Tanjung Priok super port - WorldCargo News Online
Tanjung Priok super port - WorldCargo News Online
Tanjung Priok super port - WorldCargo News Online
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<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
MAY 2013<br />
news<br />
<strong>Tanjung</strong> <strong>Priok</strong> <strong>super</strong> <strong>port</strong><br />
Netherlands-based engineering<br />
and consultancy Group Royal<br />
HaskoningDHV (RHDHV) has<br />
been appointed lead consultant for<br />
the construction of an ambitious<br />
expansion project, estimated at<br />
US$2.47B, for <strong>Tanjung</strong> <strong>Priok</strong> (Jakarta),<br />
Indonesia’s leading <strong>port</strong>.<br />
Dubbed North Kalibaru Terminal<br />
Development Project, the new<br />
400-ha, man-made island is scheduled<br />
to accommodate 13M TEU<br />
of container handling capacity, a<br />
liquid bulk berth and tank farm.<br />
RHDHV was awarded the <strong>super</strong>vision<br />
contract by state-owned<br />
Indonesian Port Corporation II<br />
(Pelindo II), which is the sole<br />
project developer. On completion<br />
in 2023, North Kalibaru will have<br />
increased <strong>Tanjung</strong> <strong>Priok</strong>’s container<br />
capacity by more than<br />
threefold. The <strong>port</strong> handled 6.1M<br />
TEU in 2012 and the forecast for<br />
this year is around the 7M TEU<br />
mark, although nominal installed<br />
capacity today is “only” 5M TEU.<br />
The project is a key part of the<br />
national “Master Plan for the Acceleration<br />
and Expansion of Indonesian<br />
Economic Development.”<br />
Indonesia’s president Susilo<br />
Bambang Yudhoyono broke<br />
ground on the project in March<br />
and the first parcel of the first<br />
phase is scheduled to come on<br />
stream during 2014. The construction,<br />
financing and operation tender<br />
for this 1.5M TEU/year concession<br />
was won in March by Japan’s<br />
Mitsui & Co Ltd, outbidding<br />
APMT and ICTSI. Pelindo II<br />
plans to open tenders for the second<br />
and third 1.5M TEU terminals<br />
this November. The 4.5M<br />
TEU/year first phase is planned<br />
for completion in 2018.<br />
RHDHV will <strong>super</strong>vise major<br />
construction works, including<br />
land reclamation, construction of<br />
breakwaters, quay walls and shore<br />
protection and reinforcement, plus<br />
the bridge linking Kalibaru with<br />
the mainland. The Dutch group<br />
will also take charge of finishing<br />
the first container terminal’s onshore<br />
infrastructure to allow<br />
Mitsui to move in quickly.<br />
The Mitsui terminal has to be<br />
operational before the land to be<br />
reclaimed stabilises naturally, said<br />
Herman Pals, RHDHV’s project<br />
director in Jakarta. The seabed is<br />
of poor quality, so it would take<br />
time for the landfill to be permanently<br />
settled to allow infrastruc-<br />
ECT opts for truck engine AGV<br />
As previously re<strong>port</strong>ed, last year<br />
ECT Rotterdam placed an order<br />
with Dutch firm VDL for 22 hybrid<br />
AGVs, following acceptance<br />
of the prototype machine earlier<br />
in the year. The first two production<br />
run AGVs will be delivered<br />
Prototype VDL hybrid drive AGV at<br />
ECT, Rotterdam. The production run<br />
machines will be fitted with a 150<br />
kW Euro V road truck engine<br />
ture construction without the risk<br />
of subsidence. To overcome this,<br />
the initial container terminal will<br />
be built with a suspended deck,<br />
with the piles reaching down to<br />
firm ground. The rest of Kalibaru<br />
Island will be built in the traditional<br />
land reclamation way, allowing<br />
for settlement on landfill.<br />
Soil dredged for the new basin<br />
and the access channel will be the<br />
main feedstock for the landfill. At<br />
peak around 50 consultants and<br />
<strong>super</strong>visors will be on site, of which<br />
around 20 will be RHDHV staff<br />
and the remainder consultants/<strong>super</strong>visors<br />
from local sub-consultants<br />
PT Atrya Swascipta Rekayasa.<br />
Down the track, the award of<br />
the first construction, management<br />
and operating concession to<br />
Mitsui may create op<strong>port</strong>unities<br />
for Mitsui Zosen to provide Paceco<br />
cranes, while the engineering and<br />
<strong>port</strong> operations know-how of<br />
Portek may also be tapped.<br />
this October and, following their<br />
extensive operational testing, the<br />
third will be delivered in January<br />
2014. An AGV will then be delivered<br />
every seven working days<br />
until delivery is completed in July.<br />
The order from ECT included<br />
options for a further 62 AGVs.<br />
Seven companies within the<br />
VDL Group worked on the design<br />
and development of the hybrid<br />
AGV. Siemens was the partner<br />
for the hybrid power management<br />
(using a similar concept to<br />
its ECO-RTG hybrid drive) and<br />
FROG was the partner for the<br />
navigation and steering.<br />
In line with VDL’s drive towards<br />
optimisation, ECT has<br />
opted to fit the production series<br />
with a 150 kW Euro V road truck<br />
engine, similar to the engine fitted<br />
to VDL passenger buses, rather<br />
than the 257 kW Stage IIIb engine<br />
fitted to the prototype AGV.<br />
This means that diesel fuel<br />
consumption will be lower than<br />
the value of 4.8 litres/hour quoted<br />
by VDL for the prototype, but by<br />
the same token the demands<br />
placed on the ultracaps (recharged<br />
automatically during travel) to<br />
generate extra power when necessary,<br />
particularly when starting<br />
up long travel, have become more<br />
im<strong>port</strong>ant. In the prototype the<br />
engine running hours are quoted<br />
as 55% of operational hours and<br />
the ultracap as 45%.<br />
The prototype hybrid AGV<br />
already uses significantly less diesel<br />
fuel than ECT’s first generation<br />
of diesel-hydraulic AGVs and<br />
less fuel than the later, more fuelefficient<br />
diesel-electric AGVs.<br />
The extra fuel savings with the<br />
150 kW engine and the ratio of<br />
the running hours of the engine<br />
and energy store cannot yet be<br />
stated, says VDL, as long-term<br />
measurements are ongoing. However,<br />
AGV performance is unaffected<br />
by fitting the smaller engine,<br />
and top speed of 6 m/sec and<br />
acceleration of 0.5 m/sec 2 are<br />
unchanged. The smaller engine<br />
saves around 1t in tare weight and<br />
servicing is easier as there is more<br />
space to access filters, belts, etc.<br />
The 150 kW engine is less expensive<br />
to buy and as the 275 kW<br />
engine never really gets to its operational<br />
rpm in this application,<br />
there can be soot build-up, affecting<br />
cylinders and pistons. The 150<br />
kW engine runs at normal operational<br />
rpm, so exhaust temperatures<br />
are higher and emissions are fewer.<br />
Paceco books Tilbury<br />
The Port of Tilbury, part of Forth<br />
Ports plc, has awarded a contract<br />
for two panamax Paceco Portainer<br />
cranes to Paceco España SA. The<br />
40t SWL cranes will operate at the<br />
short sea terminal and will bring<br />
the number of Paceco Portainers<br />
at Tilbury to 10, of which six are<br />
from Paceco España.<br />
This includes four postpanamax<br />
cranes - two built in 2001<br />
and two in 2004. The new 13-wide<br />
Portainers are expected to be in operation<br />
in April/ May 2014.<br />
The picture (right) shows a<br />
similar Portainer supplied last year<br />
to IMT in Antwerp. This crane,<br />
Paceco España’s most recent delivery<br />
outside the Iberian peninsula,<br />
is also panamax, but is slightly<br />
bigger than the cranes for Tilbury.<br />
Forth Ports has also taken delivery<br />
of 14 new 4-high, 50t SWL<br />
diesel-electric drive Kalmar straddle<br />
carriers in Tilbury. As previously<br />
re<strong>port</strong>ed, these model ESC<br />
450W straddle carriers are<br />
equipped with Kalmar’s standard<br />
W-type front cabin and they interface<br />
directly with the TOS. The<br />
investment cost is sup<strong>port</strong>ed by an<br />
EU Marco Polo short sea “Motorways<br />
of the Sea” grant awarded<br />
jointly to the <strong>port</strong>s of Tilbury and<br />
Bilbao in an amount of €7.299M<br />
(£5.75M).<br />
The machines were fabricated<br />
at Cargotec’s MAUT assembly<br />
plant in Poland and shipped to<br />
Tilbury in erect mode. Forth Ports’<br />
NEWS<br />
Free<strong>port</strong>’s hybrid straddles 2<br />
Special mobiles for Napier 4<br />
ZPMC going direct 7<br />
Delay for Lekki 10<br />
Turf dispute in Táranto 11<br />
Queensland <strong>port</strong>s for sale 13<br />
LoadPlate in Raahe 14<br />
Djibouti master plan 18<br />
ICT FOCUS<br />
Symeo collision avoidance 27<br />
WiMESH in Le Havre 29<br />
Janus Gate in Antwerp 33<br />
Malta takes Telematics 34<br />
SPARCS N4 for Auckland 35<br />
IDENTEC reefer monitoring 36<br />
PORT DEVELOPMENT<br />
Holland/Belgium survey 39<br />
Black Sea/Turkey re<strong>port</strong> 45<br />
Singapore’s prize award 49<br />
Singapore in pole position 50<br />
IN THIS ISSUE<br />
The Tilbury Portainers will be similar,<br />
albeit slightly smaller, to the one<br />
supplied to IMT Antwerp last year<br />
investment programme for the<br />
new cranes, straddle carriers and<br />
new IT systems at Tilbury London<br />
Container Terminal comes to<br />
around £20M in total.<br />
British trans<strong>port</strong> minister<br />
Stephen Hammond, MP has “cut<br />
the turf ” to mark the start of construction<br />
of the 70-acre London<br />
Distribution Park (LDP) at<br />
Tilbury. As previously re<strong>port</strong>ed,<br />
LDP is a joint venture of Forth<br />
Ports and Roxhill Developments<br />
and is aimed at fostering<br />
<strong>port</strong>centric logistics activities. It<br />
will offer almost 1M ft 2 of new<br />
distribution facilities, in modules<br />
of 50,000 ft 2 upwards..<br />
Eyes on the prize! This is a screen shot from the US$1M winning entry,<br />
announced during Singapore Maritime Week in April, in MPA Singapore’s<br />
and Singapore Maritime Institute’s “Next Generation Container Port<br />
Challenge.” There is a full re<strong>port</strong> on page 49<br />
Brazil congestion worsens 51<br />
Rijeka gears up 52<br />
Wilhelmshaven pressure 55<br />
Global stevedores review 59<br />
INTERMODAL<br />
Calais as UK railhead 63<br />
Hupac stresses P400 65<br />
CARGO HANDLING<br />
Playing the power game 67<br />
Braking cranes on the run 71<br />
New crane brakes 72<br />
3D technology from Lase 73<br />
Orlaco in Antwerp 74<br />
Step up to the next tier 77<br />
A way back in for crossply 79<br />
Container weighing options 81<br />
INSURANCE<br />
Losses and leviathans 82<br />
New container cover 83<br />
West African piracy 83
CARGO HANDLING NEWS<br />
Hybrid straddles for Free<strong>port</strong><br />
Terex Port Solutions (TPS) has<br />
re<strong>port</strong>ed a recent order for 10<br />
Terex NSC 634 E ECO hybrid<br />
straddle carriers from Free<strong>port</strong><br />
Container Port (FCP), the<br />
Hutchison Port Holdings affiliate<br />
in the Bahamas, with an option<br />
to purchase an additional 12 machines.<br />
The first machines, which<br />
have a top unladen travel speed of<br />
30 kph, stack 1 over 2 and have<br />
an SWL of 60t under twin 20,<br />
are slated for delivery during May.<br />
This is believed to be the biggest<br />
single order for Noell hybrid<br />
drive straddle carriers, following<br />
earlier deliveries to customers in<br />
Germany and in Antwerp. The<br />
drive comprises a diesel-powered<br />
generator and an array of ultracapacitors,<br />
which provide transient<br />
storage and recycling of energy recovered<br />
during braking and lowering.<br />
This results in significantly<br />
reduced fuel consumption and exhaust<br />
emissions compared to a traditional<br />
drive system. Load surges<br />
on the primary energy source, the<br />
diesel-generator set, are lower, allowing<br />
it to run in a smoother,<br />
energy-efficient manner.<br />
According to TPS, operators<br />
are re<strong>port</strong>ing up to 20% less<br />
fuel consumed (and hence lower<br />
emissions) with Terex straddle<br />
carriers fitted with hybrid drives<br />
compared to Terex’s conventional<br />
diesel-electric drives, depending<br />
on terminal and operating conditions.<br />
They also re<strong>port</strong>ed reduced<br />
noise emissions.<br />
“For some years, our hybrid<br />
straddle carriers have proven their<br />
worth in everyday cargo handling,”<br />
stated Guido Luini, managing<br />
director of TPS, Würzburg<br />
factory. “The fact that we have received<br />
this order from Free<strong>port</strong> for<br />
a fleet of machines equipped with<br />
this technology is confirmation of<br />
the acceptance for it and, at the<br />
same time, of our leading position<br />
in this segment of the market.”<br />
Free<strong>port</strong> is an existing customer<br />
for Noell straddle carriers, with<br />
a fleet of 25 diesel-hydraulic NSC<br />
644 H machines, so it is making<br />
a fuel-saving “jump” by opting<br />
for hybrids, as diesel-electric<br />
drives are more fuel-efficient than<br />
Anzeige_124x175_Ardelt_neu3_06_<strong>WorldCargo</strong><strong>News</strong> 22.05.13 08:29 Seite 1<br />
Noell hybrid straddle carriers in Free<strong>port</strong>,<br />
Bahamas<br />
diesel-hydraulic drives in straddle<br />
carrier applications.<br />
According to TPS, as FCP<br />
gradually expands its operations,<br />
it is placing particular emphasis<br />
on the cost-effectiveness and<br />
environmentally compatible operation<br />
of the handling machines<br />
used. In view of this approach, it<br />
was, said Luini, logical that the<br />
customer ordered Terex straddle<br />
carriers with hybrid drives.<br />
TUKAN K<br />
2,400 TONNES PER HOUR WITH ADVANCED ENERGY<br />
RECUPERATION AND BOOM EQUALIZER SAVING UP TO 70 % -<br />
COMPARED TO MOBILE HARBOUR CRANES (MHC)<br />
ARDELT<br />
XL EFFICIENCY<br />
ARDELT IS A MEMBER OF KRANUNION.<br />
TUKAN MHC<br />
(ENERGY CONSUMPTION)<br />
Portek to lease new cranes<br />
Singapore-based Portek Group,<br />
part of Mitsui & Co, is preparing<br />
to step up its activities in the crane<br />
leasing market by offering long<br />
term lease arrangements for new<br />
STS and RTG cranes. Portek has<br />
long offered leases on used, refurbished<br />
cranes, but it is now looking<br />
to broaden its leasing activity<br />
to include new STS and yard crane<br />
fleets large enough to operate a<br />
terminal handling over 1M TEU.<br />
Leasing new equipment has<br />
been done before, but Portek<br />
CEO Takao Omori said most attempts<br />
by leasing companies have<br />
failed because leasing new cranes<br />
will not work as a purely financial<br />
arrangement. Leasing companies<br />
have the commercial strength to<br />
buy new cranes, but they have no<br />
expertise in crane operating and<br />
maintenance, no way to protect<br />
the asset and are not able to guarantee<br />
equipment availability.<br />
Portek’s executive director<br />
and CEO of Portek Systems &<br />
Equipment, Tok Soon Chong,<br />
believes leasing a large fleet of<br />
brand new cranes can be a viable<br />
option if the lease terms combine<br />
financial and engineering/operational<br />
conditions. What terminals<br />
want, he said, is guaranteed crane<br />
uptime over an extended period,<br />
up to 20 years. Removing<br />
the uncertainty over the cost of<br />
this is a very attractive proposition<br />
as it takes some of the risk<br />
out of concession arrangements.<br />
Now that it is owned by Mitsui<br />
& Co, Portek has the financial<br />
backing to finance big crane orders.<br />
It is working on an arrangement<br />
for up to seven STS cranes<br />
and a commensurate number of<br />
RTGs. Portek would design and<br />
specify the cranes, <strong>super</strong>vise fabrication<br />
and installation, and service<br />
them for 20 years.<br />
Having control of the crane<br />
design, specification and construction<br />
enables Portek to lease new<br />
New rope rocker damper<br />
Germany’s Römer Fördertechnik<br />
GmbH has launched a new rope<br />
rocker device to provide protection<br />
against a falling load in the<br />
case of a wire rope failure. The<br />
rope rocker is designed for hoists<br />
with a minimum of two load<br />
bearing ropes. In the case of a failure<br />
of one rope, “the second rope<br />
must bear the entire load while<br />
being stressed by a load shifting<br />
pulse” said Römer.<br />
The rope rocker acts to reduce<br />
the effect of the load being suddenly<br />
shifted to one rope. “Rope<br />
rocker dampers will be mounted<br />
parallel to both ropes,” stated the<br />
company. “These dampers are<br />
linked with the rope sweep and the<br />
sup<strong>port</strong>ing structure by joints. The<br />
Four Konecranes <strong>super</strong>post-<br />
Panamax STS cranes have been<br />
shipped semi-erect on board a<br />
DockWise teal class ship to the<br />
Port of Savannah, operated by the<br />
Georgia Ports Authority (GPA).<br />
The 65 LT SWL (twin 20 mode)-<br />
61m outreach (22-wide deck<br />
coverage) cranes are part of an<br />
order that Konecranes received<br />
in 2011. In addition to the four<br />
STS cranes, the order included<br />
20 Konecranes RTGs that have<br />
already been delivered to the customer.<br />
The design of the STS cranes<br />
is identical to the STS cranes<br />
that Konecranes delivered to the<br />
GPA a few years ago. According<br />
to Konecranes, these have turned<br />
out to be among the most productive<br />
cranes in the US. The Port<br />
of Savannah currently operates<br />
116 Konecranes RTGs and 23<br />
Konecranes STS cranes.<br />
Separately, Konecranes has re<strong>port</strong>ed<br />
a recent order for four<br />
more RTGs from an existing<br />
customer in Valencia, TCV Stevedoring<br />
Company SA, which is<br />
part of Grup TCB. This will be<br />
Konecranes’ fifth RTG delivery<br />
to TCV and will bring its RTG<br />
complement to 23 machines.<br />
“Our cooperation with TCV<br />
started in 2004 when the first<br />
Konecranes RTGs were ordered<br />
and delivered,” said Kim Salvén,<br />
Konecranes’ sales director, Europe.<br />
equipment with confidence it can<br />
manage the life cycle costs and<br />
guarantee availability. Portek has<br />
experience specifying and <strong>super</strong>vising<br />
crane fabrication and it has<br />
a lease fleet of around 10 cranes in<br />
service at any time, all of which are<br />
used cranes on shorter duration<br />
leases. It also has several crane maintenance<br />
contracts in Indonesia.<br />
Leasing STS cranes with<br />
guaranteed uptime begs the<br />
question whether Portek might<br />
supply labour to operate the<br />
cranes as well. Omori said Portek<br />
is not looking, at least initially, at<br />
this type of arrangement but it<br />
could be possible at some stage.<br />
Contracting a certain level of productivity,<br />
however, is likely to be<br />
too problematic as crane productivity<br />
depends on more than just<br />
the cranes and their operators.<br />
integrated automatic switching<br />
valve guarantees fast apply times<br />
and very low reset forces during<br />
normal operation. In case of a rope<br />
failure the rope rocker dampers<br />
damp immediately so that a freefall<br />
of the load can be avoided.”<br />
Schematic of new rope rocker<br />
En route to Savannah<br />
Delivery will take place in the<br />
fourth quarter of 2013.<br />
The 16-wheel RTGs are<br />
equipped with Konecranes’ Active<br />
Load Control technology,<br />
diesel fuel saver technology, autosteering<br />
and crane management<br />
system. They have an SWL of 50t<br />
and stack 1over 5 high and 6 +<br />
1 wide.<br />
At the time of writing, another<br />
five Konecranes 16-wheeler,<br />
40t SWL, 7 + 1/1 over 5 RTGs<br />
are being erected at the Meridian<br />
Port Services (MPS) container<br />
terminal in Tema, Ghana.<br />
This follows the delivery of four<br />
fully-erect Konecranes RTGs to<br />
MPS Tema in March this year.<br />
All nine machines are equipped<br />
with Konecranes “Smarter Cabin,”<br />
autosteering and Diesel Fuel<br />
Saver. The container positioning<br />
systems are connected to the TOS<br />
and the RTGs are also equipped<br />
with remote access technology<br />
for ready remote diagnosis by<br />
Konecranes’ engineers.<br />
As previously re<strong>port</strong>ed, the Port<br />
of Houston Authority (PHA) recently<br />
placed an order worth almost<br />
US$50M with Konecranes<br />
for four STS cranes for Barbours<br />
Cut Container Terminal. In addition,<br />
PHA has varied upwards a<br />
separate order with Konecranes<br />
for eight RTGs for its Bay<strong>port</strong><br />
Terminal to 13 machines, adding<br />
US$5.9M to the contract value.<br />
Konecranes STS cranes being shipped by DockWise to Savannah<br />
2<br />
May 2013
CARGO HANDLING NEWS<br />
Kalmar refurbishment deals<br />
Kalmar, part of Cargotec, has completed<br />
the heightening of six quay cranes at<br />
MSC Home Terminal. The project involved<br />
increasing the hoisting height of<br />
all the Kalmar quay cranes by 4m from<br />
38m to 42m above quay level. All modifications<br />
were completed within a 12<br />
month time frame Work initially started<br />
in April 2012. The first crane was recommissioned<br />
in September and the sixth<br />
crane was recommissioned in March. The<br />
cranes were jacked up by Kalmar’s specialist<br />
crane services team and leg extensions<br />
were added just below the gross girders.<br />
In order to maintain stiffness, the sill<br />
beam was strengthened and bracers were<br />
installed on the waterside <strong>port</strong>al frame.<br />
The project included extension of the<br />
personnel lift and staircase, partial renewal<br />
of the electrical wiring and software<br />
modifications. Essential maintenance<br />
work to the cranes was also undertaken<br />
to minimise production downtime.<br />
Disturbance to quayside operations was<br />
minimised as the cranes were trans<strong>port</strong>ed<br />
by self-propelled modular trans<strong>port</strong>ers<br />
(SPMT) to a designated construction<br />
site. Once modified, the cranes were then<br />
trans<strong>port</strong>ed back to the original position<br />
on the quay. The cranes are more than 10<br />
years old and were among the first orders<br />
placed (by the then Hessenatie) with Kalmar<br />
after it acquired Nelcon in 2001.<br />
Kalmar has also announced that it has<br />
acquired total ownership of the Spanish<br />
crane refurbishment and maintenance<br />
service company Marei<strong>port</strong> SA. Kalmar<br />
has owned 30% of Algeciras-based Marei<strong>port</strong><br />
since 2007 and this takeover is<br />
described as a strategic step for the company<br />
to become a major global crane<br />
It’s a Goa<br />
for Italgru<br />
Italgru has delivered a model IHC 2120<br />
mobile harbour crane to Mormugao Port<br />
Trust in Goa. Supplied in 4-rope configuration<br />
to handle bulk as well as general<br />
cargo and containers, the crane has<br />
a maximum SWL (hook load) of 120t<br />
and outreach is 11m -51m. The crane was<br />
assembled and erected and fully tested<br />
in Porto Marghera (Venice) and shipped<br />
fully-erect from there for customer testing<br />
and final commissioning. A second,<br />
similar crane remains under option.<br />
Still in the Indian market, Cochin Port<br />
Trust has an option for a second Italgru<br />
IHC 850 mobile harbour crane. The first<br />
crane, supplied in 4-rope configuration<br />
and with a 12 m 3 mechanical grab, is also<br />
equipped with a cable reeling system, so<br />
the customer can plug it into the mains<br />
and run it fully electrically when required.<br />
Crane outreach is between 9m and 36m<br />
and SWL under hook at 18m is 40t.<br />
Elsewhere, CCI de Rochefort in south<br />
west France (River Charente) is testing its<br />
first IHI 850 (two on order). Three IHC<br />
2120S cranes for TCDD in the Port of<br />
Izmir are presently under construction.<br />
These cranes are similar to the IHC 2120s<br />
previously supplied to IFA in Ravenna,<br />
but have a specially reinforced load curve.<br />
IHC 2120 in container mode in Mormugao<br />
refurbishment and services provider.<br />
Marei<strong>port</strong>, which was privatelyowned,<br />
has provided maintenance services<br />
for <strong>port</strong>s and terminals and refurbishment<br />
and heightening services for a large<br />
variety of different cranes, including quay<br />
cranes, RTGs, bulk cranes and large shipyard<br />
cranes especially in the Mediterranean<br />
area. Last year its sales came to around<br />
€20M. It employs some 250 people.<br />
“There are around 5000 quay cranes<br />
in operation globally,” said Olli Isotalo,<br />
president of Kalmar. “Most of them have<br />
been in operation over 10 years and are<br />
in need of refurbishments and upgrades.<br />
At the same time, our customers are<br />
looking for modifications and upgrades<br />
to their existing quay cranes to handle<br />
ever larger vessels.”<br />
Kalmar has also announced an order<br />
from Terminales Rio de la Plata (TRP)<br />
in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the extension<br />
of the booms on two STS container<br />
cranes supplied by ZPMC. It is<br />
not clear whether this award is in any<br />
way connected to the Marei<strong>port</strong> developments.<br />
TRP is part of DP World.<br />
To handle the larger container vessels<br />
cascading into north-south trades TRP<br />
needs longer cranes and in this award<br />
the outreach of the cranes will be extended<br />
from 45m to 51m. Kalmar’s team<br />
has started work on detailed engineering<br />
plans so that the ZPMC cranes can be<br />
recommissioned before the end of 2013.<br />
“Boom extension is one of our focus<br />
products and we are working with many<br />
enquiries globally,” said Marcelo Massa,<br />
managing director of Kalmar Argentina.<br />
Kalmar has won an order worth<br />
around €10M for 25 DRF450 reach<br />
stackers from the Algerian <strong>port</strong> procurement<br />
company, Groupement D’Intérêt<br />
Commun des Entreprises Portuaires<br />
(GICEP). Delivery is scheduled over the<br />
next six months to five of the most im<strong>port</strong>ant<br />
<strong>port</strong>s in Algeria: Annaba, Skikda,<br />
Algiers, Mostagannem and Ghazaouet.<br />
Port Otago in New Zealand has ordered<br />
two Kalmar ESC 450W straddle<br />
carriers along with the Smartfleet maintenance<br />
sup<strong>port</strong> system.<br />
Crane lift height has been raised by 4m to<br />
42m at MSC Home Terminal, Antwerp<br />
TRAILER DESIGN and MANUFACTURE<br />
ROLLTRAILERS<br />
GOOSENECKS<br />
DRAWBAR TRAILERS<br />
CHASSIS<br />
LIFT TRAILERS<br />
CASSETTES<br />
SEACOM AG<br />
Berbiceweg 5<br />
CH - 8212 Neuhausen<br />
Switzerland<br />
Tel: +41 (0) 52 632 04 00<br />
Fax: +41 (0) 52 632 04 09<br />
www.seacom-marine.ch<br />
May 2013 3
CARGO HANDLING NEWS<br />
Special Gottwald mobiles for Napier<br />
Terex Port Solutions (TPS) has<br />
re<strong>port</strong>ed an order for two Terex<br />
Gottwald G HMK 6408 Model 6<br />
mobile harbour cranes from longstanding<br />
customer in New Zealand,<br />
Port of Napier Ltd. The two<br />
cranes, each with lifting capacities<br />
of up to 100t and radii up to 51m,<br />
will be modified by TPS to meet<br />
the specific conditions of the<br />
quays in the <strong>port</strong> and, from late<br />
summer 2013, will be handling<br />
mainly containers. Napier Port<br />
is expanding its fleet of cranes<br />
as a result of business growth,<br />
and is currently the second largest<br />
in New Zealand’s North Island<br />
in terms of the volume<br />
of total ex<strong>port</strong> cargo handled.<br />
Napier currently operates a<br />
fleet of four Gottwald HMK 280<br />
E and HMK 300 E MHCs that<br />
VOLUME 20 NUMBER 5 • ISSN 1355-0551<br />
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were originally supplied with<br />
options including an extended<br />
tower and special chassis. With<br />
the two new cranes, the chassis<br />
will be fitted with a special set of<br />
axles that are spaced further apart<br />
than normal to take account of<br />
the site conditions. The chassis<br />
will also be equipped with eight<br />
axles, which will prevent the permitted<br />
loading of the quay from<br />
being exceeded. For the same<br />
reason, the extended propping<br />
system will provide an increased<br />
area to take into account the specific<br />
quay conditions.<br />
TPS has also delivered and<br />
commissioned the first of two<br />
Terex Gottwald HMK 170E mobile<br />
harbour cranes ordered by St<br />
Peter Port Harbour in Guernsey,<br />
as part of a turnkey contract that<br />
The chassis and propping system, seen here at the Gottwald plant in Düsseldorf,<br />
has been adapted to special on-site conditions in Napier<br />
includes demolition of a quayside<br />
<strong>port</strong>al crane and a 32t quayside<br />
scotch derrick, along with civil<br />
reinstatement. The second new<br />
HMK 170E is slated for delivery<br />
this November, and TPS will demolish<br />
two more old cranes.<br />
Practically all Guernsey’s trade<br />
with the rest of Britain and the<br />
world passes through St Peter<br />
Port and the harbour is currently<br />
undergoing a £13.75M refurbishment<br />
of its freight handling<br />
facilities. The modernisation includes<br />
replacement of four existing<br />
cranes with the two Gottwald<br />
cranes, which will handle 50,000t<br />
of container freight per year.<br />
The 63t configuration HMK<br />
170E MHCs have a radius of 38m<br />
and feature self-powered diesel<br />
generators. For increased efficiency<br />
and to avoid exhaust emissions<br />
within the <strong>port</strong>, the cranes can<br />
be hooked up to 11 kV electrical<br />
shore supply power connections.<br />
The cranes for Guernsey are<br />
built in Düsseldorf and trans<strong>port</strong>ed<br />
to Antwerp for onward transfer<br />
by sea-going barge to St Peter<br />
Port. The <strong>port</strong>’s Harbour Master,<br />
Captain Peter Gill, stated that<br />
TPS provided the lowest cost,<br />
technically acceptable proposal as<br />
part of the open tender process.<br />
“When fully operational, the<br />
two cranes will be doing the<br />
work of the four former cranes,<br />
with obvious benefits in terms of<br />
the utilisation of available space<br />
and operational efficiency,” said<br />
Gill. “The transfer of the [first]<br />
crane from the barge to the<br />
quayside was carried out during<br />
a limited window of op<strong>port</strong>unity,<br />
dictated by the 10m tidal<br />
rise and fall that we experience<br />
at the harbour. The delivery and<br />
commissioning processes were<br />
carried out in a thoroughly professional<br />
manner.”<br />
TPS’s recently appointed UK<br />
director Alex Stogianidis added:<br />
“Our ability to provide technology-led<br />
solutions, backed by<br />
turnkey engineering and logistics<br />
packages, places us in a strong position<br />
to continue to win significant<br />
high profile contracts, reinforcing<br />
our position as a market leader.”<br />
Liebherr confirms<br />
repeat orders<br />
Exolgan will shortly take delivery of its ninth Liebherr STS crane<br />
Liebherr Container Cranes in<br />
Ireland has confirmed a brief<br />
re<strong>port</strong> in the November 2012<br />
edition of <strong>WorldCargo</strong> <strong>News</strong> (p1)<br />
that existing customer HPC<br />
Available from <strong>WorldCargo</strong> <strong>News</strong><br />
“Container Terminal Planning - A Theoretical Approach”<br />
A major study by Dr Itsuro Watanabe (Container System Technology)<br />
This comprehensive 245 page study is an in-depth analysis of capacity constraints, productivity, selectivity and flexibility of different container<br />
handling systems in terminals of different types and sizes: common-users or dedicated; hub centre (transshipment and/or relay) or im<strong>port</strong>/ex<strong>port</strong><br />
vocation; gateway or feeder <strong>port</strong>;intermodal rail or truck distribution inland; with or without CFS, etc. Profusely illustrated with charts,figures<br />
and explanatory tables. Effects of different call patterns of containerships and dwell day regimes.Predictive power provided through development<br />
of queuing theories. Hundreds of detailed equations.<br />
Price: £165 or US$245 or 245 including postage and packing.<br />
I enclose my cheque or bank draft for £..................US$................. This must be drawn on a UK bank.<br />
Please invoice my company - we will mail study on receipt of payment.<br />
Please debit my American Express Visa Mastercard (please indicate card and currency used)<br />
Expiry date<br />
Ukraina, part of HHLA, has ordered<br />
three more STS cranes for<br />
the new project of Odessa Container<br />
Terminal along the <strong>port</strong>’s<br />
Karantinny (Quarantine) Mole.<br />
HPC Ukraina already operates<br />
four Liebherr STS cranes at the<br />
existing container terminal. This<br />
has a capacity for 0.7M TEU/<br />
year and the new facility is estimated<br />
at 0.6M TEU/year.<br />
The cranes will have an outreach<br />
of 54.5m (20-wide), a lift<br />
height over rail of 41.5m and a<br />
SWL of 65t in twin-20 mode.<br />
HPC Ukraina already operates<br />
four Liebherr ship-to-shore<br />
cranes at the existing terminal.<br />
These have a 17-wide deck coverage<br />
(46m outreach), their lift<br />
height is 34m and SWL in twin-<br />
20 mode is 50t.<br />
In Buenos Aires, Dock Sud<br />
container terminal operator<br />
Exolgan has confirmed the order<br />
for its ninth STS crane from<br />
Liebherr. Like the eighth crane<br />
handed over last September, this<br />
has an outreach of 51.5m (20-<br />
wide), a lift height of 40m and a<br />
SWL of 62.5t in twin-20 mode.<br />
Again the “upsizing” is significiant.<br />
Nos 6 and 7 delivered in<br />
2010 have an 18-wide deck coverage<br />
(50.5m) and a lift height of<br />
30.5m, although SWL in twin-<br />
20 mode is understood to be 65t.<br />
As previously re<strong>port</strong>ed, the<br />
Karantinny Mole project finally<br />
got underway in April<br />
2010, after five years of protractions<br />
and delays. In August<br />
2011 a US$70M dredging and<br />
hydraulic engineering contract<br />
was awarded to Hamburg-based<br />
Josef Moebius. The total project<br />
is estimated at US$200M and<br />
the three new cranes, said to be<br />
worth US$35M, are the second<br />
big ticket item after the Moebius<br />
award.<br />
The new terminal is being<br />
built on a raised beach occupying<br />
19.3-ha and will offer 650m<br />
of berthing space with a depth<br />
of 16m alongside. The paved<br />
yard will occupy 11.24-ha and<br />
will have a static storage capacity<br />
of 16,000 TEU.<br />
Fax<br />
this form to<br />
+44 1372 370111<br />
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4<br />
May 2013
“Control<br />
Techniques<br />
helped<br />
raise our<br />
efficiency”<br />
Paolo Mussi<br />
Technical Manager,<br />
La Spezia Container Terminal<br />
Paolo Mussi, Technical Manager at La Spezia Container Terminal,<br />
is delighted with the partnership between the terminal and<br />
Control Techniques; a relationship that is now ten years old.<br />
“All our cranes are equipped with Control Techniques drives,<br />
and by sharing their expertise with our key electrical staff,<br />
they have helped us to improve our efficiency and productivity.”<br />
To find out more about this and other successful<br />
Control Techniques projects visit www.controltechniques.com<br />
EMERSON. CONSIDER IT SOLVED.<br />
TM
CARGO HANDLING NEWS<br />
Liebherr toasts Galigrain<br />
Liebherr-Werk Nenzing re<strong>port</strong>s that<br />
Spanish customer Galigrain SA in the<br />
Port of Marín is regularly reaching a<br />
peak rate of 1800 tph with its 4-rope<br />
LHM 550, which is used to unload<br />
bulkers up to panamax size. The crane,<br />
which is fitted with Liebherr’s hybrid<br />
Pactronic drive, was supplied in 2011.<br />
With a maximum outreach of 54m and<br />
a maximum lift capacity of 144t, the<br />
crane is also used to handle general cargoes.<br />
Galigrain opted for the LHM 550<br />
with the Pactronic hybrid power<br />
booster to improve the efficiency<br />
of bulk handling. The hybrid drive<br />
system, says Liebherr, allows for more<br />
turnover and less fuel consumption at<br />
Galigrain’s success highlights the benefits of the LHM 550 and Pactronic Drive, states Liebherr<br />
Container terminal technology for horizontal trans<strong>port</strong><br />
Our systems are designed with a committed responsibility to safety as well as to the environment in<br />
and around container terminals. These two considerations combine to improve capacity and system<br />
reliability, generally advancing the cost-efficiency of container <strong>port</strong> logistics.<br />
bherr, helped us to optimise operational<br />
parameters,” said García. “As a result of<br />
the harmonisation of Galigrain’s bulk<br />
trans<strong>port</strong>ation chain, the utilisation of<br />
the crane capacity has significantly improved,<br />
leading to new turnover peaks.”<br />
As previously re<strong>port</strong>ed, the Pactronic<br />
hydraulic hybrid drive system includes<br />
an accumulator as a secondary energy<br />
source instead of a bigger or additional<br />
diesel engine and it regenerates the reverse<br />
power while lowering the load.<br />
In addition, the surplus power of the<br />
primary energy source is also used for<br />
charging the accumulator. The stored<br />
energy is transferred back to the system<br />
when the crane requires peak power<br />
during hoisting. In terms of turnover<br />
capacity, that means a plus of 30% compared<br />
to a conventional machine with<br />
equal power rating of the primary energy<br />
source.<br />
In addition, Pactronic leads to a reduction<br />
of fuel/energy consumption<br />
(litre/tonne) as well as CO 2<br />
and exhaust<br />
emissions in the range of 30% depending<br />
on the operation.<br />
The hybrid drive system is claimed<br />
to be virtually maintenance-free, as it<br />
just needs visible inspection every 10<br />
years. 100% recyclability as well as reduced<br />
noise exposure are additional<br />
eco-friendly benefits.<br />
New GPA<br />
simulator<br />
Earlier this year GlobalSim delivered an<br />
advanced crane training simulator to the<br />
Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) facility<br />
at Garden City Terminal in Savannah,<br />
Georgia. The simulator is configured<br />
with two separate models to provide<br />
training for both a Konecranes STS<br />
cranes and a Konecranes RTG.<br />
“The modular design of the simulator<br />
allows for a wide degree of custom hardware<br />
and software components,” said<br />
GlobalSim’s SVP sales and marketing,<br />
Clyde Stauffer. “Specifically, GlobalSim<br />
was able to tailor the system to provide a<br />
training tool that matches the hardware<br />
layout and equipment functionality of<br />
both crane configurations. This includes<br />
the integration of a cross-reeved spread<br />
hoist cable model with an accurate physics<br />
model and realistic visual model.”<br />
The simulator replicates the critical<br />
functions required to train crane personnel<br />
for normal, advanced, and emergency<br />
operating procedures of each crane.<br />
The training arena was specially developed<br />
to replicate the GPA’s Garden City<br />
Terminal, including a dogleg in the quay<br />
crane rail path, its reefer rack configuration<br />
and intermodal rail yard.<br />
Stauffer said the level of visual reality<br />
and physics modeling in GlobalSim’s<br />
products continues to evolve. The GPA<br />
will benefit from new modeling of night<br />
operations that recreates the yard high<br />
mast and equipment-mounted floodlights<br />
that are used during night operations.<br />
GlobalSim is now working with<br />
GPA to define integration of its new<br />
eRTG s with the Conductix-Wampfler<br />
drive-in system into the training system.<br />
While around 50% of the simulators<br />
GlobalSim supplies are now containerised,<br />
the GPA system will be housed in<br />
its own training centre. GlobalSim will<br />
supply a training records management<br />
database permitting comprehensive collection,<br />
assessing, and re<strong>port</strong>ing of all<br />
student performance data.<br />
The GPA student training station is housed<br />
in the <strong>port</strong> authority’s own training centre<br />
the same time, each in the range of 30%.<br />
“The LHM 550 has enlarged the capacity<br />
and performance of our terminals<br />
and fits perfectly into our efforts towards<br />
more efficient and environmentally<br />
friendly operations,” Galigrain’s managing<br />
director Ceferino Nogueira García<br />
said. “The performance of the crane exceeded<br />
by far our expectations and we<br />
are frequently reaching a peak turnover<br />
of 1800 tph.” High productivity has attracted<br />
more business.<br />
In Marín, Liebherr engineers analysed<br />
the <strong>port</strong> infrastructure and the<br />
logistics processes in detail in order to<br />
increase speed of bulk trans<strong>port</strong>ation<br />
throughout the <strong>port</strong>. “A detailed analysis<br />
of the crane data, carried out by Liewww.ttsgroup.com<br />
6<br />
May 2013
NEWS CARGO HANDLING/PORT NEWS<br />
ZPMC going direct<br />
ZPMC is moving to rationalise its network<br />
of agents and spare parts suppliers<br />
and will be setting up a network of 15<br />
offices worldwide to service customers<br />
in large markets directly.<br />
ZPMC has never really sought exclusive<br />
arrangements with agencies<br />
and crane service companies, some of<br />
which are operated by its biggest customers,<br />
for the supply of crane spare<br />
parts. This has at times created confusion<br />
among customers as competing<br />
companies have claimed they are the<br />
exclusive agent for ZPMC parts in a<br />
particular region. In some instances terminals<br />
have opted to purchased direct<br />
from ZPMC in Shanghai rather than<br />
deal with agents, despite Customs issues<br />
and longer delivery times.<br />
With such a large number of cranes<br />
in service there is obviously enormous<br />
potential in the spare parts market,<br />
which to date ZPMC has not capitalised<br />
on fully. It has now set up ZPMC<br />
Netherlands as a 100% daughter company<br />
under the leadership of Tony Tomasouw<br />
as director of operations. He<br />
was formerly at ZPMC Europe.<br />
Tomasouw said ZPMC will have<br />
more than one subsidiary in Europe and<br />
its former arrangement with ZPMC<br />
Europe (which was an independent<br />
company and not a ZPMC subsidiary)<br />
has been discontinued. Geographical<br />
boundaries are still being finalised, but<br />
Tomasouw said the Netherlands office<br />
will serve Holland, France, Belgium<br />
and the UK, while a German branch<br />
Honduran<br />
tender off<br />
The tender to build a dry bulk terminal<br />
at the Honduran <strong>port</strong> of Cortés has<br />
been cancelled and will begin again.<br />
The three companies overseeing the<br />
process - the Commission for Public-<br />
Private Alliances (Coalianza), the National<br />
Port Authority (ENP) and Banco<br />
Atlántica - judged that the two bidders<br />
had not entered a bid complying with<br />
the tender requirements.<br />
The Mexican consortium composed<br />
of Multisur and Grupo Naviera Peninsular<br />
offered the lowest tariffs, but<br />
its financial offer was viewed as being<br />
incomplete. Chile’s SAAM Puertos<br />
wanted tariffs that were viewed as too<br />
high.<br />
Neither company has yet declared<br />
whether they will bid for a new concession.<br />
SAAM stressed that its proposal<br />
met conditions set out in the tender<br />
document.<br />
will serve Germany, Russia and Scandinavia.<br />
In Rotterdam the company formerly<br />
known as ZPMC Europe has changed<br />
its name to “EPMC Europe” and is still<br />
advertising itself as the “official agent<br />
from ZPMC Shanghai” and advertising<br />
the full range of ZPMC cranes and<br />
spare parts.<br />
✉ A team from ZPMC, the national<br />
University of Singapore and Shanghai<br />
Maritime University has won the<br />
US$1M “Next Generation Container<br />
Port Challenge” prize from the Marine<br />
and Port Administration of Singapore<br />
and Singapore Maritime Institute (see<br />
page 49).<br />
T 230<br />
Australia’s first Terberg 6 x 4<br />
Through its Australian distributor and<br />
service agent, Clark Equipment, Terberg<br />
Benscop recently supplied what<br />
Clark claims to be the first 6 x 4 Terberg<br />
YT in the country, to Toll Intermodal,<br />
part of Toll Group, in Western<br />
Australia.<br />
Toll required low axle weights and<br />
it also specified a EURO 5 compliant<br />
engine.<br />
According to Toll Intermodal the<br />
decision to specify the 6x4 axle configuration<br />
was influenced by the need<br />
to allow the yard tractor unrestricted<br />
access throughout the terminal and<br />
connecting roads when handling laden<br />
trailers.<br />
The 6x4 configuration effectively<br />
delivers lower axle loads and ground<br />
bearing pressure compared to the more<br />
popular 4x2 twin axle models.<br />
Toll Intermodal also specified the<br />
option of the EURO 5 compliant<br />
Cummins ISB 162kW six cylinder diesel<br />
engine.<br />
Clark also offers a range of Terberg<br />
4x2 and 4x4 tractors which, depending<br />
upon the model selected, are offered<br />
with the option of a Cummins or<br />
Mercedes Tier IIIA engine or EURO 5<br />
compliant engine.<br />
The first Terberg YT220 6x4 EURO 5<br />
compliant yard tractor in Australia<br />
THE NEW HIGHLIGHT FOR YOUR TERMINAL<br />
Boost for<br />
Karlskrona<br />
Stena Line plans to build a new rail terminal<br />
in the Swedish <strong>port</strong> of Karlskrona<br />
to connect with Gothenburg and Stockholm.<br />
The Stena group bought the <strong>port</strong><br />
of Karlskrona in southern Sweden<br />
in 2012. Stena’s Jacob Koch-Nielsen,<br />
freight commercial manager, said that<br />
being able to offer intermodal solutions<br />
and connected rail capacity over Karlskrona<br />
“will open new doors into the<br />
market.”<br />
Stena Line carried almost 87,000<br />
cargo units in its Gdynia-Karlskrona<br />
liner service in 2012, an increase of 7.3%<br />
compared with the previous year.<br />
The line added that it is too early to<br />
give detailed information as to the investment<br />
and capacity of the new railhead,<br />
but the facility will enable it to offer<br />
a through trans<strong>port</strong> deal to customers.<br />
Separately, Stena’s UK and Ireland<br />
freight manager, Richard Horswill, has<br />
said that the company is placing more<br />
emphasis on its entire network services<br />
rather than route-by-route.<br />
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May 2013 7
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
New bulk tipping Container Mover<br />
Finland-based Oy Meclift Ltd has come<br />
up with another niche product, based on<br />
its proven ML36CM Container Mover<br />
range. Movers have been around for a long<br />
time (since the mid-1980s) and they provide<br />
terminal tractors with the ability to<br />
ground or pick up containers, trans<strong>port</strong><br />
them over long distances and load or unload<br />
road chassis. They are either fixed or<br />
telescoping, to handle 20ft, 30ft and 40/<br />
45ft containers.<br />
In this new development, designated<br />
ML36CMt, Meclift has provided the terminal<br />
tractor with the ability to tip the<br />
bulk contents of a 20ft dry can container.<br />
the 20ft container is a 9ft 6in high cube.<br />
Depending on the terminal tractor, the<br />
lifting speed is 1 m/sec and the tilting<br />
speed is equivalent to 1.5-2 deg/sec. Depending<br />
on lifting height, the maximum<br />
tilting angle is 42 deg. The sideways movement<br />
of the top lift units is ± 150mm.<br />
The ML36CMt has an overall length<br />
of 10m and is 4120mm wide, and the distance<br />
between its wheels is 3m. Overall<br />
height is 4120mm with a container and<br />
3800mm in unladen travel mode. Options<br />
include a weigh scale (for example, if<br />
proof-of-load is required), a rear view<br />
camera and monitor to assist the tractor<br />
Prior to tilting, the container doors<br />
are opened and secured to the sidewalls<br />
by the tractor operator or other worker,<br />
using a manually operated chain and hook<br />
combination. However, as an other option<br />
the ML36CMt can also be fitted with<br />
semi-automatic, hydraulically-operated<br />
door securing latches attached to the rear<br />
toplift unit.<br />
The horizontal forces caused by the<br />
load during tilting, which are directed to<br />
the upper corners of the container, are<br />
compensated by hydraulic tightening of<br />
the chains, the hooks of which are fastened<br />
to the lower rear corner castings.<br />
Lifting capacity is 36t and lifting height driver, automatic lubrication and automatic<br />
levelling of drive height.<br />
with the door opening.<br />
The chains are tightened simultaneously<br />
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CARGO HANDLING/PORT NEWS<br />
The ML36CMt has an SWL of 36 tonnes.<br />
The maximum tilt angle is 42 deg<br />
TTS for<br />
Pelindo III<br />
TTS Group has, through its subsidiary<br />
TTS Port Equipment AB, signed an<br />
agreement to supply seven 2-axle<br />
translifters together with 90 cassettes for<br />
the PT Terminal Petikemas Surabaya in<br />
Indonesia (Pelindo III, <strong>Tanjung</strong> Perak).<br />
Pelindo III will be the first lo-lo container<br />
terminal operator in Asia to use the<br />
cassette/translifter system. The equipment<br />
will be used mainly to trans<strong>port</strong> containers<br />
to and from the yard and the customs<br />
inspection area.<br />
“This order demonstrates that the<br />
TTS cassette system can be a good solution<br />
for brown field terminals that<br />
need to boost their productivity,” said<br />
CEO Johannes D Neteland. This statement<br />
effectively confirms that the order<br />
is not associated with Pelindo III’s automated<br />
terminal project at Lamong Bay,<br />
which is a “green field” development<br />
(<strong>WorldCargo</strong> <strong>News</strong>, March 2013, p41).<br />
TTS has designed the translifters for<br />
Pelindo III in such a way that they fit the<br />
existing equipment used in the terminal,<br />
thus the investment cost for changing the<br />
mode of operation is kept to a minimum.<br />
Delivery of the equipment is scheduled<br />
for November 2013.<br />
The cassettes themselves are designed<br />
to sup<strong>port</strong> containers safely while being<br />
quickly trans<strong>port</strong>ed, and containers can<br />
be stacked and carried on a single cassette<br />
in a variety of configurations.<br />
The translifters will be equipped with<br />
a lifting gooseneck so that it can be fitted<br />
to the standard road trucks (with fixed<br />
fifth wheels) that are used to move the<br />
containers within the terminal today.<br />
The <strong>Tanjung</strong> Perak terminal will be<br />
the third lo-lo container terminal in the<br />
world to utilise the TTS cassette system.<br />
Pelindo III will join APM Terminals Virginia<br />
(APMTV) in the USA and (the order<br />
confirmed recently) DP World’s new<br />
London Gateway terminal in the UK.<br />
In the latter two cases, the system is<br />
(will be) deployed to shuttle containers<br />
between the container yard (the landside<br />
end of the automated stacking crane<br />
stacks) and the on-dock rail yard.<br />
DP World has ordered 10 2-axle<br />
translifters and 115 cassettes for London<br />
Gateway, phase 1. APMTV took its first<br />
delivery of 10 translifters and 220 cassettes<br />
in 2007 and placed a repeat order for the<br />
same numbers of equipment in 2011.<br />
TTS’s CEO Johannes D Neteland<br />
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Austria +43-7675-40 05-0<br />
Belgium +32-16-314431<br />
Brazil +55-11-35314487<br />
Canada +1-905-7608448<br />
China +86-21-51303100<br />
Denmark +45-86-603373<br />
France +33-1-49840404<br />
Great-Britain +44-1604-677240<br />
India +91-80-39127800<br />
Italy +39-039-5906-1<br />
Japan +81-3-58192030<br />
Malaysia +603-7880 5475<br />
Mexico +52-728-284-3185<br />
Netherlands +31-346-353932<br />
Poland +48-22-8635770<br />
Portugal +351-22-6109000<br />
Singapore +65-64871411<br />
South Africa +27-11-312-1848<br />
South Korea +82-32-8212911<br />
Spain +34-936-473 950<br />
Sweden +46-42-329270<br />
Switzerland +41-62-3889797<br />
Taiwan +886-4-23581000<br />
USA +1-401-4382200<br />
8<br />
May 2013
PARTNERS IN<br />
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In 10 years the facility has rapidly and reliably handled more than 20<br />
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Hold-up for Lekki<br />
Construction of the new <strong>port</strong> of Lekki in impact assessment had been received.<br />
Nigeria has been delayed. The project was As previously re<strong>port</strong>ed, the deep water<br />
originally scheduled to open last year and <strong>port</strong> is being developed by Singapore’s<br />
latterly was expected to be completed in Tolaram Group, which aims to promote<br />
2015. This date has now been put back to it as a transhipment <strong>port</strong>, as well as an<br />
2016 at the earliest and, given the delays entrepôt for trade in Lagos State. Located<br />
about 60 km east of Lagos, the <strong>port</strong><br />
that have affected development to date, it<br />
may not open until sometime after that. will be ideally situated to serve one of<br />
No official explanation has been the world’s biggest cities. The container<br />
given for the slippage in the timetable, terminal, set to be operated by ICTSI<br />
but some sources in Nigeria have suggested<br />
that there could be funding diffi-<br />
handling capacity of 2.5M TEU a year,<br />
under contract from Tolaram, will have<br />
culties. Responding to such re<strong>port</strong>s, the which will make it the biggest container<br />
facility in Nigeria. China Harbour<br />
managing director of Lekki Free Trade<br />
Zone, Haresh Aswani, said that construction<br />
would begin as soon as World the EPC turnkey contract to develop<br />
Engineering Company has been awarded<br />
Bank approval and the full environmental the entire <strong>port</strong>, including the container,<br />
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The Lekki project is subject to further delay<br />
dry bulk and liquid bulk terminals.<br />
Aswani said that US$800M out of the<br />
required US$1.55B funding had already<br />
been put in place and that 33 out of the<br />
36 required permits had been received,<br />
allowing the project to be completed by<br />
2016. He added that the project would<br />
“create close to 163,000 new jobs and<br />
spur economic development.”<br />
Transiidikeskuse (TK), the company<br />
that operates Muuga Container Terminal<br />
(MCT) in the Estonian <strong>port</strong> (Noviy<br />
Tallinn), has acquired Rail Garant<br />
Estonia (RGE), up to now the local affiliate<br />
of Russia’s major privately owned<br />
industrial rail carrier Rail Garant<br />
(RG) and the designated operator of<br />
Muuga’s prospective second container<br />
terminal.<br />
TK’s chairman Erik Laidvee said<br />
that MCT will soon reach the limit of<br />
its capacity. The facility occupies just<br />
21-ha, but traffic has grown very quickly<br />
in the past 2-3 years. In 2012 MCT<br />
handled almost 225,000 TEU, 15%<br />
more than the figure in 2011, which itself<br />
was 30% up on 2010, so the acquisi-<br />
PORT NEWS<br />
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Robbert Jan van Trooijen<br />
Chief Executive,<br />
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Howard Finkel<br />
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Division,<br />
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Eric Olafson<br />
Manager Intergovernmental<br />
Affairs & Cargo Development,<br />
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John Carver<br />
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Ports America<br />
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tion allows TK to increase its business.<br />
Initially the new terminal will occupy<br />
27-ha, but there is a further 44-ha in<br />
reserve.<br />
“Our company’s development plan<br />
has always called for an expansion of<br />
the [existing] container terminal,” said<br />
Laidvee, “so now we can achieve our<br />
ambition to develop one of the Baltic<br />
region’s largest container terminals.”<br />
TK has taken over not only the<br />
building rights on the new terminal,<br />
but has also concluded a stevedoring<br />
agreement with RG enabling it to handle<br />
the Russian group’s container traffic<br />
via Muuga. It will proceed immediately<br />
with phase 1, with an installed capacity<br />
of 150,000 TEU. Completion is slated<br />
for July 2014.<br />
This is somewhat later than the <strong>port</strong>’s<br />
plan. RG started building the new facility<br />
in January last year and committed<br />
to have the first stage ready by the first<br />
quarter of this year, but the work came<br />
to a virtual standstill in the second half<br />
of 2012.<br />
The value of the transaction between<br />
TK and RG has not been disclosed,<br />
but the deal puts an end to the dispute<br />
between the two companies stirred up<br />
in April 2011 when RGE beat TK in<br />
the tender for the concession rights<br />
over the new facility. Under fire from<br />
TK, the <strong>port</strong> authority stated that it had<br />
chosen RG because the Russian trans<strong>port</strong>ation<br />
group would be able to secure<br />
steady container traffic over Muuga. TK<br />
