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ROLL-ON/ROLL-OFF <strong>WorldCargo</strong> 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 i CAN WITH THE NEW i-MODEL TERMINAL TRACTOR i CAN… …make the driver’s tasks easier and faster …give more power and torque …offer troubleshooting in 1/10 of the time …simplify electrical system and maintenance …give longer service intervals …meet the new environmentally-friendly regulations. With the new powerful engine and automatic transmission – and the CAN-BUS control system – the new i-models promise to be the most efficient, intelligent terminal tractors on the market. www.kalmarind.com 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
<strong>WorldCargo</strong> 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
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