WorldCargo News Online

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