countered that RG had no experience<br />
of <strong>port</strong> operations and could not make<br />
any guarantees on transit business.<br />
On the basis of RG’s plans to build<br />
a network of inland container rail<br />
terminals in Russia, the <strong>port</strong> authority<br />
undertook to develop a new rail yard<br />
adjacent to Muuga railway station<br />
with new approach lines and four or<br />
five 1000m long tracks to handle full<br />
length trains.<br />
New <strong>port</strong> for<br />
Walvis Bay<br />
The government of Namibia is<br />
considering the development of an<br />
entirely new <strong>port</strong> in Walvis Bay, about<br />
3 km north of the existing harbour.<br />
Plans to construct a new container<br />
terminal at the existing <strong>port</strong> had been<br />
delayed, apparently because of funding<br />
difficulties. However, it appears that<br />
government uncertainty over the<br />
project stemmed from consideration of<br />
the far more ambitious scheme. There<br />
is little room for expansion around the<br />
existing <strong>port</strong>, which is hemmed in by<br />
residential areas.<br />
Apart from a container terminal with<br />
handling capacity of 2M TEU/year,<br />
a coal terminal is expected to be constructed<br />
to handle coal ex<strong>port</strong>s from<br />
Botswana, along with liquid bulk, breakbulk<br />
and multi-purpose terminals.<br />
Officials have hinted that the <strong>port</strong><br />
will be operated by the state-owned<br />
Namibia Port Authority (Nam<strong>port</strong>) on<br />
land that is already owned by the state.<br />
There is sufficient available land for both<br />
the <strong>port</strong> and a proposed industrial park.<br />
A harbour entrance channel and part of<br />
the deepwater harbour basin must be<br />
dredged and about 10 kms of quay wall<br />
constructed.<br />
Re<strong>port</strong>s in the Namibian press suggest<br />
that the Chinese government will<br />
help to fund the project. Located much<br />
further north west than any South African<br />
<strong>port</strong>, trade via Walvis Bay would<br />
shave days off shipping between North<br />
America or Europe and Southern Africa.<br />
However, China’s involvement<br />
could suggest that the coal terminal,<br />
which will primarily handle coal bound<br />
for Asia, is a key part of the vision. The<br />
Ex<strong>port</strong>-Im<strong>port</strong> Bank of China had offered<br />
to provide funding for the new<br />
container terminal at the existing <strong>port</strong><br />
via a 20-year loan with an interest rate of<br />
just 2% a year. This funding may now be<br />
transferred to the new venture, as long as<br />
a Chinese company is awarded the construction<br />
contract.<br />
10<br />
TOC AM13 con ad 210x297_WCN.indd 1 12/06/2013 14:14<br />
May 2013
PORT NEWS<br />
Táranto dispute<br />
As if the corruption scandal engulfing<br />
ILVA, Europe’s largest<br />
steel plant, and the damage caused<br />
by the huge tornado last November<br />
were not enough, the Port<br />
of Táranto has been hit by legal<br />
action by bulk operator Consorzio<br />
Terminal Rinfuse Táranto<br />
(CTRT), a sister company of<br />
quarry company Italcave and<br />
ship agent Carmed within the<br />
privately-owned Caramia group.<br />
The regional tribunal in Lecce<br />
(TAR Lecce) has upheld a claim<br />
brought by CTRT against the<br />
<strong>port</strong> authority (APT) over the<br />
non-renewal of a concession to<br />
operate a dry bulk terminal on<br />
a 46,695 m 2 parcel, with a 300m<br />
long quay, at the <strong>port</strong>’s Multisector<br />
Dock (Molo Polisettoriale). TAR<br />
Lecce has put a stop to €100M of<br />
infrastructure works and dredging<br />
to take depth to -16.5m - projects<br />
aimed at relaunching the Evergreen<br />
container terminal (TCT).<br />
APT's appeal will be heard by<br />
the Council of State on 23 October,<br />
so it is hoping this will be a<br />
temporary delay. At risk is around<br />
€200M of new investment, including<br />
Evergreen’s commitment<br />
to new equipment and other<br />
improvements. In theory at least,<br />
another €219M earmarked for<br />
the adjacent logistics park is not<br />
affected, but its fortunes are inevitably<br />
tied up with those of the<br />
container terminal.<br />
CTRT’s facility is located at the<br />
neck of the Multisector Wharf and<br />
was originally dedicated to pet coke<br />
trades. APT awarded it to CTRT<br />
for two years and the concession<br />
expired at the end of 2011, although<br />
CTRT originally asked for<br />
four years and has continued operations<br />
there pending the review.<br />
The key to this dispute is that<br />
the facility has become a major<br />
revenue earner for Caramia<br />
since the tornado that hit Táranto<br />
on 28 November last year. The<br />
ILVA coal and iron ore reception<br />
wharf was badly damaged<br />
and two gantry grab unloaders<br />
were destroyed. Until the berth<br />
can be put back into action ILVA<br />
is using CTRT and Caramia is<br />
re<strong>port</strong>ed to be earning €50,000/<br />
day by virtue of a price of €3/<br />
tonne unloaded. Materials are unloaded<br />
directly to dumper trucks<br />
via hoppers and driven to the<br />
ILVA plant.<br />
Port observers in Italy say Caramia<br />
is putting a temporary “windfall”<br />
ahead of future revenue<br />
streams, since Carmed is the agent<br />
for all Evergreen group’s container<br />
traffic over TCT. Its action<br />
could damage Carmed’s credibility<br />
in the eyes of Evergreen and<br />
weaken the Taiwanese carrier’s<br />
commitment to the <strong>port</strong>.<br />
Last year judges ordered €1B<br />
of steel and steel products seizure<br />
from ILVA as part of an ongoing<br />
corruption investigation linked to<br />
serious breaches of environmental<br />
law. The authorities ordered a<br />
partial closure of the steelworks<br />
last July over pollution levels and<br />
eight executives were placed under<br />
house arrest. In January this<br />
year a top ILVA executive was arrested<br />
in London.<br />
The steel company has embarked<br />
on a 2-year clean-up operation<br />
after prosecutors charged<br />
that toxic emissions from the<br />
plant have led to abnormally high<br />
levels of cancer and respiratory illnesses<br />
in the region.<br />
DP World for Quequén<br />
Through its local affiliate and<br />
Puerto Nuevo, Buenos Aires terminal<br />
operator, Terminales Rio<br />
de la Plata (TRP), DP World<br />
has signed an agreement with<br />
Quequén <strong>port</strong> authority (Consorcio<br />
de Gestion de Puerto<br />
Quequén) (CGPQ) in the province<br />
of Buenos Aires to develop<br />
a new container terminal and related<br />
logistics park.<br />
Puerto Quequén (also known<br />
as Necochea) is located 512 kms<br />
south of the city of Buenos Aires<br />
and is a key area for agricultural<br />
/04 10:35 AM Page 1<br />
ex<strong>port</strong>s from BA province and<br />
the Midwest of Argentina. The<br />
agreement will help shippers diversify<br />
markets with the parcelisation<br />
that containerisation brings,<br />
and increase the op<strong>port</strong>unities<br />
for selling specialty grains and IPdesignated<br />
crops.<br />
Shipments will be likely feedered<br />
to Buenos Aires, or Montevideo<br />
or Rio Grande do Sul for<br />
transhipment to deepsea vessels.<br />
CGPQ is understood to have<br />
signed a separate agreement with<br />
a regional feeder operator.<br />
Monrovia hub opens<br />
APM Terminals’ newly completed<br />
600m quay at Liberia’s Free<strong>port</strong><br />
of Monrovia has been officially<br />
opened by President Ellen Johnson<br />
Sirleaf. The 17-ha terminal<br />
is APMT’s first 100%-owned<br />
<strong>port</strong> concession in Africa, which<br />
will operate under a 25-year<br />
deal agreed in 2010. A three-year<br />
deadline for completion of the<br />
new wharf was stipulated in the<br />
concession agreement, concluded<br />
on a build-operate-transfer model.<br />
APMT said it was a tight deadline<br />
which it met ahead of schedule.<br />
Infrastructure investments will<br />
include roadway reconstruction,<br />
yard paving, new offices and gates<br />
and cargo handling technology.<br />
APMT is obliged to invest around<br />
US$120M over the term of the<br />
concession, but the company<br />
said it will invest an additional<br />
US$25M to upgrade the container<br />
yard, buildings, gates and safety<br />
activities.<br />
Pictured at the opening ceremony (L-R): President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf;<br />
Matilda Parker, managing director of the National Port Authority; Christina<br />
Tah, minister of justice; and Brian Fuggle, MD of APM Terminals Liberia<br />
Container Handling Cranes<br />
Rubber Tyred Gantry Crane<br />
Rail Mounted Gantry Crane<br />
Rail Mounted Quayside Crane<br />
Bulk Material Handling Cranes<br />
Grab Bucket Ship Unloader<br />
Continuous Ship Unloader<br />
Turnkey Solutions<br />
Progress on Lamu<br />
A consortium of Chinese companies<br />
has been awarded a contract<br />
to begin construction work on<br />
the new <strong>port</strong> of Lamu in Kenya.<br />
China Communications Construction<br />
Company is the lead<br />
contractor, while China Road<br />
and Bridge Corporation will<br />
build the first phase of the container<br />
terminal with three berths.<br />
The <strong>port</strong> is designed to be<br />
the centrepiece of the far larger<br />
Lamu Port, South Sudan, Ethiopia<br />
Trans<strong>port</strong> (LAPSSET) corridor<br />
project, which will include<br />
an industrial zone, agro-industrial<br />
projects, road and rail links<br />
to Ethiopia and South Sudan,<br />
and an oil pipeline from South<br />
Sudan to the new <strong>port</strong>. Telecoms<br />
and power lines are planned to<br />
run alongside the main roads and<br />
railways.<br />
The government of landlocked<br />
South Sudan, which is the<br />
world’s newest country, is keen to<br />
see Lamu develop as its main <strong>port</strong>.<br />
The chief executive of LAPSSET,<br />
Silvester Kasuku, said: “We called<br />
Ahead in Technology<br />
Unmatched in<br />
for contractors and the best was<br />
a consortium headed by China<br />
Communications. We are doing<br />
the seed investment by constructing<br />
the first three berths,<br />
just to break the ground. This<br />
will demonstrate there is government<br />
commitment and investment<br />
and provide incentives for<br />
private sector investors to come<br />
on board.” The container terminal<br />
has been designed to provide<br />
scope for 32 berths in the long<br />
term.<br />
The ancient town of Lamu on<br />
the island of Lamu has a long history<br />
as a <strong>port</strong>, but has not been<br />
developed as a commercial <strong>port</strong><br />
since independence. The new<br />
<strong>port</strong> project will be built on<br />
Manda Bay on the mainland, opposite<br />
the island. However, contracts<br />
on the project were awarded<br />
by the government of Kenyan<br />
President Mwai Kibaki, which<br />
lost power in the April elections.<br />
It remains to be seen whether the<br />
new government will honour<br />
the existing plans.<br />
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May 2013 11
South African trans<strong>port</strong> utility<br />
Transnet has taken the first steps<br />
towards developing Africa’s biggest<br />
container terminal on the site<br />
of the old Durban International<br />
Air<strong>port</strong> (DIA). The air<strong>port</strong> site,<br />
which is located south of the existing<br />
Port of Durban, was made<br />
available when DIA closed and<br />
the new King Shaka International<br />
Air<strong>port</strong> opened. The details remain<br />
to be finalised, but Transnet<br />
believes that a 9.6M TEU/year<br />
capacity container terminal could<br />
be developed as a public private<br />
partnership over about 20 years at<br />
a cost of R75B (US$8.16B).<br />
Transnet has begun to hold<br />
meetings with stakeholders in<br />
the project, including the general<br />
public and local businesses. Marc<br />
Descoins, Transnet’s programme<br />
director for the project, said: “Involving<br />
key stakeholders at this<br />
early stage of the process is essential<br />
as it ensures strategic participation<br />
in the discussion around the<br />
project’s environmental and socio-economic<br />
issues and impacts.<br />
“The objective of engaging<br />
during the concept phase is to<br />
share project information, open<br />
lines of communication with<br />
stakeholders, and actively engage<br />
key representatives of the various<br />
stakeholder groups with the view<br />
to initiate dialogue on the project.<br />
We believe that the recent sessions<br />
were valuable in gaining a better<br />
understanding of the needs of the<br />
local communities.”<br />
Government ownership of<br />
Transnet and sup<strong>port</strong> for the<br />
project should ease progress on<br />
the scheme. The company has<br />
already set out a preliminary<br />
timetable for development and a<br />
shortlist of likely design options<br />
should be finalised over the next<br />
three months, allowing the prefeasibility<br />
study to begin.<br />
Four phases are planned for<br />
the container terminal, each with<br />
four berths. The first phase is due<br />
to open for business in 2020 and<br />
the fourth by 2037, although this<br />
timetable could be adjusted according<br />
to demand. A dedicated<br />
roro terminal is also planned.<br />
As always, there have been environmental<br />
objections, although<br />
some of these concern the site’s<br />
proposed new oil terminal, rather<br />
than the container terminal at the<br />
heart of the venture.<br />
The government intends to<br />
promote the project as part of<br />
the wider development of the<br />
Durban-Gauteng corridor, including<br />
new high speed rail<br />
and upgraded road connections<br />
between South Africa’s<br />
biggest <strong>port</strong> and its industrial<br />
heartland.<br />
In a separate development, Transnet<br />
has rejected calls for South<br />
African <strong>port</strong>s to be privatised.<br />
Responding to press re<strong>port</strong>s that<br />
Bolloré Africa Logistics (BAL)<br />
was seeking to gain control of<br />
Transnet terminals in South Africa,<br />
Transnet’s chief executive<br />
Brian Molefe stated: “We are sitting<br />
on natural monopolies. The<br />
country isn’t big enough to have<br />
anything else than what we have.<br />
The <strong>port</strong>s handle what a country<br />
of our size can handle.”<br />
Transnet owns and manages all<br />
eight main SA <strong>port</strong>s, including<br />
the oil <strong>port</strong> of Mossel Bay. It also<br />
operates almost all large terminals,<br />
with the exception of Richards<br />
Bay Coal Terminal and a handful<br />
of smaller terminals, such as Durban<br />
coal terminal.<br />
The trans<strong>port</strong> utility’s position<br />
on private sector management has<br />
remained consistent over many<br />
years. The only area of possible<br />
The recent commissioning of<br />
seven new tandem-lift <strong>super</strong> postpanamax<br />
ship-to-shore gantry<br />
cranes from ZPMC at South Africa’s<br />
largest <strong>port</strong> Durban, should,<br />
according to the nation’s public<br />
enterprises minister, Malusi Gigaba,<br />
boost the much needed improvements<br />
in productivity and<br />
efficiency levels at the <strong>port</strong>.<br />
He said the new equipment<br />
will allow gross crane moves per<br />
hour (GCH) - a key measure of<br />
terminal efficiency and how well<br />
equipment is used - to jump<br />
from the current 26 moves to 33<br />
over the next three years, a 27%<br />
improvement in productivity.<br />
He added: “Ship working hour<br />
(SWH), the rate at which a terminal<br />
is able to load and offload container<br />
ships in an hour and a key<br />
consideration for our customers,<br />
will also improve, rising from the<br />
current 68 containers to 85 once<br />
our operators are fully conversant<br />
with operating the equipment<br />
and when newer generation vessels<br />
with larger parcel sizes call at<br />
our <strong>port</strong>s. This will represent a<br />
25% jump in efficiency.”<br />
The optimism is a far cry from<br />
recent cargo-handling performance<br />
levels at Durban, a <strong>port</strong><br />
which some of its customers have<br />
described as being among their<br />
worst performing and most expensive<br />
in their liner networks.<br />
The decision by Transnet Port<br />
Terminals (TPT) to order new<br />
cranes in 2011 was itself an admission<br />
that old, outdated and<br />
poorly-maintained equipment<br />
was a principal reason for poor<br />
and deteriorating performance<br />
levels in Durban.<br />
The new cranes, which have<br />
PORT NEWS<br />
First steps for new Durban terminal... …Durban expects<br />
cooperation could be the planned<br />
new <strong>port</strong> on the site of the former<br />
Durban International Air<strong>port</strong>, on productivity<br />
where a public private partnership<br />
is one of several options. However,<br />
Transnet is becoming more commercially<br />
viable year on year and<br />
Pretoria hopes that it can become<br />
consistently profitable without<br />
the need to begin offering private<br />
sector concessions.<br />
South Africa’s powerful trades<br />
union movement also opposes<br />
any further privatisation of stateowned<br />
entities. At its national<br />
Explosion-proof Phoenix<br />
New DLX LED fixture from Phoenix<br />
conference, the National Union<br />
of Metalworkers of South Africa<br />
(Numsa) released a statement:<br />
“We demand an end to any privatisation<br />
of Eskom, Telkom, Transnet<br />
and railway lines as envisaged<br />
in the NDP [National Development<br />
Plan] in the name of private<br />
public partnership. Sometimes we<br />
hear it called “concessioning” or<br />
“unbundling,” but it is just<br />
privatisation by other names. The<br />
death of Margaret Thatcher must<br />
signal the end of these Thatcherite<br />
policies.”<br />
Phoenix Products Company<br />
has expanded its range of LED<br />
lights with three new fixtures<br />
that have explosion-proof ratings.<br />
Using 39 watts, the SLXP,<br />
SLX and DLX LED fixtures are<br />
designed to replace HID and<br />
INC floodlights, savings 56%<br />
energy when compared to a<br />
70W metal halide equivalent.<br />
The fixtures are ETL/cETL certified,<br />
conforming to UL 1598<br />
Ordinary Locations, 1598A Marine<br />
Outside Type (Saltwater),<br />
844 Hazardous Locations (T6<br />
(85°C)), CSA, and Nema 4X.<br />
The LEDs have a 50,000<br />
hour rated life and are available<br />
in both flood (45 deg) and<br />
spot (28 deg) optics. The SLXP<br />
is <strong>port</strong>able while the SLX is<br />
designed to be mounted on a<br />
stationary object. The DLX is<br />
delivered with a hard-wired arm<br />
for explosion-proof task lighting.<br />
All the fixtures are backed<br />
by a five year warranty.<br />
Phoenix has also launched a<br />
new range of LED tube lights,<br />
designated LELDT series.<br />
These are designed to replace<br />
linear fluorescent fixtures and<br />
are claimed to use 50% less energy.<br />
Applications include crane<br />
walkways, outdoor wet environments,<br />
etc.<br />
been installed at Durban’s Pier 2<br />
facility, have an SWL of 80t and<br />
can simultaneously handle 2 x<br />
40ft or 4 x 20ft containers. However,<br />
according to TPT officials,<br />
“through further innovation and<br />
optimum planning, the cranes’ capabilities<br />
can be stretched to lift 4<br />
x 40ft empty containers simultaneously<br />
through vertical twin lift<br />
procedures.” They have an outreach<br />
capable of processing vessels<br />
stowed with 24 containers across<br />
the deck.<br />
The new equipment purchased<br />
for Durban is a part of<br />
TPT’s parent company’s Transnet’s<br />
ZAR300B seven-year rolling<br />
investment programme aimed<br />
at meeting demand and enhancing<br />
productivity levels across all of<br />
its operating units. Specifically at<br />
Durban’s Pier 2, capital projects<br />
should ensure that container<br />
throughput capacity will rise from<br />
approximately 2.2M TEU now to<br />
3.3M TEU in 2018.<br />
The new cranes arrived earlier this<br />
year. (Photo: Gerhard Duraan)<br />
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12<br />
May 2013
NEWS PORT NEWS<br />
Asciano cuts back budget<br />
Subdued market conditions at wharves<br />
and onshore have led Australia’s Asciano<br />
to shave more than A$250M from its<br />
capital expenditure budget over the<br />
next two years.<br />
Releasing 3Q/FY13 data at a Sydney<br />
conference, Asciano chief executive<br />
John Mullen said the planned current<br />
year spend of A$700M-$800M would<br />
be cut to A$575M-625M “in line with<br />
tougher economic conditions,” while<br />
FY14 investment would drop from<br />
A$800M-900M to A$700M-800M.<br />
The period represented an investment<br />
peak due to the Patrick Port Botany<br />
terminal redevelopment and significant<br />
replacement capex catch-up, but ongoing<br />
annual expenditure was expected to<br />
be A$300M from FY15.<br />
The group re<strong>port</strong>ed a 4.1% fall in<br />
container lifts compared to the previous<br />
comparable quarter (444,000 TEU<br />
v 463,000 TEU in 2012), with Melbourne<br />
and Brisbane Patrick terminals<br />
showing positive results, but Fremantle<br />
and Port Botany lower, the latter despite<br />
continued productivity improvement.<br />
Ahead of the part-automation of Port<br />
Botany and considering the reduced<br />
volumes - one client service closed and<br />
VSA contracts shed throughput - the<br />
company will accelerate some redundancies<br />
into 4Q.<br />
Pacific National intermodal volumes<br />
slipped 3.4% on a net-tkm basis, but<br />
steel volumes rose. PN Coal saw strong<br />
contract growth in Queensland and<br />
south-eastern Australia, but actual volumes<br />
slipped.<br />
There was strong growth in vessels<br />
stevedored at bulk <strong>port</strong>s (up 27.5%),<br />
im<strong>port</strong>ed vehicle movements (up 20%)<br />
and storage days (78.4%), the latter as<br />
vehicle im<strong>port</strong>ers took advantage of<br />
favourable currency exchange rates to<br />
grow their local market.<br />
Mullen said revenue and earnings<br />
before interest and taxes for the second<br />
half of the 2013 financial year were<br />
ZHEN HUA 21 arriving in Fremantle to deliver<br />
one ZPMC post-Panamax STS crane<br />
(Photo: Fremantle Ports)<br />
still expected to be higher than the last<br />
corresponding period. This was conditional<br />
on “no further changes in the<br />
economic outlook or customer commitments.”<br />
At the time of writing, Patrick is in<br />
the process of taking delivery of a further<br />
four ZPMC post-Panamax STS<br />
cranes for its Australian terminals. ZHEN<br />
HUA 21 arrived at Fremantle on 15 May<br />
to discharge one unit before sailing,<br />
depending on weather forecasts, either<br />
northabout or southabout, to Brisbane<br />
to unload a second. The two partlyerected<br />
cranes are destined for Melbourne,<br />
where they must pass beneath<br />
the West Gate Bridge to reach Patrick’s<br />
Swanson Dock facility. The 104.5m<br />
tall cranes have a 50m outreach and a<br />
backreach of 18m. The Fremantle and<br />
Brisbane cranes are expected to be operational<br />
by late June, with Melbourne’s<br />
up-and-running in August.<br />
Queensland <strong>port</strong>s now for sale …<br />
The Queensland Government is likely<br />
to privatise the <strong>port</strong>s of Townsville<br />
and Gladstone after an audit of the state’s<br />
finances recommended asset sales as a<br />
key contributor to regaining a AAA<br />
credit rating.<br />
The Queensland Commission of<br />
Audit (QCA), undertaken by former<br />
federal treasurer Peter Costello, argued<br />
that public ownership of GOCs (government-owned<br />
corporations) is not<br />
necessary once these businesses are “established<br />
and mature.” It also said GOCs<br />
represent “commercial risks” to government,<br />
given the “entrenched public service<br />
culture that lacks the flexibility required<br />
to compete in the private sector.”<br />
The re<strong>port</strong>’s executive summary -<br />
all that was initially released for public<br />
scrutiny - focused on the possible sale<br />
of government-owned energy assets,<br />
but included funds management (the<br />
Queensland Investment Corporation),<br />
public trans<strong>port</strong> (Queensland Rail Limited)<br />
- and <strong>port</strong>s.<br />
These comprised a list of businesses<br />
Western Australia’s government has<br />
hinted it will follow its New South<br />
Wales and Queensland counterparts<br />
in “transferring” some <strong>port</strong> assets to<br />
the private sector, in a quest for<br />
increased efficiencies, but does not<br />
want to lose the returns they generate<br />
for taxpayers.<br />
Addressing a Perth conference at<br />
which the government released its Regional<br />
Freight Network Strategy, treasurer<br />
Troy Buswell revealed that some<br />
of WA’s eight <strong>port</strong> authorities were already<br />
looking at the possibilities, but<br />
he denied the process could be described<br />
as privatisation.<br />
Quoted in local media, Buswell said<br />
he had a strong view on the need to<br />
“capable of being owned and managed<br />
efficiently by the private sector” where<br />
there is no need for government to tie<br />
up scarce capital nor be required to provide<br />
additional capital to sup<strong>port</strong> ongoing<br />
viability.<br />
No GOC <strong>port</strong>s were identified in the<br />
executive summary, but in the QCA’s<br />
interim re<strong>port</strong>, released late last year,<br />
the following were named: Far North<br />
Queensland Ports Corp, North Queensland<br />
Bulk Ports Corp, Port of Townsville<br />
Limited and Gladstone Ports Corp.<br />
Although FNQPC was subsequently<br />
ruled out, and NQBPC excluded because<br />
parts of its <strong>port</strong>folio are already<br />
privatised (eg Abbot Point Coal Terminal),<br />
the government was less than definitive<br />
about Townsville and Gladstone.<br />
In response to vociferous local opposition,<br />
state treasurer Tim Nicholls<br />
refused to rule out privatisation, but premier<br />
Campbell Newman told a Gladstone<br />
function his “personal view” was<br />
that <strong>port</strong>s should remain in public hands:<br />
“I have a very firm view that <strong>port</strong>s are<br />
…and West Oz too<br />
generate returns for taxpayers: “I did<br />
some sums the other day and over the<br />
last 10 years the <strong>port</strong>s and by extension,<br />
their users, have very generously<br />
through tax and dividend payments<br />
contributed A$400M to state finances.<br />
This year I expect our <strong>port</strong>s will generate<br />
A$170M profit.”<br />
As previously re<strong>port</strong>ed, WA’s <strong>port</strong><br />
amalgamation plan, which will see<br />
seven existing authorities (other than<br />
Fremantle) merged into four, is due to<br />
take effect from 1 July. Boswell said that<br />
as part of the reform package external<br />
financial advisers had started working<br />
with <strong>port</strong> authorities “to help gauge the<br />
value of the assets and the rate of return<br />
required.”<br />
a vital part of the mix for any government<br />
in how you get economic outcomes.<br />
Once you sell them off, you have<br />
no policy control over them,” Newman<br />
said. However, he went on to stress that<br />
this was his personal position and that<br />
the government could decide otherwise<br />
- which it did.<br />
Releasing the full QCA re<strong>port</strong> at the<br />
end of April, the government announced<br />
it would adopt most recommendations,<br />
including the effective privatisation of<br />
the two <strong>port</strong>s - not, technically, via a sale<br />
but through the offer off 99-year leases<br />
(as has already occurred with Brisbane<br />
and recently, in NSW, with Port Kembla<br />
and Port Botany).<br />
In Townsville a Pricewaterhouse-<br />
Coopers business survey found 66% opposed<br />
any <strong>port</strong> sell-off while Gladstone’s<br />
mayor said “We are devastated this asset<br />
will be lost to the community for<br />
generations to come.” The Queensland<br />
Government has stated no sale will occur<br />
ahead of the next state election, due<br />
in 2015.<br />
He cited commodity trader Bunge’s<br />
recent development of grain-handling<br />
infrastructure at Bunbury, making<br />
alternative use of the <strong>port</strong>’s woodchip<br />
loader, as an example of a “new and<br />
innovative partnership with the<br />
private sector” that could result in<br />
the freeing-up of capital and greater<br />
efficiencies.<br />
“I know that some <strong>port</strong>s are looking<br />
at some of these forms of innovation.<br />
This is not in my view privatisation. It<br />
is effectively providing or transferring<br />
assets to the private sector within a state<br />
and <strong>port</strong>.”<br />
The RFNS found that significant<br />
public and private investment would<br />
be needed in all WA’s <strong>port</strong>s - including<br />
nine operating outside the <strong>port</strong> authority<br />
system - to meet a doubling of<br />
throughput to 1 Btpa by 2030.<br />
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May 2013 13
LoadPlate commissioned<br />
Finland’s Gulf of Bothnia Port of Raahe<br />
has completed the installation and commissioning<br />
of its automated 20ft and 40ft<br />
container loading system from Actiw<br />
LoadPlate. As previously re<strong>port</strong>ed, Actiw<br />
has supplied a Multi LoadPlate loading<br />
system system, similar to one previously<br />
supplied to the Port of Kotka.<br />
Four containers can be loaded in “one<br />
shot” one after another with the Load-<br />
Plate unit on a single track, enabling more<br />
loads to be stored and more containers<br />
to be simultaneously dispatched. Empty<br />
container im<strong>port</strong>s and loaded container<br />
ex<strong>port</strong>s can be handled more efficiently<br />
than before.<br />
The LoadPlate system is designed for<br />
the loading of timber, steel products, awk-<br />
ard loads and generally long and heavy<br />
items, although of course the platform<br />
can also be loaded by FLTs on each or<br />
one side with pallets, paper rolls, etc. In<br />
the Raahe installation, the entire container<br />
load is placed on the plastic loading<br />
plate in one go with a bridge crane. The<br />
plate with the load slides into a container,<br />
the load is held inside while the loading<br />
plate is pulled out, and the container is<br />
ready to leave. Loading a container takes<br />
less than five minutes.<br />
A key customer is Ruukki Metals,<br />
which is shipping structural steel girders,<br />
plate, pipes and profiles for commercial<br />
and industrial applications. “With<br />
LoadPlate we have been able to reduce<br />
lift truck and work force resources in<br />
The Actiw Multi LoadPlate handling a Ruukki steel shipment (Photo: Port of Raahe)<br />
container stuffing,” said Harri Tuomela,<br />
Ruukki’s logistics and delivery manager.<br />
“We are now able to stuff steel<br />
products into containers more easily,<br />
more safely, and more gentl and also<br />
take them off containers more easily.<br />
“LoadPlate gives us better possibilities<br />
and we can carry out all container<br />
stuffing under cover. This way, we can<br />
trust that our steel products remain dry<br />
PORT NEWS<br />
and clean in the containers when leaving<br />
Raahe.” As previously re<strong>port</strong>ed, the<br />
terminal measures 132m x 45m (ca. 6000<br />
m 2 ) and is equipped with a number of automated<br />
doors.<br />
Actiw’s managing director Reijo Viinonen<br />
made the point that extra savings<br />
are made in freight costs because open top<br />
containers are no longer needed to load<br />
long loads from overhead, while safety is<br />
increased and the risk of cargo damage is<br />
reduced. No modifications to the inside of<br />
standard containers or trailers are required.<br />
Port director Kaarlo Heikkinen said:<br />
“Our services will notably improve overseas<br />
trans<strong>port</strong>s, which gives the Port of<br />
Raahe a significant competitive position<br />
in the Bay of Bothnia area.” Raahe is connected<br />
with regular feeder and shortsea<br />
services to Hamburg, Bremerhaven and<br />
Antwerp for onward transhipment all<br />
over the world as required, as well as to<br />
Vejle, Hull, Ravenna and Szczecin. The<br />
<strong>port</strong> has a new 10m deep fairway and<br />
quay and has good motorway and rail<br />
connections. The railway is electrified<br />
and the <strong>port</strong> says that rail traffic to Russia<br />
functions well, particularly via Kostomuksha<br />
to the Kola Peninsula.<br />
14<br />
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MD_june 2013.indd 1 2013-06-11 13:01<br />
SCT to invest<br />
Mexico’s trans<strong>port</strong> and communications<br />
authority, Secretaria de Comunicaciones<br />
y Trans<strong>port</strong>es (SCT) is planning to invest<br />
PES5.5B (US$454M) in <strong>port</strong>s in Tamaulipas<br />
state over the next three years. The<br />
plan will be fully co-ordinated with the<br />
state government and private companies<br />
will also be encouraged to invest.<br />
Altamira, Tampico and Matamoros will<br />
all benefit from the Government’s capital<br />
expenditure programme, which includes<br />
a mix of channel improvement, infrastructure<br />
upgrade and terminal modernisation<br />
work.<br />
Under the investment plan, around<br />
PES1.5B is being allocated to the country’s<br />
most north easterly located <strong>port</strong> of<br />
Matamoros, which is on the border with<br />
the US. It is also close to the country’s<br />
burgeoning oil and gas exploration industries<br />
in the Gulf of Mexico and the<br />
<strong>port</strong> is seen as having a sup<strong>port</strong> role for<br />
these as well as serving the city which<br />
has a population of just under 500,000<br />
people. Most of the investment will be<br />
targeted at extending the <strong>port</strong>’s two<br />
breakwaters by at least 2.5km each so<br />
that full operations at the <strong>port</strong> can commence<br />
in 2015.<br />
In Tampico, the main focus is on expanding<br />
the <strong>port</strong>’s Terminal de Usos<br />
Multiples which handles mainly breakbulk,<br />
project cargo and some containers.<br />
It currently handles about 6 Mtpa of<br />
cargo, a volume SCT would like to see<br />
rise to 9 Mtpa by 2016.<br />
At Altamira, the largest container <strong>port</strong><br />
in Tamaulipas, SCT’s main goal is to improve<br />
the <strong>port</strong>’s connectivity and ability<br />
to handle larger ships. Consequently, the<br />
main navigational channel and cargo<br />
berths will be dredged, new access roads<br />
constructed, including an underpass, and<br />
the <strong>port</strong>’s railway reconfigured. The latter<br />
step will increase the <strong>port</strong>’s intermodal<br />
capacity and streamline cargo movements<br />
between the container yard and<br />
rail depot. This should allow Altamira<br />
to become more competitive in serving<br />
inland locations, including Mexico City<br />
and Guadalajara.<br />
Commenting on the state investment<br />
at the <strong>port</strong>, Guillermo Ruiz de<br />
Teresa, general coordinator of <strong>port</strong>s and<br />
merchant marine at SCT, stressed that it<br />
was a vital part in developing the area<br />
and exploiting business op<strong>port</strong>unities<br />
in the region. He also highlighted the<br />
holistic nature of its plan, with SCT<br />
issuing a statement that said: “Our<br />
objective is focused on developing a<br />
comprehensive <strong>port</strong> system between<br />
Matamoros, Tampico and Altamira, with<br />
piers in the Gulf of Mexico looking<br />
to avoid competition and rather complementing<br />
each other.” In 1Q/2013,<br />
Altamira handled 140,027 TEU, up<br />
0.8% on the corresponding period of<br />
2012. This followed a 6% rise in its box<br />
throughput to 578, 685 TEU last year. In<br />
contrast, Tampico’s first quarter container<br />
traffic volumes plummeted by 62% to<br />
just 53 TEU.<br />
May 2013
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NEWS PORT NEWS<br />
PBLIS stays in NSW<br />
The New South Wales Government<br />
has vowed to continue its<br />
Port Botany Landside Improvement<br />
Strategy (PBLIS), despite<br />
the recent A$5.07B lease of<br />
Port Botany (and Port Kembla)<br />
to the NSW Ports consortium.<br />
“PBLIS, which drives more efficient<br />
coordination of road and<br />
rail freight in and out of Port<br />
Botany, is now set to continue<br />
its future successful program of<br />
works through Trans<strong>port</strong> for<br />
New South Wales,” said treasurer<br />
Mike Baird.<br />
Introduced by Sydney Ports<br />
Corporation, PBLIS is acknowledged<br />
as instrumental<br />
in improving freight efficiency<br />
Lübeck Ruhr rail service<br />
in and around the Port Botany<br />
precinct, delivering 30% faster<br />
truck-turnaround times and<br />
“benefitting industry and customers<br />
tens of millions each<br />
year in cost savings including<br />
increased equipment utilisation<br />
and reduced demurrage costs.”<br />
Prior to its implementation,<br />
PBLIS was expected to deliver<br />
in its first 10 years a Net Present<br />
Value (NPV) benefit to NSW<br />
and industry of A$21.2M. After<br />
an independent review in 2012<br />
of its first year of operation, the<br />
PBLIS NPV increased by over<br />
A$33M to A$54.7M.<br />
The on-time performance of<br />
trucks arriving at Port Botany<br />
Lübecker Hafen Gesellshaft<br />
(LHG), the operator of the Port<br />
of Lübeck, has introduced its<br />
own intermodal block train service,<br />
catering for shipping containers,<br />
swap bodies and semitrailers,<br />
to the heart of the Ruhr.<br />
The service will operate between<br />
Duisburg-Hohenbudberg<br />
and Baltic Rail Gate (BGT) at<br />
Lübeck-Travemünde. BGT was<br />
originally built by HHLA along<br />
with a dedicated lo-lo feeder<br />
terminal to offer customers an<br />
alternative to the Kiel Canal for<br />
feedering into the Baltic.<br />
The new service is aimed at strengthening Lübeck’s position on the Sweden-<br />
Ruhr axis<br />
has also increased from 72% before<br />
PBLIS to 93% in March<br />
2013, the government claims. It<br />
also says the PBLIS rail strategy<br />
to grow rail mode share is gaining<br />
solid momentum through<br />
voluntary participation in the<br />
Port Botany Rail Team by industry.<br />
“PBLIS has been instrumental<br />
in both sup<strong>port</strong>ing smarter road<br />
freight movements and working<br />
with the rail operators and<br />
network providers to improve<br />
freight coordination in the <strong>port</strong><br />
rail supply chain,” the government<br />
said. We look forward to<br />
this work continuing through<br />
Trans<strong>port</strong> for New South Wales<br />
and building on the program’s<br />
successes more widely in the<br />
NSW freight network.”<br />
The new block train, which is<br />
aimed at strengthening Lübeck’s<br />
position in Sweden-Ruhr trades,<br />
is operated by LHG affiliate European<br />
Cargo Logistics (ECL),<br />
whose managing director Jörg<br />
Ulrich remarked: “With this new<br />
rail connection we can offer our<br />
customers another alternative for<br />
environment friendly and efficient<br />
trans<strong>port</strong> via Lübeck. On<br />
this route, a load of 26 tons produces<br />
426.7 kgs of CO 2<br />
by truck<br />
and only 128.1 kgs by rail. This<br />
is a reduction of 70%.” Tobias<br />
Behnke, ECL’s intermodal service<br />
manager, added that the company<br />
hopes to increase frequency<br />
to two pairs/day in due course.<br />
ECL already operates a service<br />
between Lübeck and Verona, on a<br />
five pairs/week basis, in cooperation<br />
with DHL. The rail traction<br />
contractor on this route is ERS<br />
Railways.<br />
PNG push against Patrick<br />
Attempts by the PNG Ports<br />
Corporation Ltd (PNGPCL) to<br />
introduce new foreign competition<br />
into Papua New Guinea’s<br />
stevedoring sector have been<br />
sharply rebuffed by local tribes<br />
invested in existing companies.<br />
In March PNGPCL advertised<br />
widely, seeking expressions of<br />
interest from “experienced and<br />
qualified operators” interested in<br />
stevedoring access agreements in<br />
the nation’s two main container<br />
<strong>port</strong>s, Lae and Port Moresby.<br />
PNGPCL said its volumes had<br />
increased by 28% over the past<br />
five years and it had invested in<br />
four MHCs for the two <strong>port</strong>s,<br />
which it needed to ensure “full<br />
and proper use” through stevedoring<br />
operations conducted in<br />
a modern and efficient manner<br />
“which optimises the benefits to<br />
all <strong>port</strong> users.” Amongst respondents<br />
is believed to have been<br />
Asciano’s Patrick, which was re<strong>port</strong>ed<br />
to have been in joint venture<br />
negotiations with a breakaway<br />
group of shareholders from<br />
Lae stevedore Riback.<br />
Tribal leaders of the Ahi people<br />
of six villages who claim traditional<br />
ownership of Lae city<br />
took large advertisements in the<br />
PNG press in late April threatening<br />
to close the <strong>port</strong> down. They<br />
claimed interests associated with<br />
the governing People’s National<br />
Congress Party were manoeuvring,<br />
under the cover of the Lae<br />
<strong>port</strong> modernisation project, to<br />
push the Ahi-owned Riback Stevedores<br />
Ltd out of the <strong>port</strong>.<br />
The six leaders said via press<br />
release that the Ahi were proud<br />
shareholders and beneficiaries of<br />
the investment in the nationallyowned<br />
Riback, which in Lae<br />
provides jobs and op<strong>port</strong>unities<br />
View over Port Moresby. The main dispute centres on Lae<br />
for many previously unemployed<br />
youths.<br />
However, “certain people with<br />
vested interest” were now actively<br />
working to displace landowner<br />
involvement at the Lae <strong>port</strong>, the<br />
advertisements stated.<br />
The Ahi claimed the new<br />
group, led by a local PNG branch<br />
president and former Riback<br />
company director, in a joint venture<br />
with some village splinter<br />
interests, was establishing a fourth<br />
stevedoring company that was<br />
seeking preferential treatment.<br />
“Why give this company preferential<br />
treatment over longestablished<br />
Papua New Guinean<br />
majority-owned companies”<br />
the leaders asked. “These people<br />
are engaged in a divide-and-rule<br />
tactic to divide our people so<br />
they can move in and set up their<br />
own joint venture with foreign<br />
interests.”<br />
The Ahi group threatened to<br />
close the <strong>port</strong> of Lae if the government<br />
did not respond - and<br />
duly did so for 48 hours in early<br />
May. This brought a quick response<br />
from Ben Micah, minister<br />
for <strong>port</strong>s, public enterprises and<br />
state investment, who suspended<br />
the EOI process, pending the appointment<br />
of a “special investigation”<br />
by an independent party<br />
into the allegations made by<br />
the Ahi. Patrick has declined to<br />
comment on the situation.<br />
Riback has a number of major<br />
clients, including ANL, Maersk,<br />
Sofrana, Carpenters and Kyowa<br />
and as well as stevedoring it operates<br />
a depot on the site of the<br />
old Lae air<strong>port</strong>. The other Lae<br />
stevedores are Lae Port Services,<br />
a joint venture between local<br />
interests and Steamships (Swire)<br />
and United Stevedoring, which<br />
is a Consort Express Lines (also<br />
Swire-controlled) affiliate.<br />
As previously re<strong>port</strong>ed, last<br />
November Mitsui & Co Ltd’s<br />
affiliate Portek International<br />
signed an agreement with PNG-<br />
PCL to collaborate with it in the<br />
operation of the Lae and Port<br />
Moresby container terminals for<br />
a 5-year period.<br />
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May 2013 17
It's tough for DPW Australia<br />
DP World Australia, 75% owned by investors represented<br />
by Citi Infrastructure, made a loss of A$32M<br />
in 2012 according to accounts filed with the Australian<br />
Securities and Investment Corporation. The<br />
result - a significant improvement over calendar<br />
2011’s A$74M loss - came largely thanks to a oneoff<br />
gain of almost A$47M from the enforced sale of a<br />
controlling stake in the Adelaide container terminal<br />
to Flinders Ports (<strong>WorldCargo</strong> <strong>News</strong>, July 2012, p7).<br />
Despite the sale, revenue from DPWA’s operations,<br />
including its remaining container terminals in<br />
Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Fremantle, rose<br />
by 15% to A$592M.<br />
The losses seem at odds with annual Australian<br />
Competition and Consumer Commission stevedoring<br />
monitoring re<strong>port</strong>s, which have attacked<br />
DP World and rival, Asciano’s Patrick, for ‘excessive’<br />
profitability. The ACCC’s drive against high returns<br />
and for greater competition has encouraged the entry<br />
into the Australian market of Hutchison Port<br />
Holdings, although critics doubt the market’s ability<br />
to sup<strong>port</strong> three stevedores.<br />
DPWA is investing A$250M on part-automating<br />
its Brisbane terminal and has flagged similar changes<br />
for Port Botany, but has announced no plans<br />
for Melbourne or Fremantle. As far as is know the<br />
company has only one new STS crane on order, a<br />
Liebherr post-panamax unit for Melbourne’s West<br />
Swanson Dock. This is despite an accelerating rush<br />
Dar es Salaam<br />
‘must improve’<br />
The latest Tanzania Economic Update published by<br />
the World Bank has called for productivity and efficiency<br />
improvements at the <strong>port</strong> of Dar es Salaam as<br />
key to transforming the nation’s economy and that<br />
of the surrounding region of East and central Africa.<br />
According to Jacques Morisset, the World Bank’s<br />
lead economist for Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi,<br />
Dar es Salaam handles 90% of Tanzania’s im<strong>port</strong> and<br />
ex<strong>port</strong> trade and is the main access point for Burundi,<br />
eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi,<br />
Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia, but in 2012 its<br />
inefficiencies resulted in total global welfare losses<br />
valued at US$ 1.8B in Tanzania and US$830M for<br />
the neighbouring countries.<br />
“These losses were equivalent to approximately<br />
7% of Tanzania’s annual GDP, and affected a wide<br />
range of local consumers, businesses and government<br />
agencies,” wrote Morisset, who authored the<br />
re<strong>port</strong>, “and they cost Tanzanians and other East Africans<br />
dearly, as they must pay more for im<strong>port</strong>ed<br />
goods, including basic products such as crude oil,<br />
cement, fertilizers and medicines.”<br />
The re<strong>port</strong>: “Opening the Gates: How the Port<br />
of Dar es Salaam Can Transform Tanzania,” said that<br />
long delays affecting ships arriving in Dar es Salaam<br />
were the main cause for the losses. The author<br />
wrote: “In mid-2012, ships were waiting up to 10<br />
days on average just to berth and an additional 10<br />
days to be able to unload and move their merchandise.<br />
The excessive delays in anchorage alone translated<br />
into an additional cost of 22% on container<br />
im<strong>port</strong>s and about 5% of bulk im<strong>port</strong>s.”<br />
The World Bank Tanzania Economic Update,<br />
which is published twice a year, also identified corruption<br />
as another key factor contributing to the<br />
<strong>port</strong>’s poor performance and generally low levels<br />
of efficiency.<br />
A ray of hope was highlighted in the re<strong>port</strong>, with<br />
the author citing: “The appetite for reforms at Dar<br />
es Salaam has increased in recent months as citizens<br />
and city officials have gained greater clarity about<br />
what needs to be done to improve processes and<br />
upgrade infrastructures. Equally im<strong>port</strong>antly, the<br />
Government has begun taking bold measures to<br />
implement reforms, including the firing of the Tanzania<br />
Port Authority Board on corruption charges<br />
in early 2013.”<br />
Given that the World Bank is projecting annualised<br />
growth in Tanzania’s economy of 7% per year<br />
for the foreseeable future, a working Dar es Salaam<br />
is critical to this growth and also to opening up the<br />
country and region to more international trade.<br />
Cargo delays blight Dar es Salaam <strong>port</strong><br />
of post-panamax containerships into Australian<br />
trades as tonnage cascades from other routes.<br />
DPWA recently suspended Saturday landside operations<br />
at its Fremantle terminal after a four-month<br />
trial, meaning no weekend receivals-and-delivery<br />
(RAD) is now available at the facility. The stevedore<br />
said it would resume RAD if demand warranted,<br />
but its new ‘Expert Decking’ yard operation meant<br />
volumes could be capably handled Monday-Friday.<br />
Meanwhile, Hutchison Ports Australia has secured<br />
its first - albeit very modest - customer for<br />
its A$250M Brisbane Container Terminal. The<br />
AUSPAC consortium, comprising Neptune Pacific,<br />
Pacific Direct Line, Pacific Forum Line, Sofrana<br />
Unilines and Swire Shipping, will call with its two<br />
900 TEU vessels on a fortnightly basis. AUSPAC<br />
was previously a Patrick customer and remains with<br />
that stevedore in Port Botany and Melbourne.<br />
The government of Djibouti has revealed that it has<br />
already secured 57% of the funding required to finance<br />
its planned US$5.9B investment in new trans<strong>port</strong><br />
infrastructure. According to the chairman of the<br />
Djibouti Ports and Free Zones Authority, Aboubaker<br />
Omar Hadi, the money has been promised by a variety<br />
of investors, including a Saudi Arabian investment<br />
fund and the government of China. In common<br />
with several other African states, the government of<br />
Djibouti aims to turn the country into a middle income<br />
country, in this case by 2035.<br />
Unlike other African countries, however, the plan<br />
is based almost entirely on the country’s position as<br />
a trade entrepôt. Located near the entrance to the<br />
Red Sea, the Port of Djibouti is already an im<strong>port</strong>ant<br />
transhipment centre and acts as the main <strong>port</strong><br />
for landlocked Ethiopia. The trans<strong>port</strong> strategy involves<br />
increasing the annual handling capacity of DP<br />
PORT NEWS<br />
Djibouti targets master plan<br />
World-operated Doraleh Container Terminal, to 3M<br />
TEU by 2015 and developing five other specialist<br />
terminals. These include oil and liquefied natural gas<br />
terminals, plus a dedicated salt and gypsum terminal,<br />
to ex<strong>port</strong> production from Djibouti’s Lake Assal.<br />
In addition, Ex<strong>port</strong>-Im<strong>port</strong> Bank of China has<br />
agreed to provide a US$3.3B loan to fund a new 723<br />
kms railway from the Port of Djibouti to Sebeta in<br />
central Ethiopia. The railway line itself will be developed<br />
by China Railway Engineering Corporation<br />
and China Civil Engineering Corporation.<br />
Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, the Djibouti minister for<br />
foreign affairs and international cooperation, said:<br />
“Djibouti is considered a gateway to Ethiopia, a very<br />
big market. We are even targeting other markets that<br />
include Southern Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda and parts<br />
of Uganda. Our ambition is really to open up our<br />
markets to those countries that are landlocked.”<br />
Hosting TOC Container Supply Chain: Americas<br />
18<br />
May 2013
PORT/INLAND/INTERMODAL NEWS<br />
Forth Ports sees the light<br />
UK <strong>port</strong> operator Forth Ports plc is continuing<br />
with its transition to low energy lighting. It has<br />
installed LED fixtures in a bulk storage shed at its<br />
Leith facility, where it had earlier installed LEDs in<br />
the engineering workshop and cruise terminal.<br />
Shed 3 at Leith was previously lit with 13 x<br />
400W SON fixtures that were inadequate even<br />
with daylight coming through skylights. The shed is<br />
used for bulk food commodities and heat from the<br />
fixtures burned dust onto the polycarbonate lenses,<br />
reducing their output considerably.<br />
Forth Ports replaced the lights with 8 x 172W<br />
LED fixtures from Dialight’s DuroSite series. It is<br />
extremely happy with the quality of the light from<br />
the Dialight fixtures, particularly their improved<br />
colour rendition. Dr Derek McGlashan, environment<br />
and energy manager at Forth Ports, said that<br />
so far the company has taken two different approaches<br />
to energy efficient lighting for warehouses:<br />
LEDs at Leith and new generation fluorescent<br />
fixtures in Tilbury. “Both have been received positively,”<br />
he added.<br />
One of the biggest benefits for Forth Ports is the<br />
reduced maintenance requirement. The SON lights<br />
needed regular attention, which was a problem as<br />
maintenance could only be carried when the shed<br />
became empty, which might take up to a year. Forth<br />
Ports now expects regular maintenance to have been<br />
eliminated, and Dialight has supplied the DuroSite<br />
series fixtures with a 5-year performance warranty.<br />
With regard to energy usage, Forth Ports estimates<br />
it will achieve a 60-75% energy saving from<br />
LEDs. The 13 x 400W SON fixtures were actually<br />
drawing around 440W each compared to 172W<br />
Come and Visit us 1-3 October 2013<br />
each for eight new LED fixtures. In terms of CO 2<br />
emissions from energy consumption, Forth Ports<br />
calculates a reduction of 0.4 tpa per light. Further<br />
savings could be achieved by taking advantage of<br />
LED’s instant on capability to install motion and<br />
daylight sensors to control the lights.<br />
Dr McGlashan is encouraged by the performance<br />
of LEDs so far. Forth Ports has also installed<br />
Dialight LEDs on some 14m high mast poles at<br />
Leith and, although they have not been tested in<br />
winter conditions, results so far have been positive.<br />
It will also be testing bigger 25,000 lumen Dialight<br />
fittings on higher (25m) poles shortly.<br />
Forth Ports has launched a new website (www.<br />
forth<strong>port</strong>s.co.uk), which it said “takes customers<br />
on a journey” through its diverse services<br />
and the recent significant investments at<br />
its <strong>port</strong>s. Group CEO Charles Hammond said:<br />
“It is im<strong>port</strong>ant to tell the whole story of Forth<br />
Ports and demonstrate the <strong>port</strong>centric solutions we<br />
can provide across the UK.”<br />
Iran plans<br />
big in rail<br />
Iran is planning to increase the length of its domestic<br />
rail network from 11,000 kms today to 15,000<br />
kms by 2015 and 25,000 kms by 2025. To date the<br />
Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (IRIR) has, according<br />
to its managing director Abdol-Ali Saheb-<br />
Mohammadi, had an average potential to build just<br />
500 kms of railways per annum.<br />
Last year IRIR signed a €1B memorandum of<br />
understanding with the National Development<br />
Fund and the Industry, Mine and Trade Ministry to<br />
expand the nation’s rail infrastructure. Also last year<br />
a production facility for manufacturing 120 locomotives/year<br />
was opened in the northern Alborz<br />
province.<br />
As most land trans<strong>port</strong>ation in the country is<br />
road-based, the Iranian government is keen to build<br />
momentum in developing the railway, with a special<br />
emphasis on electrification. The goal is to increase<br />
rail’s modal share of inland freight to 8.5% and ensure<br />
that all this large country’s provinces are linked<br />
by rail.<br />
The country needs at least US$2B each year to<br />
implement its infrastructure development projects,<br />
around half the necessary financing is covered<br />
through selling bonds, Iranian deputy roads and<br />
urban development minister Ahmad Sadeqi said<br />
recently.<br />
Despite political problems with much of the West,<br />
Iran has so far raised almost US$0.6B this year. In<br />
2012, it carried out 23 out of the 54 railway, freeway<br />
and highway projects for a total of US$2.4B using<br />
revenues earned from selling bonds.<br />
Internationally, Iran has, since 2007, been partaking<br />
in the building of the 904 km long Ozen-Gorgan<br />
railway along the Caspian Sea’s eastern shore.<br />
This is expected to open during the second half of<br />
this year, to connect Kazakhstan with Iran via a 700<br />
km stretch through Turkmenistan. With the completion<br />
of the project, trade turnover between the<br />
countries could, in the opinion of Iran’s ambassador<br />
in Astana, Gorban Seifi, go from US$1.2B last year<br />
up to US$5B, while the capacity of the line could<br />
reach 10 Mtpa.<br />
Since 2011, the project has been part of the<br />
planned Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran- Oman-<br />
Qatar international transit route opening access to<br />
both Central Asia and the Persian Gulf. Last year,<br />
Iran reached an agreement with Afghanistan and<br />
Tajikistan to build motor roads and a 392 km railway<br />
