with its sales office in Singapore
and agents in China,Taiwan, Indonesia
and Korea.The buildup of this network
helped the company increase its sales
in the region in 2005.
GE SeaCo
GE SeaCo is another tank lessor going to
the newbuild market; the purchase of 700
new tank containers is planned for 2006.
The majority of these tanks are 25,000-
litre T11 general purpose tanks but there
will also be a significant number of 15-
20,000-litre, 10-bar T20 units for the specialised
chemical business.
“The GE SeaCo tank business continues
to improve,” reports Colin Rubery,
general manager of the company’s Tank
Container Division. “Utilisation of the
fleet is at acceptable levels and lease rates
are beginning to rise sufficiently to justify
investment.
“In addition to the fleet purchases for
general leasing GE SeaCo is active in the
market for finance leases.This part of the
business is growing and is supported with
the funding resources of GE SeaCo, enabling
customers to consider options from
a single source and with the benefit of
drawing tanks stock.”
A significant part of GE SeaCo business
activity relates to the provision of
technical support to customers.As an example,
a programme of regulatory courses
in line with the latest International Maritime
Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code requirements
has been conducted to qualify
the GE SeaCo technical sales team up to
Dangerous Goods Advisor level.
Last month GE SeaCo was awarded
accreditation by the Chemical Distribution
Institute (CDI) to that organisation’s
new Safety and Quality Assessment System
(SQAS) for companies active in the
tank container sector (see page 13). This
scheme is backed by the European
Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC).
Exsif to the fore
Exsif Worldwide, the world’s largest tank
container lessor, is also reporting that its
fleet utilisation, which by this time last
year had climbed to its highest level in a
decade, is being maintained.
The company is continuing to invest,
adding to its already diverse fleet in order
to remain a reliable, consistent supplier
of tank containers to its key customers
on a global and regional basis.
The Exsif fleet has climbed to 32,530
tanks, from 30,700 units a year ago.The
fleet is comprised of 20,950 20-foot units
for liquid chemicals, 1,860 swaps, 1,520
gas tanks, 4,800 foodgrade tanks and 3,400
tanks dedicated to particular products.
Some 220 gas tanks have been added to
the mix over the past 12 months.
From another perspective, the Exsif
fleet is made up of 23,091 owned tanks,
9,383 managed tanks and 56 units that
Liebherr-Werk Nenzing GmbH
P.O. Box 10, A-6710 Nenzing / Austria
Tel.: +43 5525 606-725
Fax: +43 5525 606-447
reachstacker@liebherr.com
www.liebherr.com
Experience the
progress.
The Group
April 2006 35