to link the three countries, as well as eventually<br />
connect them with Kyrgyzstan and Western China.<br />
Rhenus goes<br />
for Krems<br />
Rhenus Group is set to become the majority owner of<br />
Mierka Donauhafen Krems<br />
At PortMiami, we’re investing more than $2 billion in capital<br />
improvements—a deeper, minus 50-foot channel, a new <strong>port</strong> tunnel<br />
for easy interstate access and on-<strong>port</strong> rail with links to the<br />
national railway system. Quicker connections, better for business.<br />
For more information, visit www.miamidade.gov/<strong>port</strong>miami<br />
Rhenus Group is set to increase its stake in Mierka<br />
Beteilungs GmbH (MBG), the 100% owner of<br />
Austrian Danube <strong>port</strong> opertor Mierka Donauhafen<br />
Krems GmbH (MDK) from 26%, which it acquired<br />
in summer 2010, to 51%. The deal is being conducted<br />
via a capital increase in MBG and is subject<br />
to regulatory approvals.<br />
According to an official statement, Rhenus and<br />
Hubert Mierka, managing owner of the <strong>port</strong> of<br />
Krems, aim to increase operating efficiency and<br />
carry out new investments. “The new funds will<br />
enable us to invest in our Danube Mission,” said<br />
Hubert Mierka, “including our involvement in<br />
Rhenus Mierka Danube Shipping established in<br />
2012.” MDK covers a large storage and operations<br />
area and boasts an agri-products terminal with storage<br />
silos as well as bulk and container barge and rail<br />
terminals.<br />
Last October HHLA’s affiliate Metrans acquired<br />
from MDK the company that operates the trimodal<br />
container terminal in Krems. Since February this<br />
year three train pairs/week have linked the Austrian<br />
Danube <strong>port</strong> with Hamburg and Bremerhaven.<br />
May 2013 19
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INLAND/INTERMODAL NEWS<br />
TE plans to build pan-<br />
Africa locomotive<br />
Kazakhstan, traditionally heavily dependent<br />
on engine and railcar im<strong>port</strong>s, is<br />
set to produce freight rolling stock for its<br />
own and ex<strong>port</strong> markets. It is estimated<br />
Central Asia’s largest country needs up<br />
to 53,000 freight wagons by 2020 due to<br />
substantial write-downs and retirement<br />
of available railcars.<br />
Askar Mamin, president of Kazakhstan<br />
Temir Zholy (KTZ, Kazakhstan Railways)<br />
stated that the government has<br />
Pretoria (South Africa)-based Transnet<br />
Engineering (TE), an operating unit of<br />
state-controlled rail freight, <strong>port</strong>s and<br />
pipelines group Transnet, is hoping that<br />
a new locomotive it is designing will<br />
boost its sales across the African subcontinent<br />
and in South America. It is<br />
understood that the company has been<br />
working on a prototype of the locomotive<br />
for more than two years and that it<br />
should be ready early in 2014.<br />
TE has been building up its design<br />
expertise with the project since being<br />
commissioned by Chicago-headquartered<br />
General Electric to manufacture<br />
more than 140 locomotives for which<br />
it had received orders from TE’s sister<br />
company Trans Freight Rail. The new<br />
locomotive features a design that enables<br />
it to use a propulsion system different<br />
from normal practice, where traction<br />
motors are fitted underneath the engine<br />
and attached to each axle.<br />
According to Richard Vallihu, CEO<br />
of TE, the locomotive is “better able<br />
to withstand the jarring and bumping<br />
that comes from travelling over uneven<br />
railway lines.” In Africa many rail tracks<br />
are in poor condition and funds are extremely<br />
limited to upgrade them. At the<br />
same time the demand for rail services is<br />
increasing as ex<strong>port</strong>s of bulk commodities<br />
rise along with the need to use alternatives<br />
to roads, which are also in poor<br />
condition, as im<strong>port</strong>s for landlocked Africa<br />
are also increasing.<br />
Thoba Majoka, general manager of<br />
strategy and marketing at TE, added:<br />
“For African rail conditions, you need<br />
something that is rugged and strong. We<br />
will use a hydro-dynamic box system<br />
manufactured by German engineering<br />
and technology firm Voith to provide<br />
the hauling power.”<br />
As part of Transnet’s seven-year strategic<br />
plan, TE has been tasked with generating<br />
additional revenues from sales<br />
outside of South Africa with ZAR6B<br />
the target figure by 2019. This compares<br />
with current sales of around ZAR865M<br />
and the pan-African locomotive is one<br />
of the projects designed to help achieve<br />
this fiscal goal. TE is also looking beyond<br />
Africa and sees op<strong>port</strong>unities for its<br />
planned locomotive and also its rolling<br />
stock modules on narrow gauge rail systems<br />
elsewhere in the world, particularly<br />
in Chile and Colombia.<br />
settled on a plan to reduce the country’s<br />
dependence on rolling stock im<strong>port</strong>s<br />
and develop its own production facilities,<br />
not least because traditional sources<br />
(mainly Russia) are concentrating on<br />
their own networks.<br />
Last year 1978 wagons were built in<br />
Kazakhstan, and of those 85% were produced<br />
by the Kazakhstan Car Manufacturing<br />
Company (KVK). This plant was<br />
set up in 2008 on the basis of wagon<br />
ADIF’s Murcia award<br />
Spain’s rail track authority, ADIF, has<br />
awarded a concession to operate a freight<br />
terminal in Murcia to a joint venture<br />
consisting of MacAndrews, the CMA-<br />
CGM affiliate specialising in short sea<br />
shipping, and Spain’s Continental Rail.<br />
The contract is for five years.<br />
A second contract, also for five years,<br />
covering the Rail Logistics Centre at<br />
Badajoz, was declared deserted. Three<br />
other freight yards are to be put out<br />
to tender, these being Granollers (four<br />
years), Zaragoza-Plaza (five years) and<br />
Mérida (five years). For these latter three,<br />
a new type of contract involving more<br />
risk and reward is to be offered.<br />
Since Gonzalo Ferre was appointed<br />
as the new president of ADIF (Administrador<br />
de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias)<br />
in January this year, the organisation has<br />
Continental Rail SA is one of Spain’s new competitors to RENFE<br />
Kazakhstan to ex<strong>port</strong> rolling stock<br />
repair workshops, when rolling stock<br />
depreciation reached 70%.<br />
Astana has also managed to create<br />
conditions for global industry leaders<br />
such as General Electric and Talgo to localise<br />
production in Kazakhstan, and last<br />
December France’s Alstom and Russia’s<br />
TransMashHolding (TMH) launched<br />
production of freight (KZ8A) and passenger<br />
(KZ4AT) locomotives in Astana,<br />
with the aim of producing up to 100<br />
tried to adopt a more flexible approach<br />
to concessions, to attract a wider range<br />
of bidders on the basis of different business<br />
models for them to pursue according<br />
to preference.<br />
Progeco Vigo SA has requested an 8000<br />
m 2 area on the Arenal del Puerto quay at<br />
the north-western Spanish <strong>port</strong> of Vigo<br />
to build a terminal to handle containers<br />
and other cargo. Progeco Vigo was set<br />
up in 1994 and operates a CFS in the<br />
<strong>port</strong>, and it also provides project cargo<br />
lashing services, second-hand container<br />
sales and related services. Vigo is “back<br />
on the agenda” for a second “motorway<br />
of the sea” link with France. Spanish and<br />
French officials are working on a tender<br />
for a Montoir (St Nazaire)-Vigo link.<br />
Currently Louis Dreyfus Armateurs operates<br />
a Montoir-Gijón link.<br />
units of each type per annum by 2015.<br />
The 50M project is aimed at covering<br />
the domestic market (up to 200 freight<br />
and 95 passenger locomotives a year)<br />
and ex<strong>port</strong>ing the balance.<br />
Kazakhstan’s president Nursultan<br />
Nazarbayev has declared his country’s<br />
preparedness to be able to supply the<br />
other Tax Union markets (Russia and<br />
Belarus) with Kazakhstan-made locomotives.<br />
Taking into account more sophisticated<br />
technologies and lower costs<br />
of local production, Kazakh engines<br />
could provide lively competition for<br />
their Russian-made peers.<br />
CEVA into<br />
Eurasian<br />
landbridge<br />
CEVA Logistics recently announced the<br />
launch of a new daily China-Europe<br />
intermodal rail service, connecting Suzhou,<br />
located west of Shanghai, with the<br />
Netherlands. Total transit time for the<br />
whole journey is around 28 days, following<br />
an 11,000 kms northerly route<br />
across Russia.<br />
This new routing follows a successful<br />
trial service that CEVA conducted for a<br />
customer in the technology sector during<br />
a traditional “busy time” for China’s<br />
rail net. CEVA says it brought significant<br />
cost savings to the customer compared<br />
to air freight, along with a shorter transit<br />
time of 13-15 days compared to sea<br />
freight. This is the classic “sell” for the<br />
Trans-Siberian landbridge. The service<br />
is more expensive than sea freight, but<br />
door-to-door transit time is much shorter;<br />
air freight is the quickest but is too<br />
expensive.<br />
In the trial shipment, the container<br />
travelled across Russia at temperatures as<br />
low as -38 degC. CEVA provided GPS<br />
tracking and “visibility” throughout the<br />
journey, along with specially insulated<br />
packaging materials to protect the shipment.<br />
Suitable packaging will be provided<br />
to keep products cool in hot summer<br />
temperatures.<br />
Martin Thaysen, CEVA Logistics’<br />
EVP, China said: “This new service provides<br />
more options for customers to<br />
optimise their supply chain by integrating<br />
different trans<strong>port</strong>ation modes. It is<br />
a good example of where we combine<br />
our experience of China’s domestic network<br />
with our international freight solutions<br />
to sup<strong>port</strong> our customers’ supply<br />
chains...we developed this new railway<br />
route to allow our customers the flexibility<br />
of daily departures from Shanghai<br />
and Suzhou.”<br />
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May 2013 21
SHIPPING NEWS<br />
Rubber ex<strong>port</strong>s banned<br />
The government of Liberia has banned<br />
the ex<strong>port</strong> of unprocessed rubber and<br />
intends to introduce new regulatory legislation<br />
due to corruption, theft, illegal<br />
sales and illicit tapping. President Ellen<br />
Johnson-Sirleaf also wants a greater pro<strong>port</strong>ion<br />
of Liberian rubber production to<br />
be processed within the country.<br />
Rubber is Liberia’s biggest source of<br />
employment and most valuable ex<strong>port</strong>,<br />
accounting for 40% of ex<strong>port</strong> revenues,<br />
though there is some uncertainty over<br />
how much is ex<strong>port</strong>ed in its raw state.<br />
Firestone Natural Rubber Company operates<br />
the world’s biggest rubber plantation<br />
in Liberia under a 100-year concession<br />
that runs out in 2025.<br />
Most lawful production is shipped<br />
from the Port of Monrovia and it is likely<br />
that most illegal production also passes<br />
through the <strong>port</strong>. A source in Monrovia<br />
revealed that a new inspection regime<br />
may benefit from EU funding. An EU<br />
mission visited the <strong>port</strong> in May to identify<br />
improvements that EU member states<br />
could help finance.<br />
Construction work on Monrovia<br />
container terminal is already being undertaken<br />
as part of APM Terminals’ new<br />
concession. According to Matilda Parker,<br />
managing director of the National Port<br />
Authority (NPA), the <strong>port</strong>s of Monrovia<br />
and Buchanan have been awarded international<br />
security clearance. The NPA is hoping<br />
to achieve clearance for the country’s<br />
other two <strong>port</strong>s, Greenville and Harper.<br />
New Russian ship type<br />
Russia’s Nevsky Shipbuilding and<br />
Shiprepair plant in Shlisselburg, in<br />
Leningrad region, has built a new type<br />
of fluvio-maritime bulk carrier in<br />
the fashion of the former Volga Don<br />
river-sea vessels. NEVA LEADER 3 was<br />
built for North-Western Shipping<br />
Company (SZMP) and is a self-propelled<br />
7150dwt bulker, which at the<br />
time of writing is undergoing sea trials.<br />
The vessel is the result of project<br />
“RSD 49” undertaken by the Marine<br />
Engineering and Design Bureau in<br />
Saint Petersburg. It is understood that<br />
up to 12 more RSD 49 vessels may be<br />
ordered from SZMP-owned Nevsky<br />
Shipyard, mainly to carry bulk commodities<br />
such as grain, iron and steel,<br />
timber, coal, and project cargoes. The<br />
areas of operations are the Caspian Sea,<br />
White Sea and North Sea and, during<br />
the Russian winter, intra-Mediterranean<br />
and Irish Sea trades.<br />
The vessel has a length overall of<br />
139.95m and a 16.7m beam. River<br />
draft is 4.7m and sea draft is 3.6m.<br />
Cargo hold capacity is 10,920 m 3 and<br />
the midships hold can accept oversized<br />
cargo pieces up to 52m long. The vessels<br />
are classed by the Russian Maritime<br />
Register of Shipping and can carry<br />
IMDG classes 1.45, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.1, 8 and 9.<br />
Owned by Russian trans<strong>port</strong> and<br />
logistics service group UCL Holding,<br />
SZMP is Russia’s largest shipping company<br />
with a fleet of 105 cargo vessels.<br />
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Lines link up<br />
Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) of Japan and<br />
Singapore-based Pacific International<br />
Lines (PIL) have inked a series of agreements<br />
on the small, but expanding trade<br />
lanes connecting South East Asia with<br />
the Indian Ocean islands and Mozambique.<br />
The deals will mean more effective<br />
use of existing ships, better alignment<br />
of slot capacity to demand and<br />
improved service reliability.<br />
A mix of local and deepsea feeder<br />
cargo is moved on both routes and with<br />
Singapore offering hub op<strong>port</strong>unities,<br />
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their global networks.<br />
The revised fixed day of the week Indian<br />
Ocean service uses 4x 1100 TEU<br />
vessels, with each partner contributing<br />
two ships. For its part, PIL has stopped<br />
its separately scheduled IOL service.<br />
The new link features direct calls at<br />
Singapore, Port Louis, Tamatave, Reunion<br />
and return to Singapore. The Mozambique<br />
operation is based on PIL’s<br />
new MZS service, which links Singapore<br />
with Maputo, Beira and Nacala using<br />
seven ships. MOL buys space on the<br />
operation and, consequently, has halted<br />
its former Mozambique Zuid Africa IOI<br />
Service (MZX).<br />
Hutchison’s<br />
Bulldog<br />
spirit<br />
John Meredith, group managing director<br />
of Hong Kong headquartered<br />
Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), claims<br />
he is determined to help the UK’s small<br />
and medium sized businesses (SMEs)<br />
increase their ex<strong>port</strong>s and develop new<br />
markets overseas.<br />
To do this he has launched “Project<br />
Bulldog,” effectively an ex<strong>port</strong> assistance<br />
programme. Through the initiative, Meredith<br />
has promised to share the expertise<br />
he has gained in running an international<br />
<strong>port</strong>s business for more than 40 years<br />
and to provide advice to SMEs in areas<br />
such as the law, tax/fiscal policies, education,<br />
shipping practices and customs.<br />
The HPH executive said that he had<br />
launched his initiative largely out of<br />
frustration after seeing Britain decline<br />
as a world manufacturer and ex<strong>port</strong>er<br />
over the years. At the launch of “Project<br />
Bulldog,” he mentioned the strange response<br />
he received to lectures he was<br />
asked to give on ex<strong>port</strong> op<strong>port</strong>unities to<br />
Asia by the UK Government’s Trade &<br />
Investment (UK T&I) agency last year.<br />
“Most of the people who came forward<br />
afterwards were security people, software<br />
houses, lawyers and/or consultants,” he<br />
said. “There were not many people who<br />
were actually making things.”<br />
This year the UK T&I had asked him<br />
to give similar presentations, but with<br />
the focus on op<strong>port</strong>unities in Latin<br />
America, and he felt a change was also<br />
needed with the emphasis on manufactured<br />
ex<strong>port</strong>s.<br />
In running a company that operates<br />
the container <strong>port</strong>s of Felixstowe and<br />
Harwich in the UK, he said this situation<br />
was mirrored in the “stuff that is moving<br />
out…The containers are mainly empty<br />
or carrying scrap, but no products and I<br />
get irritated by this. Britain needs to focus<br />
on manufacturing, including offering tax<br />
breaks and cheaper energy for ex<strong>port</strong>ers,<br />
or it risks getting left behind [further]<br />
by other more innovative nations.”<br />
Meredith stressed: “You can’t rely on<br />
North Sea oil and gas and the City of<br />
London. We [as a country] have to go<br />
back to basics and start making stuff.”<br />
He suggested that in many places British<br />
products were valued, hence many op<strong>port</strong>unities<br />
existed.<br />
HPH is a global <strong>port</strong>s operator running<br />
52 <strong>port</strong>s in 26 countries and handling<br />
76.8M TEU in 2012, up 2.3% on<br />
the previous year. Meredith has worked<br />
at the company for 42 years, taking it<br />
from its roots in Hong Kong to the multi-billion<br />
corporation it is today.<br />
22<br />
May 2013
Please visit us at<br />
TOC Europe 2013<br />
Rotterdam, June 25-27<br />
Stand No. E66<br />
CORPORATE PROCUREMENT<br />
Framework for the Supply of Fork Lift Trucks for Port Usage<br />
Sunderland City Council is seeking expressions of interest from suppliers wishing to<br />
be considered for the Framework for the Supply of Fork Lift Trucks for Port Usage for<br />
a period of 48 months commencing 4 October 2013.<br />
This tender includes:<br />
• Contract Hire (with maintenance) of small to medium Fork Lift Trucks<br />
(3 to 10 tonne)<br />
• Contract Hire (with maintenance) of large Fork Lift Trucks<br />
(10 to 20 tonne)<br />
• Purchase (with maintenance) of small to medium Fork Lift Trucks<br />
(3 to 10 tonne)<br />
• Purchase (with maintenance) of large Fork Lift Trucks<br />
(10 to 20 tonne)<br />
This is an electronic tender via the Council’s ProContract eTender system.<br />
All organisations interested in this tender should register an expression of interest<br />
against this Framework online at ‘www.nepo<strong>port</strong>al.org’, Tender Reference<br />
QTLE-98ECTM. All tender documents are available to download via this <strong>port</strong>al.<br />
The Council will be using the Restricted Procurement Procedure and completed<br />
Pre Qualifi cation Questionnaires (PQQs) must be returned via the <strong>port</strong>al by 12 noon<br />
on 8 July 2013, in accordance with the instructions in the documents.<br />
As part of the tender process Sunderland City Council intend to hold a supplier<br />
briefi ng session on 18 June 2013 at The Port of Sunderland, Capstan House,<br />
Greenwells Quay, South Docks, Barrett Street, Sunderland, SR1 2BU. Arrive 2.15pm<br />
for a 2.30pm start. The aim of the briefi ng is to provide advice on submitting a<br />
compliant Pre Qualifi cation Questionnaire, there will also be an op<strong>port</strong>unity to ask<br />
questions. You should confi rm your intention to attend this briefi ng direct to<br />
andrew.raft@sunderland.gov.uk no later than 12 midday on 17 June 2013.<br />
Please read the PQQ documents to ensure this is a suitable op<strong>port</strong>unity for you<br />
before registering to attend this briefi ng.<br />
Please note that the award of this framework is subject to approval from<br />
the Port Board.<br />
Dave Smith, Chief Executive<br />
Civic Centre, Burdon Road,<br />
Sunderland SR2 7DN
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SHIPPING NEWS<br />
Car companies work<br />
with Achilles on risk<br />
The past two years or so have been<br />
extremely challenging ones for global<br />
car manufacturers as a spate of largely<br />
natural disasters have affected their supply<br />
chains, halted the shipment of often<br />
critical components and disrupted production<br />
programmes. A combination<br />
of the additional costs and higher risks<br />
of reputational damage caused by such<br />
events has spurred several in the automotive<br />
industry into action. Recently<br />
Toyota Motor Europe and UK manufacturers<br />
Aston Martin and Land Rover<br />
Jaguar joined forces with Lord March,<br />
founder of the UK’s Goodwood Festival<br />
of Speed, and supply chain management<br />
company Achilles, to come up with a<br />
proactive system of sharing identifying<br />
and managing potential risks in their<br />
supply chain.<br />
The solution adopted comprises:<br />
• An online <strong>port</strong>al – this offers comprehensive<br />
and up-to-date information<br />
and allows the participants to identify<br />
and manage effectively potential health,<br />
safety, compliance, financial and corporate<br />
social responsibility risks within<br />
the system<br />
• Supply chain mapping – this component<br />
has been pioneered by Toyota and<br />
it allows users to assess which sites are<br />
potentially exposed to risks, such as<br />
natural disasters, fiscal issues, etc, and to<br />
mitigate against these. It also addresses<br />
potential logistics bottlenecks, such as<br />
at <strong>port</strong>s and reliance on single suppliers<br />
• Financial Analysis model – this essentially<br />
serves as a financial health check<br />
on suppliers.<br />
The supplier information management<br />
system adopted is hosted by Achilles,<br />
whose global business director, Luis<br />
Olivie, said: “The automotive sector is<br />
truly globalised and by working collaboratively<br />
these industry leaders are<br />
setting standards in gaining visibility of<br />
New pocket<br />
guide for<br />
bulk safety<br />
When bulk cargoes shift, liquefy, catch<br />
fire or explode as a consequence of poor<br />
loading procedures, the consequences<br />
can be massive. Ships may capsize, lose<br />
stability or sustain severe structural damage.<br />
Such happenings enhance the risks<br />
- and the occurrence - of death, injury,<br />
insurance claims, operational delay and<br />
considerable expense.<br />
This has prompted the UK P&I Club,<br />
Lloyd’s Register and Intercargo to produce<br />
a pocket guide and checklist for<br />
ships’ officers and agents who arrange<br />
cargoes for loading. Carrying solid bulk<br />
cargoes safely: Guidance for crews on the<br />
International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes<br />
Code outlines the precautions to be taken<br />
before accepting solid bulk cargoes<br />
for shipment; sets out procedures for<br />
safe loading and carriage; and details the<br />
primary hazards associated with different<br />
types of cargoes. A quick reference<br />
checklist and flowchart summarise the<br />
steps to be followed.<br />
The guide reflects the compliance requirements<br />
of the IMSBC Code, which<br />
became mandatory on January 1st 2011<br />
under the SOLAS Convention. It addresses<br />
the Code’s three key groups: A<br />
(which may liquefy), B (chemical hazards)<br />
and C (all others). Appendices<br />
cover IMO regulations and guidance<br />
relating to the trans<strong>port</strong> of solid bulk<br />
cargoes and provide an overview of the<br />
IMSBC Code. It comes in a laminated<br />
flipover format for on-the-spot use and<br />
for enhancing awareness among operators,<br />
shippers and charterers.<br />
Lloyd’s Register and the UK P&I<br />
Club have produced a number of checklists<br />
to aid safety and regulation compliance.<br />
Subjects have included Port State<br />
Control detention, marine fire safety and<br />
the Maritime Labour Convention.<br />
issues which could affect people, planet<br />
and profit.<br />
“This technology will enable OEMs<br />
to map and understand their own supply<br />
chains right through the many tiers. It<br />
will allow them to see their interaction<br />
and dynamics and assess risks in a way<br />
that has never been done before. It works<br />
not only up and down in the shippers’<br />
own supply chains, but across different<br />
companies to maximise benefits.”<br />
All parties are hoping their solution<br />
will be embraced across the whole industry.<br />
Samskip adds capacity<br />
Rotterdam-headquartered Samskip<br />
Multimodal, which is a leading provider<br />
of freight trans<strong>port</strong> services in the intra-<br />
European market, has phased a much<br />
larger and faster ship into its liner service<br />
linking Rotterdam and Hull.<br />
Since mid-May, Samskip Multimodal<br />
has been deploying the 803 TEU capacity<br />
ship HENRIKE SCHEPERS on the route<br />
and introduced an additional sailing each<br />
week. Previously, Samskip’s vessel on the<br />
Rotterdam/Hull link could only load<br />
340 TEU.<br />
The new sailing takes place on a<br />
Wednesday evening out of Rotterdam<br />
and this allows consignees in the UK<br />
to pick up cargo in Hull on Thursday<br />
afternoon and ensure delivery throughout<br />
the UK on Friday. This is extremely<br />
im<strong>port</strong>ant for weekend sales, which can<br />
be crucial in industries such as retailing<br />
and leisure.<br />
In addition, Samskip Multimodal has<br />
extended its cargo cut-off times in Hull<br />
and also Tilbury, which is another of its<br />
main UK <strong>port</strong> calls. Commenting on<br />
the service upgrade, Diederick Blom,<br />
chief operating officer of Samskip Multimodal,<br />
said: “These improvements are<br />
focused around offering our customers<br />
even more competitive and sustainable<br />
connections to the rest of Europe and<br />
other Samskip routes.”<br />
The new schedule fits well with retailers’ requirements<br />
JOIN US FOR<br />
THE YARD<br />
REVOLUTION.<br />
It starts on June 26 th ,<br />
stand D32, TOC Europe 2013.<br />
At 14:00 on June 26 th at TOC Europe 2013,<br />
THE YARD REVOLUTION begins at stand D32.<br />
If you are interested in container yard operations,<br />
be there.<br />
Call us for SMARTER WHERE IT MATTERS container handling.<br />
Tel. +358 204 2711, ask for Port Sales<br />
Email: <strong>port</strong>s-info@konecranes.com www.konecranes.com<br />
May 2013 25
Braid launches Agi-tank<br />
Braid has introduced a new, single-trip<br />
flexitank designed for<br />
high-viscosity bulk liquids and<br />
those with a high solids content<br />
that require mixing for discharge.<br />
Braid claims the new unit,<br />
dubbed Agi-tank, overcomes the<br />
handling difficulties experienced<br />
with such products when using<br />
traditional one-way flexitanks.<br />
Agi-tank was designed in<br />
2010 by Chris White of Grayhog<br />
Industries, an engineer with<br />
a background in the pump and<br />
agitation equipment industry. He<br />
is now part of Braid, following its<br />
acquisition of Grayhog in 2012.<br />
The newly restyled and patented<br />
Agi-tank is marketed exclusively<br />
from a new group office headed<br />
up by White at Denham Springs,<br />
on the outskirts of Baton Rouge,<br />
Louisiana. As well as developing<br />
this new niche market product<br />
with existing US clients, the<br />
Braid strategy calls for rolling it<br />
out worldwide via Braid’s global<br />
office and agency network.<br />
The Agi-tank uses a series of<br />
injection points in the top surface<br />
of the tank to agitate and<br />
mix the cargo pneumatically via<br />
injection probes that are inserted<br />
prior to discharge. The mixing<br />
system disperses and re-suspends<br />
the solids in the liquid, enabling<br />
a full discharge to take place. The<br />
system is capable of handling<br />
both liquid/solid and liquid/<br />
liquid separations.<br />
The injection points also allow<br />
the insertion of heated mixing<br />
probes inside the tank, an option<br />
which enables the carriage<br />
of viscous products that require<br />
heat prior to discharge. The ability<br />
to provide agitation and heat<br />
increases the efficiency of the<br />
heating process. White explained<br />
that at least twice the heat transfer<br />
rate can be achieved with the Agitank<br />
compared to the rate possible<br />
with a traditional flexitank steam<br />
heater pad. The capability makes<br />
the Agi-tank suitable for the carriage<br />
of viscous liquid cargoes.<br />
CONTAINER INDUSTRY NEWS<br />
Den Hartogh orders<br />
Den Hartogh Logistics has<br />
brought forward an order for<br />
new 25,000 and 26,000 litre<br />
tanks from Singamas in China.<br />
The Netherlands-based company<br />
said strong customer demand<br />
has also prompted it to place an<br />
order for an additional 500 units<br />
at Welfit Oddy and Singamas, to<br />
enter its fleet this year.<br />
“The fast growth of the business<br />
for Global has made this<br />
decision possible, said Hans<br />
Ekelmans, director of Den Hartogh’s<br />
Global unit.<br />
“The reactions from the market<br />
are very positive – in all<br />
regions we see a clear positive<br />
trend in business volumes. The<br />
target for running a tank fleet of<br />
5,000 units in the global fleet by<br />
the year 2015 is clearly within<br />
reach. In the first quarter of<br />
2013, Den Hartogh Global performed<br />
significantly better than<br />
planned. Business has more than<br />
doubled compared to 2012 and<br />
the fleet utilisation has improved<br />
strongly. The strongest growth<br />
has been seen in the Middle East<br />
region, managed from our Dubai<br />
offices.” The unit also operates<br />
from Singapore, Houston,<br />
Le Havre and Rotterdam.<br />
Hoyer opens Saudi firm<br />
Hamburg-based tank container<br />
operator Hoyer has established<br />
Hoyer Saudi Arabia (HSA), a<br />
joint venture with Saudi Arabia’s<br />
Globe Marine Group and<br />
UAE-based Sharaf Group. Based<br />
in Dammam, the new firm has<br />
branch offices in Al Jubail and<br />
throughout Saudi Arabia. HSA<br />
will coordinate intermodal<br />
liquid bulk trans<strong>port</strong> operations<br />
in Saudi Arabia and GCC<br />
countries; operate a third-party<br />
drumming plant in Al Jubail; and<br />
focus on onsite logistics projects<br />
for the region’s growing petrochemical<br />
industry.<br />
To help develop a regional logistics<br />
network and attract new<br />
business op<strong>port</strong>unities, the joint<br />
enterprise will invest in liquid<br />
bulk trans<strong>port</strong> equipment and<br />
build an independent drum-<br />
Hoyer is repositioning a large number of European tanks to the Saudi Arabian<br />
operation for the start-up phase of the joint venture company<br />
ming plant in Al Jubail. A substantial<br />
number of Hoyer’s 20ft<br />
ISO tank containers will be repositioned<br />
from Europe to Saudi<br />
Arabia to facilitate the launch<br />
of the HSA operation.<br />
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Global tank container survey<br />
The global tank container fleet<br />
now totals around 338,260 units,<br />
according to a new re<strong>port</strong> by the<br />
International Tank Container Organisation<br />
(ITCO). The study also<br />
estimated that the output from the<br />
world’s 16 leading manufacturers<br />
in 2012 totalled 39,700 tanks,<br />
with the same builders on course<br />
to build a similar number this year.<br />
The ITCO Tank Container<br />
Fleet Survey states that 71% of the<br />
fleet is being used by dedicated<br />
tank container operators and logistics<br />
companies. The remaining<br />
29% is shared among a range of<br />
users, including chemical producers,<br />
other cargo shippers, rail<br />
operators, shipping lines, oil companies<br />
and military/governmental<br />
bodies.<br />
While providing qualified estimates<br />
of tank numbers, the survey<br />
is based on rigorous methodology,<br />
ITCO emphasised. Compiled<br />
with the sup<strong>port</strong> of ITCO members<br />
and based on data provided<br />
from tank-owning firms, the<br />
ITCO survey gives details of 117<br />
tank operators worldwide. The<br />
operator fleet figure of 228,460<br />
units is, numerically, dominated<br />
by global operators such as Stolt,<br />
Bulkhaul, Hoyer, InterBulk and<br />
VOTG, but a growing number of<br />
new regional operators have been<br />
established in recent years.<br />
The survey lists 27 leasing<br />
companies which, between them,<br />
control 150,440 tanks. However,<br />
because the majority of these<br />
tanks are leased to operators or<br />
shippers, and are therefore included<br />
elsewhere in statistics, leasing<br />
company figures do not form part<br />
of the survey’s global total. The<br />
exceptions are those leased tanks<br />
not currently in operation.<br />
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ICT FOCUS<br />
Collision avoidance on the radar<br />
Positioning system specialist Symeo has<br />
successfully tested a collision avoidance<br />
system at a major straddle carrier terminal<br />
Collision avoidance is on the radar of<br />
several terminal operators looking to<br />
improve safety. Tracking equipment using<br />
GPS to optimise travel paths and<br />
record container moves is relatively<br />
common, but Germany’s Symeo is now<br />
working on a system that uses its Local<br />
Position Radar (LPR) technology to<br />
track equipment for the main purpose<br />
of collision avoidance.<br />
The system design goes beyond establishing<br />
safety zones around equipment<br />
and generating alerts when proximity<br />
is breached. Symeo is focusing<br />
on more comprehensive anti-collision<br />
functionality that uses different sensors<br />
and software-based rules to allow<br />
equipment to operate in close proximity<br />
at slow speeds without generating<br />
unnecessary alarms, while at the same<br />
time raising an alert when a real risk is<br />
imminent.<br />
Lessons from steel mills<br />
Symeo has installed a collision avoidance<br />
system in the hot slab storage area at a<br />
steel mill operated by Voestalpine Stahl<br />
GmbH. It covers cranes, straddle carriers<br />
and other vehicles that operate in a<br />
75,000 m 2 area.<br />
The positioning system consists of<br />
LPR transponders mounted around<br />
the facility as reference points and LPR<br />
radar units on vehicles and cranes. The<br />
position information is used by a Collision<br />
Warning System (CWS), a central<br />
controller similar to the TCAS system<br />
used for airplanes. Machines can determine<br />
any potential collision risks locally<br />
using data from its own position<br />
and from the other equipment.<br />
The vehicles transmit position, speed,<br />
travel direction and their own shape<br />
to other vehicles. The information is<br />
used to calculate a dynamic safety zone<br />
around each vehicle that controls the<br />
warning signals. Drivers have a six-inch<br />
display that shows their vehicle position<br />
and surrounding obstacles and gives<br />
visual and acoustic warnings when<br />
there is a collision danger.<br />
Symeo general manager Christoph<br />
Rommel explained that the system<br />
took some time to configure. It was<br />
initially set up (according to the customer’s<br />
specifications) to provide warnings<br />
based on proximity alone, but this<br />
proved too indiscriminate and generated<br />
too many alarms.<br />
Together with Voestalpine, Symeo<br />
went back and developed specific<br />
warning rules to allow two vehicles to<br />
pass at low speed, and gantry cranes to<br />
work in the same area in tandem without<br />
generating alarms. It is only by taking<br />
this approach, believes Rommel,<br />
that a workable system can be designed<br />
for a complicated environment with<br />
lots of moving equipment like a container<br />
terminal.<br />
Container applications<br />
For a container terminal, said Rommel,<br />
a CWS needs intelligence to identify<br />
parameters including speed and<br />
direction of travel at the vehicle level<br />
and re<strong>port</strong> only those events that constitute<br />
a risk to the central software.<br />
It also needs to integrate information<br />
from quay cranes including trolley<br />
position, spreader height and <strong>port</strong>al<br />
beam height.<br />
Rather than set up alarms based<br />
solely on proximity events, the system<br />
designer needs to work methodically<br />
through all the instances where equipment<br />
comes into close proximity and<br />
define rules around what is safe and<br />
what is not.<br />
A straddle carrier could, for example,<br />
enter the proximity zone of a<br />
crane spreader but not pose a risk if the<br />
spreader is being hoisted.<br />
All terminal traffic patterns have to<br />
be analysed and every fixed obstacle,<br />
including light towers and hatch covers,<br />
must be identified and mapped. The<br />
hardware and software also need to be<br />
configured for different vehicle types,<br />
such as three- and four-high straddle<br />
carriers, that require different safety<br />
rules.<br />
Decentralised system<br />
Symeo does not believe the best way to<br />
design a system is to have a large fleet<br />
of vehicles re<strong>port</strong>ing position and status<br />
constantly to a central application. The<br />
CWS at the steel mill is designed with a<br />
decentralised architecture. “Data is sent<br />
to a server only for replay analysis of<br />
near misses – all collision avoidance decisions<br />
are made locally on the vehicles<br />
and cranes; this minimises the amount<br />
of data that needs to be sent from<br />
equipment to the central software,” said<br />
Rommel.<br />
Each vehicle has a collision zone and<br />
a defined proximity radius. An onboard<br />
collision calculator monitors for obstacles<br />
in the proximity radius, but ignores<br />
other equipment unless their proximity<br />
radii overlap. When that occurs, position<br />
information is sent to the CWS<br />
software on the local machine, which<br />
See us at TOC Europe<br />
at booth B30<br />
triggers an alarm if the operational<br />
rules are breached.<br />
All communication is via triple redundant<br />
ZigBee at 2.4GHz using the<br />
Symeo data protocol. This means, explained<br />
Rommel, that there are no<br />
interference issues with the terminal’s<br />
WiFi network. The system has now<br />
been successfully tested at a container<br />
terminal, it fulfils the customer’s requirements<br />
and implementation is<br />
planned for 2014, said Rommel.<br />
The LPR system can also be leveraged<br />
to provide container position information<br />
and vehicle telematics if required.<br />
GPS has been preferred for this application,<br />
to date, particularly for straddle<br />
carriers, but Rommel believes this<br />
will change. Terminal operators want<br />
one PDS technology that can work<br />
Symeo has installed its system in a German<br />
steel mill and is looking to apply the technology<br />
to container terminals<br />
across the whole terminal, and GPS systems<br />
continually struggle because they<br />
lose signal underneath the quay cranes,<br />
he added. <br />
May 2013 27
Orbita to launch crane OCR<br />
Spanish process automation and<br />
engineering specialist Orbita<br />
Ingenieria is shortly to announce<br />
a crane OCR solution to add to<br />
its GateSuite gate automation<br />
system.<br />
Orbita was recently selected by<br />
Grup TCB to provide a gate automation<br />
system for 10 new entry<br />
and exit lanes at Grup TCB’s<br />
flagship facility, Terminal de Contenidors<br />
de Barcelona (TCB).<br />
This will be the third gate automation<br />
project undertaken by<br />
Grup TCB, following systems in<br />
Valencia (Orbita) and Buenaventura,<br />
Columbia (APS Technology<br />
Group). The APS system includes<br />
crane OCR, and Grup TCB<br />
wants this for Barcelona as well.<br />
Orbita is also improving its<br />
GateSuite by evolving the data<br />
capture technology, adding sup<strong>port</strong><br />
for multiple brands of OCR<br />
cameras and improving the integration<br />
interface. Francisco Cavanillas,<br />
account manager for <strong>port</strong>s<br />
and terminals, said this will boost<br />
automation rates. Grup TCB’s<br />
Valencia terminal now achieves<br />
automation percentages in the<br />
high 90s, but TCB will get 95-<br />
98% right from the get go, he<br />
expects.<br />
The gate system for TCB includes<br />
OCR for container numbers<br />
and truck license plates, image<br />
capture for container damage<br />
inspection, and RFID and QR<br />
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Code readers. The RFID readers<br />
are for a <strong>port</strong> authority-issued security<br />
card that drivers must validate<br />
by entering a PIN number.<br />
Orbita will supply all the hardware<br />
and its GateOS software to<br />
integrate the OCR data with the<br />
TOS, which in this case is Grup<br />
TCB’s in-house system called AR-<br />
GOS. The project also covers the<br />
removal and relocation of TCB’s<br />
existing Mega<strong>port</strong>s radiation detection<br />
<strong>port</strong>als and infrastructure<br />
to the new terminal gates.<br />
An interesting feature of the<br />
project is the use of “validation<br />
kiosks” where truckers will<br />
also be able to check a transaction<br />
prior to entering the terminal.<br />
Truckers often know or<br />
suspect, said Cavanillas, when<br />
there is a problem with a gate<br />
transaction and everyone benefits<br />
if this can be identified out of the<br />
main gate traffic flow. Where a<br />
truck still presents with incomplete<br />
or missing information the<br />
driver will get a printed trouble<br />
ticket with information on the<br />
problem and who to call to resolve<br />
it. They will then pull out of the<br />
traffic flow into a separate lane.<br />
“The new automated gates<br />
will bring a lot of benefits to<br />
everyone in the logistics chain,”<br />
said Narcis Pavon, terminal and<br />
operations manager at TCB. “All<br />
of the current paperwork will<br />
disappear, as every single operation<br />
will be identified by a preadvised<br />
PIN code that the truck<br />
driver will input at the entrance<br />
gate. The new process will allow<br />
us to optimise terminal planning,<br />
resource allocation and cost control,<br />
while trucking companies<br />
will be able to plan their schedules<br />
better.”<br />
The Port of Luka Koper in Slovenia<br />
has completed a project to<br />
replace its Cosmos TOS with<br />
Tideworks Technology’s entire<br />
suite of TOS solutions.<br />
Replacing a TOS is complicated,<br />
and it took Luka Koper<br />
longer than initially expected.<br />
Tideworks had to integrate its<br />
software with other systems including<br />
an in-house business system<br />
called Tino. This was developed<br />
by a third party, Actual IT,<br />
approved by Customs and intertwined<br />
with the <strong>port</strong> community.<br />
As soon as the project began<br />
Boris Susmak, head of IT at<br />
Tideworks has announced a<br />
contract to supply services to<br />
Stockton Port Authority for its<br />
new “M-580 Marine Highway”<br />
barge service linking Stockton<br />
with Oakland.<br />
Earlier this year Tideworks’<br />
sister company SSA Marine was<br />
awarded the contract to provide<br />
terminal services for this new<br />
service at Stockton. Tideworks’<br />
contract is with the <strong>port</strong>, to<br />
deploy its Spinnaker Planning<br />
Management System and Star-<br />
Gate gate utility.<br />
Tideworks will deliver the<br />
solutions under a Software-as-a-<br />
Service (SaaS) model. Stockton<br />
will have no hardware on site.<br />
“The TOS will be hosted via<br />
Tidework’s data centre in western<br />
Washington [Lynwood],”<br />
said Mitchell Hall, senior sales<br />
engineer at Tideworks. “As part<br />
of the service, Tideworks will<br />
ICT FOCUS<br />
Stockton via SaaS<br />
Tideworks will deploy its Spinnaker Planning Management System and Star-<br />
Gate gate utility at the <strong>port</strong> of Stockton, but no hardware will be installed on site<br />
manage all the infrastructure,<br />
including OS upgrades/patches,<br />
DB administration, application<br />
software monitoring, back-ups,<br />
etc.”<br />
Users will access the TOS<br />
through the internet or over a<br />
VPN connection. “The applications<br />
are hosted on the server<br />
using Citrix tools. The application<br />
sessions are run locally on<br />
the server and the users interact<br />
with the client sessions via a virtual<br />
connection to the server,”<br />
added Hall.<br />
The TOS will treat all barge<br />
moves the same as vessel moves<br />
at a marine terminal, with both<br />
inbound and outbound Baplie<br />
files. Tideworks will take care<br />
of all EDI as part of the service,<br />
which is expected to go live in<br />
Q2 2013. Stockton will pay a<br />
monthly subscription, but there<br />
is no annual license fee.<br />
Luka Koper TOS goes live<br />
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Luka Koper and Ronald Robinson,<br />
regional vice president<br />
for Tideworks, led a team to<br />
define necessary processes and<br />
requirements and “set realistic<br />
and achievable expectations”<br />
for the conversion. “Integration<br />
with Tino was extraordinarily<br />
complex,” said Susmak, but by<br />
collaborating with the <strong>port</strong> and<br />
Actual IT, Tideworks managed<br />
to achieve it “efficiently and cost<br />
effectively”.<br />
Luka Koper had been using<br />
Cosmos for 10 years and so<br />
transitioning to a new TOS was<br />
also a major cultural change.<br />
“Naturally, there was some<br />
initial resistance to such a largescale<br />
change; people become<br />
accustomed to doing things a<br />
certain way after so many years,<br />
and now you are giving them<br />
a completely new set of tools<br />
to accomplish their tasks,” said<br />
Robinson.<br />
“Collectively, we engaged in a<br />
training effort that was probably<br />
several-fold what it might have<br />
been in a start-up operation due<br />
to this phenomenon,” he added.<br />
Tideworks went live in Q4<br />
2012, initially for containerised<br />
cargo only, with other cargo<br />
types to be added in the future.<br />
Both parties describe the systems<br />
conversion and deployment<br />
process as “tricky” but Luka Koper<br />
is very happy with the result,<br />
and the service it received in the<br />
implementation phase. The new<br />
TOS and the Traffic Control<br />
system with graphical interfaces<br />
for CHE operators has helped<br />
increase productivity, improve<br />
yard inventory accuracy and reduce<br />
re-handles.<br />
Luka Koper credits Tideworks’<br />
TOS, in conjunction<br />
with “certain process changes”,<br />
with lifting its gross crane rate<br />
to 23.2 moves an hour and enabling<br />
it to hit a record 100 moves<br />
per vessel hour last month.<br />
Israel’s HiTech Solutions (HTS) has announced a contract to install OCR<br />
at the Super Terminais facility in Manaus, Brazil. The system will be delivered<br />
and installed by HTS Brazil, the Brazilian Branch of HTS Israel<br />
established along with its Brazilian partner, Ergos Technology. HTS is<br />
currently planning the civil works to meet the deadline for project completion<br />
in September. This project follows HTS’s installations in Brazil for<br />
Tecondi at the Port of Santos (pictured) and Libra Terminais in Santos<br />
and Rio de Janeiro.<br />
28<br />
May 2013
ICT FOCUS<br />
WiMESH for GMP<br />
Générale de Manutention Portuaire of WiMESH is the reduced fixed infrastructure<br />
requirement. A traditional<br />
(GMP), a joint venture between DP<br />
World and CMA CGM, has installed a WiFi network offered as an alternative<br />
WiMESH network from Luceor at two required 11 access points at the 76-<br />
terminals in Le Havre. The terminals acre terminal, some of which would<br />
have a total capacity of 1.3M TEU and a have needed civil works to connect. By<br />
combined quay length of 2400m. putting a router on each straddle carrier<br />
France-based Luceor designs outdoor Luceor allows mobile routers to “mesh”,<br />
communications systems for emergency connecting to the access points through<br />
service providers and industrial applications<br />
like container terminals. It has de-<br />
WiMESH avoids the problem of data<br />
other mobile routers when required.<br />
veloped a WiMESH system that features being lost in the meshing process by<br />
redundant routing and meshing capabilities<br />
to allow routers to connect step-<br />
uses the wireless to send job instructions<br />
achieving very low signal latency. GMP<br />
by-step dynamically, without any central and equipment position information<br />
control. Luceor believes WiMESH is from its DGPS system to the TOS. Raux<br />
ideally suited for container terminals because<br />
it can provide ubiquitous outdoor<br />
said GPS information is very sensitive<br />
coverage over large distances without a<br />
lot of fixed infrastructure, reducing the<br />
cost of deployment.<br />
GMP was previously using a narrow<br />
band network. IT Director Patrick<br />
Labbé said it could not sup<strong>port</strong> the data<br />
requirements of the real-time equipment<br />
monitoring systems GMP wants<br />
to implement.<br />
The new Luceor WiMESH network<br />
achieves a minimum band width of<br />
300Mbit/s and covers two terminals.<br />
The network infrastructure consists of<br />
six fixed access points on the larger (76-<br />
acre) terminal and four on the second.<br />
GMP’s 90 straddle carriers are equipped<br />
with WiMESH routers with omni-directional<br />
antennas operating at 5.4GHz.<br />
16 STS cranes have WiMESH routers<br />
(5.4GHz) and local WiFi access points<br />
(2.4GHZ).<br />
Luceor’s strategic accounts manager<br />
Christian Raux said a big advantage<br />
Managed WiFi<br />
on the way<br />
US-based Wireless Network specialist<br />
Fidelity Comtech will soon launch a new<br />
product called NetWatch that will enable<br />
it to deliver WiFi as a managed service<br />
with guaranteed data throughput rates.<br />
Fidelity is tendering on new terminal<br />
projects in the US and also working<br />
with existing marine and rail terminals<br />
that have not had good experiences with<br />
wireless systems. At the moment, said Fidelity’s<br />
director of sales Bryan Lonergan,<br />
many terminals depend on the expertise<br />
of local contractors to configure and install<br />
a WiFi network correctly and have<br />
no visibility into issues when they occur.<br />
Lonergan said Fidelity has learnt,<br />
through discussions with potential customers,<br />
that what terminals want from a<br />
wireless supplier is “accountability so their<br />
business processes can work”, particularly<br />
where automation is being implemented.<br />
More im<strong>port</strong>antly, that accountability has<br />
to be at the device level.<br />
Often the only information available<br />
is whether access points are working and<br />
the terminal has no visibility into why<br />
devices on equipment are not connecting,<br />
he added.<br />
Fidelity believes it has the hardware<br />
and expertise to provide consistently<br />
reliable WiFi that can sup<strong>port</strong> the most<br />
demanding applications like AGVs. Its<br />
Phocus Array 802.11 network is now<br />
operating in several terminals and more<br />
recently it launched a Magnetic Mount<br />
Cline Bridge (MMCB) for terminal vehicles.<br />
This improves WiFi reception by<br />
placing a router and two omni-directional<br />
antennas on the roof of a vehicle.<br />
With the new NetWatch product Fidelity<br />
“will take connectivity monitoring<br />
all the way out to the vehicle” by<br />
connecting a network monitoring tool<br />
to the ethernet <strong>port</strong> of the MMCB. This<br />
will give Fidelity remote information on<br />
signal strength and data throughput rates<br />
at the mobile equipment, where the terminal<br />
needs connectivity that it can use<br />
to manage the network.<br />
The logical next step for Fidelity is<br />
to offer WiFi as a managed service, with<br />
guaranteed data throughput rates. Net-<br />
Watch will be a core part of this offering<br />
and Fidelity is now expanding and adding<br />
more staff in preparation for launching<br />
a managed service.<br />
siemens.com/cranes<br />
to signal latency. Travelling at up to 30<br />
km/h, the straddle carriers are permanently<br />
connected to at least two routers<br />
with less than 30ms latency to maintain<br />
sessions.<br />
Low latency is also sup<strong>port</strong>ed by a<br />
“real full mesh” topology, “which means<br />
that mobiles are not only connected<br />
to access points, but also between each<br />
other in Ad-Hoc mode,” said Raux. “If a<br />
mobile loses a direct connection to the<br />
infrastructure, it is instantaneously and<br />
automatically relayed by another mobile.”<br />
In addition, the Level 3 (routing)<br />
network allows redundancy.<br />
While the Luceor deployment faced a<br />
few challenges during set up, Luceor responded<br />
with deployment tool improvements<br />
and it is now performing well.<br />
“We have the bandwidth that we<br />
require,” said Labbé. For the straddle<br />
carriers this is an available real time<br />
TCP/IP bandwidth of between 3 and 5<br />
Mbit/s. GMP intends to use the bandwidth<br />
to sup<strong>port</strong> additional applications<br />
that work better with real time<br />
equipment monitoring, including Navis<br />
PrimeRoute and, potentially, a collision<br />
avoidance system. VOIP is also being<br />
considered.<br />
Installing a router on all mobile<br />
equipment requires more investment in<br />
hardware than other options, but it is becoming<br />
more common. If the terminal<br />
wants to move beyond sending simple<br />
work instructions, it needs a network<br />
that can sup<strong>port</strong> more data and provide<br />
real-time connectivity, Labbé added.<br />
Luceor’s WiMESH network requires very<br />
little fixed infrastructure to provide coverage<br />
across the two GMP terminals<br />
Making a crane control<br />
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With SIMOCRANE, we provide ‘off the shelf’ proven technology<br />
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E20001-F280-P620-X-7600-A4<br />
May 2013 29<br />
3-5547-E20001-F280-P620-X-7600_A4_STS-06.06.11 GB.indd 1 19.02.13 10:00
ICT FOCUS<br />
PNCT goes mobile<br />
Port Newark Container Terminal<br />
(PNCT) in New Jersey has deployed<br />
a new App called Lynx MCA (Mobile<br />
Customer Access) to give truckers and<br />
other customers real time access to information<br />
from its Navis applications.<br />
Lynx MCA was developed by Versiant<br />
Corporation, which has a lot of experience<br />
with Navis software and is its sole<br />
SPARCS N4 implementation partner<br />
for the Americas.<br />
Ports America-owned PNCT operates<br />
Navis SPARCS 2.7 and Express,<br />
plus WebAccess. IT Director Adam Sulich<br />
said WebAccess is used widely by<br />
desk-based staff, from freight forwarders<br />
and shipping lines, to access container<br />
Solvo.TOS<br />
TERMINAL MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS<br />
information by a web browser, but the<br />
trucking community wanted an App<br />
that made container information available<br />
without having to navigate through<br />
PNCT’s website. “The trucking community<br />
is used to dealing with companies<br />
like Fedex and UPS that have Apps<br />
tailored for various contractors, and they<br />
wanted something similar,” he said.<br />
Using Versiant’s Lynx MCA, PNCT<br />
customers can verify container availability,<br />
view vessel schedules, review bookings<br />
and evaluate gate EIRs prior to arriving<br />
at the terminal using virtually any<br />
mobile smartphone or tablet device that<br />
is directly routed from PNCT’s website.<br />
PNCT tested and refined the App<br />
for two months before rolling it out for<br />
Apple, Blackberry and Android Phones.<br />
According to Sulich, the response from<br />
truckers was “enormously positive”.<br />
They provided feedback that led to<br />
some changes in format and functions,<br />
but the App itself and integration and<br />
with the TOS worked from the beginning<br />
without any problems.<br />
Since Lynx MCA was introduced,<br />
PNCT has seen a significant reduction<br />
in calls to its service centre and is now<br />
considering giving more options to mobile<br />
users. Currently they can view information,<br />
but the App is not configured<br />
to enable two-way communication. It<br />
would boost efficiency if truck drivers<br />
could update certain information and<br />
pay demurrage online. PNCT would<br />
also like to link the App to its Twitter<br />
feed, which Sulich said was extremely<br />
Manage with ease!<br />
5 reasons to deploy Solvo.TOS<br />
useful for notifying users about PNCT’s<br />
status in the aftermath of Hurricane<br />
Sandy last year.<br />
Edward Read, Versiant vice president<br />
for application development, said Apps<br />
like Lynx MCA are the way of the future<br />
and the firm is now talking with<br />
other terminal operators in New York<br />
and New Jersey that also want to use it.<br />
Versiant has developed Lynx MCA to<br />
integrate with SPARCS N4, older Navis<br />
software, other brand TOS applications<br />
and other software like billing systems. It<br />
can be configured for two-way communication<br />
to enable users to send information<br />
from mobile devices if required.<br />
The Lynx MCA smartphone App allows<br />
PNCT customers to verify container availability,<br />
among other useful functions, with information<br />
routed from PNCT’s website<br />
1 Cost-effective – we are ready to offer one of the lowest TCO in the industry<br />
2<br />
Truly multifunctional - even the minimal installation allows online management<br />
of both physical processes and paperwork<br />
3<br />
4<br />
Specialized time-tested solutions for any type of terminal:<br />
• Container<br />
• Ro-Ro and heavy-lift trucks<br />
• Intermodal<br />
• Break Bulk only<br />
• Multi-purpose<br />
Additional modules: Billing, Yard, Cargo Plan, KPI, Visualization modules,<br />
Resource planning, patent-pending automated STS-crane operator workstation, WMS<br />
functionality and many more<br />
5 Unique customer focused approach to deployment<br />
Learn more about Solvo.TOS at www.solvo.ru/en/across-the-board<br />
Visit Solvo‘s exhibition<br />
stand #B96 and seminars<br />
at this year’s<br />
TOC Europe,<br />
25-27 June 2013,<br />
Ahoy, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.<br />
AutoStow<br />
in testing<br />
A new software application called Auto-<br />
Stow for automated vessel planning is<br />
being tested in Singapore. The software<br />
was developed by the Nanyang Technological<br />
University (NTU) Maritime<br />
Research Centre and School of Computer<br />
Engineering as part of a project in<br />
association with APL and the Maritime<br />
and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).<br />
One of Singapore’s biggest vessel<br />
planning challenges as a transhipment<br />
hub is balancing the loading weight<br />
distribution required for vessel stability<br />
with the need to optimise the vessel<br />
stow for onward <strong>port</strong>s of call. Optimising<br />
the stow for onward calls can mean<br />
having to add ballast water. Ballast water<br />
is deadweight that costs the shipping line<br />
money to carry – re-handles require extra<br />
<strong>port</strong> moves and add to <strong>port</strong> time.<br />
According to the MPA experienced<br />
planners in Singapore take around two<br />
hours to produce a vessel plan, but<br />
it takes years of training to get to that<br />
level, and when planners leave they take<br />
all their knowledge with them. Four<br />
years ago the MPA and APL approached<br />
NTU about developing software to automate<br />
vessel planning. Funding was<br />
obtained for the AutoStow project and<br />
NTU researchers started experimenting<br />
with advanced optimisation techniques<br />
in the stowage planning process.<br />
“The greatest challenge lies in translating<br />
the strategies of human experts for<br />
handling various situations into consistent<br />
and efficient computer algorithms,<br />
and this phase lasted for about two<br />
years'” said the MPA. The result is a software<br />
application that can plan container<br />
distribution within minutes once planers<br />
set up the details of the voyage and vessel<br />
and input the discharge and loading lists.<br />
The project is now in its final stage<br />
of testing with APL. At this stage around<br />
70-80% of the plan generated by software<br />
can be used directly, with the balance<br />
requiring minor “tweaking” by<br />
manual planners.<br />
Osaka App<br />
The <strong>port</strong> of Osaka is leveraging smartphones<br />
as part of its patent-pending Port<br />
of Osaka Container Truck Information<br />
System. This is a web-based service that<br />
sends real time traffic information via<br />
smartphones and websites. Smartphone<br />
users access an App that displays the length<br />
of the gate queue on a map, with pictures<br />
from cameras outside the gates, and a display<br />
showing the number of vehicles in<br />
the line and the estimated waiting time.<br />
Information from connected smartphones<br />
is also fed into a website that<br />
shows registered trucking companies the<br />
location of their trucks outside the terminal.<br />
Masaharu Shinohara, executive<br />
officer for engineering and planning at<br />
Osaka, said the App has proved very useful<br />
in helping balance the gate workflow.<br />
Truck queues can reach up to 3km long<br />
at times. Truckers can access the App and<br />
decide not to come to the <strong>port</strong> if gate<br />
congestion is too heavy and they are able<br />
to take another job.<br />
30<br />
May 2013
NEWS ICT FOCUS<br />
E-seals at Antwerp gate<br />
DP World Antwerp has now been operating<br />
the “Janus Gate” RFID e-seal<br />
system from Belgian company Leghorn<br />
Perfra since December 2012.<br />
Janus Gate uses the RFID UHF ISO<br />
18000-6 (EPC Global) standard for passive<br />
tags operating in the 865-869 MHz<br />
frequency. Leghorn supplies a range of<br />
e-seals, including its Neptune model that<br />
is built to the ISO 17712 2010 standard<br />
for bolt seals, but Janus Gate can sup<strong>port</strong><br />
any EPC Global e-seal operating at 865-<br />
869 MHz.<br />
At Antwerp Gateway, readers with a<br />
range of 6-8m are installed before the<br />
OCR <strong>port</strong>als on three “fast lanes”. The<br />
readers are connected to the Janus Gate<br />
software and collect data comprising:<br />
e-seal serial number; gate and lane ID;<br />
date and time; sequential readings where<br />
a container has two seals or where there<br />
are two containers on a trailer; and security<br />
seal state (if sup<strong>port</strong>ed by the e-seal).<br />
The software generates a log file of this<br />
information.<br />
In early December DPW made it<br />
compulsory for hauliers serving its Antwerp<br />
Gateway terminal to provide administrative<br />
details in advance through<br />
its web <strong>port</strong>al. Once jobs are confirmed,<br />
the haulier is given a TAS (Truck Appointment<br />
System) number, which is<br />
entered at the terminal and matched by<br />
the gate software to the truck and container<br />
data collected by OCR.<br />
The fast lane stations were also installed<br />
in December but e-seals are not<br />
compulsory. Containers with e-seals do<br />
not have to stop for a physical seal inspection,<br />
instead continuing straight through<br />
one of the three fast lanes. Truckers can<br />
still use the fast lane if they enter the seal<br />
number themselves at a self-service desk.<br />
In the future, trucks using the fast lane<br />
and being served by ASCs will be able to<br />
access the terminal out-of-hours and get<br />
served during shift breaks.<br />
By the end of 2012, 10-15 container<br />
trans<strong>port</strong> companies had begun using e-<br />
seals regularly. Early this year, Leghorn<br />
In the future, trucks served by ASCs will be<br />
able to access the terminal out-of-hours<br />
made some adjustments to the filters so<br />
the readers only read the RFID e-seals<br />
and not truck or chassis tags from other<br />
systems. “The system runs faultless, and<br />
DP World is very satisfied,” said Leghorn<br />
managing director Alex Le Clef. Users<br />
were initially concerned about the cost<br />
of the e-seals but are now satisfied that<br />
leghorn can keep it below €1 per seal,<br />
he added.<br />
Despite the low cost and the operational<br />
incentives, e-seal adoption could<br />
be better. “At this moment only container<br />
trans<strong>port</strong> companies are using<br />
them,” said Le Clef. Leghorn, along with<br />
the commercial team at DPW, is trying<br />
to raise awareness among shippers and<br />
shipping lines of the advantages of e-<br />
seals and fast lanes along the wider supply<br />
chain. To make them more attractive<br />
Leghorn is now extending the range of<br />
data its e-seals can carry.<br />
Groups like the European Shippers<br />
Council are now promoting e-seals<br />
to their members, but Le Clef said the<br />
technology will become “a real success”<br />
when other <strong>port</strong>s embrace it too and<br />
install fast lanes at their terminals. Discussions<br />
in this direction are now underway<br />
and Le Clef is confident that within<br />
two years several other terminals will be<br />
equipped with the technology. “After all,<br />
[it] is very accessible in price and with<br />
a very fast ROI, especially in use with<br />
OCR,” he added.<br />
Port of Tyne takes two<br />
The UK Port of Tyne has contracted<br />
Central Systems and Automation<br />
(CSA) and DBIS to provide separate<br />
applications that will be integrated<br />
to form a unified cargo management<br />
system. Tyne has nearly doubled its tonnage<br />
since 2009 and handles around 5<br />
Mt of dry bulk, 70,000 TEU and over<br />
650,000 vehicles.<br />
CSA’s two main products are its<br />
Autostore TOS and a Warehouse Management<br />
System (WMS). DBIS, which<br />
is owned by Terex-Gottwald through its<br />
subsidiary TBA, has a specialist Terminal<br />
Management System (TMS) called<br />
CommTrac for dry bulk terminals. Tyne<br />
will implement the Autostore Container<br />
Terminal Management System<br />
(CTMS) and Autostore Resource Management<br />
system. A number of modules<br />
are included within this – vessel planning,<br />
EDI, Destin8 interface, vehicle<br />
booking, billing and functionality for<br />
container maintenance and repair.<br />
On the bulk side, DBIS will supply<br />
CommTrac to manage bulk operations,<br />
vessel management and berth planning.<br />
DBIS will extend its vessel management<br />
module into a full marine operations system,<br />
managing vessel movements, tugs<br />
and pilotage, as well as berth planning.<br />
CSA and DBIS put in a joint bid<br />
for the project, which has a total value<br />
of £1M. “Our offer to the client was<br />
based on the principle that selecting<br />
‘best of breed’ products for each operational<br />
area with good interfaces between<br />
is a much better solution than<br />
seeking a ‘one size fits all’ <strong>port</strong> management<br />
solution and obviously the client<br />
agreed with this philosophy,” said DBIS<br />
sales director David Trueman.<br />
A number of TOS suppliers offer<br />
breakbulk, auto and general cargo<br />
functionality with their TOS, but dry<br />
bulk cargo is quite a different market.<br />
CommTrac is designed in a very different<br />
way to a TOS, WMS or general cargo<br />
system, forming a layer between business<br />
ERP systems and machine-based control<br />
systems like SCADA (<strong>super</strong>visory<br />
control and data acquisition) and weigh<br />
bridges that measure bulk cargo flow.<br />
CSA director Andrew McKaig added<br />
that the two systems are “a good fit”<br />
from a technology perspective because<br />
they are both based on Microsoft SQL<br />
databases. As the main contractor, CSA<br />
is responsible for systems integration<br />
and delivering a single, unified web interface<br />
for external users. The integration<br />
work will be done off-site, made<br />
easier because the CSA and DBIS offices<br />
are only an hour’s drive apart.<br />
Another aspect of the integration<br />
is connecting the <strong>port</strong> systems to the<br />
Destin8 Port Community System. CSA<br />
will be able to do this virtually off-theshelf<br />
as it already has an interface to<br />
Destin8 used by other UK clients.<br />
The software will be rolled out in<br />
stages over a 12-month period. The<br />
Autostore CTMS will be installed first,<br />
followed by the DBIS vessel management<br />
system, DBIS bulk management<br />
system and then the Autostore resource<br />
management system. This will cover virtually<br />
all Tyne’s operation, except some<br />
general cargo which is handled through<br />
another WMS application, and was not<br />
included in the scope of the project.<br />
CSA will make some customisations<br />
to Autostore to meet the requirements<br />
of Tyne’s business with Nissan, but otherwise<br />
it is implementing “standard software”,<br />
said McKaig. Having two vendors<br />
does not add to the implementation<br />
time significantly – a complex system<br />
like this should be rolled out in stages,<br />
rather than trying to implement all systems<br />
in one “big bang”, added McKaig.<br />
CommTrac has been deployed at<br />
mixed terminals before, including<br />
APMT’s Pipavav and Callao facilities<br />
where it manages dry bulk, handled<br />
alongside container operations controlled<br />
by Navis software. The two systems<br />
are not, however, integrated in any way.<br />
Trueman and McKaig are optimistic<br />
that there is a good market for a more<br />
integrated approach. “On the surface it<br />
looks like the amalgam of two solutions<br />
is more complex than a Port Management<br />
System but typical PMS solutions<br />
don’t provide the level of functionality<br />
required by the individual terminal<br />
operations and it is here that our<br />
integrated solution will pay dividends,”<br />
said Trueman.<br />
Container operations at the Port of Tyne will benefit from a variety of modules included in the<br />
Autostore Container Terminal Management System<br />
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improvement op<strong>port</strong>unities in order to ensure optimized performance of the terminal. Welcome to the<br />
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Ad_ABB_A5_130419.indd 2 2013-04-19 14:29<br />
May 2013 33
Malta takes Telematics<br />
Free<strong>port</strong> Malta is now using a<br />
telematics system to provide information<br />
on vehicle location<br />
for yard planning purposes to<br />
its Navis TOS, and on machine<br />
condition to its IBM Maximo<br />
maintenance and fleet management<br />
software.<br />
Before it was acquired by Cargotec,<br />
Navis had been pushing<br />
into the telematics market, with<br />
an ultimate goal of bringing information<br />
on a vehicle’s location<br />
and its condition together to improve<br />
overall fleet management<br />
and yard planning. Cargotec is<br />
now marketing equipment-based<br />
systems and products under the<br />
Kalmar brand, where they are offered<br />
as a TOS and equipment<br />
OEM agnostic product.<br />
Kalmar has installed GPS units<br />
on 63 terminal tractors and 23<br />
STS cranes at the terminal. The<br />
GPS units are part of an onboard<br />
vehicle controller supplied<br />
by CrossControl, which is now<br />
part of Actuant Corporation and<br />
specialises in controllers for diagnostic<br />
and integrated fleet management<br />
applications.<br />
CrossControl is supplying<br />
Bromma with controllers and<br />
displays for its Green Zone<br />
products. Kalmar is also using<br />
CrossControl’s processor (called<br />
Main Controller) and display<br />
computers in its SmartPort range<br />
of <strong>port</strong> automation products. At<br />
Malta Free<strong>port</strong> Kalmar installed<br />
Main Controller processors<br />
without a display to provide the<br />
GPS position that Free<strong>port</strong> uses<br />
as part of its yard planning system.<br />
Malta Free<strong>port</strong> is using Navis<br />
PrimeRoute vehicle allocation<br />
and travel optimisation software.<br />
This benefits from “job stepping”,<br />
where the software gets a<br />
message when a particular piece<br />
of equipment has arrived at one<br />
stage in a move, such as underneath<br />
a crane or at the right spot<br />
in an RTG block. Malta Free<strong>port</strong><br />
uses the GPS on STS cranes to<br />
implement geo-fences around<br />
the crane <strong>port</strong>al so the software<br />
knows instantly when a terminal<br />
tractor arrives under a crane<br />
without having to rely on the<br />
tractor driver hitting a function<br />
key.<br />
Free<strong>port</strong> is also implementing<br />
IBM’s Maximo software, which<br />
tracks assets and is used to develop<br />
maintenance schedules to<br />
ensure preventative maintenance<br />
is scheduled and completed. It<br />
also manages spare parts inventory<br />
and can be used to operate a<br />
just-in-time ordering system for<br />
spare parts.<br />
To sup<strong>port</strong> Maximo, the Main<br />
Controller connects to the tractors<br />
electronic system via CAN<br />
Bus to collect data, which is then<br />
sent by WiFi to the SmartPort<br />
server. Data on fuel level, engine<br />
hours, coolant level, coolant tem-<br />
TSB in the process mine<br />
Korea’s Total Soft Bank (TSB)<br />
is encouraging terminals to consider<br />
“process mining” as they<br />
look for ways to leverage operational<br />
data to boost productivity.<br />
Data mining is a way of analysing<br />
data to discover hidden correlations<br />
and trends in recorded<br />
events. In a container terminal<br />
context, said TSB, data mining<br />
typically clusters “containers by<br />
cargo type or operator to figure<br />
out average handling time for the<br />
group.” This is useful to some extent,<br />
but is ultimately limited by<br />
the existing statistical functions<br />
of the TOS. It cannot really tell<br />
anything more than the handling<br />
time of various containers broken<br />
down by their attributes, said<br />
TSB.<br />
Where terminals want to dig<br />
into data to try and identify<br />
where they can improve performance<br />
TSB considers “process<br />
mining” is a more useful<br />
approach. “Process mining is a<br />
branch of data mining focusing<br />
more on events and timing,” said<br />
TSB. It examines event logs to<br />
determine a sequence of events<br />
and when they happened.<br />
According to the software<br />
company, container terminals<br />
are ideal for process mining because<br />
they have a TOS to control<br />
cranes and other container<br />
handling equipment. There are<br />
lots of event logs with all the<br />
perature, and oil pressure is then<br />
forwarded on to Maximo every<br />
five seconds.<br />
Free<strong>port</strong> Malta is still implementing<br />
Maximo and is not yet<br />
using this information to sup<strong>port</strong><br />
some of its advanced features,<br />
necessary information required,<br />
“like which container has been<br />
handled by which crane at which<br />
time”. Terminals also have a well<br />
defined “priori process model”;<br />
meaning they have clear repetitive<br />
processes and time period<br />
norms against which specific<br />
events can be compared.<br />
“By breaking down the container<br />
handling process via process<br />
mining, we are able to grasp<br />
the average time required between<br />
events and check which<br />
containers are handled over average<br />
time and then try to find<br />
common attributes of containers<br />
or events through data mining<br />
techniques” said TSB. Process<br />
mining requires some expertise<br />
to distinguish im<strong>port</strong>ant data<br />
from other events and this is<br />
where the experience of a TOS<br />
supplier is needed.<br />
Getting detailed event logs is<br />
obviously im<strong>port</strong>ant for this type<br />
of process mining. Automated<br />
or semi-automated terminals<br />
where the position of equipment<br />
is known through the crane or<br />
fleet management software have<br />
much more detailed event logs<br />
than conventional terminals. At<br />
conventional manned terminals<br />
equipment positions might only<br />
be recorded intermittently. Typically<br />
a TOS knows equipment<br />
positions only when drivers re<strong>port</strong><br />
arrival at various points in<br />
like scheduling fuelling dynamically.<br />
So far the main benefits<br />
Malta has achieved from the telemetry<br />
system relate to getting<br />
accurate information in real time.<br />
Free<strong>port</strong> is now confident it has<br />
the platform to get the benefits<br />
ICT FOCUS<br />
Malta Free<strong>port</strong> is using vehicle telematics to provide real time data to planning and fleet management applications<br />
the task. TSB noted that in these<br />
cases, machine generated data<br />
should be incorporated before<br />
process mining begins.<br />
TSB has used process mining<br />
at the Kao Ming Container<br />
Terminal (KMCT) in Taiwan to<br />
investigate the reasons behind<br />
re-handling moves in its automated<br />
RMG stacks. It collected<br />
information on the re-handling<br />
moves and the re-handled<br />
container attributes over a oneweek<br />
period. Through process<br />
mining TSB identified seven reasons<br />
for re-handling and was able<br />
to suggest improvements to two<br />
specific types of patterns. The<br />
of its investment in Maximo and<br />
planning applications like Prime<br />
Route without having to rely on<br />
manual processes or data entry.<br />
A company spokesperson said<br />
the results so far “are very<br />
encouraging”.<br />
details are confidential but TSB<br />
said the improvements reduced<br />
shuffling moves by between 25%<br />
and 50%.<br />
Chih-Cheng Kao, KMCT<br />
vice president of terminal operation,<br />
said process mining produced<br />
a good result quickly. Its<br />
administrators were able to get<br />
the required data easily and take<br />
immediate action to reduce shuffling.<br />
“[Process mining analysis]<br />
is one of the intelligent analysis<br />
tools for terminal operators to<br />
manage and control job orders<br />
smoothly at the yard and shipside.<br />
Thanks to the instant and reliable<br />
analysis data obtained from<br />
it, we can decrease the shuffling<br />
rate in yard and increase operational<br />
performance immediately<br />
at shipside and yard,” he said.<br />
TSB used process mining to investigate re-handling at Taiwan’s Kao Ming<br />
Container Terminal, which is slated to expand to four berths next year<br />
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34<br />
May 2013
NEWS ICT FOCUS<br />
Auckland’s efficiency drive<br />
Ports of Auckland is trying a new<br />
yard planning scheme as it gears<br />
up to transition to SPARCS N4<br />
New Zealand’s Ports of Auckland<br />
Limited (POAL) is charting<br />
a new course as it prepares to<br />
make the transition from Navis<br />
SPARCS to SPARCS N4. The<br />
move involves replacing several<br />
applications including SPARCS,<br />
the PACTS yard inventory system<br />
developed in Australia by<br />
Patrick Stevedores, and an inhouse<br />
development called PIMS<br />
(Port Information Management<br />
Systems) that provides billing<br />
functionality and operational re<strong>port</strong>ing<br />
with SPARCS N4.<br />
As previously re<strong>port</strong>ed, in<br />
2008 POAL contracted Korea’s<br />
Total Soft Bank to complete a<br />
“blueprint and detailed planning<br />
phase” for a comprehensive system<br />
covering all aspects of container<br />
terminal operations, CFS,<br />
billing and e-commerce services.<br />
After considering several options,<br />
Raoul Borley, POAL general<br />
manager of <strong>port</strong> operations, said<br />
the decision was made last year<br />
to stay with Navis, for several<br />
reasons.<br />
“We believe SPARCS N4<br />
is the best platform for an IT<br />
structure that can sup<strong>port</strong> our<br />
productivity targets and goal of<br />
being the technology leader in<br />
the New Zealand market,” he<br />
explained. POAL wants to embrace<br />
new technologies as they<br />
become available, and it believes<br />
Navis is a leader in this respect.<br />
“Navis has been tried and tested<br />
by most other large <strong>port</strong>s in<br />
New Zealand, POAL’s customers<br />
are familiar with it and POAL’s<br />
Board were assured that this was<br />
a good investment,” he added.<br />
Borley’s own experience with<br />
SPARCS N4 also played a role.<br />
He worked for 15 years in a variety<br />
of roles at Ports of Auckland<br />
prior to leaving in 2010.<br />
He then moved to UK-based<br />
Best Shore Business Solutions, a<br />
Navis SPARCS implementation<br />
partner and process improvement<br />
consultant, before returning to<br />
Auckland in January 2012.<br />
Productivity drive<br />
With a strong directive from the<br />
CEO and executive team, POAL<br />
has a clearly stated objective to<br />
raise its productivity, but it is not<br />
looking to SPARCS N4 to deliver<br />
a step change all by itself.<br />
POAL is engaged in process improvement<br />
right now, developing<br />
new yard planning and operational<br />
rules that it will carry over<br />
to SPARCS N4.<br />
Although it has made a lot of<br />
capital investment in STS cranes<br />
and straddle carriers, POAL in<br />
the past has struggled to achieve<br />
productivity over 28-29 moves<br />
per hour. Yard planning plays<br />
a key role in crane rates and<br />
this was one of the main areas<br />
where Borley saw immediate<br />
scope for improvement. “Though<br />
we use Navis Expert Decking,<br />
we weren’t using it very well,”<br />
he said.<br />
Before testing any new strategies<br />
an expert was brought in<br />
to conduct a detailed analysis of<br />
cargo types and container distribution<br />
across the yard. This analysis<br />
showed how better planning<br />
of container locations could sup<strong>port</strong><br />
higher vessel productivity.<br />
Since then the <strong>port</strong> has<br />
changed yard allocation criteria<br />
to better utilise the stacking area<br />
closer to the quayside. The focus<br />
of yard planning has gone from<br />
minimising straddle travel distances<br />
to staging and re-planning<br />
the yard to sup<strong>port</strong> higher crane<br />
productivity. This does mean<br />
straddle carriers are doing more<br />
moves, but they are performed<br />
within existing shifts, so the additional<br />
cost is limited to fuel and<br />
maintenance.<br />
Some of the planning concepts<br />
POAL is implementing are<br />
in fact borrowed from ASC yard<br />
planning, where containers are<br />
commonly moved three or more<br />
times as they progress from the<br />
landside to the waterside end of<br />
the block. Other new ideas are<br />
being developed in conjunction<br />
with Navis.<br />
Dwell time<br />
POAL is also tackling shipping<br />
practices that adversely affect its<br />
productivity. Dwell times are 2.5<br />
days for im<strong>port</strong> containers and<br />
3.5 for ex<strong>port</strong> boxes, but these<br />
figures do not include rolled<br />
boxes. It has made significant<br />
progress tackling the problem of<br />
containers arriving at the terminal<br />
without a Customs Ex<strong>port</strong><br />
Delivery Order (CEDO). Shippers<br />
would apply for a CEDO<br />
when the box was in the yard,<br />
but if it was not given, the container<br />
would have to be removed<br />
from the loading list and rolled.<br />
This played havoc with yard<br />
and vessel planning and POAL<br />
worked out 53% of vessels were<br />
impacted by CEDO issues. It<br />
was particularly a problem where<br />
one box in a pre-staged twin-lift<br />
pair failed to obtain a CEDO.<br />
Since February POAL has been<br />
enforcing a policy of removing<br />
from the load list any box without<br />
a CEDO two hours prior<br />
to the vessel ETA, and charging<br />
demurrage if the box is subsequently<br />
rolled. Financial penalties<br />
are bringing a change in shipper<br />
behaviour.<br />
Through a combination of<br />
process and yard planning<br />
changes POAL has been able to<br />
lift crane productivity above 32<br />
moves per hour. Borley said it<br />
recently hit 37 moves on several<br />
vessels and he is confident the<br />
terminal can get to 42 without<br />
adding more handling equipment.<br />
The experience has highlighted<br />
to POAL the difference<br />
between just using a TOS and<br />
using more advanced features to<br />
the full extent to unlock the potential<br />
of its investment in equipment.<br />
It has decided to purchase<br />
TBA’s CONTROLS emulation<br />
software to give it the ability to<br />
test different scenarios and configurations<br />
as it continues this<br />
process.<br />
Path to SPARCS N4<br />
Borley acknowledges that transitioning<br />
to SPARCS N4 is a<br />
big challenge, particularly in the<br />
integration and EDI areas where<br />
other <strong>port</strong>s are still having issues.<br />
POAL will manage as much of<br />
the transition as possible itself,<br />
and is now developing a plan<br />
for testing interfaces and implementing<br />
the software in stages.<br />
At this stage the plan is to<br />
make the transition in the Q2<br />
2014. Concurrently, POAL is<br />
running a separate tender for a<br />
Gate Operating System, which<br />
will be rolled out with gate and<br />
crane OCR after the TOS implementation<br />
is complete. Another<br />
project undergoing evaluation<br />
is a new GPS system for the<br />
straddle carriers that will be used<br />
to sup<strong>port</strong> real time container in-<br />
Auckland is using yard gantry crane planning concepts to sup<strong>port</strong> higher crane<br />
productivity with a straddle carrier system<br />
ventory and yard planning.<br />
Borley emphasised that getting<br />
the most out of SPARCS<br />
N4 entails a lot more challenges<br />
than the technical, integration<br />
aspects. POAL wants to work<br />
with its customers to show them<br />
how current business practices<br />
impact <strong>port</strong> productivity, and in<br />
some cases get them to embrace<br />
change. The <strong>port</strong> could mandate<br />
RFID truck tagging, for example,<br />
but a lot more efficiencies<br />
could be gained if the trucking<br />
community embraced RFID in<br />
its planning too. The <strong>port</strong> is now<br />
engaging with the wider New<br />
Zealand supply chain, including<br />
other NZ <strong>port</strong>s, on addressing<br />
some of these issues. <br />
Maher starts roll out<br />
Maher Terminals in New Jersey<br />
is now rolling out SPARCS<br />
N4, which would bring to an<br />
end what is believed to be the<br />
longest running SPARCS N4<br />
implementation project to<br />
date.<br />
Maher made the announcement<br />
that it would replace its<br />
in-house TOS with SPARCS<br />
N4 in 2008 and has been<br />
conducting extensive on-site<br />
testing using Aecom’s General<br />
Marine Terminal Emulation<br />
tool.<br />
This couples a simulation engine<br />
to the TOS to test how the<br />
TOS functions with real operational<br />
data and gives a graphical<br />
overview of how a terminal<br />
operates under the rules and<br />
parameters of the TOS planning<br />
functionality.<br />
The cultural and operational<br />
transition from Maher’s inhouse<br />
system to SPARCS N4<br />
has been a significant factor in<br />
prolonging the project.<br />
After it acquired Maher<br />
Terminals, Deutsche Bank’s<br />
RREEF Infrastructure reviewed<br />
its business and Brad<br />
Gordon, director of acquisitions,<br />
said Maher’s processes<br />
were out of step with the rest<br />
of the industry. He described<br />
its in-house TOS as a “huge<br />
waste of money” with “all the<br />
learnings of Maher and none<br />
of the learnings of the rest of<br />
the industry.”<br />
Maher is taking the final implementation<br />
in stages, starting<br />
with the empty depot in April<br />
before moving on to its main<br />
container terminal this month.<br />
Aspects of its existing<br />
CTMS TOS will run in parallel<br />
with SPARCS N4 for a<br />
time before the transition is<br />
completed in June.<br />
This makes the implementation<br />
period more complicated,<br />
with customers required to<br />
enter data into two systems at<br />
times, but significantly lowers<br />
the risk of operational problems.<br />
May 2013 35
ICT FOCUS<br />
Reefer monitoring set to roll<br />
Cranes cables.<br />
URSUS®<br />
IDENTEC Solutions has launched<br />
three new pilot projects for its Reefer<br />
Asset Management System (RAMS)<br />
over the last six months. All are at container<br />
terminals that are looking for a<br />
system to automate the reefer monitoring<br />
process as far as possible.<br />
The heart of IDENTEC’s Reefer<br />
Asset Management System is its UHF<br />
868-920 MHz active RFID technology<br />
and the Wireless Asset Management<br />
System (WAMS) platform developed<br />
by IDENTEC’s partner Mark-It Services,<br />
a US-based supplier of cold chain<br />
services. IDENTEC’s iQ350 RFID tags<br />
sup<strong>port</strong> two-way communication with<br />
its iPORT 350 readers to send and receive<br />
information to reefer boxes from<br />
the iSHARE server that sup<strong>port</strong>s the<br />
RAMS application.<br />
Rather than relying on the reefer<br />
having a power line modem, IDEN-<br />
TEC connects to the serial <strong>port</strong> directly<br />
to access the reefer’s micro controller.<br />
The RFID tags communicate with<br />
a local network of readers and have<br />
a 500m range for sending information<br />
and a 250m range for receiving.<br />
The RFID network is set up like a localised<br />
wireless system, with minimal<br />
fixed infrastructure, enabling it to be deployed<br />
very quickly virtually anywhere<br />
reefers are stored, including wheeled<br />
yards and temporary storage areas<br />
A complete product range.<br />
where reefers are powered by gensets.<br />
RAMS is independent of the reefer<br />
unit and carrier. Some reefer manufactures<br />
use proprietary data protocols<br />
for communication with the micro<br />
controller, in particular Thermo<br />
King with its i-box system. Michael<br />
Dempsey, IDENTEC’S general manager<br />
for <strong>port</strong>s and terminals, said it has<br />
come to arrangements with the reefer<br />
manufacturers and can connect to any<br />
container that has a serial <strong>port</strong>, including<br />
the four major suppliers, Carrier,<br />
Daiken, MCI/Star Cool and Thermo<br />
King. There are still some reefers that<br />
have no serial <strong>port</strong> at all in service,<br />
but IDENTEC is confident is can sup<strong>port</strong><br />
97-99% of the active reefer fleet.<br />
In the past, the reefer monitoring<br />
market has suffered from getting caught<br />
up in the uncertainty over e-seals and<br />
container tracking. Container terminals<br />
have been reluctant to invest, not knowing<br />
whether truly ubiquitous container<br />
tracking and monitoring would emerge<br />
as a supply chain norm driven by shippers<br />
and shipping lines.<br />
Maersk is rumoured to be announcing<br />
a new global monitoring system<br />
this year, but Dempsey does not see this<br />
dampening terminals’ demand for their<br />
own system. Over the last 12 months<br />
there has been a “huge awakening” to<br />
the potential of reefer monitoring, he<br />
added, driven mainly by the value proposition<br />
to container terminals.<br />
Reefer traffic is growing much faster<br />
than containerisation as a whole, and<br />
while a lot of terminals contract out<br />
reefer management services, the cost<br />
savings from automating the process are<br />
significant. Comprehensive monitoring<br />
also delivers a better service to shippers<br />
by enabling accurate information to be<br />
made available through the terminal’s<br />
customer web <strong>port</strong>al.<br />
Yard automation and safety are also<br />
driving factors. The need to keep automated<br />
cranes out of reefer zones<br />
while technicians are working creates<br />
an operational imperative to minimise<br />
the time technicians are on reefer racks<br />
servicing boxes.<br />
The location of the three pilot<br />
projects is confidential at this stage<br />
but they are all for different operators<br />
and include integration with Navis<br />
SPARCS and Tideworks TOS applications.<br />
Berg bullish<br />
on tracking<br />
PearTrack’s GPS tracking system and<br />
Sweloxx’s reusable container lock are combined<br />
in a new range of e-seals<br />
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The container tracking market is<br />
poised for spectacular growth, according<br />
to a new re<strong>port</strong> from Swedenbased<br />
business intelligence analyst Berg<br />
Insight. Berg’s latest re<strong>port</strong> found that<br />
the installed base of container tracking<br />
systems grew 54% in 2012. The<br />
number of active remote container<br />
tracking units deployed on intermodal<br />
shipping containers was 137,000 in<br />
Q4 2012, up from 89,000 a year earlier.<br />
Growing at a compound annual<br />
growth rate (CAGR) of 49.1%, this<br />
number is expected to reach 1M by<br />
2017. The penetration rate of remote<br />
tracking systems in the total population<br />
of containers is forecast to increase<br />
from 0.7% in 2012 to 4.1% in 2017.<br />
Berg’s 2013 forecast is actually less<br />
optimistic than its 2012 prediction.<br />
Then it calculated that the CAGR<br />
for container tracking was 66.9% and<br />
1M installed units would be reached<br />
by 2016.<br />
Berg noted that after acquiring<br />
StarTrak, PAR LMS and GlobalTrak,<br />
Orbcomm has emerged as the largest<br />
vendor of tracking devices. It recently<br />
announced its first “self-powered<br />
M2M tracking and monitoring<br />
device” for container tracking, the<br />
Orbcomm GT 1100. Orbcomm is<br />
also focusing on the trucking market<br />
where it just announced seven new<br />
trans<strong>port</strong> companies have signed up<br />
for its ReeferTrak solution for refrigerated<br />
trans<strong>port</strong> assets.<br />
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RFID deals<br />
The UK’s Avonwood Developments Ltd<br />
has won further orders for its RFIDbased<br />
safety system, ZoneSafe. The system<br />
uses Eureka dual frequency active RFID<br />
transponders worn by ground staff, together<br />
with RFID readers on equipment,<br />
to warn drivers when people enter a safety<br />
zone around a vehicle.<br />
The new orders come from undisclosed<br />
<strong>port</strong>s in Chile and Australia. “The system<br />
will be fitted to reach stackers, heavy-duty<br />
forklift trucks and small forklift trucks<br />
operating within the <strong>port</strong>s to improve<br />
safety between pedestrians and industrial<br />
vehicles,” Avonwood said in a statement.<br />
The firm is marketing ZoneSafe as a<br />
“safety aid” that is especially useful in reducing<br />
some of the issues and safety risks<br />
associated with industrial vehicles such as<br />
limited visibility and blind spots. It comes<br />
in two options: Compact and Standard.<br />
The Compact version is designed for<br />
small forklifts and machinery, while the<br />
Standard system is suitable for large industrial<br />
vehicles like reach stackers, but<br />
versions are compatible.<br />
36<br />
May 2013
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PORT DEVELOPMENT<br />
Rotterdam gives rise to new berths<br />
Construction of the new container terminals<br />
on Maasvlakte II is on schedule<br />
The first phase of the Port of Rotterdam’s<br />
massive Maasvlakte II (MVII) docks were<br />
officially opened during May, after almost<br />
five years of construction work. The<br />
project got under way in September 2008.<br />
Since then the contractors, led by Boskalis<br />
and Van Oord have dredged and pumped<br />
240M m 3 of sand, constructed a 3.5 kms<br />
long, hard seawall with 7 Mt of stone and<br />
20,000 concrete blocks from the old seawall,<br />
built 3.5 kms of quay wall, 24 kms<br />
of roads and 14 kms of rail track.<br />
Almost 1000-ha of land have been<br />
created, including a reserve bank of 300-<br />
ha, while the enclosed <strong>port</strong> basins have a<br />
20m deep water area in excess of 560-ha.<br />
All of this, says the <strong>port</strong> authority (HBR),<br />
was achieved on time and for €150M less<br />
than the budget of €1.7B.<br />
When the plans for MVII were first<br />
unveiled in the early 2000s, the economic<br />
outlook was very different from today’s.<br />
As such, while MVII is a marvel of engineering<br />
and project management, its immediate<br />
aim, to relieve pressure on existing<br />
facilities, is less pressing. Hence it will<br />
lead to even more competition in the<br />
container handling sector than envisaged.<br />
As is well-known, ECT’s owner<br />
Hutchison filed a lawsuit against HBR<br />
claiming €900M for damage to its interests<br />
caused by the opening of rival container<br />
terminals on MVII. The case is ongoing<br />
and is sub judice.<br />
The construction of the two MVII<br />
container terminals - to be operated by<br />
Rotterdam World Gateway (consortium<br />
of DP World, APL, MOL, HMM and<br />
CMA CGM) and APM Terminals - is on<br />
schedule and both will be operational<br />
towards the end of next year.<br />
MVII is also generating interest from<br />
companies that want to establish them-<br />
Maersk’s 8400 TEU capacity MAERSK<br />
TUKANG was part of the flotilla of ships, boats<br />
and barges that sailed along the Yangtsekanaal<br />
to mark the official opening of Maasvlakte II<br />
in May. (Photo: Aeroview)<br />
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
Getting tied up<br />
ECT has taken a joint stake in the Rotterdam<br />
company that developed a shorebased<br />
constant tension mooring system.<br />
As previously re<strong>port</strong>ed (<strong>WorldCargo</strong> <strong>News</strong>,<br />
June 2010, p6), the design, known as<br />
ShoreTension, was developed by KVRE<br />
(the Royal Boatmen’s Association), which<br />
is responsible for the mooring and<br />
unmooring of seagoing vessels in Rotterdam<br />
and some other Dutch <strong>port</strong>s.<br />
ECT tested ShoreTension at its Delta<br />
Terminal and in April this year it acquired<br />
a 50% stake in a joint venture with KVRE,<br />
ShoreTension Holding (STH). It also acquired<br />
four stand-alone systems together<br />
with the associated hydraulic primers.<br />
The advantage of Shore Tension. says<br />
STH, is that the mooring rope tension<br />
can be monitored directly from the shore<br />
and the stevedore does not have to worry<br />
that the vessel’s self-tensioning winches<br />
are performing to standard. It is the difference<br />
in tension between the different<br />
mooring lines that cause a ship to move<br />
and potentially cause the mooring lines<br />
to snap. Even if the ship’s winches are<br />
working correctly, but adjusted for different<br />
tensions, problems may arise.<br />
ShoreTension dampens the ship’s<br />
motion and absorbs its energy. As a result,<br />
vessels hardly move even in strong winds,<br />
swells, fast currents or in the wake of passing<br />
shipping traffic. Even in extreme conditions,<br />
the system is capable of preventing<br />
mooring lines from snapping.<br />
The ShoreTension cylinder exerts the<br />
same, constant pressure to the ship’s mooring<br />
lines fastened to the bollards on the<br />
quay. No on-going power is needed. An<br />
external hydraulic system, normally supplied<br />
from a specially equipped van, is<br />
required, but only at start-up to prime<br />
the unit to the correct tension prior to<br />
use. After that, the cylinder moves hydraulically<br />
in line with the forces to which<br />
the mooring line is exposed.<br />
The system provides high tension<br />
force and pays out the line, coping with<br />
peak loads without exceeding the line’s<br />
minimum breaking load (MBL). This<br />
dampens ship motion and absorbs the<br />
energy. When peak loads have passed, the<br />
unit heaves in the line with the energy<br />
stored and returns to its initial position.<br />
For additional security, ShoreTension is<br />
used in combination with a high-quality<br />
mooring line made of HMPE, a <strong>super</strong>strong<br />
synthetic fibre. These mooring lines<br />
are issued to the ship from the shore. ❏<br />
ShoreTension on test in Rotterdam<br />
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Hyster_<strong>WorldCargo</strong><strong>News</strong>_May13.indd 1 29/04/2013 16:56<br />
May 2013 39
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
PORT DEVELOPMENT<br />
This shot of Delta DDE 2 shows how tight the Amazonehaven is, as the<br />
container barge is backing out. The grabs in the foreground are on a floating<br />
crane moored near the end of the EMO coal and iron ore terminal<br />
selves in the associated distribution<br />
park, although as yet there are<br />
no firm bookings.<br />
Opening up<br />
Currently the only deepsea market<br />
competitor to ECT is APMT,<br />
which operates on a 100-ha parcel<br />
(formerly known as Delta<br />
Sealand terminal) on the Delta<br />
terminal where ECT occupies the<br />
remaining 270-ha. ECT also operates<br />
the Euromax terminal on<br />
the Yangtzehaven, which is now<br />
the approach channel to the MVII<br />
terminals. Last year, ECT handled<br />
around 7.7M TEU in Rotterdam,<br />
including the City terminal in the<br />
Waalhaven (formerly known as<br />
Home terminal), while APMT<br />
handled 4M TEU.<br />
Now that the main construction<br />
work for MVII is complete,<br />
it will be possible to extend<br />
Euromax into the newly reclaimed<br />
land area.<br />
ECT is currently refurbishing<br />
and upgrading the Delta terminal.<br />
It is understood to have ordered<br />
11 ZPMC cranes with a 24-<br />
wide deck coverage and a clear<br />
light height above quay of 50m. It<br />
has also ordered 11 ASCs from<br />
Kalmar and 22 hybrid drive AGVs<br />
from VDL as replacements for ageing<br />
equipment at Delta, but there<br />
is no indication where the STS<br />
cranes will be deployed. ECT declined<br />
<strong>WorldCargo</strong> <strong>News</strong>’ request<br />
for information.<br />
Steady going<br />
The last three years have seen<br />
Rotterdam’s container volumes<br />
relatively stable at around the 11M<br />
TEU level - 11.15M TEU,<br />
11.88M TEU and 11.87M TEU<br />
in 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively.<br />
While this is not the growth<br />
pattern the <strong>port</strong> enjoyed when<br />
MVII was planned, HBR is comfortable<br />
with these figures, noting<br />
that competing <strong>port</strong>s are in a similar<br />
position, if not worse.<br />
Antwerp, the third biggest<br />
container <strong>port</strong> in Europe, has remained<br />
consistent at around 8.5M<br />
TEU, while second place Hamburg<br />
saw bigger fluctuations. Its<br />
2010 throughput of 7.9M TEU<br />
jumped to 9M TEU in 2011 and<br />
fell back to 8.64M TEU last year.<br />
Containerised tonnage has<br />
grown faster than volumes, due to<br />
a reduction in empty backhauls to<br />
the Far East. The figure for Rotterdam<br />
was 125.4 Mt last year,<br />
marginally up from 123.6 Mt in<br />
2011 while the 2010 tonnage was<br />
over 10 Mt lower at 112.3 Mt.<br />
Containerised tonnage was the<br />
biggest segment after liquid bulk,<br />
comfortably above dry bulk,<br />
which fell slightly to 78.1 Mt.<br />
Container focus<br />
The <strong>port</strong> remains firmly focused<br />
on containers for long term<br />
growth. There is no provision for<br />
major bulk handling facilities on<br />
MVII as HBR considered there<br />
is sufficient capacity at the<br />
Waalhaven, Europoort and at<br />
Maasvlakte I, in the form of EECV,<br />
EMO and 15 smaller terminals<br />
such as Rotterdam Bulk Terminal,<br />
European Bulk Services,<br />
Marcor, ADM and so on.<br />
It also considers that the traditional<br />
staples of heavy bulk im<strong>port</strong>s,<br />
such as thermal coal, iron<br />
ore and coking coal are in decline.<br />
While thermal coal handling is<br />
projected to remain stable, if not<br />
grow, for the next decade or so,<br />
fossil fuel power generation will<br />
eventually be overhauled by renewable<br />
energy. Even if biomass,<br />
a substitute for coal burning, takes<br />
over from coal, it will not need<br />
the heavy handling plant and large<br />
open stockyards that coal requires.<br />
The European steel making<br />
market is also changing. It will<br />
emerge as a far slimmer industry<br />
focused more on high grade rolled<br />
steels rather than trying to compete<br />
with basic steels, which will<br />
be im<strong>port</strong>ed from China and even<br />
from the US, where shale gas is<br />
driving down energy prices.<br />
MVII is about handling semiprocessed<br />
commodities and consumer<br />
goods carried in containers,<br />
and the logistics to sort, store<br />
and distribute this traffic, along<br />
with the formation of business<br />
park “clusters” to sup<strong>port</strong> these<br />
activities. There are advanced plans<br />
for developing an industrial park<br />
for a bio-based chemical industry<br />
on the site next to Lyondell. Together<br />
with partners, HBR is developing<br />
the infrastructure for the<br />
site, such as jetties and mains services<br />
connections for gas, water,<br />
electricity etc. This approach, believes<br />
HBR, offers businesses the<br />
advantage of being able to concentrate<br />
on their core activities.<br />
Dukes of Alba<br />
HBR is placing mooring piles for<br />
ship-to-ship transfer, which it sees<br />
as a growing, but possibly, short<br />
term market. Demand for this type<br />
of activity is growing strongly, especially<br />
in the liquid bulk sector,<br />
due mainly to oil coming from<br />
Russia, which is shipped to Asia<br />
in larger tankers than the panamax<br />
size that can access the Baltic.<br />
There is also interest from the<br />
dry bulk sector, particularly for<br />
grains and other agri-bulks, while<br />
the area could also be employed<br />
for biomass transhipment from<br />
transatlantic bulkers to barges for<br />
delivery to Dutch and German<br />
inland power plants. This activity,<br />
on a limited scale, is currently carried<br />
out in the Waalhaven, which<br />
is limited in space and also entails<br />
a long passage upriver for the deep<br />
sea vessel. HBR is investing<br />
around €10M in the moorings and<br />
they will be ready next year.<br />
Financing<br />
With MVII phase 1 now opened,<br />
HBR has been able to determine<br />
the actual costs. In 2006 it was estimated<br />
that €1.7B would be spent<br />
on the first phase. On top of that,<br />
due to the project’s complexity<br />
and size, a “contingency” of<br />
€200M was added to allow for<br />
setbacks and deviations from the<br />
plan, taking the budget to €1.9B.<br />
It appears that the first phase came<br />
in at €1.55B, or €150M under<br />
budget, while the €200M contingency<br />
fund was not necessary.<br />
The net result of the <strong>port</strong> authority<br />
in 2012 was almost<br />
€228M, some €33M above the<br />
figure for 2011. CFO Paul Smits<br />
noted: “These figures imply we<br />
The first two ASCs from Hans Kuenz have been erected at APMT’s MVII<br />
terminal. They are just visible in the middle of the picture on p39 (Photo: Provoice)<br />
can continue to invest in our <strong>port</strong><br />
area. This is very im<strong>port</strong>ant for<br />
development in the long-term.<br />
“At the same time it offers the<br />
op<strong>port</strong>unity to increase dividends<br />
to our shareholders [Rotterdam<br />
municipality 70% and the Dutch<br />
State 30%]. At the end of last year<br />
we had already agreed with the<br />
customers to reduce <strong>port</strong> dues to<br />
below the level of 2008.”<br />
The two most im<strong>port</strong>ant<br />
sources of income are site leases<br />
or rents and <strong>port</strong> dues. Lease/<br />
rental income increased by 9.3%<br />
to €291.7M, driven by the new<br />
leases on MVII, price indexation<br />
of current contracts, and the renewal<br />
of a number of contracts at<br />
more competitive prices. Port dues<br />
increased by 0.6% to €307.3M,<br />
which was a lower rate of growth<br />
than the increased throughput due<br />
to higher discounts. Considerable<br />
<strong>port</strong> due discounts also apply in<br />
2013. In total, operating income<br />
increased by 4.6% to €615.3M.<br />
A total of €625.7M was invested<br />
in the <strong>port</strong> in 2012, of<br />
which €394.1M related to MVII.<br />
Investments are thus higher than<br />
operating income, but in the next<br />
few years investment volume will<br />
be considerably lower as the first<br />
phase of MVII is over and it will<br />
generate lease income..<br />
The <strong>port</strong> has proposed a dividend<br />
of €85.6M. In addition to<br />
its share of that, the Dutch State<br />
has also been “repaid” €290M of<br />
its original contribution to the<br />
construction of MVII. The favourable<br />
financial returns provided the<br />
op<strong>port</strong>unity to reduce the debt<br />
eight years earlier than was originally<br />
agreed in 2005. ❏<br />
Maasvlakte II panorama in April 2013. (Photo: Aeroview)<br />
40<br />
May 2013
PORT DEVELOPMENT<br />
Antwerp looks to take a left turn<br />
Along with other <strong>port</strong>s in the Hamburg-Le<br />
Havre range, Antwerp’s<br />
2012 performance was relatively<br />
stable, with a total of 184 Mt handled (-<br />
1.6%). Container traffic was off by 0.3%<br />
to 8.64M TEU, although containerised<br />
tonnage fell by 1% to 104 Mt. This 1:12<br />
TEU/tonnage underscores the <strong>port</strong>’s continuing<br />
“cargo generation” role relative<br />
to other leading North Continent <strong>port</strong>s.<br />
The 1Q/2013 results appear satisfactory,<br />
but show some alarming trends. Total<br />
throughput was up by 1.4% to 47 Mt,<br />
with liquid bulk traffic up by 37.4% to<br />
14.21 Mt, a <strong>port</strong> record. However, dry<br />
bulk throughput fell by 33.2% to 3.56 Mt,<br />
with coal traffic plunging by 69% to<br />
536,000t and iron ore tonnage down by<br />
12.4% to 581,600t. In unit and tonnage<br />
terms, container traffic fell respectively by<br />
3% to 2.13M TEU and by 5.7% to 25.46<br />
Mt, resulting in a weaker TEU/tonnage<br />
ratio of 1:11.9. This points to ongoing<br />
weakness of the European economy.<br />
Land bank<br />
Antwerp has a significant land bank, occupying<br />
around 1070-ha on the left bank<br />
of the Schelde, where the existing enclosed<br />
docks are relatively underutilised<br />
and in some cases, such as the Doeldok<br />
and Verrebroekdok, uncompleted. A key<br />
reason is that access is dependent on just<br />
one lock, the Kallo Lock. The construction<br />
of a second lock access could transform<br />
the prospects for the Left Bank.<br />
Arguably this new access should have<br />
followed on from the construction of the<br />
Deurganckdok, and cut into the end wall<br />
of this tidal dock, where PSA occupies<br />
one side and DP World Antwerp Gateway<br />
the other. At the time, however, the<br />
<strong>port</strong> was anxious to expand its container<br />
handling capacity due to rapidly increasing<br />
demand. Although a lock at the end<br />
of the dock was included in the plans,<br />
the finance, estimated at €340M lock, was<br />
not in place and was not actively sought.<br />
Subsequently the European Investment<br />
Bank stepped in with a 50% soft loan, with<br />
the remainder split between the City of<br />
Antwerp, the Flanders region and the Belgian<br />
national government. Measuring<br />
500m x 68m and with a sill depth of 17.8m,<br />
the new lock is claimed to be the largest in<br />
the world. More im<strong>port</strong>antly, it will take<br />
pressure of the Kallo Lock.<br />
As the Kallo Lock is working at full<br />
capacity even though some of the <strong>port</strong><br />
zones it gives access to are underutilised,<br />
it follows that overall utilisation levels cannot<br />
increase unless and until alternative<br />
access is provided. The <strong>port</strong> forecasts that<br />
Left Bank tonnage throughput could increase<br />
from 16 Mt in 2011 to around 25<br />
Mtpa by 2020 due to the new lock. It is<br />
scheduled for completion by 2016 and,<br />
because of its location, will offer easier<br />
and quicker access to the docks.<br />
Ambitious plans<br />
The <strong>port</strong> has ambitious plans for the<br />
1070-ha Saeftinghe Development Area to<br />
the north of the existing <strong>port</strong>. The definitive<br />
allocation of land for maritime,<br />
industrial or logistics activities will be<br />
decided later, but other investments are<br />
already agreed. These include the Schijns<br />
and Waasland logistics parks, new rail infrastructure<br />
including the Liefkenshoek<br />
rail tunnel under the Schelde, which will<br />
link directly to the main marshalling area<br />
on the Right Bank. It is also proposed to<br />
develop a 60-ha logistics site at the<br />
Verrebroekdok, which will be extended.<br />
The <strong>port</strong> has not “given up” on the<br />
tidal Saeftinghedok, which would be sited<br />
parallel with the Deurganckdok, but there<br />
is no definite time frame. The development<br />
has run into serious environmental<br />
objections, particularly as the Deurganckdok<br />
is underutilised. As re<strong>port</strong>ed on<br />
worldcargonews.com in March, the <strong>port</strong> has<br />
fined Antwerp Gateway and PSA a total<br />
of €13.48M because they are short of the<br />
tonnage commitments in their respective<br />
concession agreements signed in 2003.<br />
This was the first penalty charge levied<br />
in five years and, in theory, they could<br />
have been fined a total of €67M.<br />
In-house expansion<br />
Expansion is currently under way on the<br />
Left Bank without <strong>port</strong> master planning.<br />
Antwerp Euroterminal, a joint venture of<br />
Grimaldi and Mexiconatie, is lengthening<br />
the quay length beyond 1600m.<br />
The terminal is a hub for both<br />
Grimaldi’s north-south traffic and the<br />
transatlantic service of it affiliate ACL, and<br />
it also caters for Finnlines’ busy Antwerp<br />
service. The quay extension will make it<br />
easier to accommodate ACL’s five ‘G4’<br />
con-ro newbuildings, due in 2015.<br />
Opposite Antwerp Euroterminal in<br />
the Vrasenedok, EuroFruitPorts, the new<br />
multi-purpose refrigerated fruit terminal,<br />
recently completed its cold store facilities<br />
on schedule, occupying 13,600 m 2 .<br />
As previously re<strong>port</strong>ed, EuroFruitPorts is<br />
a joint venture of Euro<strong>port</strong>s Group and<br />
2006<br />
HybriLift ®<br />
Testing and Development<br />
2008<br />
200 HybriLift ® into<br />
Production and Operation<br />
2010<br />
120 HybriLift ® into<br />
Production and Operation<br />
2011<br />
160 HybriLift ® into<br />
Production and Operation<br />
2012<br />
Brand new 90 HybriLift ® is<br />
Launched and in Operation<br />
Marseille-based im<strong>port</strong>er and trader<br />
Compagnie Fruitière. Construction began<br />
last September and the facility handled<br />
its first vessel in January.<br />
The site occupies 38,700 m 2 and is adjacent<br />
to the original Westerlund timber<br />
terminal (also Euro<strong>port</strong>s.) On build-out it<br />
will also provide two 8100 m 2 dry cargo<br />
warehouses, a 17,500 m 2 CY with 500<br />
reefer plugs and reefer repair facilities. ❏<br />
View of the new lock construction, showing<br />
the PSA office (white building) and Doeldok<br />
at the top and Deurganckdok on the right.<br />
Subsequent dredging of Deurganckdok will<br />
enable the terminals there to be extended. The<br />
road will go over a lift bridge<br />
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May 2013 41
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
PORT DEVELOPMENT<br />
Amsterdam spreading its wings<br />
In April the Port of Amsterdam<br />
became incorporated,<br />
with City of Amsterdam as the<br />
sole shareholder. The new status<br />
enables the <strong>port</strong> authority<br />
to act autonomously and<br />
more quickly, and have access<br />
to new funding sources.<br />
The <strong>port</strong>, which was previously<br />
an internal division of the<br />
city, has already adopted a new approach<br />
regarding land bank accumulation.<br />
It has a target of handling<br />
125 Mtpa by 2026 on the<br />
Multi trailer Tractor<br />
Rail-Road Vehicle<br />
Stand C62<br />
same surface area as today, and at<br />
the same time it is looking for<br />
“value, not volume.” This is a relatively<br />
new approach in the regional<br />
context, as traditionally <strong>port</strong><br />
authorities derive most revenue<br />
from concessions, rents and leases.<br />
Of Antwerp’s 2012 turnover of<br />
€2.768B, for example, the largest<br />
contributor by far at 47% was<br />
“concessions” - that is, the revenue<br />
generated by terminal leases.<br />
The “new” <strong>port</strong> inherited the<br />
long-standing dossier for a new<br />
PORT EQUIPMENT<br />
MOL CY nv<br />
Diksmuidesteenweg 68<br />
8840 STADEN<br />
BELGIUM<br />
and bigger sea lock and this is a<br />
step closer to reality following approval<br />
of the scheme by the Dutch<br />
Minister of Infrastructure and<br />
Environment, Melanie Schultz<br />
van Haegen. The outline financing<br />
package is now in place, with<br />
the <strong>port</strong> contributing E130M, the<br />
local province E458M and the<br />
government a further E574M.<br />
The new lock, measuring<br />
500m x 65m and with a sill depth<br />
of 18m, will replace the existing<br />
Noordersluis, which currently<br />
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handles around 80% of the <strong>port</strong>’s<br />
traffic. When the latter lock was<br />
constructed in 1929, it was the<br />
largest lock in the world at 400m<br />
x 50m x 15m sill depth. The new<br />
lock will be sited between the<br />
Noordersluis, and the 1896-built<br />
Middensluis, measuring 225m x<br />
25m x 10m sill depth. If construction<br />
starts on schedule in 2015, the<br />
lock should be completed in 2019.<br />
The Noordersluis will be<br />
mothballed and activated only in<br />
the event of a “calamity” or downtime<br />
for maintenance in the new<br />
lock. Navigational restrictions on<br />
two large ships passing each other<br />
in the North Sea Canal make it<br />
impractical to keep both locks<br />
open, on the basis of “one in and<br />
one out.” The Middensluis and the<br />
even older and smaller Zuidersluis<br />
will remain open, for barges<br />
and small coasters only.<br />
At the same time as the lock is<br />
under construction, the <strong>port</strong> is<br />
planning to build an outer harbour<br />
breakwater structure outside the<br />
locks for lightering capesize<br />
bulkers to facilitate navigation in<br />
the ship canal. While the sill depth<br />
is 18m, maximum canal draught<br />
will probably be restricted to<br />
14.5m in the short to medium<br />
term until dredging, where possible,<br />
of the canal is implemented.<br />
Green shoots<br />
Last year, Amsterdam recorded a<br />
growth of 1.3% overall, a positive<br />
performance given the results of<br />
some of its neighbouring <strong>port</strong>s. In<br />
all, some 94.3 Mt were handled<br />
by Amsterdam and its affiliated<br />
<strong>port</strong>s on the North Sea Canal of<br />
Beverwijk, Zaandam and Velsen/<br />
Ijmuiden. If the latter facilities are<br />
stripped out, Amsterdam proper<br />
recorded an impressive growth,<br />
given the general economic conditions,<br />
of 3% to reach 77 Mt, the<br />
highest since the <strong>port</strong>’s 2008 peak.<br />
Much of the growth is attributed<br />
to liquid bulk, as the <strong>port</strong> is<br />
now promoting storage, but not<br />
processing, of oils. Coal remained<br />
stable at 15.6 Mt, while agri-bulk<br />
dropped 15% to 6.8 Mt. Biomass<br />
is a potential new traffic. If it displaces<br />
coal im<strong>port</strong>s, at under half<br />
the mass of coal it will require<br />
more ship calls to provide the generators<br />
with the same thermal<br />
energy as coal.<br />
A test biomass cargo was discharged<br />
from a bulker loaded in<br />
Vancouver (BC) with 47,000t of<br />
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Biomass discharge operation under way at OBA in Amsterdam<br />
wood pellets for RWE, with the<br />
cargo split between its Dutch<br />
power station at Geertruidenberg<br />
and also transhipped to Tilbury.<br />
A problem the <strong>port</strong> faces is that<br />
while it abuts the largest city in<br />
the Netherlands, it is still very<br />
much a “regional” <strong>port</strong> in terms<br />
of general cargo. Leaving coal<br />
trains aside, Amsterdam has never<br />
really “exploited” the potential of<br />
a wider hinterland, although Ter<br />
Haak operates a container barge<br />
shuttle along the North Sea Canal<br />
from Ijmuiden to its USA<br />
(United Stevedores Amsterdam)<br />
terminal for reefer containers carrying<br />
fresh fish from the Ijmuiden<br />
fishing market.<br />
These are loaded on its own<br />
barges at its terminal adjacent to<br />
the fish docks using a long wheelbase<br />
reach stacker with a negative<br />
lift attachment. Ter Haak accounts<br />
for most of the container traffic<br />
handled in Amsterdam.<br />
Cocoa pops<br />
The establishment by Ter Haak<br />
and Katoen Natie of a “cocoa<br />
shuttle” train to Berlin from the<br />
<strong>port</strong> (<strong>WorldCargo</strong> <strong>News</strong>, April 2013,<br />
p1) shows that “niche” intermodal<br />
op<strong>port</strong>unities exist and the <strong>port</strong><br />
wants to exploit them.<br />
A seemingly unlikely generator<br />
might be coal traffic. The coal<br />
terminals already dispatch substantial<br />
volumes by rail, and the volume<br />
is anticipated to increase to<br />
2.5 Mtpa with implementation of<br />
new terminal loading infrastructure<br />
and new marshalling and<br />
consolidation rail yards.<br />
At present there is not enough<br />
“aggregation” to sup<strong>port</strong> more<br />
container block trains, but it might<br />
be possible to couple container<br />
wagons to coal trains. As demand<br />
for intermodal services grows,<br />
block trains to certain destinations<br />
might become viable. In the<br />
meantime the <strong>port</strong> is prepared to<br />
act as a “facilitator” to bundle traffic<br />
in “cross-chain logistics.”<br />
This is already happening with<br />
the cocoa train. Cocoa shipper<br />
Cargill is providing the base load,<br />
but there are third party slots available<br />
on the service, and these<br />
might prove attractive for<br />
groupage operators, particularly<br />
when the frequency of the shuttle<br />
is doubled to twice/week. ❏<br />
Zeebrugge in the frame<br />
If there is such a thing as a short<br />
sea hub <strong>port</strong> in Europe, it is<br />
Zeebrugge. P&O Ferries and<br />
Transfennica have extended their<br />
cooperation and now offer a joint<br />
landbridge service for accompanied<br />
and unaccompanied trailers<br />
between Spain and England, with<br />
Zeebrugge as the pivot.<br />
P&O Ferries provides daily<br />
services between Zeebrugge and<br />
Hull, Tees<strong>port</strong> and Tilbury. On<br />
Tuesdays and Thursdays<br />
Transfennica sails between Zeebrugge<br />
and Bilbao. Customers can<br />
through book between the UK<br />
and Spain. Transfennica’s vessels<br />
call at P&O’s 113-115 terminal.<br />
Finnlines has started a weekly<br />
service linking Rostock, Zeebrugge<br />
and Bilbao, as an alternative<br />
to long-haul trucking. DFDS<br />
Logistics is operating a weekly<br />
container service linking Moss<br />
with Zeebrugge and Immingham.<br />
Between them the four Belgian<br />
sea<strong>port</strong>s accounted for 134.1<br />
Mt of shortsea shipping traffic in<br />
2012, just 0.85% less than in 2011,<br />
despite the deteriorating economic<br />
climate in Europe, but still<br />
13% higher than the disastrous<br />
year of 2009. Shortsea shipping<br />
accounted for 52% of overall volume<br />
in the <strong>port</strong>s.<br />
“Extended gate”<br />
On the deepsea side, APM Terminals<br />
Zeebrugge has launched an<br />
“extended gate” service, which<br />
provides a direct seagoing barge<br />
or train connection from<br />
Zeebrugge to Antwerp.<br />
Deepsea vessels discharging in<br />
Zeebrugge instead of Antwerp<br />
save 12 hours sailing time. Under<br />
the programme, barges and trains<br />
synchronised with mother ship<br />
calls in Zeebrugge discharge containers<br />
in a dedicated area in the<br />
trimodal terminal on the right<br />
bank in Antwerp.<br />
Barge and rail services between<br />
Zeebrugge and Antwerp have previously<br />
been available, but APM<br />
Terminals says that it will manage<br />
and operate the new service<br />
without any planning required<br />
from the shipping line. The operator<br />
states that its end-to-end<br />
process management will provide<br />
shipping lines to plan in an additional<br />
slow-steam without any disadvantage<br />
for cargo owners.<br />
Maersk Line started using the<br />
service when it went “live.” All<br />
containers destined to Antwerp<br />
were discharged from the mother<br />
vessel in Zeebrugge and transferred<br />
by barge or rail to Antwerp.<br />
APMT Zeebrugge recently<br />
signed an MOU with China Shipping<br />
Terminals for a 24% share.<br />
The transaction is expected to<br />
close in June. Currently, APMT<br />
Zeebrugge holds a 75% stake, as<br />
25% was sold to Shanghai International<br />
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42<br />
A205-AdTOC2013-<strong>WorldCargo</strong><strong>News</strong>-Radar.indd 1 2013 May 24 10:23:46<br />
May 2013
PORT DEVELOPMENT<br />
Looking to fulfil their potential<br />
In theory the two parts of the Zeeland<br />
Sea<strong>port</strong>s, Terneuzen and Vlissingen, are<br />
well placed on either side of the Scheldt<br />
estuary to take advantage of capturing<br />
some of Antwerp’s deep sea traffic. In<br />
practice, this does not appear to be the<br />
case and the <strong>port</strong>s serve their respective<br />
hinterlands, particularly the industries attracted<br />
to this region of Holland. There is<br />
considerable barge traffic between<br />
Zeeland <strong>port</strong>s and Antwerp and further<br />
into the Belgium/Dutch canal network,<br />
but mainly for domestic cargoes.<br />
Last year Zeeland Sea<strong>port</strong>s (ZSP) recorded<br />
a 4% drop in overall seagoing tonnage<br />
to 34 Mt, although CEO Hans van<br />
der Hart notes that “mid 2012, we were<br />
down 8%, so the figures were quite satisfactory<br />
in the end, especially when we<br />
take results of surrounding <strong>port</strong>s into consideration.”<br />
Barge traffic increased 12%,<br />
taking total volumes to around 70 Mt.<br />
ZSP wants to increase seaborne cargo<br />
to 50 Mtpa and inland shipping throughput<br />
to 40 Mt by 2020. To achieve this, the<br />
<strong>port</strong> argues, it will need a deep sea container<br />
terminal. The <strong>port</strong>s already handle<br />
some containers, with tonnage increasing<br />
7% last year to 202,000t. Most containers<br />
are handled at the Katoen Natie<br />
shortsea/barge terminal located adjacent<br />
to the large Dow Chemicals plant at<br />
Terneuzen, which provides the main<br />
cargo source, with very little third party<br />
traffic accommodated.<br />
Looking west<br />
Van der Hart is confident that “container<br />
handle will remain a spearhead [of <strong>port</strong><br />
strategy]. The Westerschelde Container<br />
Terminal project (WCT) is still in the picture.<br />
In the meantime, together with other<br />
companies, we are looking at possibilities<br />
to realise a terminal within the existing<br />
docks. This is really im<strong>port</strong>ant.”<br />
The CCO, Dick Gilhuis, endorses this:<br />
“We are convinced that containerisation<br />
is necessary for the growth of all trade<br />
and industry. Therefore, we have to think<br />
about container facilities in our <strong>port</strong>.”<br />
However, Gilhuis noted that he was not<br />
talking about facilities on the scale of<br />
WCT, but about a smaller scale container<br />
terminal in Vlissingen.<br />
“A WCT-scale facility will become<br />
im<strong>port</strong>ant longer term. We have to have<br />
such a terminal to serve our customers in<br />
a better way. A small terminal will handle<br />
around 500,000 TEU. ” According to the<br />
CCO, negotiations with various parties<br />
are looking quite promising.<br />
Gilhuis calculates that current northern<br />
European container handling capacity<br />
is around 60M TEU, which will increase<br />
to around 100M TEU by 2020.<br />
“Looking at these figures, one may wonder<br />
whether we still have to develop a<br />
major container terminal, such as WCT.<br />
That is why we will not embark upon<br />
such a venture yet. But a terminal is built<br />
to last for 40 years or so. If we stop the<br />
plans now, we will come up against quite<br />
another problem in the future.”<br />
Tactical withdrawal<br />
These cautious remarks reflect what is actually<br />
happening on the ground. The partners<br />
behind the Scaldia Terminal Operator<br />
(STO) container terminal have pulled<br />
out of the venture, stating that “the market<br />
we aimed at has collapsed...As the recession<br />
spread, container lines became<br />
ever more reluctant to move to Flushing.”<br />
STO was to be established on a 55-<br />
ha site by the Antwerp-based stevedoring<br />
company Zuidnatie in conjunction with<br />
the Ghent-based group Sea-Invest, with<br />
the latter holding a 70% stake.<br />
It is widely anticipated that the dominant<br />
Zeeland operator, Verbrugge, which<br />
last year handled over 15 Mt at the two<br />
<strong>port</strong>s, will take at least 13-ha of the site<br />
earmarked for STO, to which it may add<br />
at a later date (see also p56). Verbrugge recently<br />
secured a major contract to handle<br />
cellulose im<strong>port</strong>s from Eldorado Brazil<br />
Cellulose, which recently commissioned<br />
the largest single-line pulp mill in<br />
the world, with a capacity of 1.5 Mtpa.<br />
A substantial part of this will shipped<br />
from Santos, Brazil to the Scaldiahaven<br />
in Vlissingen, where it will be stored and<br />
subsequently trans<strong>port</strong>ed to the paper and<br />
Mainstream container handling remains<br />
an elusive target for Zeeland Sea<strong>port</strong>s<br />
tissue industries in the hinterland.<br />
Verbrugge will act as the European logistics<br />
hub for this traffic. It secured the<br />
contract in the face of strong competition,<br />
particularly from Antwerp.<br />
Invest at the bottom<br />
Despite the financial crisis and the economic<br />
recession, Verbrugge Terminals<br />
continues to investing substantially in its<br />
Vlissingen and Terneuzen sites. Last year,<br />
the operator invested €45M in expanding<br />
its terminal in Terneuzen, while in<br />
2011 similar amounts were put towards<br />
the expansion of Verbrugge Terminals in<br />
the new Scaldiahaven in Vlissingen, where<br />
Verbrugge was the first operator.<br />
Since 2007, the company has invested<br />
€165M in its facilities at both <strong>port</strong>s. In<br />
all, Verbrugge has three terminals in<br />
Vlissingen and Terneuzen, comprising<br />
over 1M m 2 of covered storage facilities.<br />
Typical bulk handling operation in Terneuzen<br />
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May 2013 43
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
PORT DEVELOPMENT<br />
Pictures from Ghent - left: agribulk terminal;<br />
and, right, DFDS Gothenburg service ro-ro<br />
ship in the Mercatordok. ZSP now sup<strong>port</strong>s<br />
Ghent’s call for a second and larger sea lock<br />
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According to president and CEO Martin<br />
Verbrugge, “the timing [for investment]<br />
is right as materials, such as steel, are somewhat<br />
cheaper than they were in 2008.<br />
There is overcapacity on the market, so<br />
this is a good time to build warehouses.”<br />
Last year, the company invested €40M<br />
in seven new warehouses for paper and<br />
metal products. It considers them as “longterm<br />
investments covering at least 25<br />
years.” A 50:50 joint venture has been established<br />
between Pacorini, a Glencore<br />
subsidiary and Verbrugge Terminals, called<br />
Scaldia Zeeland Warehousing (SZW).<br />
SZW is currently developing dedicated<br />
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Locked together<br />
While the Port of Ghent may be Belgium’s<br />
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to Zeeland Sea<strong>port</strong>s by the ship canal.<br />
Every ship that is bound for Terneuzen<br />
or Ghent must navigate the sea lock. Indeed,<br />
the overlap between the two <strong>port</strong>s<br />
can be confusing. Cargill, for instance, installed<br />
four new maize silos last year at its<br />
plant at Sas van Gent on the ship canal to<br />
receive ocean going shipments, yet this<br />
area falls under ZSP rather than Ghent.<br />
While Ghent has been pushing for a<br />
new sea lock for some time, ZSP now<br />
sup<strong>port</strong>s this development as it could<br />
stimulate further development at<br />
Terneuzen. The Westsluis dock is not only<br />
the smallest sea lock in the Hamburg-Le<br />
Havre range, but also the most heavily<br />
used with a utilisation rate in excess of<br />
70%. This eaves little time for regular<br />
maintenance and requires precise traffic<br />
management to reduce congestion.<br />
Agreement of the financing of the<br />
new lock, which will measure 427m x<br />
55m x 16 m sill depth, has now been<br />
agreed, with the <strong>port</strong> of Ghent already<br />
making provisions for its contribution on<br />
its balance sheet. A two year environmental<br />
impact study (EIS) will now be undertaken,<br />
of which €4M of the total<br />
€7.85M cost will be funded by the EU.<br />
Assuming a favourable EIS, it will be followed<br />
by a 5-year construction period for<br />
a 2020 commissioning date at the latest.<br />
Seine-Nord<br />
The other main infrastructure which involves<br />
the <strong>port</strong>, the construction of the<br />
Seine-Scheldt (Seine-Nord) canal may be<br />
nearer clarification. The project was signed<br />
off by French President Sarkozy with<br />
completion scheduled for 2017. However,<br />
when the Hollande Administration came<br />
to power in France it decided to audit on<br />
all major infrastructure investments.<br />
This is expected to be completed by<br />
mid-2013 and France will then apply for<br />
a larger EU subsidy. If this is secured, the<br />
canal, which will be able to handle barges<br />
up to 4500dwt, should be commissioned<br />
by 2019, linking the Paris basin with the<br />
Flemish sea<strong>port</strong>s.<br />
Ghent is cautious in the short term.<br />
Having topped its all time record of 50<br />
Mt in 2011, it slipped back to 49.5 Mt<br />
last year, although a drop of 1.2% cannot<br />
be considered too bad given the performance<br />
of nearby <strong>port</strong>s. This figure includes<br />
both seaborne and inland waterway traffic,<br />
which last year increased 1.3% to 23.2<br />
Mt. Marine trade fell 3.2% to 26.3 Mt.<br />
The drop in cargo is, however, not reflected<br />
in the <strong>port</strong>’s financial performance.<br />
Last year the <strong>port</strong>’s revenues increased<br />
from €30.4M to a record €31M, generating<br />
€8M profit. Of its total revenue, some<br />
35% was attributed to lease payments,<br />
while 34% was earned through ship dues.<br />
One growth area is containers, with<br />
Ghent Container Terminals, operated by<br />
Multilink,, recording a growth of 9% last<br />
year to 88,160 TEU from the 2011<br />
throughput of 80,100 TEU. In terms of<br />
tonnage, growth is even better at 13.5%<br />
with 618,880t handled. Terminal facilities<br />
are modest with shoreside handling<br />
carried out by a harbour mobile crane.<br />
Slow starter<br />
The <strong>port</strong> admits that 2013 “got off to a<br />
shaky start,” with throughput dropping<br />
3.6% to 11.6 Mt compared to the correspondingly<br />
period last year. However, the<br />
<strong>port</strong> also noted a year ago that “total cargo<br />
traffic had a poor start to 2012.” In the<br />
first quarter this year, a total of 6 Mt of<br />
seaborne traffic was handled, a drop of<br />
almost 4% compared with 1Q/2012.<br />
As last year, the <strong>port</strong> recorded a<br />
monthly average of 2 Mt for seaborne<br />
cargoes in the first three months, although<br />
January saw a decrease, February an increase,<br />
but there was a further decrease in<br />
the total volume of cargo traffic in March.<br />
Inland barge volumes, at 5.6 Mt were<br />
down 3.3% to 200,000t. ❏<br />
44<br />
May 2013
PORT DEVELOPMENT<br />
Betting on Black in uncertain times<br />
Since 2000, liner shipping companies, logistics<br />
service providers and global terminal<br />
operators have rushed to gain a<br />
foothold in the burgeoning economies of<br />
Turkey and the wider Black Sea region,<br />
as rising levels of industrial production,<br />
rapidly expanding inward investment and<br />
wide-ranging political and economic reforms<br />
boosted this area’s im<strong>port</strong>ance in<br />
the global trading arena.<br />
While securing a presence has not always<br />
proved easy and profitable for either<br />
liner shipping companies or terminal<br />
operators, container traffic has generally<br />
risen. However, both Turkish and<br />
Black Sea <strong>port</strong>s suffered heavily in 2009,<br />
with the former’s container throughput<br />
falling 13.5% to 4.52M TEU, compared<br />
with the previous year. Black Sea <strong>port</strong>s<br />
posted an even more dismal performance<br />
as their container traffic crashed more than<br />
40%, falling from 2.55M TEU in 2008 to<br />
1.49M TEU in 2009.<br />
“The banking and economic crisis hit<br />
the Black Sea container market hard, actually<br />
very hard,” said Eero Vanaale, a consultant<br />
at London-based Drewry Maritime<br />
Advisors, addressing delegates at the<br />
Port Finance International Black Sea conference<br />
held in Istanbul earlier this year.<br />
“The low demand for the region’s ex<strong>port</strong>s,<br />
the lack of cash for im<strong>port</strong>s and<br />
various governments’ recession and austerity<br />
measures mean that total volumes<br />
have still not recovered to their 2008<br />
level,” he added.<br />
Fewer direct calls<br />
In general, fewer direct-call liner services<br />
are in place as carriers have suspended<br />
operations, regrouped and in several cases<br />
returned to relaying the smaller volumes<br />
of cargo moving via <strong>port</strong>s in the Istanbul<br />
region, Port Said and elsewhere in the<br />
eastern Mediterranean.<br />
However, a pick-up in activity has<br />
been noted over the past 12 months and<br />
the average size of vessel deployed has<br />
increased as ocean carriers have sought<br />
to reduce their unit costs by employing<br />
bigger ships.<br />
Hence, the group comprising China<br />
Shipping Container Lines, Yang Ming, K<br />
Line, PIL and Wan Hai Lines now uses<br />
ships of 5,600 TEU in its Asia/Black Sea<br />
service while the G6 Alliance deploys 9x<br />
6,200 TEU class units in its weekly Asia<br />
Black Sea Express loop.<br />
Vanaale was confident that demand in<br />
the region would recover and that <strong>port</strong><br />
authorities, terminal operators and state<br />
bodies need to continue investing in their<br />
<strong>port</strong>s and trans<strong>port</strong> infrastructure.<br />
At the Romanian <strong>port</strong> of Constantza,<br />
for instance, container volumes have risen<br />
almost 23% since the nadir in 2010 when<br />
traffic dropped to 556,694 TEU. Nonetheless,<br />
the near 685,000 TEU handled<br />
in 2012 was well down on the record<br />
1.4M TEU handled in 2007.<br />
Market Growth<br />
The Drewry consultant projected that<br />
up to 2017, Eastern Europe would be<br />
among the fastest growing container<br />
markets in the world, posting annual<br />
growth rates of at least 10% over this<br />
period. This compares with forecasted<br />
rises of less than 2.5% a year for northern<br />
Europe and 7% per year rises for<br />
both the Far East and Africa.<br />
Vanaale believes these rates of growth<br />
exceed planned capacity increases, an issue<br />
that needs to be addressed if the region<br />
is to achieve its potential. He concluded:<br />
“There are scarce quality investment<br />
op<strong>port</strong>unities as the fundamentals<br />
in the region’s <strong>port</strong> sector remain robust.”<br />
The traffic growth figures in Turkey<br />
also look impressive but the situation regarding<br />
future development appears very<br />
different. In 2000, the country’s <strong>port</strong>s handled<br />
just over 1.6M TEU, a figure that<br />
had risen to 7.2M TEU last year, equivalent<br />
to a compound annual growth rate<br />
over this period of more than 14%.<br />
This year, the country’s box traffic is<br />
expected to expand by 8-9% and then average<br />
between 7% and 8% a year over the<br />
next decade or so. This is well above the<br />
global annual average projection made by<br />
analysts, which stands in the 4-5% range.<br />
This optimistic scenario will be fuelled<br />
by the Turkish Government’s plan to tri-<br />
After mixed fortunes in recent years there<br />
is optimism for the future of Turkish and<br />
Black Sea <strong>port</strong>s, but is too much capacity<br />
being built, particularly in Turkey<br />
ple the nation’s GDP between 2010 and<br />
2023 and the considerable investment<br />
planned in new industrial parks, agricultural<br />
ventures and infrastructure projects.<br />
Huseyin Sipahioglu, an independent<br />
consultant specialising in <strong>port</strong>s, and<br />
a former employee at the <strong>port</strong>s of<br />
Mersin and Iskenderun, thinks box<br />
traffic is set for consistent growth, but<br />
he is concerned that there is a risk of<br />
container handling capacity getting out<br />
of control in the country.<br />
Speaking at the aforementioned conference<br />
in Istanbul, he said: “Only 60% of<br />
Throughput at Constantza recovered to<br />
685,000 TEU in 2012, but this figure was<br />
still down on the 1.4M TEU handled in 2007<br />
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
May 2013 45
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
Robert Yildirim believes that Turkey has<br />
significant potential, but is concerned about the<br />
number of terminal schemes in prospect<br />
46<br />
the country’s current capacity of 12M<br />
TEU was utilised in 2012, yet private <strong>port</strong><br />
operators are adding 10.2M TEU and the<br />
Government is planning to build at least<br />
19.6M TEU of extra capacity over the<br />
next 10 years or so. This is a massive 142%<br />
increase on present day capacity levels.”<br />
Jonathan Beard, chairman and CEO<br />
of Catoni Group of Companies, one of<br />
Turkey’s largest ship agency firms, did not<br />
share this view. He argued that the nation’s<br />
infrastructure, including its <strong>port</strong>s,<br />
needed to be improved and expanded so<br />
that Turkey would be able to sup<strong>port</strong> its<br />
economic growth and trading potential.<br />
“With this country’s GDP forecast to<br />
rise three-fold by 2023, our container traffic<br />
could grow between five and six times<br />
the level it is now,” he said. “Potentially,<br />
that means having the capacity to handle<br />
over 42M TEU within the next 10 years.<br />
“In addition, Turkey has the potential<br />
to become a central trans<strong>port</strong>, freight logistics<br />
and trading hub for the greater region,<br />
as it has the population, scale of<br />
business and industry and political stability<br />
for this to work. It means that the state’s<br />
large-scale <strong>port</strong> plans at Candarli, Filyos<br />
and Mersin plus the new railroads and<br />
pipelines will be critical in this process.”<br />
More privatisation<br />
The Government, meanwhile, is pressing<br />
ahead with its <strong>port</strong> privatisation programme.<br />
According to Yesim Kurna, head<br />
of the project group at the Privatisation<br />
Administration, seven <strong>port</strong>s controlled by<br />
either the Turkish Maritime Organisation<br />
or the General Directorate of State Railways<br />
are in various states of readiness.<br />
“We are entering the third era of <strong>port</strong><br />
privatisation in Turkey,” she said, “having<br />
already raised US$226M from phase one<br />
and US$1.43B from stage two, which included<br />
the sale of the concession at<br />
Mersin to PSA International/Akfen for<br />
US$755M in 2007.”<br />
Among the general cargo and container<br />
<strong>port</strong>s that will be privatised under<br />
this next phase, the sale of Tekirdag<br />
is the most advanced. At Derince and<br />
Izmir, both of which had their privatisation<br />
tenders cancelled in 2010, zone<br />
planning studies are underway in advance<br />
of new documents being issued,<br />
according to Kurna.<br />
Robert Yildirim, chairman of the<br />
Yildirim Group, which owns Yil<strong>port</strong> – the<br />
biggest operator of <strong>port</strong>s and terminals<br />
in Turkey – agrees that the country has<br />
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PORT DEVELOPMENT<br />
significant potential, but he is concerned<br />
about the rapid expansion in the container<br />
<strong>port</strong> sector, especially in regions, such as<br />
the eastern Mediterranean.<br />
“We have looked at several projects<br />
in the Bay of Iskenderun but have decided<br />
not to put money into directly<br />
building <strong>port</strong>s/terminals here because of<br />
the number of schemes being talked about<br />
and the high risks involved,” he said.<br />
“But that does not rule out our company’s<br />
participation in managing such facilities<br />
and/or buying/helping them out<br />
with handling equipment. Our logistics<br />
company ETi, which runs various rail<br />
services and is building inland cargo service<br />
centres in the region, can also help<br />
local shippers and consignees streamline<br />
and improve their supply chains.”<br />
Overcapacity<br />
Yildirim’s concerns are perhaps understandable<br />
given that in 2012 the Eastern<br />
Mediterranean region processed just<br />
1.3M TEU but has between 7M and 12M<br />
TEU of new capacity being developed<br />
over the next 10-12 years.<br />
The main projects comprise:<br />
● Mersin – raising capacity of the existing<br />
PSA/Akfen operation from 1.7M<br />
TEU to 2.5M TEU.<br />
● Mersin International Port – Government-sponsored<br />
plan to build a facility<br />
capable of handling up to 10M TEU annually.<br />
Initially, US$370M will be spent<br />
on constructing just over 3 km of quay<br />
line and a yard area sufficient for processing<br />
4M TEU/year. It is hoped that this<br />
will be operational in 2016.<br />
● Various private projects – largely based<br />
on a number of existing finger piers and/<br />
or greenfield beaches. A potential addition<br />
of 2.5M to 4M TEU could be developed<br />
in the next five-six years.<br />
● Assan Port – increasing handling capacity<br />
from a current 250,000 TEU/year to<br />
450,000 TEU/year in 2014. MSC is its<br />
main customer with CMA CGM also<br />
using the <strong>port</strong>.<br />
● Limak Iskenderun – The company secured<br />
the 36-year operating and investment<br />
concession in late 2011 and commenced<br />
container handling operations in<br />
March 2013 with a design capacity of<br />
600,000 TEU/year. This will be expanded<br />
to 1.3M TEU by the end of this year, with<br />
phase 2, if it goes ahead, increasing the<br />
terminal’s capacity to 3M TEU/year.<br />
Yildirim’s main terminal investments<br />
are located in the Marmara Sea area of<br />
Turkey, a region described by the group’s<br />
chairman as being “at the very heart of<br />
the country’s container and general cargohandling<br />
activities.” Currently, this region’s<br />
<strong>port</strong>s, which include Mar<strong>port</strong>, Evyap,<br />
Haydarpasa, Yil<strong>port</strong>, Derince and<br />
Gem<strong>port</strong>, process about 68% of Turkey’s<br />
national container throughput volumes.<br />
An estimated 13.6M TEU of new capacity<br />
is under development.<br />
Investments<br />
The Yildirim group has been strengthening<br />
its position in the region through a<br />
combination of capital expenditure and<br />
acquisitions. In the past 12 months the<br />
company has bought 86.6% of Gem<strong>port</strong><br />
and all of RotaPort, the latter of which<br />
handles mainly bulk/breakbulk cargoes,<br />
including grain, cement and steel.<br />
Yil<strong>port</strong> is pumping more than<br />
US$200M into the latter as the <strong>port</strong>’s<br />
existing jetties are upgraded and its warehousing<br />
capacity expanded.<br />
“In this sector there is not so much<br />
competition around,” explained Yildirim,<br />
“and I view our plans as adding considerable<br />
weight to the existing <strong>port</strong> operation<br />
and as offering our customers better<br />
value services.”<br />
Yil<strong>port</strong> is also investing in its container<br />
terminals with four <strong>super</strong> post-Panamax<br />
ship-to-shore gantry cranes on order from<br />
the Japan-based manufacturer Mitsui.<br />
These will sup<strong>port</strong> Yil<strong>port</strong>’s second phase<br />
expansion programme and the upgrade<br />
plan at Gemlik.<br />
According to Sean Pierce, CEO of<br />
Yil<strong>port</strong> Holding, the new cranes will be<br />
delivered in January 2014 and will be able<br />
to service ships loaded with 23 containers<br />
across the weather deck.<br />
He said that Gem<strong>port</strong> and Gemlik will<br />
merge to become one of the biggest container<br />
handling complexes in the<br />
Marmara Sea area and this should allow<br />
us to offer a much better product by man-<br />
May 2013
PORT DEVELOPMENT<br />
aging prices and costs more effectively,<br />
while improving overall service levels to<br />
our customers.<br />
“We have a clear strategy and with a<br />
sizeable presence in Izmit Bay [Yil<strong>port</strong><br />
Gebze] and Gemlik Bay, both of which<br />
serve the faster growing industries located<br />
on the Asian side of Istanbul, we<br />
are well positioned to handle the rising<br />
cargo volumes.”<br />
Attracting cargo<br />
Meanwhile, Yildirim highlighted the im<strong>port</strong>ance<br />
of the group’s metallurgical businesses<br />
and the close relationships it has<br />
developed with ocean carriers, including<br />
MSC and its direct investment in CMA<br />
CGM, as being “highly significant in<br />
drawing cargo to its <strong>port</strong>s”.<br />
As to the future, the ebullient Yildirim<br />
wants his <strong>port</strong> and terminals group to be<br />
a strong player in the top 20 <strong>port</strong> operators’<br />
league with a decent global presence.<br />
“We are targeting up to three acquisitions<br />
a year, believing this is fully sustainable<br />
for our group,” he said. “Our focus<br />
is on brown field sites/existing terminals<br />
where we know we can raise productivity<br />
and operating performances,<br />
largely through better training and the introduction<br />
of new equipment. When this<br />
results in more business, then we move<br />
on to bigger infrastructural projects, including<br />
the wharves and yard areas.”<br />
Initially, the global strategy is focused<br />
on Latin America (Colombia, Peru, Ecuador<br />
and Chile) and West Africa where<br />
the company has existing and planned<br />
mining and trading activities and where<br />
efficient <strong>port</strong>s are an im<strong>port</strong>ant element<br />
for the group’s supply chain.<br />
Compatriot terminal operator Arkas,<br />
which controls the Mar<strong>port</strong> complex in<br />
Ambarli <strong>port</strong> and which handled 1.58M<br />
TEU last year, appears content to stay in<br />
Turkey when it comes to its <strong>port</strong> management<br />
operations.<br />
Larger vessels<br />
Recent years have seen the operator gear<br />
up the terminal to handle more large vessels,<br />
particularly from its primary customer<br />
MSC. “We extended the berthing line at<br />
our West Terminal by 64 km and also expanded<br />
the stacking areas and this allows<br />
us to handle the 14,500 TEU class ships<br />
that MSC bring into Turkey,” explained<br />
Alp Capa, trade and customer relations<br />
manager of the <strong>port</strong> services group.<br />
“We have also expanded our warehousing<br />
capacity as the LCL business from<br />
Asia has been growing rapidly and we<br />
have also seen a lot of breakbulk cargo<br />
coming into the <strong>port</strong> from Russia for containerisation,<br />
and then on-carriage.”<br />
In other moves, Mar<strong>port</strong> has been<br />
making efforts to reduce its carbon footprint,<br />
according to Capa, “working ahead<br />
of more stringent laws eventually coming<br />
into effect in Turkey”.<br />
He explained: “We have spent about<br />
US$4.5M on electrifying 35 of our rubber-tyred<br />
yard gantry cranes and we have<br />
many other initiatives in place.”<br />
Looming challenge<br />
Mar<strong>port</strong>’s biggest challenge though is<br />
dealing with the loss of at least 500,000<br />
TEU and perhaps as much as 800,000<br />
TEU of cargo when MSC shifts some of<br />
its cargo volumes to Aysa<strong>port</strong>, near<br />
Tekirdag. This facility is mainly for the<br />
use of MSC, having been developed by<br />
its <strong>port</strong> operating arm Terminal Investments<br />
Ltd (TIL). Operations at the 1M<br />
TEU capacity terminal are due to commence<br />
later this year with MSC expected<br />
to redirect most of its Black Sea transhipment<br />
business and some local cargo (for<br />
the Tekirdag area) to the <strong>port</strong>.<br />
International terminal operators have<br />
generally found Turkey challenging, with<br />
Hong-Kong headquartered Hutchison<br />
Port Holdings having had its concession<br />
at Izmir cancelled in 2010 and Dubai’s<br />
DP World still resolving issues and facing<br />
severe delays in its plans to develop a 1.5M<br />
TEU capacity facility at Yarimca.<br />
Observers have pointed to land<br />
ownership issues in Turkey, a failure to<br />
lock down partnership agreements and<br />
the nation’s different legal system as potential<br />
sticking points for deals and the<br />
reasons why so many projects have been<br />
delayed and/or cancelled.<br />
PSA International, however, has enjoyed<br />
considerable success, with Mersin’s<br />
throughput having risen every year since<br />
the Singapore-based operator and its partner<br />
Akfen secured the concession in 2007.<br />
In 2012, a record 1.2M TEU was handled.<br />
Mar<strong>port</strong> terminal in Ambarli faces the challenge<br />
of losing up to 800,000 TEU of cargo when<br />
MSC shifts most of its transhipment business<br />
and some local cargo to Aysa<strong>port</strong>, near Tekirdag<br />
Terminal development<br />
APM Terminals (APMT) is also happy<br />
with the progress being made on its<br />
project near Izmir, recently cementing a<br />
deal with Petkim Petrokimya Holding, a<br />
Turkey-listed petrochemicals company<br />
majority-owned the State Oil Company<br />
of Azerbaijan, to press ahead with development<br />
of a 1.5M TEU capacity terminal<br />
on land Petkim controls in Nemrut Bay.<br />
Initially, an estimated US$400M will<br />
be spent on the Aegean Gateway Terminal,<br />
which APMT will manage under a<br />
28-year concession agreement. The deal<br />
allows for a possible expansion of the facility’s<br />
design throughput capacity to 3M<br />
TEU/year and for the development of<br />
an on-dock rail yard.<br />
“This is an exciting op<strong>port</strong>unity for<br />
us and the region as a whole which needs<br />
a purpose-designed container terminal,”<br />
said Martijn van Dongen, head of European<br />
business development for APMT.<br />
“In this region the majority of<br />
containerships are being handled at<br />
smaller facilities with limited water depth<br />
and the available capacity is heavily utilised.<br />
Our new terminal will provide this<br />
much needed additional capacity while<br />
also raising levels of efficiency and pro-<br />
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
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<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
48<br />
An estimated US$400M will be spent on the<br />
3M TEU/year capacity Petkim Aegean<br />
Gateway Terminal, managed by APM<br />
Terminals under a 28-year concession deal<br />
ductivity.” He expects the first phase of<br />
the terminal to be fully operational in<br />
2015 and said that it was being built<br />
mainly to cater for the growing demands<br />
of the local region.<br />
Romanian growth<br />
Back in the Black Sea area, a huge amount<br />
of capital is being invested in Constantza,<br />
Romania, the largest <strong>port</strong> in the region.<br />
The government and the <strong>port</strong> authority<br />
have been successful in getting access to<br />
European Union (EU) financing, with<br />
many of the latter’s construction and improvement<br />
projects funded to the tune of<br />
Creating profit<br />
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PORT DEVELOPMENT<br />
85% by the EU’s Operational Programme<br />
for Trans<strong>port</strong> 2007-13.<br />
These include:<br />
● Expansion of the northern breakwater<br />
by 1,050m. The project will improve operating<br />
performances and productivity<br />
levels in the southern basin by decreasing<br />
wave activity. It will be completed during<br />
2014 and cost an estimated €144M.<br />
● The €43M construction of a new road<br />
bridge over the Danube Black Sea Canal<br />
– this will provide a connection between<br />
the northern and southern parts of the<br />
<strong>port</strong> complex and, via the Constantza ring<br />
road, a direct connection between the<br />
<strong>port</strong> and the Bucharest/Constantza highway.<br />
The work is scheduled to be completed<br />
by the end of 2013.<br />
● The creation of a so-called systematised<br />
rail complex in the river/maritime sector<br />
of the <strong>port</strong>. Estimated to cost €22M it<br />
will be completed by the end of 2015<br />
and will allow the <strong>port</strong>’s customers additional<br />
and competitive options to move<br />
their im<strong>port</strong>/ex<strong>port</strong> cargo.<br />
In the longer-term the <strong>port</strong> authority<br />
is planning to expand the <strong>port</strong> by<br />
building Pier IIIs and Pier IVs adjacent<br />
to the current DP World-operated container<br />
terminal.<br />
According to National Company<br />
Maritime Ports Administration SA<br />
Constantza (MPA Constantza), the facilities<br />
will be for specialised cargoes<br />
and will be sup<strong>port</strong>ed by a landside<br />
logistics park. It is understood that the<br />
Dutch Government is sup<strong>port</strong>ing the<br />
project. Various designs are under study.<br />
Danube gateway<br />
Ambroziu Duma, <strong>port</strong> operations director<br />
for MPA Constantza, is keen to exploit<br />
the <strong>port</strong>’s strategic location at the<br />
estuary of the Danube, believing that it<br />
has op<strong>port</strong>unities as a gateway and load<br />
centre, particularly for the trade lanes between<br />
Asia and central Europe.<br />
“Our 64.4 km long Danube Black Sea<br />
canal offers a seamless connection to the<br />
navigable waters of the river and can cut<br />
a massive 4,165 km off Far East/Europe<br />
routings via Benelux <strong>port</strong>s,” he said.<br />
“That’s a huge saving on bunker costs for<br />
ocean carriers and it’s much kinder to the<br />
environment.”<br />
Elsewhere in the Black Sea, developments<br />
in the container handling sector<br />
are more modest and typically involve<br />
cargo handling equipment purchases, general<br />
refurbishment and process improvement<br />
schemes. Nonetheless, at Russia’s<br />
Black Sea <strong>port</strong> of Novorossiysk significant<br />
capacity increases are planned. Delco<br />
group-owned NUTEP and Novoroslesex<strong>port</strong>,<br />
owned by the Novorossiysk<br />
Commercial Sea Port Group, are both in<br />
the midst of substantial capacity investment<br />
programmes at the <strong>port</strong>.<br />
Novoroslesex<strong>port</strong>’s project involves<br />
expenditure in excess of RUB6.5B<br />
(US$207M). This covers the cost of<br />
dredging its facilities at berths 28 and<br />
28A, purchasing a third ship-to-shore<br />
gantry crane, two mobile harbour<br />
cranes and additional sup<strong>port</strong> equipment<br />
for yard operations. A third rail<br />
track will be constructed to boost<br />
intermodal cargo movements. Overall,<br />
container handling capacity will be<br />
expanded to 700,000 TEU/year.<br />
Meanwhile, NUTEP – which handled<br />
215,307 TEU in 2012, up 7.6% on the<br />
previous year – is set to increase its design<br />
throughput capacity to 600,000<br />
TEU/year by 2015. This will be achieved<br />
by increasing the total berthing quay line<br />
from 754m to 900m and expanding the<br />
yard area to 35-ha.<br />
Rail upgrade<br />
Recently, NUTEP completed its rail upgrade<br />
programme by constructing a new<br />
yard and two loading/unloading tracks,<br />
meaning the facility can now process two<br />
block-trains each day. As the work meant<br />
a reconfiguration of the terminal’s existing<br />
rail network, the operator has been<br />
able to raise the stacking capacity of its<br />
yard to 11,000 TEU.<br />
In the Ukraine, dredging is in place at<br />
the country’s main sea <strong>port</strong>s and a 600,000<br />
TEU/year deep water terminal is going<br />
ahead in Odessa with HPC Ukraina, the<br />
HHLA affiliate that operates the <strong>port</strong>’s<br />
existing container terminal.<br />
In Georgia, APMT and Manilaheadquartered<br />
International Container<br />
Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) are both<br />
active, operating container terminals in<br />
Poti and Batumi respectively. At the latter<br />
<strong>port</strong>, ICTSI has the ability to quadruple<br />
the facility’s current throughput capacity<br />
to 400,000 TEU, a decision that will be<br />
taken in line with demand.<br />
At Poti, where APMT works with<br />
Rakia, the terminal operator has<br />
been investing in equipment, systems<br />
and training programmes in an effort<br />
to bring the terminal up to similar<br />
safety and productivity levels to<br />
other facilities in its global network.<br />
While the trading and investment<br />
op<strong>port</strong>unities in the region are encouraging,<br />
its general economic volatility<br />
means that uncertainty will prevail and<br />
matching supply and demand will always<br />
be extremely difficult. ❏<br />
May 2013
PORT DEVELOPMENT<br />
Is Singapore going up in the world<br />
In October 2011 the Singapore Maritime<br />
Institute (SMI) and the Maritime Port Authority<br />
of Singapore (MPA) launched a<br />
“Next Generation Container Port Challenge”<br />
to “identify ideas that will achieve a<br />
quantum leap in <strong>port</strong> performance, productivity<br />
and sustainability for a new generation<br />
of container <strong>port</strong>.” They announced<br />
a US$1M prize for the winning entry.<br />
The “Next-Gen” container <strong>port</strong> had<br />
to be capable of handling 20M TEU a<br />
year (80% transhipment) on a 2.5 km x<br />
1km reclamation with a guaranteed berth<br />
on arrival (BOA) rate of 90% of ship calls.<br />
Dwell time was fixed at four days and KPIs<br />
were established in productivity (land and<br />
labour), environmental sustainability and<br />
financial sustainability. The US$1M wining<br />
entry was the “SINGA Port” concept<br />
from the National University of Singapore<br />
(NUS), Shanghai Maritime University<br />
(ShMU) and ZPMC.<br />
Two storey yard<br />
The most striking feature of the SINGA<br />
Port concept is its two storey yard system<br />
served by triple trolley STS cranes. The<br />
lower (ground) floor sees the return of<br />
the overhead bridge cranes as installed at<br />
Pasir Panjang phases I and II, although<br />
they would not be as high. The upper floor<br />
yard cranes would be automated RMGs<br />
with counterweight technology to reduce<br />
power consumption. “As there are cut outs<br />
between the two floors, a tailor-made<br />
RMG is used to move containers between<br />
the two floors besides its normal activity<br />
in handling containers in its respective<br />
block,” said Professor Lee Loo Hay, one<br />
of the designers from NUS.<br />
Having two separate yard areas is intended<br />
to increase overall capacity<br />
without overwhelming the quay-tostack<br />
interface. It creates more buffer<br />
spaces at handover points, improves<br />
traffic congestion and reduces the dependency<br />
between STS cranes and the<br />
horizontal trans<strong>port</strong> system, which is a<br />
low-height straddle carrier called an<br />
Automated Lifting Vehicle (ALV).<br />
SINGA Port includes three options for<br />
the yard layout and crane orientation. “In<br />
one design layout,” said Professor Lee, “the<br />
container blocks are arranged in a perpendicular<br />
direction to the 2500m berth.<br />
In each block, the container lengths are<br />
perpendicular to the block length [ie parallel<br />
with the quay]. When the ALV picks<br />
up or discharges a container at the block<br />
area, it does not need to turn 90 deg to<br />
enter the handover area, which increases<br />
the efficiency of yard operations.”<br />
Triple trolley cranes<br />
SINGA Port proposes a triple hoist quay<br />
crane with tandem lift capability on the<br />
waterside hoist. The waterside trolley<br />
moves the two containers between the<br />
vessel and a lashing platform. There are<br />
two landside trolleys: one in the back<br />
reach serving the upper floor yard, and<br />
one on the lower crane <strong>port</strong>al serving the<br />
ground floor.<br />
The team calculates the cranes can<br />
achieve 38 cycles and “move 152 TEU<br />
per hour” by better utilising the potential<br />
of tandem crane operations. “Owing to<br />
two separate trolleys that serve the different<br />
floors and the transfer platform, the<br />
tandem lift technology can now be more<br />
practically used because the two containers<br />
do not need to be discharged side by<br />
side,” said Professor Lee. Quayside productivity<br />
could be further enhanced with<br />
a crane system that allows two booms<br />
across adjacent bays (as per APM Terminals’<br />
FastNET concept), he noted, but this<br />
was not part of the proposal.<br />
The ALVs for horizontal trans<strong>port</strong> are<br />
1-over-1 machines powered by a hybrid<br />
or fully electric drive. Two options are<br />
suggested for charging: fixed stations or<br />
an inductive loop in the ground. Professor<br />
Lee said at the moment inductive<br />
technology cannot sup<strong>port</strong> the power requirement,<br />
but that is expected to change<br />
within the next decade.<br />
Getting smart<br />
Overall power consumption will be managed<br />
by “smart electric power management.”<br />
In essence, grid supplied electricity<br />
will transform crane operation from a<br />
stand-alone mode to collective mode.<br />
The US$1M prize-winning entry in<br />
Singapore’s “Next Generation Container<br />
Port Challenge” contest uses a two-storey<br />
yard system and triple trolley cranes<br />
“Regenerative energy recovered from<br />
braking cranes can be shared among other<br />
cranes through the grid for achieving<br />
common economical and technical benefits<br />
as well as better overall energy efficiency,”<br />
said Professor Lee.<br />
Simulation results<br />
NUS used a queueing model to analyse<br />
quayside performance. Meeting the BOA<br />
target for a 20M TEU terminal required<br />
75 STS cranes, 400 ALVs and 250 yard<br />
cranes. Average equipment efficiencies<br />
required are: STS cranes 35 moves/hour,<br />
SINGA Port has a putative capacity, based<br />
on four days dwell time, of 20M TEU/year<br />
on a footprint of just 250-ha<br />
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
May 2013 49
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
A guaranteeed berth-on-arrival rate of 90% of ship calls is required<br />
yard cranes 16 moves/hour, ALVs<br />
8.8 moves/hour. Even with further<br />
increases in vessel size beyond<br />
Triple-E, the 90% BOA target can<br />
be achieved, added Professor Lee.<br />
New software<br />
The project team does not consider<br />
that the TOS software available today<br />
is suitable for SINGA Port. “We<br />
propose an intelligent management<br />
system that combines the smart<br />
electric power management, the<br />
terminal operating systems (TOS)<br />
and the equipment control system,”<br />
said the professor.<br />
As well as controlling all the<br />
equipment in real time, the<br />
equipment control system will<br />
provide real time information to<br />
the power management system<br />
to bring energy efficiency into<br />
yard planning.<br />
Cost-effective<br />
A big question is whether the design<br />
is economical. One reason<br />
bridge cranes never went beyond<br />
Singapore is the high cost of the<br />
concrete sup<strong>port</strong> structures. Sup<strong>port</strong>ing<br />
RMGs on an upper level<br />
would be even more expensive,<br />
but this has to be placed in the<br />
Singapore context where the Tuas<br />
Mega<strong>port</strong> will be built entirely on<br />
reclaimed land.<br />
Below ground level<br />
To reduce construction costs, the<br />
project team proposes an “indented<br />
yard” system where the<br />
lower level is actually below<br />
ground level. This reduces the<br />
amount of sand needed for reclamation.<br />
Cost depends on which<br />
of three yard layout options is selected,<br />
but is estimated at S$642M<br />
(US$841M) per berth.<br />
One issue that does not feature<br />
in the project criteria is the<br />
overall visual impact of the design.<br />
The bridge cranes already have a<br />
dense visual impact, and adding a<br />
second storey makes for an even<br />
taller structure. This might not be<br />
an issue for the new Tuas <strong>port</strong>, but<br />
would certainly be a problem at<br />
many city <strong>port</strong>s around the world.<br />
MPA and SMI will now work<br />
with terminal operators in Singapore<br />
to identify elements of the<br />
design to take forward for further<br />
design and testing work. “Depending<br />
on the outcome of these R&D<br />
activities, particular concepts or<br />
technologies could be considered<br />
for future new container terminals,”<br />
said the MPA. ❏<br />
Singapore is quietly confident<br />
that automation will give it an<br />
advantage in the battle for<br />
transhipment traffic as bigger<br />
ships come on stream.<br />
The loss of Maersk and then<br />
Evergreen to <strong>Tanjung</strong> Pelepas in<br />
2000 not only dented Singapore’s<br />
confidence, but changed the PSA’s<br />
whole approach to technology.<br />
The PSA had spent a fortune developing<br />
overhead bridge cranes<br />
at its Pasir Panjang Terminal, but<br />
when PTP came on the scene it<br />
reverted to RTGs.<br />
The picture today is very different,<br />
even though there is more<br />
competition than ever - PTP<br />
<strong>Tanjung</strong> Pelepas handled 7.7M<br />
TEU last year (up 2.4%). West<strong>port</strong><br />
and North<strong>port</strong> in Klang both have<br />
expansion plans and Indonesia has<br />
not given up on establishing a<br />
transhipment hub near Batam, on<br />
Singapore’s back door. But Singapore<br />
believes it can get a competitive<br />
advantage by leveraging automation<br />
and using software to<br />
make its terminals more efficient.<br />
Shipping lines continually remind<br />
<strong>port</strong>s that they need a step<br />
Forklift trucks, reachstackers<br />
and terminal equipment<br />
SMV 12-600B<br />
Year 2008, 4500 mm, forkpositioner,<br />
sideshift.<br />
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LINDE C4230TL4<br />
Year 2000, 4 high.<br />
Price € 74.000,-<br />
TERBERG YT182<br />
Year 2007, airsuspension on rear<br />
axle, steel mudguards.<br />
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SMV 16-1200B<br />
Year 2008, 4000 mm, forkpositioner,<br />
sideshift, air condition.<br />
Only 1.250 hours<br />
Price € 95.000,-<br />
LINDE C4535TL5<br />
Year 2004, 5 high, air condition,<br />
hydraulic moveable cabin.<br />
Price € 140.000,-<br />
TERBERG RT222<br />
Year 2007, airsuspension on<br />
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change in productivity to meet the<br />
needs of bigger vessels. Singapore<br />
believes such an improvement is<br />
possible and, through the PSA, the<br />
Maritime Port Authority and<br />
other government-backed institutions,<br />
is investing heavily in software<br />
and systems for automation.<br />
PSA believes software is a competitive<br />
advantage and most of its<br />
applications, including its core<br />
CiTOS TOS, are proprietary.<br />
Robots versus RTGs<br />
PTP is currently adding two<br />
berths with a total length of 720m<br />
that will be equipped with eight<br />
STS cranes and 32 RTGs, a 1:4<br />
ratio. PTP’s first phase (which took<br />
it to 5M TEU) had 24 quay cranes<br />
and 72 RTGs, a 1:3 ratio.<br />
PSA is now equipping Phases<br />
III and IV at PPT with automated<br />
stacking cranes. When completed<br />
PSA will have 15 new 400m<br />
berths with a capacity of 15M<br />
TEU, boosting overall capacity to<br />
50M TEU. PSA is also working<br />
on AGV technology, although this<br />
is unlikely to feature when the first<br />
berths open next year.<br />
Maersk has already announced<br />
its first EEE vessels will call at PTP<br />
and not Singapore. The longer<br />
term question, however, is<br />
whether PTP can deliver the productivity<br />
needed. PTP’s rise was<br />
rapid, but it is now grappling with<br />
maintenance issues as its equipment<br />
ages. In its 2012 annual re<strong>port</strong>,<br />
PTP’s majority owner MMC<br />
Corp notes that “for 2013, the<br />
focus will be on improving the<br />
<strong>port</strong>’s equipment availability and<br />
reliability to ensure capacity can<br />
be maximised to capture container<br />
demand.” PTP declined to comment,<br />
but why does Maersk still<br />
put so much through Singapore<br />
MMC knows that PTP has to<br />
lift its performance and cannot<br />
count on APM Terminals’ 30%<br />
stake to guarantee all of Maersk’s<br />
business. Commenting on the<br />
RM 1.6B it is spending to increase<br />
PTP’s capacity to 10.5M TEU,<br />
MMC group managing director<br />
Datuk Hasni Harun said the investment<br />
is to “show the company’s<br />
desire” to capture more of<br />
Maersk’s business. “Of the 7M<br />
TEU handled by PTP last year,<br />
about 6M TEU came from<br />
Maersk, a few million TEU of<br />
whose cargo was also handled by<br />
Singapore. If our <strong>port</strong>s are ready<br />
in terms of capacity and efficiency,<br />
those few million TEU may be<br />
moved to PTP,” he was quoted as<br />
saying in The Malaysian Insider.<br />
PORT DEVELOPMENT<br />
Singapore in pole position<br />
SMV 22-1200A<br />
Year 1998, 5000 mm, forkposition,<br />
sideshift.<br />
Price € 68.000,-<br />
LINDE C4535TL5<br />
Year 2006, 5 high, air condition,<br />
hydraulic moveable cabin,<br />
central lubrication.<br />
Price € 158.000,-<br />
Terberg TT222<br />
Year 2007, airsuspension on<br />
rear axle, logical steering,<br />
central lubrication, engine preheater.<br />
Only 4.000 hours<br />
Price € 66.000,-<br />
ncnielsen<br />
The first berths of Phases III and IV at Pasir Panjang will be ready next year<br />
North<strong>port</strong> refocuses<br />
At Port Klang, North<strong>port</strong> and<br />
West<strong>port</strong> are taking different approaches.<br />
West<strong>port</strong> is pushing<br />
ahead aggressively with the completion<br />
of two new berths (CT6<br />
and CT7) and is part way through<br />
the reclamation for CT8 and CT9,<br />
which must be completed by 2014<br />
under its concession agreement.<br />
CT7 will have two 300m berths<br />
and West<strong>port</strong> has ordered seven<br />
quay cranes and 42 RTGs for delivery<br />
early next year.<br />
West<strong>port</strong> will have a capacity<br />
of 11M TEU when CT7 is completed<br />
and is promoting itself as<br />
ready for 18,000 TEU vessels.<br />
Throughput grew to 6.91M TEU<br />
last year and it is forecasting a further<br />
7% growth this year to 7.4M<br />
TEU. Much of this is driven by<br />
CMA CGM, which now accounts<br />
for 35% of West<strong>port</strong>’s business, but<br />
some has come from North<strong>port</strong>.<br />
North<strong>port</strong> handled 3.08M in<br />
2012 and volumes fell 10% to<br />
675,755TEU in 1Q/20013. CEO<br />
Abi Sofian Abdul Hamid said the<br />
fall is mainly due to weaker ex<strong>port</strong>s<br />
and it is unclear whether<br />
these will recover this year.<br />
North<strong>port</strong> is pushing on with its<br />
expansion plan and will add a new<br />
350m berth (8a) equipped with<br />
four cranes. This will take its quay<br />
line to 3.4 kms and total capacity<br />
to 5.6M TEU. Plans are now being<br />
made for an additional expansion<br />
to increase that to 7M TEU.<br />
Not too much<br />
Abi Sofian denies that North<strong>port</strong><br />
is adding too much capacity and<br />
said there is a mismatch between<br />
theoretical capacity based on<br />
berths and cranes and what it can<br />
actually achieve. North<strong>port</strong>’s water<br />
depth ranges from 11m to 15m<br />
and only when berth 8a is complete<br />
will it be able to offer one<br />
350m berth with 17m of water.<br />
The cost of upgrading the<br />
older berths to handle larger vessels<br />
is not practical, but North<strong>port</strong><br />
has to provide for the tonnage that<br />
lines want to deploy to serve the<br />
cargo base. North<strong>port</strong>, he said, is<br />
not in a race to keep up with PSA<br />
and PTP. “We have to create our<br />
own niche for mid-range vessels.”<br />
This leverages North<strong>port</strong>’s position<br />
as a balanced <strong>port</strong> (48% ex<strong>port</strong>s,<br />
52% im<strong>port</strong>s) to attract<br />
more regional transhipment business.<br />
There are many smaller <strong>port</strong>s<br />
developing in Indonesia, and<br />
North<strong>port</strong> can offer lines a chance<br />
to get better vessel utilisation by<br />
combining its local cargo with<br />
transhipment moves.<br />
Not convinced<br />
As to whether there will be a productivity<br />
battle in the transhipment<br />
business, Abi Sofian is not<br />
convinced that lines are willing to<br />
pay for more productivity. Their<br />
main criteria at the moment are a<br />
berth on arrival, a fixed departure<br />
time, and a discounted rate, he said.<br />
North<strong>port</strong> delivered an average of<br />
28 moves per crane hour last year<br />
and could do more, but this requires<br />
more prime movers than<br />
lines are willing to pay for.<br />
North<strong>port</strong> also has a challenge<br />
meeting the needs of its bulk customers.<br />
Some time ago a consultants’<br />
study forecast that bulk volumes<br />
would dwindle as containers<br />
took over, but bulk cargo is actually<br />
growing at 15% annually.<br />
Port Klang also has bulk operations<br />
at South<strong>port</strong>, but this has<br />
limited water depth. What Port<br />
Klang really needs, Abi Sofian said,<br />
is a master plan that addresses how<br />
best to grow transhipment business,<br />
provides for bulk cargo and<br />
comes up with a better system for<br />
intra-terminal transfer between<br />
North<strong>port</strong> and West<strong>port</strong>. ❏<br />
50<br />
May 2013
PORT DEVELOPMENT<br />
Port congestion crunch in Brazil<br />
In a recent re<strong>port</strong>, Brazil’s Ministry of Development,<br />
Industry and Foreign Trade<br />
stated that vessels calling at <strong>port</strong>s in the<br />
country last year spent 90% of their time<br />
either waiting for a free berth or for the<br />
arrival of an ex<strong>port</strong> shipment in the <strong>port</strong>.<br />
As a result, Brazilian <strong>port</strong>s are expensive<br />
to use and ex<strong>port</strong>s are less competitive.<br />
In Santos the average time for a vessel<br />
to be loaded with maize was 18.7 days, of<br />
which 16.3 days were down to waiting<br />
time. It was a similar position with soya<br />
bean meal and sugar, whereby 8.8 days of<br />
the total layover of 11.4 days were down<br />
to waiting time. As already re<strong>port</strong>ed in<br />
<strong>WorldCargo</strong> <strong>News</strong>, some Chinese customers<br />
have cancelled contracts for soya beans.<br />
Truck queues outside the <strong>port</strong> of Santos<br />
stretched at one point to 30 kms.<br />
This was in a year when the soya bean<br />
crop in Brazil amounted to 83 Mt. Santos<br />
has been particularly hard-hit this year because<br />
the harvests for both soya bean and<br />
maize are more than double in terms of<br />
volume than the previous year. Brazil is<br />
on target to overtake the US for the very<br />
first time in soya bean production thanks<br />
to this year’s crop, while the US has been<br />
hard hit by drought. Brazil’s <strong>port</strong> and inland<br />
trans<strong>port</strong> infrastructure is being overwhelmed.<br />
However, as the protracted debate<br />
over MP 595 shows (<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
<strong>News</strong>, March 2013, p23-24), there is no<br />
consensus on the way forward.<br />
Freight impacts<br />
A government official noted that the long<br />
wait for berthing directly impacts on<br />
freight rates, given that demurrage fines<br />
are contractually allocated to the Brazilian<br />
im<strong>port</strong>er or ex<strong>port</strong>er, thereby undermining<br />
profits, causing damage or even<br />
resulting in the loss of future business.<br />
The re<strong>port</strong> prepared for the Ministry<br />
says that the long stay that vessels are<br />
forced to endure “indicates a possible low<br />
operational capacity at Brazilian <strong>port</strong>s<br />
and/or low productivity im<strong>port</strong> operations.”<br />
It highlights the need for “major<br />
investment” to expand capacity.<br />
Santos is not the only <strong>port</strong> to be affected.<br />
In 2012, container vessels stayed<br />
an average of 36.3 hours in all Brazilian<br />
<strong>port</strong>s, of which 20.5 hours were waiting<br />
at anchor. At Salvador, the average handling<br />
time was 45.7 hours, of which 33.8<br />
hours was waiting time. In Paranaguá,<br />
waiting time was 25.2 hours out of a total<br />
stay of 40.9 hours.<br />
In a 2012 World Bank study, Brazil was<br />
in 121st position out of 185 countries<br />
analysed in terms of the cost of ex<strong>port</strong>ing<br />
containers. In South Africa, the same<br />
cost was 73% of that charged in Brazil. In<br />
Mexico it was 65% and in the US, Germany<br />
and China the cost was less than<br />
50% of that being charged in Brazil.<br />
Too little, too late<br />
On the ex<strong>port</strong> side, measures being put<br />
into place to solve the problem of trucks<br />
having to queue at the <strong>port</strong> of Santos will<br />
only come into effect after most of this<br />
year’s harvest has been shipped. This is<br />
because measures such as the expropriation<br />
of land and environmental licensing<br />
take several months to implement.<br />
Santos <strong>port</strong> authority Codesp is to<br />
build a new parking area on the right bank<br />
of the <strong>port</strong> covering 22.6-ha, which will<br />
be the third area for trailers accessing the<br />
<strong>port</strong>. However, this year it will be able to<br />
operate only at 33% of capacity.<br />
In Guarujá, where heavy congestion<br />
has been re<strong>port</strong>ed, the state government<br />
is to build a second access road to the<br />
terminal. This is unlikely to be in operation<br />
before June. At present, this area,<br />
which contains the largest container handling<br />
facilities in the <strong>port</strong>, is accessed via<br />
an 1100m long “funnel,” which is used<br />
by 4000 trucks daily. To reduce congestion,<br />
a new system that segregates trucks<br />
by cargo type has been introduced, but<br />
what is really needed is a new access road.<br />
Diversion<br />
Trucks that previously delivered soya bean<br />
consignments to the <strong>port</strong>s of Santos and<br />
Paranaguá are frequently being sent along<br />
a 1600 km diversion to the <strong>port</strong> of Rio<br />
Grande do Sul. Using Rio Grande has<br />
been dictated by lower waiting times, but<br />
The situation is getting worse while<br />
arguments over <strong>port</strong> reforms continue<br />
the diversion means that queues at Rio<br />
Grande are now three times longer than<br />
they were a year ago.<br />
Even so, waiting time is half that at<br />
Santos or Paranaguá. Ships docking in the<br />
second week of May in Rio Grande<br />
would have had to wait until early June<br />
to access either Santos or Paranaguá. Veteran<br />
truck drivers in Brazil say the situation<br />
at the country’s <strong>port</strong>s is the worst<br />
ever, with the queue to enter Santos now<br />
anything up to 24 hours. Take-up of containers<br />
by grain shippers has increased dramatically<br />
this year, as they seek to avoid<br />
congested bulk terminals.<br />
Cabotage problems<br />
The problems also affect domestic movements<br />
of goods, according to Conab, Brazil’s<br />
national supply company. It states that<br />
it is more expensive and slower to ship<br />
grain domestically by sea. Consignments<br />
shipped to the north east of the country<br />
from the central region using a combination<br />
of road and sea can take between 40<br />
and 60 days to be delivered.<br />
A shipment moving between Goiás<br />
and Ceará can be delivered by road in 3-<br />
6 days at a cost of US$177 per tonne.<br />
However, using a combination of road and<br />
sea the cost rises to US$363 per tonne.<br />
On hauls between the southern province<br />
of Paraná and the north east, the price is<br />
around US$327 per tonne.<br />
Conab says the high price of using<br />
road and sea is due to the elevated price<br />
of cabotage, and longer delivery times due<br />
to the fact that it takes truck aggregation<br />
to fill a coastal vessel, so service frequency<br />
is out of line with market requirements.<br />
The situation is especially acute during<br />
harvest, when queues at <strong>port</strong>s for ex<strong>port</strong><br />
shipments result in fewer trucks being<br />
available for domestic movements. ❏<br />
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
The continuing row over the <strong>port</strong> reform law<br />
MP 595 is not helping matters<br />
V3<br />
May 2013 51
PORT DEVELOPMENT<br />
Rijeka gears itself up<br />
The past two years have been<br />
ones of rejuvenation at Croatia’s<br />
largest <strong>port</strong>, Rijeka, and nowhere<br />
has this been better illustrated<br />
than at the <strong>port</strong>’s container terminal<br />
where more than €30M<br />
will have been spent on expansion<br />
and modernisation programmes<br />
by the end of this year.<br />
The terminal is now poised to<br />
handle a much larger share of the<br />
growing liner traffic moving in<br />
Croatia’s <strong>port</strong> of Rijeka is readying<br />
itself to handle a bigger slice of the<br />
growing liner trade between Asia<br />
and central/eastern Europe<br />
and out of the northern Adriatic<br />
Sea, especially to and from Asia,<br />
providing improvements are carried<br />
out to Croatia’s rail network,<br />
VERSTEGEN<br />
GRAB<br />
MORE<br />
MORE<br />
GRAB<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Super Post panamax Portainer cranes at PSA Sines, Portugal<br />
something the government has<br />
promised to do.<br />
The transformation started in<br />
April 2011 when Manila-headquartered<br />
ICTSI (51%) and Luka<br />
Rijeka, the operating arm of the<br />
Port Authority of Rijeka (49%),<br />
gained management control of<br />
Bradjica Container Terminal.<br />
The 30-year operating and investment<br />
concession commits<br />
the parties to investing €65M<br />
over this period.<br />
Immediately, ICTSI and Luka<br />
Rijeka put in place a capital expenditure<br />
programme, initially<br />
targeted at raising productivity<br />
and efficiency levels, but with the<br />
goal of expanding the terminal<br />
and gearing it up to process bigger<br />
ships. The business plan was<br />
also focused on enhancing Rijeka’s<br />
regional role for the Balkans,<br />
eastern and central Europe<br />
– a sector of the business mainly<br />
handled by Luka Koper (Slovenia)<br />
and the Italian <strong>port</strong> of Trieste.<br />
Creating a gateway<br />
Highly indicative of this whole<br />
process was the decision to rename<br />
and rebrand the facility<br />
as the Adriatic Gate Container<br />
Terminal (AGCT). “We have a<br />
dream here and that is to help<br />
develop Rijeka as the new gateway<br />
for south and central Europe,”<br />
CEO Phillip Marsham<br />
told <strong>WorldCargo</strong> <strong>News</strong>. “This is<br />
fast becoming a reality and it<br />
makes absolute sense as there is a<br />
six-day difference between calling<br />
here and calling at Benelux<br />
and/or German <strong>port</strong>s.”<br />
He was speaking after a recent<br />
reception at the terminal to<br />
commemorate the completion of<br />
328m of new quay line, with a<br />
depth alongside of 14.2m, and delivery<br />
of €24M of new handling<br />
equipment. This included the<br />
facility’s first post-panamax STS<br />
gantry cranes, featuring a 50m<br />
outreach, capable of handling<br />
ships loaded with 18 rows across<br />
the weather deck. Equipped<br />
with RAM twin-lift spreaders,<br />
AGCT’s CEO Phillip Marsham<br />
AGCT recently took delivery of €24M of new equipment including two<br />
ZPMC post-panamax STS gantry cranes and six RTGs<br />
the ZPMC cranes can lift 51t.<br />
In addition, the May delivery<br />
included two 19.5m-span RMGs<br />
for AGCT’s expanded on-dock<br />
rail yard, with each 41t-capacity<br />
gantry able to work across four<br />
loading/discharge tracks. ZPMC<br />
also delivered six RTGs, each<br />
able to span across seven container<br />
rows plus the truck lane and<br />
with a lift height of one-overfive<br />
and SWL of 41t.<br />
“This new equipment, firmly<br />
puts Rijeka on the map of<br />
the northern Adriatic region,”<br />
stressed Marsham. “We now have<br />
a couple of months in which<br />
to commission the equipment<br />
and the new terminal should<br />
be fully operational in July. This<br />
coincides with Croatia joining<br />
the European Union (EU) and<br />
that means seamless borders with<br />
our northern neighbours, which<br />
will also encourage trade. We are<br />
happy that everything is coming<br />
together. This is indeed a new<br />
chapter for the <strong>port</strong> of Rijeka.”<br />
For the remainder of the year,<br />
AGCT management will focus<br />
on expanding and improving<br />
the rail transfer facility, including<br />
laying tracks for the RMGs. The<br />
gate will also be relocated away<br />
from the city and closer to the<br />
main motorway and the inland<br />
container depot at Skrljevo.<br />
With all customs activities<br />
also due to be conducted on site,<br />
rather than split between the terminal<br />
and a location elsewhere,<br />
Marsham expects truck turnaround<br />
times to improve further<br />
and for this to be another strong<br />
selling point for AGCT.<br />
Enticing the carriers<br />
He is confident that the new<br />
deep draught berth at AGCT will<br />
provide Rijeka with much better<br />
operating flexibility and lead<br />
to some ocean carriers revamping<br />
their north Adriatic service<br />
networks by placing Rijeka as<br />
the first <strong>port</strong> of call and, consequently,<br />
discharging more cargo.<br />
He explained: “Currently<br />
Maersk Line/CMA CGM, for<br />
instance, call at Trieste and Luka<br />
Koper first because of our sea<br />
and air draught [under the crane]<br />
limitations, but then have to return<br />
to Trieste for empties. Our<br />
new terminal can change this<br />
and save them voyage time and<br />
costs.”<br />
The AGCT chief also alluded<br />
to Luka Koper’s yard and rail capacity<br />
as filling up and its operating<br />
efficiency as being in decline.<br />
It handled more than 600,000<br />
TEU in 2012.<br />
“With our new terminal and<br />
handling equipment, expanded<br />
yard, increased rail capacity and<br />
closer distance to the Hungarian<br />
border, plus Croatia’s admission<br />
to the EU, we can offer shipping<br />
lines a clear first <strong>port</strong> of call<br />
advantage and their customers<br />
faster transit times to key markets,<br />
such as Budapest. We can<br />
save the shipping lines a day on<br />
their voyages.”<br />
He also believes AGCT now<br />
has the potential to act as a subregional<br />
hub for northern Italy<br />
(Ancona-Venice) and for smaller<br />
eastern Adriatic <strong>port</strong>s in the<br />
Split-Durres (Albania) range.<br />
Critical to the success of the<br />
expanded terminal will be improvements<br />
to the nation’s rail<br />
network where capacity and average<br />
train speeds need to be improved.<br />
Already, the government<br />
has made progress with a unified<br />
power system, allowing non-stop<br />
train services to Budapest. Since<br />
November, AGCT has been dispatching<br />
regular services to Serbia<br />
and Budapest, with the latter<br />
destination reached in 48 hours.<br />
Longer-term, Marsham sees<br />
great op<strong>port</strong>unities in developing<br />
a so-called “Baltic-Adriatic<br />
freight corridor” and linking up<br />
with ICTSI’s <strong>port</strong> operations at<br />
the Baltic Container Terminal in<br />
Gdynia, Poland.<br />
Rail improvements<br />
Within the <strong>port</strong>, AGCT is set to<br />
double its intermodal rail capacity,<br />
raising the yard’s capacity to<br />
360,000 TEU a year. Four 240m<br />
tracks will be used for loading/<br />
discharge activities. Ultimately,<br />
these will be extended to 318m<br />
in length so that standard size<br />
European block trains can be run.<br />
“After this year, AGCT will<br />
move into an operational phase<br />
and upgrades at the site will then<br />
become volume related,” explained<br />
Marsham.<br />
He is confident that the declines<br />
in cargo that have taken<br />
place at AGCT in recent years – in<br />
2012 126,680TEU was handled<br />
compared with 168,779 TEU in<br />
2008 – can be stemmed. “Our<br />
projections are for box traffic to<br />
double by 2015 when we expect<br />
to be handling 245,000 TEU,”<br />
Marsham told <strong>WorldCargo</strong> <strong>News</strong>.<br />
The expansion of AGCT is<br />
just one part of the <strong>port</strong> authority’s<br />
own gateway aspirations for<br />
Rijeka. It is determined to add<br />
a second container terminal and<br />
has already secured €70M in<br />
World Bank funding to build the<br />
first 400m of a planned 680m of<br />
quay at the new facility. It will<br />
have a draught alongside of up<br />
to 20m.<br />
“We hope to have the first<br />
phase of this project completed<br />
in late 2016 or Q1 2017,” explained<br />
Vlado Mezak, director<br />
of Rijeka Port Authority. “The<br />
schedule for the remaining 280m<br />
of wharf will be determined by<br />
whether public/private or EU<br />
funding is used, but I can confirm<br />
that tender documents for<br />
the 30-year operating concession<br />
will be published by the end of<br />
this year. We anticipate that container<br />
handling operations will<br />
commence during 2018.”<br />
He rejected claims that the<br />
new terminal could lead to an<br />
oversupply of capacity in Rijeka,<br />
arguing that in five years’ time<br />
AGCT’s utilisation levels would<br />
be approaching 60% of its design<br />
throughput. “It is im<strong>port</strong>ant we<br />
act ahead of the demand curve to<br />
ensure the <strong>port</strong>’s operations are efficient,”<br />
he said. “A throughput capacity<br />
of 1.2M TEU for this <strong>port</strong>,<br />
given its potential, is not so big.”<br />
The developments at AGCT<br />
and the <strong>port</strong> of Rijeka look set<br />
to change the nature of container<br />
handling activity and liner shipping<br />
patterns in the Adriatic in<br />
the coming years. <br />
52<br />
May 2013
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PORT DEVELOPMENT<br />
Good timing means everything<br />
The JadeWeserPort management company,<br />
JadeWeserPort Realisierungsgesellschaft,<br />
is tendering for a €2M feasibility<br />
study to examine ways and means<br />
to boost competitiveness and throughput<br />
throughout the JadeWeserPort Logistics<br />
Zone. The results of this EU-wide tender<br />
should become available in 2015.<br />
The document contains information<br />
on the economic and technical case for<br />
building a second container <strong>port</strong> to the<br />
north of the existing terminal, of which<br />
only phase 1 is operational. The findings<br />
will serve as the basis for a political decision<br />
as to the timing and procedures for<br />
undertaking the expansion into the 2020s.<br />
The tender covers various objects:<br />
● Technical investigation for realising an<br />
extended <strong>port</strong> area.<br />
● Possible expansion of the road and rail<br />
connections.<br />
● Environmental impacts such as noise<br />
and light nuisance from <strong>port</strong> operations.<br />
● Feasibility of environmental mitigation<br />
measures, for example compulsory cold<br />
ironing, use of (battery) electric equipment,<br />
LNG instead of diesel, etc.<br />
The tender was drawn up by Jörg<br />
Bode when he was minister for economic<br />
affairs for the state of Lower Saxony (NS).<br />
The CDU/FDP administration has been<br />
replaced by a “red and green” coalition,<br />
which has opted to carry on with Bode’s<br />
plan as well as pursue new marketing initiatives.<br />
JWP Realisierungsgesellschaft’s<br />
managing director Axel Kluth described<br />
the feasibility study as a positive sign. “We<br />
need a little patience,” he said.<br />
Understatement<br />
Perhaps this is what us meant by an understatement.<br />
The new Wilhelmshaven<br />
container <strong>port</strong> faces serious problems, despite<br />
ceaseless marketing and sales efforts<br />
by JWP and the operator, Eurogate Group.<br />
At the time of writing Eurogate’s top brass<br />
are touring Prague and Budapest to promote<br />
Germany’s only really deep water<br />
container terminal. They have spent the<br />
past two years “globe trotting” to drum<br />
up sup<strong>port</strong> from the world’s shippers and<br />
carriers, with little reward.<br />
Phase 1 of the facility is handling a<br />
weekly Maersk Far East service (AE-1<br />
string) and (now) two regular Maersk<br />
Seago Baltic feeder services, but throughput<br />
in the first two months of 2013<br />
amounted to just 7000 containers, far<br />
below expectations and even that has<br />
come off the Eurogate/Maersk joint venture<br />
operation in Bremerhaven (NTB).<br />
The Nordfrost group is the only tenant<br />
in the logistics zone, although it has<br />
been re<strong>port</strong>ed that a second customer, 3Y<br />
Logistics, has been signed up and will invest<br />
€15M-20M in a 2500 m 2 warehouse.<br />
Maersk has a 30% stake in Eurogate’s<br />
concession through APM Terminals. As<br />
previously re<strong>port</strong>ed, 322 of the 400-strong<br />
workforce has been put on short time<br />
indefinitely. Officially Eurogate expects<br />
volumes to start picking up this Autumn,<br />
so normal working probably would not<br />
be fully restored until early 2014.<br />
The company is trying everything.<br />
Its rail operating affiliates Eurogate<br />
Intermodal and Acos are offering every<br />
destination in Germany and neighbouring<br />
countries through their own network<br />
and their intermodal tariffs have been<br />
adapted to the levels offered from Hamburg<br />
and Bremerhaven. Acos is also operating<br />
a shuttle service between<br />
Wilhelmshaven and Hamburg and<br />
Bremerhaven for containers being<br />
shipped in and out over the three <strong>port</strong>s,<br />
with guaranteed arrival times.<br />
Heavy commitments<br />
Between them the states of NS and<br />
Bremen have invested €500M of taxpayers’<br />
money to create JadeWeserPort, while<br />
Eurogate’s commitment is up to E350M<br />
if you count phase 2 cranes, straddle carriers,<br />
etc. The <strong>port</strong> operating area occupies<br />
130-ha and has a 1725m deep water<br />
linear quay able to accommodate four<br />
18,000 TEU vessels. The adjacent logistics<br />
centre (GVZ) occupies another 160-<br />
ha. Even when it opened (late) last September<br />
the <strong>port</strong> was forecast to handle<br />
180 ship calls in 2012 and 500 this year,<br />
building to 880 calls annually in 2015.<br />
Now is not a good time to be opening new<br />
container terminals in Europe<br />
“The forecast figures bumped into reality,”<br />
remarked a spokesman for the NS<br />
ministry of economic affairs. Eurogate<br />
guaranteed a throughput of 700 000 TEU<br />
in the first full year of operations. “Based<br />
on the present situation it will only be a<br />
<strong>port</strong>ion of this figure,” stated Emanuel<br />
Schiffer, Eurogate’s joint managing director.<br />
Up to the end of April the facility is<br />
understood to have handled 65,000 TEU.<br />
Maersk has announced that it will call<br />
at NTB Bremerhaven with the Triple E-<br />
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class vessels, not Wilhelmshaven. This is a<br />
blow for Eurogate and some hard talking<br />
between the partners has been going on.<br />
Over the years heaps of political as well<br />
as investment capital have gone into<br />
JadeWeserPort and relations are strained<br />
at all levels. If an expansion programme is<br />
undertaken, the state of Bremen would<br />
have to contribute 50% of the costs, which<br />
it is not keen on.<br />
The state of Hamburg stayed away<br />
from the project because it wanted to<br />
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
JadeWeserPort Wilhelmshaven is currently handling just one mainhaul Maersk call a week<br />
along with two weekly Maersk Seago Baltic feeder services<br />
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May 2013 55<br />
V3
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
The Scaldia Dock in Vlissingen, looking south west towards the Scheldt. The aborted STO<br />
container terminal would have been located on the north bank (right), opposite Verbrugge Terminals<br />
on the south bank. (Photo: ZSP, 2010)<br />
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prioritise the Elbe deepening and did not<br />
want to hand Berlin a reason not to sup<strong>port</strong><br />
it, but that project is still in abeyance<br />
and faces yet further objections.<br />
Leave the heavy lifting to SKF.<br />
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solutions, SKF is helping <strong>port</strong> operators<br />
address the reliability issues common with<br />
trolley and hoist drive lines, including hoist<br />
motors, cable drums and sheaves.<br />
Image problems<br />
On top of everything, continuous problems<br />
during the construction period have<br />
compromised JadeWeserPort’s image and<br />
claims between the various partners over<br />
extra costs and charges do not help convince<br />
shipping lines to call there. Hinterland<br />
connections are not ideal, and having<br />
the largest container shipping company<br />
as a partner in the terminal may be<br />
more of a hindrance than a help.<br />
Add to that the fact that<br />
Wilhelmshaven is hardly a centre of international<br />
business. It remains to be seen<br />
how Eurogate will overcome this difficult<br />
situation, particularly as the Hamburg<br />
and Bremerhaven facilities are also suffering<br />
from the present economic crisis.<br />
The continuing problems of the<br />
Eurozone have severely dented the recovery<br />
from the 2008-9 recession that could<br />
be seen in 2010 and the early part of 2011.<br />
Europe’s economy is bumping along, but<br />
unfortunately it is impossible to time<br />
mega-projects such as JWP to come on<br />
stream during an “up” cycle.<br />
Vlissingen blow<br />
Wilhelmshaven is not the only <strong>port</strong> that<br />
is suffering. As re<strong>port</strong>ed on worldcargonews.com<br />
on 8 May, the Belgian firms Seainvest<br />
and Zuidnatie have finally pulled<br />
the plug on their container terminal<br />
project in the Dutch <strong>port</strong> of Vlissingen<br />
(Flushing), part of Zeeland Sea<strong>port</strong>s. The<br />
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PORT DEVELOPMENT<br />
55-ha site of the proposed Scaldia Terminal<br />
Operator (STO) facility has been returned<br />
to the <strong>port</strong> authority (ZSP).<br />
“The market we aimed at has collapsed,”<br />
said a spokesman for Sea-Invest,<br />
the 70% partner in STO. Zuidnatie director<br />
Marcel Dubourg told Antwerp<br />
publication De Lloyd: “As the recession<br />
spread, container lines became ever more<br />
reluctant to move to Flushing.”<br />
The project was unveiled in autumn<br />
2010 in a high profile ceremony with the<br />
chief guest being the (then) Dutch Head<br />
of State, Queen Beatrix, but nothing materialised.<br />
Last June the 375m perpendicular<br />
quay was leased to Supermaritime<br />
along with a 9-ha section of the 42-ha<br />
STO terminal area. It is understood that<br />
Verbrugge Terminals could take a further<br />
13-ha of the land handed back to ZSP.<br />
The other private container terminal<br />
initiative in Vlissingen, the 50:50 project<br />
of Verbrugge and Eurogate Group, is dormant<br />
and its future must be open to doubt.<br />
Similarly the chances of ZSP’s own preferred<br />
project, Westerschelde Container<br />
Terminal (WCT), ever being built must<br />
be very slim. There have been no “takers”<br />
to replace PSA, which inherited the<br />
project when it took over HesseNoord-<br />
Natie, but pulled out of it in 2010.<br />
M&S anchor<br />
Questions are also being asked about DP<br />
World London Gateway. Phase 1 of the<br />
facility is due to open towards the end of<br />
this year. An intermodal rail service agreement<br />
has been signed with DB Schenker<br />
Rail (UK), but there is no hint about any<br />
shipping lines making a commitment and<br />
no-one has signed up for the huge, adjacent<br />
logistics park.<br />
However, at the time of writing (mid-<br />
May), there are rumours that Marks &<br />
Spencer will sign up for 1M ft 2 of warehousing.<br />
As M&S sources most of its nonfood<br />
ambient goods from China and SEA,<br />
(a) deep sea carrier(s) must be waiting in<br />
the wings. Separately, there is a rumour<br />
that Evergreen will switch its Thames<strong>port</strong><br />
calls (but not its Felixstowe calls) to London<br />
Gateway. (Hutchison has its own<br />
problems at Thames<strong>port</strong>. The automated<br />
yard equipment is now 20 years old, but<br />
throughput does not really justify new investments).<br />
This is not an easy time for DP World.<br />
It has massive investment commitments,<br />
including around US$1B in London<br />
Gateway up to the end of 2014, but its<br />
parent Dubai World is under pressure to<br />
speed up asset sales before its first debt<br />
repayment deadline in September 2015.<br />
Dubai World reached a US$25B debt restructuring<br />
deal in 2011 with a banking<br />
consortium led by Abu Dhabi Commercial<br />
Bank. DP World has sold its Hong<br />
Kong terminals and a breakbulk operation<br />
in Belgium to improve liquidity.<br />
Dubai World has an 80% stake in DP<br />
World and wants to hold on to it.<br />
DP World acquired P&O Ports in February<br />
2006, including the conditional<br />
planning approval awarded in June 2005.<br />
Full consent was awarded in June 2007,<br />
but DP World’s decision to proceed surprised<br />
some observers. There is a view that<br />
P&O Ports went to planning in order to<br />
increase its sale appeal, but had no real<br />
intention of developing Shellhaven as the<br />
cost, which includes all the civil infrastructure<br />
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May 2013
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PORT DEVELOPMENT<br />
Global operators on a roll<br />
The past four years have<br />
seen huge variations<br />
in annual container<br />
throughputs, with 2009 seeing<br />
the first decline (-10%) in the<br />
industry’s history, 2010 a strong<br />
return to growth (12%) and 2011<br />
and 2012 more modest increases<br />
in the 4-6% range. This year most<br />
analysts are expecting growth in<br />
the 5-6% range.<br />
Although global terminal operators<br />
(GTOs) scaled back on their<br />
capital expansion programmes<br />
slightly in the fiscally constrained<br />
2008-10 period, they still invested<br />
and secured new operating concessions.<br />
For the past 20 years or<br />
so, the sector has seen a constant<br />
increase in its share of the global<br />
container market. This is a situation<br />
that is expected to continue,<br />
despite some renewed interest in<br />
<strong>port</strong>s and terminals from equity<br />
groups, financial intermediaries<br />
and pension funds.<br />
But the GTOs will be operating<br />
in a slower trading environment<br />
with annualised growth<br />
rates of only 5-6% a year expected<br />
over the next decade. This compares<br />
with average volume rises<br />
of 10-12% a year throughout the<br />
1990s and 2000s, a period that<br />
was characterised by robust traffic<br />
rises and hundreds of new deals<br />
being concluded by the main international<br />
terminal operators/<br />
stevedores as they gained ground<br />
in the industry.<br />
Maturing sector<br />
While the slower rates of growth<br />
in container handling activity<br />
partly relate to poorer global economic<br />
growth prospects, especially<br />
in the OECD countries, they<br />
also reflect the maturing nature of<br />
the container shipping industry.<br />
In many regions of the developed<br />
world well over 80% of general<br />
and neo-bulk cargoes – such as<br />
steel, lumber and forest products –<br />
have already been unitised.<br />
Having said this, there remains<br />
a significant volume of refrigerated<br />
cargo that is moved in specialised<br />
ships, while a range of<br />
agricultural commodities, such as<br />
soya beans, lentils, some grain and<br />
ores, are moved conventionally<br />
and could be containerised if the<br />
right infrastructure were in place.<br />
Geographically, it is the<br />
emerging markets that offer<br />
the GTO industry the best<br />
prospects, principally because:<br />
• Annualised rates of growth over<br />
the next 10 years in regions such<br />
as Africa, Latin America and<br />
Concessions catapult capacity<br />
All the main global terminal operating<br />
companies have sizeable<br />
operating and investment concessions<br />
in place which are due<br />
to deliver a significant amount<br />
of additional container handling<br />
capacity over the next two to<br />
three years.<br />
A conservative estimate suggests<br />
that by the end of 2015,<br />
six leading GTOs – HPH, PSA<br />
International, DP World, APM<br />
Terminals, China Merchants<br />
Holdings International and Cosco<br />
Pacific – collectively will<br />
have added 30M-35M TEU of<br />
annualised handling capacity to<br />
the global total. Of these, DP<br />
World and APMT come out as<br />
being highly ambitious.<br />
DP World’s main projects<br />
are set to add about 12M TEU<br />
of new capacity over the next<br />
two-three years. Around 40%<br />
of this new capacity will come<br />
on stream at its home <strong>port</strong> of<br />
Jebel Ali in Dubai, with 1M<br />
TEU added through its Jebel Ali<br />
Container Terminal 2 extension<br />
project by the end of 2013 and<br />
up to 4M TEU coming into<br />
operation at the new Terminal 3<br />
complex in 2014.<br />
Elsewhere, its Embramar<br />
project in Santos, where it<br />
works with Odebrecht, will add<br />
1M TEU later this year. At London<br />
Gateway at least 1.6M TEU<br />
will come on stream this year,<br />
with the possibility of a further<br />
2M TEU within the next two<br />
years. While there is some uncertainty<br />
about the scheduling<br />
of its Rotterdam World Gateway<br />
complex, it is expected to open<br />
in late 2014 with a design capacity<br />
of 2.4M TEU and eventually<br />
will be able to handle 4M<br />
TEU a year. By 2020 DP World<br />
hopes to have doubled its 2011<br />
handling capacity and have facilities<br />
capable of handling close<br />
to 100M TEU in place.<br />
APMT has an ambitious<br />
expansion programme in<br />
place too, with a goal of<br />
becoming the world’s leading<br />
container <strong>port</strong> and inland services<br />
operator by 2016. On the<br />
basis of new developments, the<br />
operator will phase in to service<br />
an estimated 12M TEU of new<br />
capacity over the next three years.<br />
Due to open in late 2014,<br />
APMT’s Maasvlakte II terminal<br />
is among its biggest projects,<br />
with stage one delivering about<br />
2.7M TEU of extra handling<br />
capacity to the Benelux market,<br />
eventually increasing to 4.5M<br />
TEU, to be phased in according<br />
to market demand. Developments<br />
in the emerging markets<br />
will be responsible for most of<br />
the group’s remaining capacity<br />
increases as terminals in Santos,<br />
Callao, Lazaro Cardenas, Izmir,<br />
Port Moin and Ningbo are<br />
completed.<br />
Hong Kong’s HPH and Singapore’s<br />
PSA International have<br />
fewer concessions and expansion<br />
programmes in place, although<br />
the Singapore Government<br />
is preparing to build an<br />
entirely new box <strong>port</strong> at Tuas<br />
in the west of the island. While<br />
no time frame is known for the<br />
development, PSA’s leases with<br />
the government for its terminals<br />
at Keppel, Pulau Brani and Tanjong<br />
Pagar will expire in 2017.<br />
In the meantime, PSA is focused<br />
on expanding its Pasir<br />
Panjang terminal. An estimated<br />
S$3.5B will be spent on phases<br />
three and four with at least 8M<br />
TEU of additional handling capacity<br />
expected to be in place at<br />
the complex over the next decade.<br />
The next two years will also<br />
see it complete a 1.8M TEU<br />
capacity terminal at Dammam<br />
in Saudi Arabia and add some<br />
capacity at Port Mariel, Cuba.<br />
Outside of the leading pack,<br />
Manila-based ICTSI has secured<br />
a number of high profile<br />
concessions in the last few years<br />
and was recently shortlisted in<br />
the bidding process to build<br />
a third terminal in the <strong>port</strong> of<br />
Melbourne, Australia.<br />
The next two-three years will<br />
see the group introduce new<br />
handling capacity throughout its<br />
network, including at its flagship<br />
facility in Manila, at Manzanillo<br />
in Mexico, Lekki in Nigeria,<br />
Gdynia in Poland and Rijeka<br />
in Croatia. Overall, a projected<br />
4M-5M TEU of new handling<br />
capacity will be added to ICT-<br />
SI’s global <strong>port</strong>folio of facilities<br />
over this period.<br />
Despite high levels of volatility and<br />
uncertainty over container growth<br />
prospects, global terminal operators<br />
continue to invest heavily<br />
parts of Asia are projected to<br />
be three-four times higher than<br />
those in Europe, North America,<br />
Japan and maturing nations in<br />
Asia, such as South Korea, Taiwan<br />
and Singapore.<br />
• There is a rising demand for the<br />
development of modern cargo/<br />
container handling facilities and<br />
associated infrastructure. Local<br />
<strong>port</strong> authorities are often short<br />
of cash or unable to raise the finance<br />
for such projects.<br />
• Rising levels of foreign direct investment<br />
by a mix of companies,<br />
quite often including manufacturers/producers,<br />
dictate that<br />
efficient supply chains are in<br />
place. Fundamentally, this means<br />
efficient <strong>port</strong>s and container terminals<br />
to handle the im<strong>port</strong>/ex<strong>port</strong><br />
flows that normally follow<br />
on from the investment.<br />
APM Terminals (APMT), China<br />
Merchants Holdings (International)<br />
(CMHI), DP World and PSA<br />
International (PSA) are among the<br />
leading GTOs already well-established<br />
in managing terminals in<br />
the developing world. Each is actively<br />
chasing new op<strong>port</strong>unities.<br />
Russian roulette<br />
Last year saw APMT make a key<br />
move into the Russian market, a<br />
region singled out by group CEO<br />
Kim Fejfer as displaying the fastest<br />
growth rates of any BRIC nation<br />
last year and offering sound<br />
prospects. The Netherlandsheadquartered<br />
terminal operator<br />
bought a 37.5% stake in Global<br />
We’re there,<br />
wherever you need us<br />
From Singapore to Uzbekistan, if you’re involved in an<br />
incident, we’ll get someone on site and quickly. With 20<br />
claims offices in key locations, and a further network<br />
of local partners, we always have professionals on<br />
hand with knowledge of the key issues and the legal<br />
frameworks needed to manage a claim effectively.<br />
Because we don’t do anything else, we lead<br />
the way in trans<strong>port</strong> and logistics insurance.<br />
PSA will spend S$3.5B to build an additional 8M TEU of capacity at Pasir<br />
Panjang terminal over the next decade, while the Singapore government is<br />
planning a new box <strong>port</strong> at Tuas in the west of the island<br />
Ports Investments (GPI), Russia’s<br />
leading operator of container terminals,<br />
which also has a presence<br />
in Finland and Latvia. GPI handled<br />
about 1.4M TEU in 2012,<br />
up 8% on 2011, and with about<br />
a 30% share of Russia’s total container<br />
market.<br />
“Russia will need world-class<br />
<strong>port</strong> infrastructure and operational<br />
excellence to serve global shipping<br />
lines and meet its own ambitions<br />
of economic development<br />
and GPI has a ‘good eye’ to grow<br />
the business. This deal is a great op<strong>port</strong>unity<br />
for APMT,” said Fejfer.<br />
He added: “The nation’s rapidly<br />
developing middle class, Russia’s<br />
integration with the global<br />
economy as evidenced by its<br />
membership of the WTO plus<br />
the country’s wealth of natural<br />
resources will continue to fuel the<br />
growth in ex<strong>port</strong>s and im<strong>port</strong>s in<br />
the long run.”<br />
GPI controls the Petroles<strong>port</strong><br />
and Moby Dik terminals in St<br />
Petersburg – a total operating<br />
capacity of 1.8M TEU – as well<br />
as the city’s Yanino Logistics Park.<br />
May 2013 59
PORT DEVELOPMENT<br />
With<br />
In Russia’s Far East region, it owns<br />
Vostochnaya Stevedoring Co which<br />
has a terminal with a design capacity<br />
of 550,000 TEU. In addition, GPI is<br />
an im<strong>port</strong>ant player in the transit cargo<br />
market, owning Multi-Link Terminals<br />
in Finland, which operates small container<br />
terminals in Helsinki (Vuosaari)<br />
and Kotka as well as three inland depots.<br />
APMT and GPI will look at additional<br />
investments and the Black Sea area appears<br />
to be an obvious area for an operating<br />
presence at some stage. But for<br />
the time being the focus is on business<br />
integration and process management<br />
according to Fejfer, including in areas<br />
DP World will add 1M TEU of capacity at<br />
Jebel Ali Container Terminal 2 by the end of<br />
2013 and 4M TEU will go into operation at<br />
the new Terminal 3 complex in 2014<br />
such as operations, procurement and IT.<br />
Mid range players<br />
Medium-sized terminal operating companies<br />
also view emerging markets as<br />
solid investment op<strong>port</strong>unities. Some examples<br />
include:<br />
• Grup TCB is spreading out from its<br />
Spanish homeland (originally Barcelona)<br />
to Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico,<br />
Guatemala and Turkey.<br />
• Philippines-based International Container<br />
Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) is<br />
active in many countries, including China,<br />
the Philippines, Indonesia, Madagascar,<br />
Georgia, Croatia, Poland, Argentina,<br />
Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico.<br />
• Turkey’s Yil<strong>port</strong> is contemplating<br />
projects in Ecuador, Colombia, Ghana<br />
and elsewhere in West and East Africa.<br />
Although the GTOs’ main focus appears<br />
At the heart of every industry,<br />
At the centre of every movement<br />
to be on emerging markets it does not mean<br />
that Europe and North America are being<br />
ignored. Indeed, APMT and DP World<br />
are both involved in very large projects in<br />
Rotterdam, each developing multi-million<br />
TEU capacity, highly automated facilities<br />
in the Maasvlakte II area of the <strong>port</strong>.<br />
APMT is also a 30% shareholder in<br />
the recently opened Jade Weser Port<br />
(JWP) in Wilhelmshaven, Germany,<br />
where it works with Eurogate. In April, a<br />
technical and economic feasibility study<br />
on a northern extension to the JWP<br />
container terminal was launched (see<br />
page 55). Elsewhere in Europe, APMT<br />
has upgrade programmes in place at<br />
Gothenburg, Algeciras and Poti, Georgia<br />
(see page 48).<br />
DP World, meanwhile, is set to open<br />
its eagerly awaited London Gateway<br />
(LG) terminal on the River Thames in<br />
Q4/2013. Initially, it will have the capacity<br />
to handle 1.6M TEU. However, a short<br />
ramp up period will allow the operator<br />
to process over 3.5M TEU by early 2015.<br />
The adjacent rail-connected logistics<br />
park, which is capable of accommodating<br />
up to 925M m 2 of warehousing space,<br />
distinguishes the new <strong>port</strong> from other<br />
deepsea container <strong>port</strong>s in the UK. It has<br />
been described by the terminal operator<br />
as a “potential game changer” when it<br />
comes to the organisation of future shipping<br />
and freight distribution networks in<br />
the country.<br />
Value added approach<br />
DP World CEO Mohammed Sharaf sees<br />
LG as demonstrating the Dubai-based<br />
group’s increasingly value-added-driven<br />
approach to the terminals business. He<br />
thinks that supply chains will become<br />
more im<strong>port</strong>ant in determining a company’s<br />
success and its ability to compete.<br />
At the same time, the op<strong>port</strong>unity to offer<br />
customers choices should help shield<br />
DP World from having to compete on<br />
price alone.<br />
Yet DP World has not revealed the<br />
identity of any customers, despite parties<br />
close to LG suggesting at least one<br />
shipping line or carrier grouping will be<br />
calling from day one with several services.<br />
Discussions are also known to be taking<br />
place with a number of potential clients<br />
for the logistics park, thought to include<br />
UK-based retailers including Marks &<br />
Spencer and specialist logistics groups.<br />
In April, Peter Ward, commercial manager<br />
of the cargo supply chain at LG,<br />
confirmed that 380,000 ft 2 of multi-use<br />
warehousing would be built.<br />
“A few months ago we started testing<br />
the concept of developing common-user<br />
facilities in the logistics park and it was<br />
soon apparent that our plan was oversubscribed.<br />
We are now evaluating a similar<br />
approach for small and medium-sized<br />
enterprises engaged in the fresh food and<br />
time-sensitive environment,” he explained.<br />
Behemoth challenges<br />
A mounting challenge faced by <strong>port</strong>s<br />
and terminals, especially the larger ones,<br />
is how to handle much larger ships safely,<br />
securely and, invariably, in existing<br />
berthing windows. It can mean having<br />
to process as many as 6,000 containers a<br />
day – twice the handling rate achieved by<br />
most operators currently – and that inevitably<br />
involves more automation.<br />
Various levels of automation are becoming<br />
evident in most new terminals,<br />
especially in countries where salaries are<br />
high and there is an absence of strong union<br />
opposition. Automation is also more<br />
common when new terminals are developed<br />
and/or where there are specific<br />
safety or security issues.<br />
For instance TCB, which operates TC<br />
Buen at Buenaventura in Colombia, has<br />
invested about US$3.5M on installing<br />
various OCR systems on its ship-to-shore<br />
gantries, yard cranes and at the gates. It<br />
allows the terminal operator to optimise<br />
and allow real-time traceability on all containers<br />
entering and leaving the facility.<br />
In contrast, only a few operators have<br />
introduced radically new systems and/or<br />
automated processes at existing terminals<br />
because doing this while still trying to continue<br />
day-to-day operations presents huge<br />
challenges, both operationally and fiscally.<br />
Costly investments<br />
Automation is expensive, as is the cost of<br />
investing in the bigger cranes, stronger<br />
60<br />
May 2013
PORT DEVELOPMENT<br />
quay walls and deep water alongside and<br />
in the channels to accommodate the new<br />
classes of ultra-large container ships. This<br />
is another reason why the GTOs want<br />
closer working relationships with their<br />
ocean carriers and why discussions are<br />
taking place that aim to link tariffs and<br />
handling rates more closely to the investment<br />
that has been made, or is needed, in<br />
the terminals.<br />
In new terminals, unmanned yards are<br />
becoming increasingly common. Gradually<br />
the ship-to-shore interface will go<br />
the same way as the larger cranes being<br />
installed will be controlled by operatives<br />
working the units remotely from computer<br />
work stations rather than physically<br />
working controls in the cab.<br />
But as all of the main GTOs acknowledged,<br />
it is not only about buying new<br />
equipment and installing more sophisticated<br />
planning and terminal operating<br />
systems. “It is also about investing in people<br />
and ensuring that they are properly<br />
trained and fully conversant with all safety<br />
and security issues,” said Sharaf. “It is also<br />
vital that tighter communication links are<br />
put in place and there are better and more<br />
streamlined exchanges of information between<br />
all parties.”<br />
Criticising carriers<br />
DP World’s Sharaf was, however, highly<br />
critical of liner companies’ attitudes when<br />
it came to co-operation. Addressing the<br />
recent Lloyd’s List shipping summit, held<br />
in London, he said he has been trying<br />
for seven years to set up more effective<br />
communications in the interest of driving<br />
efficiencies, but price generally took<br />
precedence.<br />
“The focus right now [again] from the<br />
liner industry is only on price. But we<br />
say: ‘Let’s put the price aside and see how<br />
much you will save through efficiencies<br />
achieved by process and technological<br />
improvements’,” he said.<br />
The need for better communication<br />
also extends in the other direction and<br />
needs to include beneficial cargo owners.<br />
It is noticeable how <strong>port</strong> authorities and<br />
GTOs have reached out to shippers and<br />
consignees in an effort to better understand<br />
their supply chain needs and also<br />
the inland distribution aspects of their<br />
businesses.<br />
In selected terminals in their <strong>port</strong>folios,<br />
Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), DP<br />
World, APMT and HHLA have all made<br />
moves in this direction. It is a trend that<br />
will continue as <strong>port</strong>s and operators seek<br />
to process a higher pro<strong>port</strong>ion of cargo<br />
off-site.<br />
A clear trend over the past few years<br />
has been that of so-called “<strong>port</strong>folio<br />
cleansing”, a process whereby individual<br />
GTOs actively manage their investments/<br />
terminal estate often to a set of specific<br />
strategic, fiscal (including profitability)<br />
and operational criteria.<br />
Disposing of assets<br />
Arguably, APMT and DP World have<br />
been the most active on this front over<br />
the past two years. Both companies have<br />
disposed of terminals no longer considered<br />
to be of core value and/or when<br />
they did not have management control.<br />
They have used the resulting funds to<br />
strengthen their balance sheets, top up<br />
their ‘investment pots’ and/or boost profitability.<br />
It was a process highlighted by Sultan<br />
Ahmed Bin Sulayem, chairman of DP<br />
World, at the company’s annual results<br />
announcement in March. “This year, we<br />
have continued to actively manage our<br />
<strong>port</strong>folio to maximum advantage, divesting<br />
of non-core or low return assets. This<br />
has enabled us to move capital into those<br />
markets where we see more profitable<br />
returns whilst strengthening our capital<br />
base,” he said. “It is such actions, whether<br />
investing for growth, actively managing<br />
our <strong>port</strong>folio of assets, or strengthening<br />
our balance sheet, that will allow us to<br />
deliver higher returns for our shareholders<br />
over the medium term.”<br />
This year has started off in a similar<br />
vein with DP World in the process<br />
of disposing of its terminal interests in<br />
Hong Kong. These include its 100%<br />
stake in Asia Container Terminal and<br />
its 75% stake in CSX World Terminals,<br />
which operates Berth Three at the Kwai<br />
Chung Container Terminal and the ATL<br />
Logistics Centre – sold, respectively, to<br />
Hutchison Port Holdings Trust and<br />
Goodman Hong Kong Logistics Fund.<br />
The deal with Goodman includes an<br />
ongoing management contract for the<br />
facilities, which gives DP World “an<br />
ongoing and significant toehold in this<br />
im<strong>port</strong>ant market”, according to a local<br />
analyst.<br />
Future structure<br />
So what about the future organisational<br />
structure of the industry While GTOs<br />
will continue to see their share of the<br />
market rise, it is clear that within this<br />
sector Chinese money and China-based<br />
companies will feature more. Recent<br />
years have seen both Cosco Pacific and<br />
CMHI move into markets outside of<br />
China, with the latter active in Lagos,<br />
Togo and Djibouti and developing facilities<br />
in Sri Lanka.<br />
CMHI also made what some in the industry<br />
call a “transformational deal” when<br />
it acquired 49% of CMA CGM’s terminal<br />
business earlier this year. The €400M deal<br />
to buy Terminal Link expanded CMHI’s<br />
global footprint at a stroke, for the first<br />
time giving the company a presence in<br />
<strong>port</strong>s such as Dunkirk, Le Havre, Houston,<br />
Miami, Tanger Med, Marsaxlokk<br />
and Busan. In terms of total throughput,<br />
Terminal Link processes in excess of 8M<br />
TEU a year.<br />
CMHI chairman Dr. Fu Yuning described<br />
the deal as being highly strategic<br />
for the group. “The transaction marks a<br />
significant step towards expanding our international<br />
footprint, and Terminal Link’s<br />
strategic relationship with CMA CGM<br />
will help to ensure the long-term sustainability<br />
of its operations,” he said. “Besides,<br />
Terminal Link’s exposure to terminals<br />
Everyday the world seems to become just a little smaller;<br />
bringing people, businesses and economies closer<br />
together, creating new op<strong>port</strong>unities and possibilities<br />
along the way. You need to be prepared.<br />
You need access to the right infrastructure and the right<br />
operations, with experience and expertise close at hand.<br />
That’s where we come in. APM Terminals brings access<br />
in emerging markets and its potential<br />
pipeline of new projects present another<br />
driver for its volume growth and financial<br />
returns in the future.”<br />
Nonetheless, organic growth remains<br />
im<strong>port</strong>ant for the GTOs and an active<br />
pipeline of developments is in place at<br />
most companies, whether it be in fulfilling<br />
recent concession awards and/or<br />
expanding facilities held for several years<br />
(see box story, p55).<br />
Acquisitions<br />
Of course, the situation could change<br />
immediately should acquisitions or<br />
mergers occur, something that is difficult<br />
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May 2013 61
PORT DEVELOPMENT NEWS<br />
Equipment recently arrived at the 2.2M TEU capacity Brasil Terminal Portuário<br />
in the Port of Santos, Brazil, one of several new APM Terminals facilities<br />
in emerging markets<br />
Terminal operator<br />
PSA International<br />
Hutchison Port Holdings<br />
DP World<br />
APM Terminals<br />
Cosco Pacific<br />
Terminal Investment Limited<br />
China Shipping Terminal Dev<br />
Evergreen<br />
Eurogate/Contship Italia<br />
HHLA<br />
Total of leading 10<br />
World throughput<br />
to predict. But as the deals mentioned<br />
above suggest, there are<br />
signs that corporate activity is<br />
picking up compared with the<br />
period from 2008 to early 2012.<br />
APMT’s Fejfer attributed this to<br />
higher levels of financial liquidity<br />
and the greater availability of<br />
capita at low interest rates.<br />
While pension and specialist<br />
equity/infrastructure funds<br />
and general investment entities<br />
have rekindled their interest in<br />
the <strong>port</strong>s/terminals and logistics<br />
sectors, ocean carriers appear to<br />
have become more willing sellers<br />
in an attempt to monetise<br />
at least some of their holdings.<br />
In addition to the CMA<br />
CGM/CMHI deal, for instance,<br />
MSC recently signed an agreement<br />
to sell 35% of its 100%<br />
stake in Terminal Investments<br />
Limited (TIL), its <strong>port</strong> management/stevedoring<br />
arm, to Australia-based<br />
Global Infrastructure<br />
Partners (GIP) and a group of<br />
that company’s LP co-investors.<br />
Subject to regulatory approval,<br />
the US$1.93B transaction is expected<br />
to be concluded by the<br />
end of June 2013.<br />
Leading GTOs according to equity share of TEU (2011)<br />
M TEU handled<br />
47.6<br />
43.4<br />
33.1<br />
32<br />
15.4<br />
12.1<br />
7.8<br />
6.9<br />
6.6<br />
6.4<br />
211.3<br />
588.6<br />
% share of world<br />
throughput<br />
8.1%<br />
7.4%<br />
5.6%<br />
5.4%<br />
2.6%<br />
2.1%<br />
1.3%<br />
1.2%<br />
1.1%<br />
1.1%<br />
35.9%<br />
64.1%<br />
Notes: The leading five operators control 29.1% of the market; Leading<br />
China-based groups (including HPH) have a 11.3% share.<br />
Source: Drewry Maritime Research<br />
GIP is already well established<br />
in the utility, rail and air<br />
infrastructure sectors and has<br />
some existing <strong>port</strong> investments,<br />
through its wholly owned subsidiary<br />
International Port Holdings<br />
(IPH), with a total throughput<br />
below 1.5M TEU. These<br />
comprise of Great Yarmouth<br />
Port Company (100%), which<br />
handles no containers, Port of<br />
Brisbane (27%) and International<br />
Trade Logistics (50%), which<br />
operates the Exolgan facility in<br />
Buenos Aires.<br />
The TIL deal will significantly<br />
elevate the Australian group’s<br />
presence in the maritime <strong>port</strong>s<br />
business, giving it an interest in<br />
30 existing/under development<br />
terminals, with an estimated annualised<br />
throughput of 12M-<br />
13M TEU a year.<br />
Best in class<br />
According to Adebayo Ogunlesi,<br />
GIP chairman and managing<br />
partner, the TIL deal is in<br />
line with the group’s investment<br />
strategy of “developing<br />
best-in-class joint ventures with<br />
industry leaders”. IPH chairman<br />
Alistair Baillie, who was instrumental<br />
in developing P&O Ports<br />
into a leading GTO prior to<br />
its US$5.7B sale to DP World<br />
in 2006, will join TIL as president.<br />
Subsequent to the arrangement<br />
with TIL, GIP was part of<br />
the consortium that successfully<br />
secured the 99-year lease awarded<br />
by Australia’s New South Wales<br />
state government to operate Port<br />
Botany and Port Kembla.<br />
It is clear that op<strong>port</strong>unities<br />
abound in the GTO sector and<br />
it continues to be one of the<br />
only bright spots in an otherwise<br />
gloomy market. It is for this reason<br />
that activity and investment<br />
are likely to stay at high levels for<br />
the foreseeable future. <br />
Cometh the Chinese<br />
Mainland China-based terminal<br />
operating companies, including<br />
Cosco Pacific, Shanghai International<br />
Port Group (SIPG),<br />
China Merchants Holding International<br />
(CMHI) and China<br />
Shipping Terminal Development<br />
(CSTD) are increasingly<br />
planting their flags in overseas<br />
markets. They are doing this,<br />
both by aggressively bidding on<br />
new concessions and through<br />
corporate activity, including<br />
by forming partnerships with<br />
incumbent operators, buying<br />
shares in projects and/or taking<br />
direct stakes in other companies.<br />
Neil Davidson, senior advisor,<br />
<strong>port</strong>s at Drewry Maritime<br />
Research, thinks the Chinese<br />
are set to become much bigger<br />
players in the global terminal<br />
operating business and he also<br />
sees more corporate activity taking<br />
place. “After a lull in merger<br />
and acquisition activity in the<br />
sector, brought about by the<br />
global slowdown in 2009, activity<br />
levels are building up again<br />
and we expect to see more major<br />
deals taking place,” he said.<br />
Davidson suggested that<br />
“ownership and ranking of the<br />
world’s major terminal operators<br />
may be significantly different<br />
in a year’s time”, though he<br />
stopped short of specifically referring<br />
to the business development<br />
strategies and expansion<br />
philosophies of China’s main<br />
GTOs.<br />
Large deals have already been<br />
concluded and although the<br />
CMHI deal to buy 49% of CMA<br />
CGM’s Terminal Link was the<br />
highest profile event of the past<br />
12 months, several other highly<br />
significant transactions have<br />
also been completed, including:<br />
• CMHI, Cosco Pacific and CST,<br />
the <strong>port</strong> management arm of<br />
the China Shipping Group,<br />
joined forces to buy Yang<br />
Ming’s 10% shareholding in<br />
Kaohsiung’s Kao Ming Container<br />
Terminal.<br />
• CMHI acquired 50% of Togobased<br />
Thesar Maritime and<br />
became a shareholder in Lome<br />
International Container Terminal.<br />
The Chinese company<br />
is now a partner with Terminal<br />
Investment Limited in developing<br />
a purpose-designed 2.2M<br />
TEU capacity container terminal<br />
in the West African country’s<br />
largest <strong>port</strong>.<br />
• CSTD signed a Memorandum<br />
of Understanding with APMT<br />
in March 2013 to buy a 24%<br />
share of APM Terminals Zeebrugge<br />
in Belgium. SIPG already<br />
owns 25% of the operation.<br />
• A framework agreement was<br />
concluded between CMHI<br />
and the Tanzanian Government<br />
for the overall planning, design,<br />
development, construction and<br />
management of the Bagamoyo<br />
special economic zone development<br />
project, including the<br />
construction of a new <strong>port</strong>.<br />
• CMHI acquired 23.5% of the<br />
shares in Port de Djibouti SA,<br />
which controls the multipurpose<br />
terminal in the <strong>port</strong> of<br />
Djibouti, 66.66% of the Doraleh<br />
Container Terminal and<br />
23.1% of Djibouti Dry Port,<br />
which has responsibility for the<br />
Djibouti Free Zone.<br />
CMHI chairman Dr. Fu Yuning<br />
has been targeting investment<br />
op<strong>port</strong>unities in the developing<br />
world for several years and sees<br />
considerable growth op<strong>port</strong>unities<br />
in sub-Saharan Africa. “Djibouti<br />
does not only avail our<br />
group with another attractive<br />
op<strong>port</strong>unity to establish its presence<br />
in East Africa but also,<br />
together with the group’s earlier<br />
investments in West Africa,<br />
strengthens our position in the<br />
increasingly affluent African<br />
market,” he said. “The acquisition<br />
is consistent with CMHI’s<br />
long-term development strategy<br />
to gradually roll out its international<br />
footprint.”<br />
Despite these various deals,<br />
the overseas <strong>port</strong> networks of<br />
Chinese companies remain limited.<br />
Moreover, in the case of<br />
Cosco Pacific and CSTD several<br />
of their facilities appear to<br />
be run mainly to complement<br />
and help improve operations at<br />
their sister shipping lines, Cosco<br />
Container Lines and China<br />
Shipping Container Lines, respectively.<br />
Currently, Cosco Pacific has<br />
four overseas investments centred<br />
on Singapore, Antwerp, Piraeus,<br />
and Port Said – where it<br />
is a shareholder in Suez Canal<br />
Container Terminal, managed<br />
by APMT. Apart from Piraeus, it<br />
is the junior shareholder in all<br />
cases.<br />
CMHI, which also owns<br />
a slice of Hong Kong-headquartered<br />
Modern Terminals<br />
Limited, has no direct ownership<br />
links with liner shipping<br />
companies and its investments<br />
are as a pure terminal operator.<br />
In this regard, therefore, it can<br />
be viewed in a similar light to<br />
HPH, PSA International and<br />
DP World.<br />
While the strategies may<br />
differ, Chinese operators will<br />
definitely be bigger forces in<br />
the third party <strong>port</strong> management<br />
and GTO market over the<br />
coming years.<br />
VDL Containersystemen<br />
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62<br />
May 2013
INTERMODAL<br />
CargoBeamer for Calais-Poland run<br />
French property developer DCB International<br />
is proceeding with Calais<br />
Premier, a new logistics park that<br />
aims to become one of the leading gateways<br />
for goods distribution between the<br />
UK and continental Europe.<br />
Calais Premier is the biggest logistics<br />
project in northern France, with a total<br />
surface area of 160-ha. It is located in the<br />
Turquerie industrial zone, which stretches<br />
along the Calais-Dunkirk railway line<br />
between the Port of Calais and the Channel<br />
Tunnel terminal at Fréthun.<br />
The first phase of the project with a<br />
surface area of 50-ha is due for completion<br />
by 2014 and is expected to have<br />
220,000 m 2 of warehousing, 50,000 m 2<br />
of industrial parks, and 11,000 m 2 of commercial<br />
property. The project owner, the<br />
Cap Calaisis urban community, is planning<br />
to invest €2B to create a railway junction<br />
at the site as well as modernising the<br />
whole Calais-Dunkirk railway line.<br />
On top of that, the Calais 2015 <strong>port</strong><br />
project is aimed at doubling the size of<br />
the <strong>port</strong>. Franck Edouard Tiberghien, strategic<br />
development director of CCI Côte<br />
d’Opale, which manages and operates the<br />
<strong>port</strong>, says that the plan is to build a new<br />
sea wall to shelter 110-ha of new dock<br />
area to the north of the existing <strong>port</strong>. The<br />
entrance channel will be dredged to a<br />
depth of 13m and a new rail terminal will<br />
be constructed between the two basins.<br />
The project is estimated at €600M and<br />
is backed by the Nord Pas-de-Calais regional<br />
government. The new berths<br />
would be used for ro-ro and lo-lo as Calais<br />
looks to a wider short sea shipping/<br />
motorway of the sea vocation. “Calais will<br />
assert its strategic position as a European<br />
crossroads,” stated the town’s mayor,<br />
Natacha Bouchart.<br />
Beaming at the gate<br />
As previously re<strong>port</strong>ed, Germany-based<br />
CargoBeamer is installing a rail terminal<br />
(called “CargoGate”) at Calais Premier<br />
that will enable standard road semi-trailers<br />
deployed in UK-Continent logistics<br />
flows to be switched onto CargoBeamer<br />
trains. Hence, truck drivers would be required<br />
only for the UK trunk haul and<br />
the crossing to Calais via Eurotunnel or<br />
ferry. (As an aside, it may be worth noting<br />
that with Eurotunnel’s freight shuttle,<br />
there is no alternative to the road tractor<br />
going with the trailer. For a ferry, however,<br />
it may be possible to drop the trailer<br />
in Dover, ship it unaccompanied to Calais<br />
and then engage another tractor head<br />
for the short haul between the <strong>port</strong> and<br />
the CargoBeamer terminal).<br />
CargoBeamer aims to create a “rail<br />
motorway” connecting the UK and<br />
France with Eastern Europe and Russia.<br />
Speaking at a recent Calais Premier presentation<br />
in London, CargoBeamer’s sales<br />
director Michael Baier said: “Cargo-<br />
Beamer offers the only fully automated<br />
system for transferring non-cranable<br />
semi-trailers on and off the railway. Within<br />
one of our CargoGates, we can shift up<br />
to 10 times more trailers to trains than a<br />
crane terminal can operate.<br />
“We have chosen to base our facility<br />
at Calais Premier as it is strategically an<br />
im<strong>port</strong>ant location, close to the UK and<br />
the extensive European rail network.”<br />
CargoBeamer uses parallel, rather than<br />
sequential, loading, so trailers can be<br />
loaded on the train within 15 mins.<br />
Very ambitious<br />
CargoBeamer’s long-term goals are highly<br />
ambitious. It aims to have up to 75<br />
CargoGates in Europe, creating a network<br />
of all freight centres and connecting all<br />
European cities, from Glasgow in the<br />
north west to Moscow and Istanbul in<br />
the east. However, a basic constraint would<br />
be the available structure gauge. A<br />
CargoBeamer trailer would not be able<br />
to operate anywhere in the UK, for example,<br />
except on HS1 between the Channel<br />
Tunnel mouth at Cheriton and London-Barking.<br />
As previously re<strong>port</strong>ed, CargoBeamer<br />
has conducted extensive trials with its<br />
prototype CargoGate in Leipzig, where<br />
the company is based. And as re<strong>port</strong>ed in<br />
the January 2013 edition of <strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
<strong>News</strong> (p1), Volkswagen is committing to<br />
a CargoBeamer service for trailers loaded<br />
with automotive parts. CargoGates will<br />
be built at the VW plant in Wolfsburg and<br />
in Bettembourg in Luxembourg. On detraining<br />
in Bettembourg, the trailers will<br />
be transferred by terminal tractors to the<br />
Lorry-Rail service using the Modalohr<br />
horizontal technique between Bettembourg<br />
and Perpignan. In Perpignan the<br />
trailers will be switched to road for onward<br />
shipment into Spain.<br />
Berlin and Legnica<br />
The first CargoBeamer service from Calais<br />
Premier will operate to Berlin and then<br />
onwards to Legnica in southern Poland.<br />
Corresponding CargoGate terminals will<br />
be built in both locations. This means that<br />
distinct Berlin-Calais and Berlin-Legnica<br />
services could be offered as well as Calais-Berlin-Legnica.<br />
Initially, says Cargo-<br />
Beamer’s managing director Hans-Jürgen<br />
Weidemann, there will be two train/pairs<br />
week, but it is hoped to develop business<br />
up to daily train pairs. The company is<br />
currently analysing the details of its service<br />
schedule with the rail track authorities<br />
and prospective traction partners.<br />
The Channel tunnel is not competitive<br />
for UK-Germany/Eastern Europe<br />
rail freight. CargoBeamer at least gets the<br />
traffic off the roads on the Continent.<br />
On the designated route, the<br />
CargoBeamer trains have a capacity for<br />
36 wagons (ie 36 trailers) with a maxi- Marshalling a standard road trailer alongside the CargoBeamer wagons<br />
Technology<br />
and efficiency<br />
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<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
May 2013 63
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
INTERMODAL<br />
Horizontal transfer of trailer onto wagon bed<br />
mum trailer weight of 37t. The structure<br />
gauge clearance on the route is re<strong>port</strong>ed<br />
to be P400/C400, so 4m high trailers can<br />
be carried on the wagons, even though<br />
the platform height is 320mm, 50mm<br />
higher than a pocket wagon for conventional<br />
unaccompanied combined trans<strong>port</strong>.<br />
Weidemann adds that a corresponding<br />
P/C400 permit has to be issued by<br />
the track authorities to the rail operators.<br />
This was successfully executed for pilot<br />
trans<strong>port</strong>s with the CargoBeamer wagons<br />
in 2012 during which it trans<strong>port</strong>ed<br />
4m high trailers. The company is not<br />
aware of any physical modifications required<br />
to the upper or lower structure<br />
gauge profiles on the line of route.<br />
Weidemann adds that so far<br />
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The “British” CargoGate terminal will be<br />
located in Calais Premier logistics park<br />
CargoBeamer has been almost completely<br />
privately-funded. Sup<strong>port</strong> is available as<br />
part of the EU’s Marco Polo programme<br />
for the ESTRaB project, which covers<br />
CargoBeamer trans<strong>port</strong>s between Rotterdam<br />
and the Baltic including rail gauge<br />
switching at the Poland/Lithuania border<br />
and a CargoGate terminal in Lithuania.<br />
This gauge switching facility is under<br />
construction now. Lithuanian trans<strong>port</strong>ation<br />
and energy company Achema is part<br />
of the ESTRaB project.<br />
High system costs<br />
According to last year’s study by<br />
KombiConsult for the UIRR, overall system<br />
costs of CargoBeamer are ca. 40%<br />
higher than the system costs of conventional<br />
unaccompanied combined trans<strong>port</strong><br />
(UCT) for semi-trailers loaded onto<br />
pocket wagons by cranes or reach stackers.<br />
This analysis was made in relation to<br />
transalpine combined trans<strong>port</strong> axes<br />
through Switzerland (for review, see World-<br />
Cargo <strong>News</strong>, February 2013, pp37-38).<br />
CargoBeamer caters for standard noncranable<br />
trailers, or around 80% of the<br />
European semi-trailer market, which is<br />
not capturable by lo-lo UCT. In this context,<br />
however, Kombi-Consult posed an<br />
im<strong>port</strong>ant question for suppliers of horizontal<br />
loading systems for non-cranable<br />
semi-trailers, such as Cargo-Beamer,<br />
Modalohr and Kockums Industrier.<br />
When road trans<strong>port</strong> firms procure<br />
non-cranable semi-trailers, they do so<br />
because they intend to use them in accompanied<br />
over-the-road services; the<br />
distances may be too short for combined<br />
trans<strong>port</strong> to compete, or they are not capable<br />
of forwarding the trailers unaccompanied<br />
by rail, as they do not have an organisation<br />
at both ends of the rail leg or<br />
the critical mass for regular shipments on<br />
given corridors.<br />
For a company that can systematically<br />
and regularly make use of UCT, the extra<br />
price for a cranable semi-trailer of<br />
€1500-2000 will be amortised in a few<br />
journeys and the extra tare of around 300<br />
kgs is not really significant, especially as<br />
these days most loads “cube out.”<br />
In context<br />
These are sharp points, but they have to<br />
be seen in the context of established UCT<br />
corridors. What about east-west trade<br />
routes such as north east France-southern<br />
Poland where there are no established<br />
UCT corridors and where, up to now,<br />
there has been no tradition of shipping<br />
semi-trailers by rail and no alternative to<br />
long haul road trans<strong>port</strong><br />
East-west transit through Germany<br />
and Germany-East Europe road trans<strong>port</strong><br />
is becoming increasingly unacceptable to<br />
German public opinion; the autobahns are<br />
congested and there are too many accidents,<br />
leading to huge tailbacks, extra<br />
pollution and so on. Hans-Jürgen<br />
Weidemann points to some key “drivers”<br />
for CargoBeamer and the ability to use<br />
standard trailers without any modification<br />
is only the start.<br />
Other key factors are the total trans<strong>port</strong><br />
price, including “soft” issues such as<br />
insurance, damage costs, wear on the truck<br />
and driver, the shortage of long-distance<br />
drivers, higher turnover with the same<br />
number of trucks and drivers, compulsory<br />
rest regulations (9h driving/11h<br />
pause), autobahn truck bans on Sundays<br />
and public holidays, congestion and pollution,<br />
trans<strong>port</strong> sustainability, and so on.<br />
64<br />
May 2013
INTERMODAL<br />
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
Swiss get tunnel vision<br />
In combination with new large-scale terminals<br />
in Switzerland, the NEAT (Neue<br />
Eisenbahn Alpen Transversale) line is able to<br />
bring further traffic volumes of maritime<br />
and continental traffic to the tracks, argues<br />
Swiss UIRR company Hupac, as it<br />
brings long, flat track passing loops and<br />
sufficient route profile (P400). If these<br />
three infrastructural prerequisites for the<br />
Gotthard corridor are present, an annual<br />
benefit of CHF135M can be achieved for<br />
combined operators, railway companies<br />
and infrastructure providers.<br />
This is the result of a master thesis<br />
developed on behalf of the Cargo Forum<br />
Schweiz association. The required infrastructure<br />
comprises the NEAT, extension<br />
of passing loops, and the 4m corridor. The<br />
aggregate benefit of these three measures<br />
corresponds to 75% of the operational<br />
contributions the Swiss federal government<br />
grants to combined traffic each year.<br />
The construction of the 4m corridor,<br />
the decision concerning which will be<br />
made by the Swiss Parliament in the next<br />
few months, is a worthwhile project from<br />
an economic point of view, insists Hupac,<br />
and economic added value is particularly<br />
high for the Luino line. “Abandonment<br />
of the adaptation of this highly frequented<br />
route will result in a value-destroying scenario<br />
for the overall investment of the 4m<br />
corridor,” stated Hans-Jörg Bertschi, president<br />
of Hupac at the company’s annual<br />
results conference in Zurich in May.<br />
Italian connection<br />
“Pre-financing of the construction work<br />
in Italy is necessary in order to make use<br />
of the potential added value as soon as<br />
possible. It is essential that negotiations<br />
regarding the implementation of the 4m<br />
corridor on the Luino and Chiasso lines<br />
continue as top priority...in the absence<br />
of an adaptation of the routes up to the<br />
terminals in Italy, benefits will fail to materialise<br />
along the entire traffic corridor.”<br />
Hupac is again expressing concern that<br />
the Italians will not make the necessary<br />
investments in tracks and terminals to<br />
maximise the potential of the new<br />
Gotthard base tunnel. The problem is that<br />
this key transalpine intermodal corridor<br />
is only as efficient and adapted to market<br />
requirements - in particular the need to<br />
cater for 4m high semi-trailers on standard<br />
P270 pocket wagons - as its weakest<br />
link allows it to be.<br />
Concern has also been expressed<br />
about the ability of combi-terminals in<br />
Germany to cope with the potential extra<br />
traffic that the Gotthard base tunnel<br />
creates, particularly in terms of access for<br />
collection and delivery drayage trucks.<br />
Of course, with the exception of<br />
standard road trailers, these factors also<br />
play to lo-lo UCT, but the vast majority<br />
of trailers in east-west trade lanes cannot<br />
make use of it and combined trans<strong>port</strong><br />
services are not well-established anyway.<br />
Over time, CargoBeamer may become<br />
a kind of “feeder” for unaccompanied<br />
combined trans<strong>port</strong>. As road trans<strong>port</strong><br />
firms become more confident in unaccompanied<br />
rail for the long haul, if they<br />
have critical mass for regular use of rail<br />
they will increasingly look to unaccompanied<br />
combined trans<strong>port</strong>. Critically,<br />
however, CargoBeamer says it knows already<br />
that on its selected east-west routes<br />
it can beat the truck on price.<br />
Response to failure<br />
It looks as though CargoBeamer’s Calais<br />
terminal may be able to position itself as<br />
the answer to the almost complete failure<br />
of the Channel tunnel to deliver viable<br />
UK-Germany/Eastern Europe<br />
intermodal services.<br />
To the extent that structure gauge is a<br />
factor in this, only one route in Great<br />
Britain is capable of handling high cube<br />
swap bodies and piggyback trailers, HS1<br />
between the tunnel and London-Barking.<br />
The Dover Straits “retail” services -<br />
Le Shuttle Fret and the ferries - are sucking<br />
in British o/d traffic from up to 100<br />
miles north and west of London. Cargo-<br />
Beamer provides an alternative mode, at<br />
least on the French side of the water. ❏<br />
The state-of-the-art freight corridor via<br />
Gotthard makes up a major part of the<br />
operational requirement for combined<br />
traffic, says Hupac<br />
Hupac already caters for 4m high trailers<br />
via the Lötschberg and Brenner Pass,<br />
on which routes it operates around 130<br />
shuttle trains a week. The study carried<br />
out in 2012 by KombiConsult in Germany<br />
for the Brussels-based UIRR has<br />
shown that semi-trailers are becoming<br />
more im<strong>port</strong>ant again for unaccompanied<br />
combined trans<strong>port</strong> in Europe, and especially<br />
on the transit routes through Switzerland<br />
(see <strong>WorldCargo</strong> <strong>News</strong>, February<br />
2013, pp37-38). However, with the<br />
execption of road tankers and trailers specifically<br />
built for dense, heavy cargoes, the<br />
CONTLIFT Container Mover<br />
CCH AB<br />
Semi-trailers have become more im<strong>port</strong>ant in Swiss transit traffic<br />
+46 304 67 06 87 info@contlift.com www.contlift.com<br />
Anzeige_124x175_Kocks_06_<strong>WorldCargo</strong><strong>News</strong> 22.05.13 08:06 Seite 1<br />
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May 2013 65
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
INTERMODAL<br />
overall height of the vast majority of<br />
standard curtainsider of box-type semitrailers<br />
is 4m, so structure gauge restrictions<br />
limit their transferability to rail.<br />
Switch to artics<br />
The increase in trailer traffic is bound up<br />
with the gradual switch from road trains.<br />
KombiConsult found that the split was<br />
roughly 50:50 in transit via Switzerland<br />
in 1992, but has now moved decisively<br />
towards artics, with a figure of 758,000,<br />
or 71.4% share, in 2010.<br />
Why is this According to the firm,<br />
key factors include the changes in logistics<br />
processes following liberalisation of<br />
road trans<strong>port</strong> in Europe (starting from<br />
1985) and the big increase in trans<strong>port</strong><br />
capacity following the break-up of<br />
Comecon and the gradual integration of<br />
This way, valuable synergies are<br />
leveraged, since Swiss combined im<strong>port</strong>/<br />
ex<strong>port</strong> traffic is for a large part continental.<br />
Equipping terminals for swap bodies<br />
and semitrailers is a “must.” The aim must<br />
be to concentrate the largest possible volthe<br />
Eastern European economies into the<br />
European goods supply structure. This demand<br />
could be met most quickly and effectively<br />
by semi-trailers.<br />
Related to that point, artics have more<br />
favourable driving dynamics than road<br />
trains and it is easier to manoeuvre them<br />
in reverse, so the new pool of drivers from<br />
Eastern Europe could adapt more easily.<br />
In terms of unaccompanied combined<br />
trans<strong>port</strong>, the key comparators are a semitrailer<br />
and a road train with two C type<br />
swap bodies, mounted on the rigid platform<br />
and the drawbar chassis. Both provide<br />
the operator with a deal of flexibility,<br />
since they can equally be used for longdistance<br />
road trans<strong>port</strong> if for some reason<br />
the combined trans<strong>port</strong> alternative is unavailable<br />
or is uncompetitive. The A type<br />
swap body, however, is generally not freestanding,<br />
so it relies on heavy lifting equipment,<br />
normally found only in the combined<br />
trans<strong>port</strong> terminal, to lift it on and<br />
off the chassis. To that extent, 12m-13.6m<br />
long swap body operators are “locked in”<br />
to combined trans<strong>port</strong>.<br />
The planned large-scale terminals<br />
Basel-Nord and Zürich Limmattal open<br />
up new perspectives for combined traffic.<br />
From Hupac’s point of view, terminals<br />
should have a concentration function<br />
on the north-south axis that is as<br />
broad as possible, also regarding the opening<br />
of the NEAT and the impending extension<br />
of the Ligurian sea <strong>port</strong>s (to create<br />
a viable alternative to the Rhine sea<br />
<strong>port</strong>s for Swiss shippers). The terminals<br />
must cater for maritime and continental<br />
traffic, as is usual in the large European<br />
hinterland terminals.<br />
Overall volume for Hupac was off by almost 11% in 2012<br />
umes, in order to guarantee economic operation<br />
of the terminals and, on the other<br />
hand, to allow the formation of block<br />
trains for efficient forwarding of traffic on<br />
the territory. The new terminals must be<br />
integrated fully into an overall concept.<br />
Commercial drive<br />
Private business aspects should be of major<br />
im<strong>port</strong>ance to the organising institution<br />
and operators of the future large-scale<br />
terminals. The future operator(s) should<br />
already be involved in the project planning<br />
phase, because an optimised, economically<br />
sustainable layout is decisive for<br />
efficient operation. Hupac sup<strong>port</strong>s a<br />
mixed organisation regarding the terminals,<br />
involving all key stakeholders.<br />
By means of the “Rail traffic on the<br />
territory” Bill submitted to the legislative<br />
process through consultation in April,<br />
the federal government is framing new<br />
boundary conditions for im<strong>port</strong>/ex<strong>port</strong><br />
traffic. Hupac welcomes equal consideration<br />
of freight traffic during the planning<br />
phase and advocates the principle of economic<br />
viability.<br />
Start-up financing of new rail products<br />
by the federal government must,<br />
however, be called into question, it says,<br />
because there is a risk of market distortion<br />
and cannibalisation of existing offers.<br />
From an international perspective,<br />
this type of financing concept has not<br />
proved successful. Planned new financial<br />
assistance for non-economically viable<br />
regional rail freight by a joint effort of<br />
cantons and the federal government must<br />
be critically assessed. It creates new subsidies<br />
and reinforces bottlenecks in the<br />
rail infrastructure. In Hupac’s view, only<br />
sup<strong>port</strong> for geographically-handicapped<br />
peripheral regions is reasonable.<br />
Traffic down<br />
For the record, Hupac carried 646,214<br />
shipments (1.3M TEU) in the 2012-13<br />
financial year ended 31 March. This volume<br />
represents a decrease of 10.7% from<br />
the previous year. The main reason for<br />
the negative traffic development was cited<br />
as weak demand for trans<strong>port</strong> services as<br />
a result of the current economic crisis in<br />
Europe and particularly in Italy.<br />
Traffic through Switzerland was put<br />
under additional strain by three total closures<br />
of the Gotthard line lasting 40 days<br />
in all. Further restrictions were imposed<br />
by construction work on the Lötschberg/<br />
Simplon axis. Overall, the route via Switzerland<br />
recorded a 11.9% reduction in<br />
consignments, around half of which was<br />
due to the line closures.<br />
In transalpine traffic via Austria, Hupac<br />
achieved a growth of 0.7%. This was particularly<br />
due to the efficient 4m corridor<br />
for the trans<strong>port</strong>ation of P400 semi-trailers.<br />
Hupac was able to strengthen its market<br />
position in this segment. There was a<br />
reduction of 20.1% in non-transalpine<br />
im<strong>port</strong>/ex<strong>port</strong> traffic.<br />
Consolidation<br />
As a result of the negative economic environment,<br />
Hupac was forced to adjust<br />
capacity and consolidate services between<br />
the Rhine sea <strong>port</strong>s and Switzerland. The<br />
trans<strong>port</strong> axes Benelux/Germany-Poland/Russia,<br />
Benelux/Germany-Austria/<br />
Hungary/Romania and Benelux-Spain<br />
also witnessed consolidation and the adjustment<br />
of operational concepts.<br />
Due to the decline in volume, turnover<br />
decreased by 7.8% to around<br />
CHF454.5M. Thanks to rigid cost control,<br />
Hupac says, it achieved a satisfactory<br />
operating profit of CHF4.4M (+65.6%).<br />
Investments in tangible fixed assets came<br />
to CHF33.3M and were primarily related<br />
to the purchase of rail wagons, the completion<br />
of the Busto Arsizio-Gallarate terminal<br />
and the building of the wheel-set<br />
refurbishing centre of Busto Arsizio. ❏<br />
66<br />
May 2013
CARGO HANDLING<br />
Container terminals still E-power mad<br />
As first re<strong>port</strong>ed in last month’s <strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
<strong>News</strong>, Terex Noell Crane Systems (China)<br />
Ltd, majority-owned by Terex Port Solutions,<br />
has been awarded a contract worth<br />
US$40M by PTP <strong>Tanjung</strong> Pelepas for 26<br />
E-RTGs, with an option for 32 more.<br />
PTP is also engaged in a project to convert<br />
all its existing RTGs to mains power.<br />
Noell China has previously supplied<br />
conventional RTGs to PTP, but this order<br />
is the biggest single order for RTGs<br />
it has received. The machines will be built<br />
at its facility in Xiamen. As also previously<br />
re<strong>port</strong>ed, PTP has two new berths<br />
under construction along a 720m long<br />
linear quay. These are scheduled to open<br />
in May next year and the RTGs will be<br />
deployed in the new yard. They are 7 +<br />
1/1 over 5 x 9ft 6in high machines with<br />
an SWL of 50t. Gantry speed is up to<br />
136 m/min (empty travel) and trolley<br />
traverse speed is 70 m/min.<br />
The new RTGs will run off a<br />
Conductix-Wampfler conductor rail, under<br />
that company’s frame agreement with<br />
APM Terminals, but they will also be<br />
equipped with an auxilary diesel generator<br />
to allow them to change lanes or move<br />
out of the stack for maintenance, etc.<br />
Conversion project<br />
PTP declined <strong>WorldCargo</strong> <strong>News</strong>’ request<br />
for comment on its new E-RTGs and its<br />
RTG retrofit programme, which could<br />
involve up to 120 installed RTGs and<br />
would make a major contribution to improving<br />
local air quality and significantly<br />
reduce CO 2<br />
emissions and noise levels.<br />
Typically RTGs account for more than<br />
half the diesel fuel consumption in an<br />
RTG-based terminal, although this figure<br />
has come down because of proprietary<br />
systems such as Siemens’ ECO-<br />
RTG, Control Techniques’ RISGA and<br />
the general trend towards variable speed<br />
generators, which reduce idling speeds.<br />
According to data from Conductix-<br />
Wampfler, a diesel RTG typically accounts<br />
for 454,000 kg of CO 2<br />
e/year. Theoretically<br />
an E-RTG accounts for 188,000 kg/<br />
CO 2<br />
e, but in practice about 10% of the<br />
running time will be diesel (block<br />
changes, travel for maintenance, etc), so<br />
that figure is adjusted upwards to 215,000<br />
kg, still a massive CO 2<br />
e reduction of 52%.<br />
A conventional (non “eco”) RTG<br />
consumes around 21 litres/hour of diesel<br />
fuel, using a benchmark of 10 hoist<br />
moves/hour (2-3 RTGs per STS crane).<br />
For this case, Conductix-Wamplfer calculates<br />
a fuel cost of US$22.5/hour (price<br />
of US$1.07/litre) or US$195,000/RTG<br />
year. In contrast, based on a grid price of<br />
US$0.2/kWh, and a power requirement<br />
of 40 kW for 10 moves/hour, the cost is<br />
US$8/hour or US$64,000/RTG year.<br />
Although diesel fuel prices have come<br />
down since 2008, they are less stable and<br />
therefore less predictable than grid prices,<br />
and there may also be security of supply<br />
questions to factor into a total life cost<br />
analysis. In addition, maintenance costs<br />
associated with diesel generators work out<br />
at around €5-6/hour. But that begs a<br />
question. Going forward, what will be the<br />
maintenance costs for busbars or cable<br />
management systems<br />
There may be more on this in a new<br />
re<strong>port</strong> being drawn up by the Port Equipment<br />
Manufacturers’ Association (PEMA)<br />
in Brussels. PEMA’s members include<br />
Cavotec Group, Vahle, Conductix-<br />
Wamplfer, Prysmian and Tratos Cavi (but<br />
not Stemmann-Technik).<br />
There remains plenty of RTG electrification<br />
work around, for newbuilds and retrofits<br />
North<strong>port</strong> goes electric<br />
PTP could prove to be a tricky installation<br />
for busbars, given the prevailing<br />
ground conditions, with plenty of differential<br />
settlement. Another Malaysian operator,<br />
North<strong>port</strong> in Port Klang, is taking<br />
a different approach. The operator has just<br />
taken delivery of the first of 13 all-electric<br />
RTGs from Japan’s Toyo Umpanki<br />
Co (TCM). TCM has previously delivered<br />
straddle carriers and RTGs to<br />
North<strong>port</strong>, but these latest units are<br />
North<strong>port</strong>’s first E-RTGs. They will be<br />
delivered without a genset, instead using<br />
a Lithium-ion battery pack to change<br />
blocks as required.<br />
G Sundaraja Perumal, assistant general<br />
manager, equipment and maintenance at<br />
North<strong>port</strong>, said that the company considered<br />
both a conductor rail and a cable<br />
reel system for powering the E-RTGs. In<br />
the end it opted for a cable reel system,<br />
mainly because the ground at North<strong>port</strong><br />
is subject to so much subsidence. The<br />
container yard is actually built on a swamp<br />
and even the paved RTGs runways are<br />
extremely uneven.<br />
This creates an issue with keeping a<br />
conductor rail relatively straight. While<br />
some deviation can be managed,<br />
Sundaraja said he has seen another terminal<br />
in Malaysia that has had problems<br />
with subsidence and conductor rails and<br />
North<strong>port</strong>’s crane consultant, US-based<br />
Casper Phillips & Associates, also advised<br />
against it.<br />
The cable reel system has been supplied<br />
by Cavotec and will run on opposite<br />
sides of adjacent cranes (ie between<br />
two stacks), away from the truck lanes. A<br />
cable reel does not offer the “drive in”<br />
capability of the latest conductor bar sys-<br />
New E-RTGs from TCM being installed in<br />
North<strong>port</strong>, Port Klang<br />
E-RTG TM<br />
with Plug-In Solution<br />
E-RTG TM<br />
with Drive-In P Solution<br />
E-RTG TM<br />
with Motorized Cable Reel Solution<br />
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We add the “E”<br />
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Electrification of<br />
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Converting a conventional RTG into an electrical one<br />
(E-RTG TM ) means to shut down the diesel generator and<br />
to power the RTG with electrical power only.This conversion<br />
is now possible with the complete RTG electric<br />
power solutions developed by Conductix-Wampfler:<br />
Plug-In Solution, Drive-In P & L Solution and<br />
Motorized Cable Reel Solution.<br />
We move your business!<br />
Drive-In L<br />
the new standard<br />
for RTG Electrification<br />
www.conductix.com<br />
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
E-RTG-V3_EN_WCN_TOC_EU_130515.indd 1 15.05.2013 08:09:24<br />
May 2013 67
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
CARGO HANDLING<br />
68<br />
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tems, such as the Vahle installation<br />
at MTL, Hong Kong, for example<br />
(<strong>WorldCargo</strong> <strong>News</strong>, May 2012,<br />
pp60-61). However, Sundaraja said<br />
that North<strong>port</strong> typically has maintenance<br />
people on site who can<br />
plug and unplug the cranes safely.<br />
The cable will run on the ground,<br />
with no special trench or protection<br />
system. As the truck lanes are<br />
on the “far side” of adjacent stacks,<br />
the cables are not exposed to<br />
heavy wheeled traffic.<br />
Sundaraja is satisfied that a Liion<br />
battery pack can meet North<strong>port</strong>’s<br />
requirements without having<br />
a small genset for back up. The<br />
battery can supply enough power<br />
for two row crossings and 500m<br />
of long travel, which is more than<br />
adequate for North<strong>port</strong>’s operational<br />
needs. Based on the robustness<br />
of the grid supply to the STS<br />
cranes, the company has no concerns<br />
about the lack of operating<br />
“redundancy” on the E-RTGs.<br />
A cable reel system has the<br />
advantage of familiar ground for<br />
<strong>port</strong> operators as the vast majority<br />
of the world’s all-electric<br />
dockside cranes operate with<br />
them and there is an op<strong>port</strong>unity<br />
for parts commonality. In principle,<br />
the operating system is exactly<br />
the same. Once the RTG has accelerated<br />
to its full travel speed, the<br />
rotation speed becomes constant,<br />
but the torque varies according to<br />
the mass of cable on the reel.<br />
A complicating factor is that<br />
many new RTGs are now specified<br />
with two long travel speeds,<br />
one for laden travel and a faster<br />
one for empty travel (typically almost<br />
three times the speed of STS<br />
crane gantry travel).<br />
Stay with festoons<br />
North<strong>port</strong> has also taken delivery<br />
of the first two of six new STS<br />
gantry cranes from Hyundai<br />
Samho. All the cranes will be delivered<br />
with a festoon system<br />
rather than a cable chain.<br />
Sundaraja said festoons are a maintenance<br />
item, but he has seen cable<br />
chains where damage to one<br />
or more links has damaged the rest<br />
of the chain significantly as it slides<br />
upon itself, requiring the whole<br />
chain to be replaced. The downtime<br />
to order and replace a cable<br />
chain, he added, is significant.<br />
The first two cranes are relatively<br />
small (40m outreach) and<br />
will have a non-motorised festoon.<br />
The next four cranes are much<br />
larger (23-wide) and will have a<br />
Conductix-Wampfler motorised<br />
festoon. North<strong>port</strong> has made one<br />
change to Wampfler’s standard system<br />
by specifying a different type<br />
of cable clamp at the bottom of<br />
the hanging loops. Normally these<br />
are a metal clamp, but Sundaraja<br />
said North<strong>port</strong> has found that<br />
these can tear the insulation off<br />
the cable and it prefers a rubber<br />
band type clamp.<br />
Elsewhere in Malaysia,<br />
Conductix-Wampfler’s “Drive-<br />
In” system was installed on 4 x<br />
300m RTG blocks in the Port of<br />
Penang in 2011.<br />
Turkish deals<br />
As also re<strong>port</strong>ed last month,<br />
Konecranes is in the process of delivering<br />
eight E-RTGs to Eyvap<br />
Port in Istanbul. It is estimated that<br />
the RTGs, which are also<br />
equipped with network braking,<br />
will reduce energy consumption<br />
by up to 60% and reduce local<br />
emissions by up to 95%. Again, the<br />
E-RTGs will run off Conductix-<br />
Wampfler conductor rails.<br />
This is not the latest fully automated<br />
and electrified “Drive-In<br />
L” system from Conductix-<br />
Wampfler, but an earlier version<br />
that relies on a pneumatic arm,<br />
which is less compact and less<br />
“smooth” and takes more time to<br />
connect. This is because, as well as<br />
ordering new Konecranes RTGs,<br />
Eyvap is retrofitting (go to page 64)<br />
Above: A Noell China E-RTG, such as ordered by PTP <strong>Tanjung</strong> Pelepas. Below:<br />
panorama of PTP container yard<br />
Igus rolls them out<br />
Igus GmbH, a world leader in<br />
energy chains and polymer plain<br />
bearings, is continuing its growth<br />
trend. Despite difficult market<br />
conditions in 2012, turnover for<br />
the year increased by 5% to a<br />
record €399M, representing more<br />
than 4200 shipments from its 13<br />
global dispatch centres to 175,000<br />
customers around the world.<br />
All products are now developed<br />
and marketed in specific<br />
business divisions, although this<br />
does not involve any complications<br />
for the customers. Growth<br />
areas in 2012-13 include project<br />
business with enrgy chains, in the<br />
<strong>port</strong>s and industrial sectors.<br />
Major achievements in 2012<br />
included completion of a huge<br />
mechnical sludge processing plant,<br />
with a rotating arch bridge spanning<br />
almost 180m, for the Port of<br />
Antwerp and the Flemish authorities.<br />
Built and commissioned over<br />
a period of 30 months, the plant<br />
incorporates what Igus claims is<br />
the world’s biggest polymer energy<br />
chain, model E4.350, with a<br />
hose filling rate of more than 100<br />
kg per metre.<br />
It features additional interior<br />
separations for power and signal<br />
cables, and opening crossbars with<br />
low friction “iglidur” roller to<br />
guide the hoses as gently as possible.<br />
Similar chains are proven in<br />
heavy machinery construction, in<br />
steelworks and on oil platforms.<br />
Higher demands<br />
In the <strong>port</strong> crane sector, Igus notes<br />
that demands on energy chains<br />
have increased because of faster<br />
speed requirements and this dictates<br />
smooth running properties<br />
and low noise levels.<br />
The company specifically<br />
developed its P4 generation of<br />
roller energy chains for this purpose,<br />
whereby the rollers no<br />
longer roll over one another,<br />
and where all chain links have<br />
the same short pitch.<br />
One installation of a P4 e-<br />
roller system with 220m of long<br />
travel has been in operation for<br />
four years and, says the company,<br />
has proved to be a reliable and safe<br />
solution for transmission of both<br />
energy and data.<br />
With experience from this and<br />
other projects, Igus now offers systems<br />
for long travel application of<br />
all-electric RTGs. Igus energy<br />
chains are installed on the trolley<br />
travel of hundreds of STS cranes,<br />
RTGs, RMGs and ASCs and it<br />
also has long travel references on<br />
STS and barge-to-shore cranes.<br />
P4 is a modular system<br />
configurable for distances of up to<br />
1000m and it can cater for filling<br />
weights of up to 30 kg/m, or more<br />
if additional centre links are fitted.<br />
The upper and lower runs of<br />
the chain roll offset one another,<br />
so the polymer profile rollers,<br />
which are optimised for interaction<br />
in relative motion, are not<br />
rolled over. Instead they roll on a<br />
consistently wide area, which increases<br />
the service life of the chain.<br />
In addition, the pitch of the<br />
chain links is identical with and<br />
without rollers, which means the<br />
energy chain achieves particularly<br />
smooth and vibration-free movement<br />
in the radius. The rollers<br />
themselves are firmly integrated<br />
into the sides of the energy chain.<br />
“Auto-glide” cross-bars made<br />
of polymere that go easy on cables<br />
and a special groove system<br />
provide a safe guide for the energy<br />
chain, says Igus. The P4 system<br />
is available with inner heights<br />
of 32mm, 56mm or 80 mm and<br />
in different inner widths and central<br />
links for “infinite” widening.<br />
Different bending radii can be<br />
chosen according to cable layout.<br />
Igus offers a mixture of standard<br />
parts (e-chains, chainflex cables)<br />
and project-designed parts with the<br />
aim of meeting all requirements. In<br />
total the company has to date<br />
equipped more then 4000 <strong>port</strong><br />
cranes with energy chain systems,<br />
including chainflex cables. ❏<br />
A 125m long P4 roller energy chain installed in the outdoor testing facility at<br />
the Igus plant in Cologne<br />
May 2013
CARGO HANDLING<br />
its existing Kalmar RTGs to run off the local<br />
grid. Vahle had a similar project in another<br />
Turkish <strong>port</strong>, Mardas, converting eight existing<br />
RTGs with a manual, plug-in system.<br />
Full redundancy<br />
Eyvap’s new RTGs are equipped with a<br />
full-size diesel generator (together with<br />
Konecranes’ diesel fuel saver technology)<br />
in case of electricity blackouts.Kim<br />
Salvén, Konecranes’ sales director, <strong>port</strong><br />
cranes, Europe, considers that unless the<br />
operator is assured of 100% grid availability,<br />
it is safer to fit a full size diesel<br />
genset for redundancy. Otherwise a<br />
smaller genset can be fitted as it is only<br />
Induction course<br />
for urban buses<br />
Canada-based rail and aerospace giant<br />
Bombardier has launched an inductively<br />
charged battery propulsion system for<br />
buses and other industrial vehicles. Called<br />
PRIMOVE, the system uses inductive<br />
power transfer to charge batteries, either<br />
in motion or at rest. PRIMOVE was initially<br />
developed for trams, with a high<br />
charging rate designed to allow trams to<br />
charge at passenger stations without slowing<br />
their normal service speed.<br />
Bombardier has now adapted<br />
PRIMOVE for road and industrial vehicles<br />
and claims that it is particularly suited<br />
to vehicles that have a duty cycle with<br />
regular stops, such as horizontal trans<strong>port</strong><br />
in container terminals.<br />
Bombardier adds that PRIMOVE has<br />
an advantage over other inductive systems<br />
through its concept of “high power op<strong>port</strong>unity<br />
charging” that allows batteries<br />
to be smaller and lighter. The charging<br />
process itself is fully automated, safe and<br />
works in all ground conditions, including<br />
snow and ice. The first system on a<br />
passenger bus has recently been demonstrated<br />
in Geneva, Switzerland.<br />
Not hanging around<br />
The idea of applying inductive power to<br />
equipment in <strong>port</strong>s is not completely new.<br />
In the late 1990s, Vahle installed a CPS<br />
(contactless power system) together with<br />
its slotted microwave guide signalling system<br />
on the trolley of rope-driven (power<br />
requirement of just 50 kW) STS container<br />
cranes in the USA and in Hong Kong, as<br />
a complete alternative to a cable festoon.<br />
More recently TTS Group developed<br />
the C-AGV concept in association with<br />
Switzerland-based Numexia, which had<br />
developed suitable contactless energy<br />
transfer technology. The ground-based<br />
elements and coils would be placed under<br />
both the quay cranes and the ASC<br />
handover areas, while the energy picked<br />
up by the AGV-mounted coil would be<br />
stored in <strong>super</strong>capacitors (<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
<strong>News</strong>, October 2008, p47).<br />
The problem was not technology, but<br />
price, and TTS Group had to move away<br />
from this concept, although Numexia<br />
went on to develop a 3.5t 2-axle truck<br />
for urban goods delivery using contactless<br />
charging.<br />
More recently, of course, Gottwald has<br />
come up with a battery-electric AGV.<br />
Judging by the commercial success of this<br />
design in Rotterdam and Long Beach, it<br />
must be a cost-effective product. Partly<br />
this is to do with the fact that it uses leadacid<br />
batteries, which are far less expensive<br />
than Lithium-ion batteries and are<br />
also 100% recyclable.<br />
The lead-acid batteries are much bigger<br />
and heavier than equivalent Li-ion<br />
batteries and require more space, but this<br />
is not a problem in an AGV configuration.<br />
The battery array adds considerable<br />
weight and Gottwald has increased the<br />
size of tyres from 18.00-25 to 21.00-25.<br />
Inductive power will not go away from<br />
the <strong>port</strong>s, however. RTG lanes are in many<br />
ways an ideal location for contactless<br />
power transfer beds. This has been investigated,<br />
but for the time being it is still<br />
too expensive, since such a big moving<br />
mass would require beds at relatively short<br />
intervals. But in the future, who can say<br />
Another promising area for AGVs is<br />
hybrid drive using a regen energy store and<br />
a “rightsized” engine, as VDL is showing at<br />
ECT in Rotterdam. Looking ahead, a hybrid<br />
drive with fuel cells and some form<br />
of dynamic “primer” may also be in play. ❏<br />
needed when the machine changes lanes.<br />
Over the life of the RTG the extra capital<br />
cost of a full size diesel genset is relatively<br />
low, while the maintenance and<br />
service costs are also relatively low as it is<br />
not used very often.<br />
Eyvap and GPA Savannah (the latter<br />
with Conductix-Wampfler’s Drive-In L<br />
- see <strong>WorldCargo</strong> <strong>News</strong>, January 2013,<br />
pp29-30) are Konecranes’ first E-RTG installations<br />
with busbars, and it is working<br />
on other projects. The E-RTGs in Savannah<br />
can switch between diesel and the<br />
grid via an auto-engage system. GPA expects<br />
them to operate on electrical power<br />
for around 90% of total hours.<br />
Most of Konecranes’ E-RTG installations<br />
to date have been with cable reels,<br />
usually from Cavotec, although it is open<br />
to other suppliers. As Salvén explains,<br />
where there are 2-3 RTGs over a stack,<br />
the power cable of the RTG that is nearest<br />
the turnover point located at midpoint<br />
of the runway is always on the top.<br />
The main requirement is to ensure that<br />
the channel is the correct depth as it must<br />
be covered to protect the cables from<br />
wheeled traffic.<br />
Another question with cable-powered<br />
RTGs is whether the diesel genset is fixed<br />
or can be mounted on a removable platform<br />
with FLT pockets. The latter can be<br />
a good solution if the machine does not<br />
change lane very often. ❏<br />
Vahle’s conversion project at MTL, Hong Kong<br />
is the biggest RTG retrofit programme to date.<br />
Major new conversion projects are in hand at<br />
PTP <strong>Tanjung</strong> Pelepas and GPA Savannah.<br />
(Photo: Modern Terminals Ltd)<br />
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<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
Smart Landing ®<br />
<br />
Smart Move <br />
<br />
Vehicle Guidance <br />
May 2013 69
MEET ELME AT<br />
TOC EUROPE.<br />
STAND C14.
CARGO HANDLING<br />
Braking cranes on the run<br />
In 2011 the Japanese Association<br />
for Cargo Handling Machinery<br />
Systems, in operation with the<br />
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure<br />
and Trans<strong>port</strong>, Omaezaki Port and<br />
Shizuoka Prefectural Office conducted<br />
an experiment with dynamic<br />
rail clamps. As a result, dynamic<br />
rail clamps are now recommended<br />
for all Japanese <strong>port</strong>s.<br />
Not everyone in the braking<br />
industry agrees that rail clamps<br />
that act on the top of the crane<br />
rail are a good option for a dynamic<br />
storm brake. Several manufactures<br />
believe they are a holding<br />
brake only, and cranes should<br />
be equipped with wheel brakes to<br />
stop the crane in the long travel<br />
distance. However, many cranes<br />
are fitted with rail clamps with<br />
brake pads (rather than serrated<br />
shoes) to provide dynamic braking<br />
in an E-stop situation.<br />
Blown away<br />
In January 2010 a crane in the Port<br />
of Omaezaki was blown along the<br />
rail by wind. The <strong>port</strong> and the organisations<br />
listed above began a<br />
study to try and determine,<br />
amongst other things, whether rail<br />
clamps can effectively stop a crane<br />
in motion, and a realistic coefficient<br />
of friction (CoF) to use<br />
when specifying rail clamps<br />
(known as “rail brakes” in Japan).<br />
The biggest problem with rail<br />
clamps is that the crane rail is the<br />
braking surface. It can be wet,<br />
greasy from hydraulic oil and<br />
other contaminants, warped and<br />
uneven. To test some of these factors,<br />
Omaezaki used a crane on<br />
its west wharf fitted with a rail<br />
clamp with a pressing force of 500<br />
kN on top of the rail, generating<br />
a braking force of around 300 kN<br />
with a maximum stroke of 10mm.<br />
Two sets of brake pads were<br />
used: one measured 290 x 125mm<br />
In an effort to prevent crane<br />
runaways, dynamic rail clamps are<br />
now recommended in Japan<br />
and the other was half that size.<br />
The linings were a metal-based<br />
synthetic resin material.<br />
The dynamic CoF of the brake<br />
was calculated in a series of experiments<br />
where the crane was accelerated<br />
to a predetermined<br />
speed and the emergency stop<br />
button was then pressed. Tests were<br />
repeated over several months to<br />
assess the impact of wear of the<br />
brake pads, in dry and wet conditions<br />
and on a greasy rail.<br />
Wide variations<br />
The first results were quite random,<br />
with dynamic CoFs varying<br />
between 0.1 and 0.4. It made little<br />
difference whether the rail was<br />
wet or dry. Grease and oils, however<br />
dramatically cut the dynamic<br />
CoF to around 0.1, and once the<br />
pads were contaminated this could<br />
not be improved by cleaning.<br />
Further investigation revealed<br />
that the biggest factor affecting<br />
performance was the state of the<br />
crane rail and the clearance between<br />
the rail and brake pad.<br />
When the test was repeated on<br />
another section of crane rail where<br />
the clearance did not exceed the<br />
specifications of the clamp, the<br />
results were much more consistent,<br />
with dynamic CoF values in<br />
the range of 0.22 to 0.36 on wet<br />
and dry rails. Doubling the size of<br />
the brake pad had little effect.<br />
The study concluded that dynamic<br />
rail clamps are able to stop<br />
cranes in a reliable, predictable<br />
manner, but there is a need for rail<br />
clamps that have more stroke tolerance<br />
to accommodate uneven<br />
crane rails. Masharahu Sinohara,<br />
executive officer for engineering<br />
and planning at Osaka Port remarked<br />
that although rail clamps<br />
are not mandatory, they are now<br />
recommended and most new STS<br />
cranes in Japan have them.<br />
Long travel target<br />
In other developments, Chinese<br />
brake manufacturer Jiangxi<br />
Huawu Brake Company has made<br />
developing electromagnetic multidisc<br />
brakes and wheel brakes for<br />
gantry long travel applications a<br />
research priority. In recent years<br />
Huawu has focused on brakes for<br />
wind turbines and it achieved sales<br />
of Yuan50M in this market in<br />
2012. It is now targeting other<br />
industrial applications where im<strong>port</strong>ed<br />
products still dominate the<br />
domestic Chinese market, working<br />
with universities and the<br />
Jiangxi Provincial Science and<br />
Technology Department to develop<br />
new products.<br />
As far as growing its ex<strong>port</strong><br />
business is concerned, Huawu recently<br />
stated its intention to “continue<br />
to intensify efforts to develop<br />
the international market.” It<br />
will try to leverage ZPMC’s overseas<br />
spare parts network to build<br />
a sales channel into overseas markets,<br />
but is also building an “international<br />
marketing team” to<br />
promote cooperation with foreign<br />
companies.<br />
Römer into Asia<br />
Germany-based manufacturer of<br />
brakes and other components<br />
Römer Fördertechnik GmbH has<br />
signed an exclusive representation<br />
agreement with Singapore-based<br />
Portek. Portek, which previously<br />
worked with Ican, will be Römer’s<br />
sole representative in the following<br />
markets: Singapore, Indonesia,<br />
Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines,<br />
Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Brunei,<br />
Cambodia and Hong Kong. The<br />
agreement also covers countries<br />
where Portek is operating terminals<br />
- currently Algeria, Gabon,<br />
Malta, Rwanda and Latvia.<br />
In its brake product line<br />
Römer has developed a new<br />
thruster called the Turbo brake lifting<br />
system (TBLS) that reduces<br />
the brake actuation time from<br />
350-450 millisecs to 150 millisecs.<br />
Römer builds its own thrusters<br />
under the RBL (Römer Brems-<br />
Lüftgeräte) brand. Depending on<br />
the load, said the company, the<br />
apply time of a regular hydraulic<br />
thruster according to DIN 15430<br />
amounts to ca. 300-500 millisecs.<br />
By a special control of the pump<br />
motor, this apply time is reduced<br />
to about 150 millisecs, independent<br />
of the load (even in case of a<br />
power failure) with integrated uninterrupted<br />
power supply.<br />
The control system reduces the<br />
inrush current and the thermal<br />
load on the motor, which Römer<br />
says will improve service life significantly.<br />
The TBLS can be used<br />
with drum, disk and band brakes.<br />
Römer is making a concerted<br />
push into <strong>port</strong>s and has supplied<br />
crane OEMs including Hans<br />
Kuenz, Konecranes, Terex, KSR<br />
Germany (part of Kranunion) and<br />
Paceco España. It is also targeting<br />
storm brakes, where it claims that<br />
many brakes are actually undersized<br />
because they are specified with an<br />
unrealistically high CoF for the application.<br />
Römer is adamant that<br />
the only appropriate value is<br />
µ=0.25 according to DIN 15019,<br />
but says this is frequently exceeded.<br />
As regards other crane components,<br />
Römer has developed a<br />
new buffer system that enables the<br />
piston rod of the buffer to retract<br />
Italy-based RIMA Srl has kept up<br />
a busy stream of business this year,<br />
following a strong 2012. It has received<br />
multiple orders for storm<br />
brakes for container handling<br />
cranes, in particular for automated<br />
stacking cranes (ASCs)<br />
and bulk handling cranes, placed<br />
by OEMs in Germany, India,<br />
China and the Middle East. In<br />
addition, there were im<strong>port</strong>ant orders<br />
for other hydraulic components<br />
including micro-motion control<br />
systems for <strong>port</strong> cranes and offshore<br />
applications.<br />
In the early part of this year<br />
more orders have come in, from<br />
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
Römer’s Turbo brake lifting system actuates in just 150 millisecs<br />
when two cranes are working very<br />
closely together, and extend again<br />
when the cranes move apart. This<br />
will be particularly useful on retrofit<br />
applications where space is often<br />
constrained. ❏<br />
RIMA storms forward<br />
OEMs including Mitsubishi<br />
Heavy Industries, Mitsui Engineering<br />
& Shipbuilding, Baltkran<br />
and PHB (in Spain).<br />
Highlight include the orders<br />
from Trans Gulf Port cranes (part<br />
of IMCC) in Abu Dhabi for the<br />
rail clamps and hydraulic trim,<br />
list and skew systems for 10 STS<br />
cranes and the rail brakes for 25<br />
ASCs it is building for DP World,<br />
Jebel Ali Terminal 3.<br />
The 40 ASCs being supplied<br />
by Kalmar to DP World<br />
London Gateway (phase 1) are<br />
also being furnished with<br />
RIMA rail brakes. ❏<br />
RIMA rail clamp on STS container crane in the Far East<br />
STRONG. PINTSCH BUBENZER Emergency Brakes. Made in Germany.<br />
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PINTSCH BUBENZER is a world leader in braking system design<br />
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Visit our homepage www.pintschbubenzer.de<br />
May 2013 71
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
Pintsch Bubenzer charting a new path<br />
Pintsch Bubenzer is investing in a<br />
new generation of brakes while<br />
developing MYPort into a crane<br />
and terminal service company<br />
Pintsch Bubenzer GmbH (PB) recently<br />
held a 10th anniversary celebration<br />
for its Malaysian subsidiary<br />
PB MyPort Sdn Bhd (PBMY).<br />
In its short history MyPort has<br />
grown from a strategic Singapore<br />
branch office to what PB describes<br />
as a “global centre for crane braking<br />
systems.”<br />
PBMY now has 32 employees,<br />
including eight service engineers<br />
and eight mechanical and<br />
electrical engineers - more service<br />
personnel than PB has in Germany<br />
- and is extending its operations<br />
well beyond brakes. It<br />
operates from two facilities, a<br />
training centre at <strong>Tanjung</strong> Pelepas<br />
and a new building at nearby<br />
Gelang Patah.<br />
This requires considerable investment,<br />
and raises the question<br />
whether the Schaltbau Group,<br />
which owns PB through Pintsch<br />
Bamag, has a wider strategy that<br />
may eventually lead to starting<br />
brakes production in Malaysia.<br />
PB’s managing director<br />
Markus Topp said, however, that<br />
<br />
WWW.SUMINISTROSPORTUARIOS.COM<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
■ Hydraulic Buffers<br />
■ Dampers<br />
■ Industrial Brakes<br />
■ Couplings<br />
■ Thrusters<br />
■ Brake Drums<br />
■ Brake Discs<br />
■ Rail Clamps<br />
■ Guide Rollers<br />
■ Telescopic Forks<br />
Please visit us at<br />
TOC Europe 2013<br />
Rotterdam, June 25-27<br />
Stand No. E66<br />
<br />
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High quality by engineering & production<br />
Specialist for brake- and drive technology<br />
MADE i n GERMANY<br />
NEW<br />
TURBO - Brake - System<br />
brake apply time approx.:<br />
150 ms<br />
instead of 350-450 ms<br />
Quality ■ Safety ■ Efficiency<br />
the company is committed to<br />
maintaining manufacturing in<br />
Germany. The company wants to<br />
be at the forefront of developing<br />
new braking technology, and Topp<br />
does not believe this is possible if<br />
manufacturing is sent offshore.<br />
Cost is of course im<strong>port</strong>ant,<br />
but PB has addressed it by investing<br />
in capital equipment to make<br />
manufacturing less labour-intensive,<br />
including machinery that<br />
performs multiple processes, and<br />
reconfiguring its factory so one<br />
operator controls two machines.<br />
This strategy requires capital<br />
and commitment, not just to invest<br />
in new equipment, but to<br />
develop the sup<strong>port</strong>ing labour<br />
force. PB needs workers with different<br />
skills than previously, and<br />
has actively engaged local universities<br />
and polytechnics to ensure<br />
it positions itself as an attractive<br />
option for young people.<br />
New centre<br />
PB has just opened a new research<br />
and development centre near its<br />
manufacturing facility in Kirchen-<br />
Wehbach. It will be able to meet<br />
increasing demand for documented<br />
tests as well as producing<br />
new products. It is equipped with<br />
dyno stands for high speed brakes<br />
and test benches for storm and<br />
emergency brakes.<br />
For the container crane market,<br />
the first new product will be<br />
an electro mechanical wheel brake,<br />
scheduled for release later this year.<br />
Current wheel brakes are hydraulically<br />
released and terminal operators<br />
would like to eliminate<br />
hydraulics as far as possible. PB has<br />
developed several prototypes and<br />
is now finalising a design to launch<br />
on the market later this year.<br />
Go with the cranes<br />
PB’s strategy with MyPort, said<br />
Topp, is driven by the need to take<br />
sales and service directly to the<br />
Asian market, which is now too<br />
big to be handled effectively out<br />
of Germany. In 2011 the company<br />
acquired 95% of PBMY and last<br />
year opened an office in Shanghai.<br />
It also has a US service and<br />
training centre (PBUS) in<br />
Flemington, New Jersey.<br />
Topp explains that PB has developed<br />
a policy of “know-how<br />
transfer” so local companies can<br />
provide a full service offering.<br />
Dealing with brake issues requires<br />
a wide range of skills. Brake wear<br />
is frequently caused by alignment<br />
RÖMER Fördertechnik GmbH<br />
The apply time of all our electro-hydraulically operated<br />
industrial brake systems can significantly be reduced to<br />
150 ms due to a special control of the electro-hydraulical<br />
thruster system.<br />
Stand E 24<br />
25.-27.06.2013<br />
issues in rope drum drive systems<br />
and, on some cranes, structural<br />
deflection in the machinery house<br />
floor. PBMY has built up considerable<br />
expertise, including a laser<br />
alignment system, to troubleshoot<br />
and fix braking problems. This includes<br />
selecting couplings and<br />
other components that match the<br />
wear characteristics of the crane<br />
as well as the technical specifications<br />
of the drive system.<br />
In the frame<br />
At a component level PBMY and<br />
PBUS are equipped and certificated<br />
to rebuild brakes and thrusters, so<br />
components no longer have to be returned<br />
to Germany for this service.<br />
This has enabled them to enter<br />
service contracts and “frame<br />
agreements” covering servicing<br />
and rebuilding of older brakes.<br />
PBUS has a frame agreement with<br />
the Port of Houston Authority<br />
and PBMY has a five-year agreement<br />
with North<strong>port</strong> and a 2-year<br />
agreement covering PSA Singapore’s<br />
huge crane fleet. Brakes that<br />
are 15 years old, including brakes<br />
from other suppliers, are removed<br />
from service and rebuilt, tested and<br />
certified locally.<br />
PBMY is now moving beyond<br />
brakes and evolving into a wider<br />
service company. It is a partner<br />
with Siemens in the Siemens-<br />
My<strong>port</strong> Regional Crane Training<br />
Centre at <strong>Tanjung</strong> Pelepas, which<br />
can train and certify a technician<br />
in Siemens drives and PLCs. It also<br />
offers gearbox rebuilds on Stiebel<br />
gearboxes, which are used in the<br />
Siemens ECO RTG system.<br />
PBMY’s managing director<br />
Suzannah E Jamain said drive refurbishment<br />
has huge potential.<br />
There are many old GE drives in<br />
Malaysia on cranes from Impsa,<br />
Doosan, Favelle Favco and Muhibaha.<br />
PBMY has worked with terminals<br />
to keep these up and running,<br />
but many are now at the<br />
point where they need replacing.<br />
PBMY is also working further<br />
afield, and recently completed a<br />
project to retrofit two Mitsubishi<br />
STS cranes in Dubai, replacing GE<br />
DC drives with a Siemens system.<br />
In Malaysia, PBMY is moving into<br />
the container yard, where it offers<br />
installation and commissioning for<br />
the Stemmann Technik E-RTG<br />
conductor bar system, and it is<br />
developing a DGPS-based container<br />
position system and wireless<br />
LAN installation and sup<strong>port</strong>.<br />
SOS message<br />
The first two cranes with the SOS<br />
electro mechanical snag and over-<br />
CARGO HANDLING<br />
North<strong>port</strong> Klang is fitting its new STS cranes with the Pintsch Bubenzer<br />
Malmedie SOS snag load protection system<br />
load prevention system in Asia are<br />
now undergoing commissioning<br />
at North<strong>port</strong> in Port Klang, Malaysia.<br />
The cranes are the first of<br />
five North<strong>port</strong> has ordered from<br />
Hyundai Samho. North<strong>port</strong>’s assistant<br />
general manager, equipment<br />
and maintenance, G<br />
Sundaraja Perumal believes that<br />
there are two main benefits from<br />
the SOS system: a reduction in<br />
crane weight by eliminating hydraulic<br />
snag cylinders at the boom<br />
tip; and reduced maintenance.<br />
The first two cranes will operate<br />
on a quay with a wheel limit<br />
of 40t per metre. North<strong>port</strong><br />
wanted twin lift capability and its<br />
consultant, Casper Phillips & Associates,<br />
designed a crane with a<br />
55t SWL over the 40m outreach<br />
weighing just 1250t (with 10<br />
wheels per corner to spread the<br />
load). Every op<strong>port</strong>unity to save<br />
weight was im<strong>port</strong>ant.<br />
Most snag events at North<strong>port</strong><br />
actually happen on smaller, older<br />
vessels with damaged cell guides.<br />
North<strong>port</strong> has hydraulic anti snag<br />
systems on other cranes and<br />
Sundaraja said they require regular<br />
maintenance, particularly as<br />
they age and start to leak. He<br />
would like to eliminate hydraulics<br />
wherever possible and, as well<br />
as the SOS system, the new cranes<br />
will have a mechanical screw type,<br />
trim, list and skew system.<br />
Brake monitoring<br />
Another area where Sundaraja<br />
expects significant benefits is having<br />
the brake monitoring system<br />
integrated with the main crane<br />
monitoring system (CMS). PB’s<br />
latest computer brake monitoring<br />
system, called CMB2, connects to<br />
the crane PLC via Profibus and is<br />
pre-integrated with the CMS before<br />
the crane is delivered.<br />
Sundaraja said North<strong>port</strong> has<br />
changed its approach to buying<br />
cranes. It the past it relied on the<br />
OEM to engineer the drive, but<br />
now it requires the drive supplier<br />
to engineer, install and commission<br />
the drive itself. It is taking a<br />
similar approach with brakes and<br />
PB is designing the whole braking<br />
system and maintaining it under<br />
its existing 5-year agreement.<br />
North<strong>port</strong> previously tried to<br />
outsource maintenance to a general<br />
service company, but has not<br />
been happy with some of the results.<br />
“What we are doing now, said<br />
Sundaraja, “is identifying the critical<br />
components where we want<br />
the component suppliers to be<br />
involved in regular inspections and<br />
maintenance.” ❏<br />
Pintsch Bubenzer is developing an electro mechanical wheel brake for long<br />
travel applications<br />
Replacement<br />
for -er<br />
www.rft-germany.com<br />
72<br />
May 2013
CARGO HANDLING<br />
Look into the eyes of the crane<br />
How 3D-laser technology sup<strong>port</strong>s<br />
automated container handling<br />
and supplies exact position<br />
data for the crane control, is shown<br />
by the example of automatic<br />
stacking cranes (ASCs) from<br />
Kalmar at HHLA’s Buchardkai<br />
terminal (CTB) in Hamburg.<br />
Container terminal operators<br />
are deploying more and more improved<br />
automation solutions to<br />
enhance productivity. This is particularly<br />
im<strong>port</strong>ant when handling<br />
capacity is limited by non-extendable<br />
stacking areas and absence of<br />
expansion possibilities, such as at<br />
CTB Hamburg, where the remit<br />
was to double capacity within the<br />
same “footprint.”<br />
CTB converted from straddle<br />
carriers to dense ASC blocks. The<br />
conversion entails a total of 29<br />
300m blocks, 5-high and 10-wide.<br />
There are three ASCs per block,<br />
with a bigger crane able to pass<br />
two smaller ones.<br />
Kalmar (Cargotec) was commissioned<br />
with the ASC project<br />
and, as supplier for laser measuring<br />
technology, LASE Industrielle<br />
Lasertechnik was elected as subcontractor.<br />
The deployed laser<br />
measuring system fulfils the following<br />
tasks:<br />
● Measurement of the container<br />
position inside the stack<br />
● Measurement of neighbouring<br />
stacks to determine the open space<br />
for lowering the spreader<br />
● Measurement of position reference<br />
marks (PRM) on the terminal<br />
floor for a longstanding stable<br />
and exact stacking<br />
● Height measurement of the container<br />
stacks<br />
● Measurement of road trucks<br />
● Stack collision prevention<br />
The components of the laser<br />
measurement system are two 3Dlaser<br />
scanners and an industrial-<br />
PC. The 3D-laser scanner consists<br />
of a 2D-laser scanner, a servo drive<br />
and a platform (Figure 1). The platform<br />
is turned through the servo<br />
drive and on this rotating platform<br />
a 2D-laser scanner is mounted.<br />
A high resolution encoder,<br />
which is mounted on the servo<br />
drive, measures the rotation angle<br />
of the platform. By connecting the<br />
data from the 2D-laser scanners<br />
and the encoder, a 3D-image of<br />
the measurement data is generated.<br />
Measuring principle<br />
The 3D-laser scanners are<br />
mounted opposite each other on<br />
each side of the ASC trolley. According<br />
to the measuring task, the<br />
3D-laser technology and position<br />
data for container handling*<br />
* This article is adapted from a paper<br />
by Dipl.Ing. Lars Ambrosy, joint<br />
managing director of LASE<br />
Industrielle Lasertechnik GmbH and<br />
LASE PeCo Systemtechnik GmbH.<br />
For further information contact<br />
Christian Janusch, LASE’s marketing<br />
manager. (c.jagusch@lase.de)<br />
laser scanners are swivelled into<br />
the area(s) required. By way of<br />
example, container pick-up is depicted<br />
in Figure 2 and Figure 3.<br />
Both 3D-laser scanners can be<br />
seen at the top of the trolley. Each<br />
scan area is marked in pink. One<br />
of the scan areas overlaps the position<br />
reference mark (PRM). Figure<br />
2 shows the position of the<br />
spreader (yellow) and the position<br />
of the container (red), whereby<br />
both positions have to correlate.<br />
The laser measuring system<br />
measures the position of the container<br />
relative to the spreader position<br />
and the difference is transferred<br />
to the crane control system.<br />
Now the crane control can track<br />
the spreader accordingly by<br />
micromotion and the container<br />
can be precisely picked or landed.<br />
Raw data<br />
The 3D-laser scanners deliver a<br />
3D-measurement data image<br />
(point cloud) for scene editing.<br />
The application program implements<br />
the following tasks with the<br />
raw data:<br />
● Extraction - data filtering<br />
● Algorithms for position determination<br />
of “remarkable points”<br />
(container edges, position reference<br />
marks, etc)<br />
● Conjunction of measurement<br />
data from both 3D-laser scanners<br />
● Generation of output data (X,<br />
Y, Z) for crane control system.<br />
Figure 4 illustrates the position<br />
reference marks on the ground<br />
and also the upper edge of a 40ft<br />
container at the highest stacking<br />
height. The other containers in the<br />
underlying levels are visible as well<br />
(these data will not be used). The<br />
“box” depicted is the outlined<br />
measurement result of the laser<br />
measurement system.<br />
Fig 3: Container pick-up, scanner positions, reference marks and scan planes<br />
Fig 1: 3D-scanner measuring principle<br />
Fig 2: Depiction of the relative<br />
container/spreader positions<br />
Position references<br />
The position reference marks are<br />
responsible for the following tasks:<br />
● Verification of the crane and trolley<br />
position after reaching the calculated<br />
position<br />
● Long-term stable and exact container<br />
stacking even after subsidence<br />
of the terrain<br />
● Container position on the truck<br />
Pick and landing of containers<br />
from/to road trucks is sup<strong>port</strong>ed<br />
by the laser measurement<br />
system. Due to this, a semi-automated<br />
operation is possible<br />
whereby the spreader is already<br />
pre-positioned above the truck/<br />
container or the container above<br />
Fig 6: 3D view of block and landside<br />
transfer area<br />
the trailer. The last work stages are<br />
performed by remote crane<br />
operators.Figure 5 illustrates a<br />
point cloud with the detected<br />
container position on the truck.<br />
Closing the gap<br />
The latest developments from<br />
LASE will close the logistical gap<br />
by using further lasers to determine<br />
the twistlock positions of the<br />
road trailer. For a fully automatic<br />
takeover of the container to/from<br />
the trailer, Kalmar has ordered<br />
these systems for its projects at<br />
London Gateway, Trapac Los Angeles<br />
and Brisbane. With the 3Dimage<br />
of the stacks an optimised<br />
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
Fig 5: Point cloud with detected container position on road truck<br />
drive of the load through the stack<br />
is possible (see Figure 6).<br />
The 3D-laser scanners - the<br />
eyes of the crane - are a core part<br />
of container handling with ASCs.<br />
The measurement system distinguishes<br />
itself through omni-functionality,<br />
high accuracy and by<br />
simple commissioning and maintenance.<br />
This type of system can<br />
also be used on STS cranes and<br />
RTGs, if higher capacity, personnel<br />
reduction and faster handling<br />
are deemed as crucial. ❏<br />
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Figure 4: Measuring points of a laser scanner (40ft container in tier 5)<br />
May 2013 73
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
MSC goes on camera in Antwerp<br />
There are two vision systems that<br />
have been implemented at MSC<br />
Home Terminal. One is a safety<br />
system that has been installed on<br />
23 STS cranes to give drivers a<br />
view of the crane <strong>port</strong>al area as<br />
the trolley is travelling backwards<br />
towards the shore. The second is a<br />
positioning system that has now<br />
been installed on 102 straddle carriers,<br />
to line up containers underneath<br />
them with the trolley position<br />
of the STS cranes.<br />
MSC Home Terminal has installed<br />
two new camera systems from<br />
vision specialist Orlaco<br />
Orlaco provided this graphic to illustrate the set-up on the STS cranes<br />
Safety in view<br />
Like many terminal operators<br />
MSC Home Terminal, located at<br />
the Delwaidedock in Antwerp,<br />
wanted to improve its safety performance<br />
by addressing areas<br />
where people and equipment<br />
work in close proximity.<br />
The work zone in the crane<br />
<strong>port</strong>al and backreach was a zone<br />
of particular concern. Workers<br />
would draw chalk lines on the<br />
ground to indicate where straddle<br />
carrier drivers should place<br />
containers. STS drivers travelling<br />
backwards relied on a mirror underneath<br />
the crane cab to see<br />
whether the area was clear when<br />
trolleying back from a vessel.<br />
Orlaco has developed a modular<br />
range of camera systems that<br />
can be used for applications ranging<br />
from improving visibility in<br />
safety black spots right up to sup<strong>port</strong>ing<br />
full remote controlled<br />
operations. MSC Home Terminal<br />
had seen the straddle carrier positioning<br />
system at APM Terminals<br />
Zeebrugge and decided to implement<br />
something similar at its own<br />
operation, which is the largest terminal<br />
in Antwerp.<br />
In line, in position<br />
The straddle carrier system uses<br />
cameras that are mounted on<br />
the spreader to show the driver<br />
when the centre of his spreader<br />
is lined up with the centre of<br />
the crane <strong>port</strong>al. Grounding the<br />
containers in the right place<br />
means the STS crane driver can<br />
land his spreader without having<br />
to use side shift on the<br />
spreader or, even worse from a<br />
productivity and power use<br />
standpoint, use gantry long<br />
travel to move the crane.<br />
Orlaco’s business development<br />
manager Twan Pelders explains that<br />
the system works using compact<br />
cameras mounted in the exact middle<br />
of the spreader on vibrationresistant<br />
mountings. The camera<br />
CARGO HANDLING<br />
More than 100 straddle carriers of different makes and age had to be kitted out<br />
detects reflective strips stuck to the<br />
sides of the sill beam on the cranes<br />
in different positions for 20ft, 40ft<br />
and twin 20ft containers.<br />
In the cab, the driver looks at<br />
a screen that shows a software<br />
image of the centre line of the<br />
spreader. When the container is in<br />
the right place the line on the<br />
screen overlays the line on the<br />
crane sill beam. MSC Home Terminal<br />
chose to use two cameras,<br />
one either side of the spreader, that<br />
feed separate displays on either<br />
side of the driver.<br />
Only one view is needed to<br />
position a container correctly, but<br />
having two cameras means a straddle<br />
carrier can enter the backreach<br />
travelling in forward or reverse and<br />
either camera will be able to see<br />
the line on the sill beam.<br />
Going well<br />
MSC Home Terminal’s assistant<br />
manager, rolling equipment,<br />
Jurgen De Breuck, said the system<br />
performs very well. Some<br />
straddle carrier drivers did not<br />
want to use it initially, but MSC<br />
Home Terminal made a decision<br />
that having people in the traffic<br />
flow drawing chalk lines on the<br />
ground was an unacceptable hazard<br />
and drivers have now adapted.<br />
Installation was relatively<br />
straight forward. The cameras are<br />
connected to the cab monitors by<br />
cable running through the straddle<br />
carrier’s umbilical or cable<br />
chain to the spreader (fibre optic<br />
cable is not required).<br />
The main challenge was installing<br />
the system on such a<br />
large fleet of straddle carriers<br />
(mainly Terex and Cargotec<br />
machines) with a mixed age<br />
profile, within three months.<br />
Finding the absolute centre<br />
of the spreader is im<strong>port</strong>ant and<br />
Orlaco found that there were<br />
many variations in spreaders<br />
over different generation machines,<br />
said Pelders.<br />
Rear view camera<br />
The system on the STS cranes<br />
is designed to give the driver a<br />
better view of the operation as<br />
the crane travels backwards from<br />
the vessel. Most STS crane cabs<br />
are positioned behind the trolley,<br />
so the driver faces out over<br />
the vessel. When the trolley is<br />
travelling backwards the driver<br />
can see the headblock, but not<br />
any obstacles such as pedestrians<br />
or straddle carriers that<br />
might be in the load path.<br />
Each STS crane has been fitted<br />
with five compact colour cam-<br />
eras that give the operator an overview<br />
of the work zone between<br />
the crane legs and the backreach.<br />
The cameras are connected to a<br />
monitor in the cabin by a fibre<br />
optic cable that runs through the<br />
festoon system. The operator can<br />
switch between different images<br />
on demand or let the views cycle<br />
automatically.<br />
Think it through<br />
Adding monitors to a crane cab<br />
has to be done carefully. Drivers<br />
generally do not want to obstruct<br />
the forward and downwards views,<br />
but the monitor needs to be big<br />
enough and close enough to be<br />
clearly visible. Orlaco and MSC<br />
Home Terminal tried different<br />
combinations before they settled<br />
on a 12-in monitor that is<br />
mounted some 50-60 cms above<br />
the safety bar in the cab floor.<br />
Michel Van Ginneken, crane<br />
department manager at MSC<br />
Home Terminal, said the crane<br />
drivers did not embrace the system<br />
initially and there were different<br />
opinions on the best place<br />
to put the monitor. He is confident,<br />
however, that the camera<br />
system has helped improve safety<br />
and is a vast improvement over the<br />
rearview mirror it replaced.<br />
Van Ginneken said MSC<br />
Home Terminal has put a considerable<br />
effort into improving safety,<br />
but cautions against relying too<br />
much on hardware alone to eliminate<br />
risk. A camera system such as<br />
this, he added, is a “safety assist”<br />
feature, which means it does not<br />
of itself prevent an accident in the<br />
same way as an anti-collision sensor<br />
connected to the crane control,<br />
but rather assists the driver to<br />
make the operation safer.<br />
To get maximum benefit from<br />
a safety assist system, Van Ginneken<br />
believes, technology must be<br />
matched by good operational<br />
practice that keeps the operation<br />
simple and the risks predictable.<br />
Exception noting<br />
MSC Home Terminal has focused<br />
on reducing the number of people<br />
and activity under the crane<br />
<strong>port</strong>al and controlling the traffic<br />
flow so straddle carriers enter from<br />
one side of the STS crane only.<br />
Limiting the activity means that<br />
when the STS crane driver sees<br />
something, he takes it seriously.<br />
Orlaco sees a growing interest<br />
in using cameras to improve safety<br />
and has installed a similar system<br />
on the STS cranes at DP World’s<br />
Antwerp Gateway terminal in the<br />
Deurganckdok. ❏<br />
Orlaco STS crane cab monitor. At MSC Home Terminal it was found that the<br />
best size is 12ins and the best location is 50-60 cms above the floor safety bar<br />
74<br />
May 2013
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CARGO HANDLING<br />
Step up to the next tier<br />
Last year, Hyster’s Nijmegen<br />
big trucks plant recorded its<br />
highest output since being<br />
established in 1953, with 1927<br />
mast trucks and reach stackers of<br />
Cooper SH has supplied Poole<br />
Harbour Commissioners in England<br />
with two 10t Konecranes<br />
FLTs that have the same wheelbase<br />
as a traditional 8-tonner, thus<br />
increasing lift capacity, but not at<br />
the expense of turning radii. The<br />
machines have a 2800mm wheelbase<br />
- 200mm shorter than a conventional<br />
10 tonner. Stability is not<br />
compromised as additional ballast<br />
is used to compensate for length.<br />
While a previous shortwheelbased<br />
version utilised the<br />
standard chassis for smaller machines,<br />
the new version, says<br />
Cooper SH, has a unique chassis<br />
length and also sits comfortably<br />
within the 8t-10t range. Chris<br />
Barnes, general manager, South for<br />
Cooper SH said: “The 8-tonne<br />
mark is generally a watershed<br />
where many suppliers complete<br />
their range, while others, such as<br />
SMV [Konecranes], start their<br />
range at 10 tonnes. Until now, it<br />
was believed that the two-tonne<br />
jump in capacity was also a determining<br />
factor in physical size.<br />
“Whilst this remains true in respect<br />
of height and wheel size, we<br />
can reduce the length yet retain capacity<br />
to 10 tonnes at 600mm load<br />
centre or even, if required, 12<br />
tonnes at 600mm centre.”<br />
Konecranes last year supplied<br />
The two short wheelbase Konecranes 10-tonners at the Port of Poole<br />
The greening of oil filters<br />
US-based Filtration Technology<br />
Group (FTG) is supplying container<br />
terminals in Los Angeles and<br />
Long Beach with reusable oil filters<br />
for diesel engines fitted to<br />
container handling equipment.<br />
FTG’s “full-flow” filters are designed<br />
to last as long as or longer<br />
than a diesel engine, using a cleanable<br />
stainless steel wire cloth filter<br />
system that was initially developed,<br />
tested and manufactured by Parker<br />
Hannifin’s Racor Division. The<br />
technology is now independently<br />
manufactured by FTG.<br />
FTG originally found a market<br />
for replaceable filters in marine<br />
applications, where reusable<br />
filters eliminate all the logistics of<br />
getting new filters to vessels and<br />
then removing and correctly disposing<br />
of used filters. It is now<br />
targeting <strong>port</strong> applications and has<br />
had some success in LA/LB where<br />
a local service dealer, HD Industries<br />
(a division of Harbor Diesel<br />
between 6t and 54t manufactured<br />
- beating the previous record set<br />
in 2008 prior to the global economic<br />
financial crisis. Such is<br />
Hyster’s confidence, it is taking on<br />
Bespoke from Cooper SH<br />
18 short-wheelbase machines to<br />
Sapa Aluminium in Sweden rated<br />
at 10t-1200mm LC, but compromises<br />
need to be made. Typically,<br />
continues Barnes, SMV machines<br />
of this size have a Volvo 6-cylinder,<br />
7 litre engine developing 185<br />
kW with a corresponding transmission.<br />
This is too long for a short<br />
wheelbase configuration, so it is<br />
replaced with a Volvo 561-VE, a 5<br />
litre, 4-cylinder engine delivering<br />
155 kW. Stage IIIb compliance is<br />
through a Volvo SCR system.<br />
Paul Gillingham, engineering<br />
manager of the Port of Poole,<br />
commented: “The short wheelbase<br />
machines have provided us<br />
with a new storage dimension that<br />
was not there previously. Other<br />
than the size, the machines share<br />
all the other characteristics of the<br />
rest of our fleet.” The two latest<br />
machines are part of a three-truck<br />
supply that brings the Konecranes<br />
FLT fleet at Poole to five, including<br />
33t and 16t machines. ❏<br />
● The Linde-HTD plant in Wales<br />
will close in October. Konecranes<br />
in Sweden will take over production<br />
of container handlers for<br />
Kion Group, while other products<br />
(sideloaders, clamp trucks, etc) will<br />
be built under contract in the<br />
Czech Republic. Kion Group is<br />
planning an IPO. ❏<br />
and Equipment, Inc) has begun<br />
fitting the filters in container handling<br />
equipment.<br />
FTG was able to manufacture<br />
reusable filters that matched all the<br />
specifications and passed all tests<br />
for use in mobile equipment, said<br />
Pat Vuoso, VP, parts and logistics at<br />
HD Industries. The filters are in<br />
use on equipment (including<br />
RTG gensets) at the ITS and Evergreen<br />
terminals. “My <strong>port</strong> contacts<br />
are quite happy with the result,”<br />
said Vuoso. “As word has<br />
gotten out that there’s a cost-effective<br />
alternative to disposable air<br />
filters, other <strong>port</strong> terminals are asking<br />
about cleanable, reusable filters,<br />
and the technology is spreading<br />
to other terminals.”<br />
Reusable filters do not affect<br />
oil replacement intervals and can<br />
be used for any liquid filtration<br />
application. The filters are cleaned<br />
with a brush and solvent, or with<br />
an ultrasonic cleaning system. ❏<br />
FTG reusable oil filter shown here in a marine engine application<br />
50 production line workers, who<br />
will undertake a 2-week pre-training<br />
course, off the main assembly<br />
areas and using technical Lego to<br />
illustrate the work process.<br />
New mid-range<br />
The company has introduced a<br />
new 8-16t range, which serves as<br />
something of a launch pad for<br />
various technologies, while also<br />
incorporating several applications<br />
already found in its larger trucks.<br />
Hyster has focused on overall cost<br />
of ownership, with particular regard<br />
to fuel consumption. The company<br />
claim savings of up to 17% can be<br />
achieved on the 8t-12t machines,<br />
mainly due to “rightsizing” the<br />
engine and the ECO-eLo control<br />
systems, already available on<br />
all Stage IIIb configurations.<br />
Fuel savings of 10% have been<br />
recorded with the H13-16XM-6<br />
and H10-12XM-12EC series. The<br />
H8-12XM-6 and H13-16XM-6<br />
diesel FLTs all feature load sensing<br />
hydraulics, which combined<br />
with the Cummins diesel engines,<br />
can achieve a 20% higher laden<br />
lifting speed. Even higher lifting<br />
speeds can be achieved with lower<br />
rpm. The main advantage is an<br />
additional 5% fuel saving.<br />
Further fuel saving options<br />
include a travel speed limiter covering<br />
top speed and variable set<br />
speed, and an empty seat shutdown<br />
feature with variable time<br />
delay. These are incorporated in<br />
the ECO-eLo package.<br />
A new light heavy<br />
A new 16t range will be launched<br />
in the autumn. While Hyster in<br />
Nijmegen is reluctant to discuss<br />
this design until then, the US variant<br />
was shown in early May at the<br />
AISTech 2013 Exposition in Pittsburgh<br />
(Pa). The machine displayed<br />
was a H360-36/48HD. This has a<br />
36,000lb (16.33t) lift capacity at<br />
36in (914mm) load centre. In the<br />
H360-48HD variant, the rating is<br />
at a 48in load centre.<br />
The machines feature load<br />
sensing hydraulics, which has allowed<br />
the Tier 4i Cummins<br />
QSB6.7 litre 6-cylinder engine to<br />
be downrated to 164hp (122kW),<br />
although advertised output for this<br />
engine is 300hp (220kW).<br />
The 13t-16t machines have<br />
the 6.7 litre engine and the European<br />
version of the new truck will<br />
also use it. This “rightsizing” fits<br />
Hyster’s philosophy of reducing<br />
fuel consumption and with it CO 2<br />
emissions, which are not part of<br />
the EPA/EU off-highway emission<br />
regulations.<br />
Getting a boost<br />
Part of Hyster’s remarkable output<br />
last year could be due to the<br />
phasing in of Stage IIIB/Tier 4i<br />
regulations for smaller machines.<br />
The regulations were applied to<br />
off-road engines in the 130kW-<br />
560kW range in January 2011, but<br />
for engines in the 56kW-129kW<br />
range the regulations did not<br />
come into force until January<br />
2012. Even so, emissions requirements<br />
are less severe for this power<br />
spring driven<br />
cable reeling drums<br />
motor driven<br />
cable reeling drums<br />
slipring bodies<br />
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
The H360-36/48HD series has already been shown in the USA<br />
category at Stage IIIb/T4i levels<br />
than for larger engines, enabling<br />
more simplified aftertreatment.<br />
YOUR WORLDWIDE PARTNER FOR<br />
ENERGY AND DATA TRANSFER SYSTEMS<br />
FOR MOBILE CONSUMERS<br />
Although EPA Tier 4i and EU<br />
Stage IIIB have identical criteria,<br />
it is not legal to ex<strong>port</strong> Stage IIIB<br />
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Phone +49 (0) 7255 7120-0 · info@hukag.com<br />
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info@rentalworld-ag.com<br />
May 2013 77
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
CARGO HANDLING<br />
Mast trucks headed for the US<br />
compliant engines to the US, or vice versa,<br />
unless dual certification is obtained.<br />
Hyster says it is the only lift truck builder<br />
that has certified all its products under<br />
both EU and EPA regimes, so trucks can<br />
be freely shipped both ways.<br />
The division into emission zones raises<br />
other interesting points. Cummins, for instance,<br />
states that Stage IIIb/T4i engines<br />
operated outside their intended emission<br />
region “will not carry a warranty.” This<br />
reticence is based on the availability of<br />
ultra-low sulphur diesel fuel (ULSD).<br />
Stage IIIb/Tier 4i engines must operate<br />
on fuel with a sulphur content no greater<br />
than 15ppm and preferably ≤ 10ppm. This<br />
is readily available in Europe and the US,<br />
but can be scarce in some other regions.<br />
Two Stage IIIb Hyster H52.00XM<br />
LCH container handlers were recently<br />
The Nijmegen workforce is being increased to<br />
help meet strong demand<br />
supplied to Port Nelson in New Zealand<br />
as replacements for earlier Hyster models<br />
supplied in 1995 and 1998. This country<br />
has not yet adopted Stage IIIb/Tier 4i or<br />
equivalent. However, it has wide sources<br />
of ULSD and accordingly the Cummins<br />
warranty holds.<br />
RAM Singapore +65 6867 3380<br />
RAM UK +44 1695 556355 RAM Latin America +593 52 626 836<br />
RAM China +86 512 5229 7222 RAM North America +01 410 739 5487<br />
www.ramspreaders.com<br />
Final stage<br />
The next and final emission regulations,<br />
due in January 2014, do not represent such<br />
a major engineering challenge as did the<br />
switch from Stage IIIa/T3, in Hyster’s<br />
view, as much of the work has already<br />
been done, particularly the incorporation<br />
of greater cooling capacity.<br />
Hyster has been working in conjunction<br />
with Cummins for two years on the<br />
Stage IV/Tier 4 final project, with two<br />
machines currently on field tests. Instead<br />
of Cummins developing a solution that<br />
is then tested in a truck, both engine and<br />
machine tests are being carried out in parallel<br />
under all load conditions.<br />
Hyster is not yet in a position to release<br />
details of what the final configuration<br />
will be, but it is interesting to note<br />
that at this year’s Bauma, Cummins unveiled<br />
a Stage IV/T4f solution incorporating<br />
an ultra-clean aftertreatment system,<br />
combining the Cummins Compact<br />
Catalyst with Selective Catalytic Reduction<br />
(CCC-SCR). This will be employed<br />
in the QSL9, QSB6.7, QSB4.5 and<br />
QSB3.3 engines to offer a common<br />
aftertreatment solution from 75hp to<br />
400hp. Operators can also expect a 2-3%<br />
fuel efficiency gain from T4i to T4f.<br />
The SCR system developed by<br />
Cummins for Stage IV/T4f is described<br />
as a “next-generation design that moves<br />
beyond SCR technology currently in use<br />
for T4i.” The system incorporates a copper<br />
zeolite-based catalyst capable of up<br />
to 95% absorption. Through passively<br />
oxidising PM from the exhaust stream,<br />
the CCC is a maintenance-free “fit and<br />
forget” device. It involves dosing the engine,<br />
albeit in smaller quantities than for<br />
T4i/Stage IIIb SCR, with Adblue/DEF<br />
- something that Hyster has avoided up<br />
to now by staying with Cummins cooled<br />
EGR and a diesel particulate filter.<br />
The real touches<br />
While a lift truck manufacturer is an assembler<br />
of other suppliers for its key components<br />
- engines, gearboxes, axles, attachments,<br />
hydraulics - the strength of the<br />
brand is how these can be put together<br />
to gain the greatest advantage, while at<br />
the same time developing specific subsystems<br />
to lower the cost of ownership.<br />
One feature Hyster is set to introduce<br />
across it full range fitted with CanBus<br />
systems is a performance data tracking<br />
system. This comprises three modular levels,<br />
with the basic level being a passive<br />
re<strong>port</strong>ing system covering hour meter,<br />
cost of operation, periodic maintenance,<br />
fault code tracking, impact sensing and<br />
operator training. The Hyster Tracker<br />
monitors the materials handling fleet,<br />
controls operator access and helps to<br />
verify that the operator completes his preshift<br />
checklist before starting.<br />
Accessing the cab<br />
The second level, wireless access, includes<br />
operator access restrictions and driver<br />
identification using a swipe card, which<br />
could also be used for checking onto the<br />
shift. This feature is also useful for rental<br />
trucks, where the swipe card can be preloaded<br />
with the rental period. When this<br />
is exceeded, the truck is immobilised. If<br />
an impact occurs, emails are sent out automatically,<br />
making it easier to review<br />
incidents and related product damage.<br />
The wireless access offering enables<br />
remote monitoring, and idle shutdown.<br />
To prevent operators leaving running<br />
equipment unattended, an idle shutdown<br />
feature powers off the truck following a<br />
pre-set amount of time if the equipment<br />
is tracked as idling or unattended. This<br />
also helps to reduce excess fuel costs.<br />
The Hyster Tracker Wireless Access<br />
Managment System will be available later<br />
in the year in EMEA based on either WiFi<br />
or GPRS communications over local mobile<br />
phone coverage, and will be accessed<br />
through the HysterTracker.com <strong>port</strong>al. ❏<br />
78<br />
May 2013
CARGO HANDLING<br />
Could <strong>port</strong>s get cross about tyres again<br />
In recent years tyres used in heavy mobile<br />
plant applications in <strong>port</strong>s have increasingly<br />
moved away from bias ply (or<br />
cross ply) to radial construction, even<br />
though radials covers are more expensive.<br />
Although several factors are involved<br />
in the switch, from an operator’s perspective<br />
the main one is that radial tyres have<br />
lower rolling resistance and run cooler so<br />
they save on fuel costs and are less prone<br />
to overheating and hence last longer. This<br />
translates into lower costs per running<br />
hour, - the main criterion.<br />
Despite sidewall reinforcements,<br />
radials still lag behind bias tyres in puncture<br />
resistance, but provided the terminal<br />
surface is reasonably clean, this should not<br />
be too much of a drawback. On the other<br />
hand, notwithstanding various improvements<br />
over the years, radial tyres still inherently<br />
flexes more than the equivalent<br />
bias tyre and this can cause stability problems<br />
at high stacking heights.<br />
To overcome this problem, equipment<br />
operators often inflate the front (or forward<br />
travel) tyres above the 10 bar norm.<br />
This increases tyre “stiffness,” but it also<br />
reduces the tyre contact area, which in<br />
turn causes accelerated wear, thus negating<br />
the reason for fitting radial covers in<br />
the first place.<br />
New departure<br />
After several years of R & D in Germany<br />
and extensive factory testing and operator<br />
trials, Continental Tyres Group has<br />
chosen TOC CSC Europe in Rotterdam<br />
in June to launch a brand new range of<br />
<strong>port</strong> tyres. TOC CSC attendees will be<br />
invited to witness the new tyres in use<br />
on heavy equipment with a Rotterdam<br />
terminal operator.<br />
No details of the tyres have been released<br />
prior to launch, but it is known<br />
that the key innovation is that these are<br />
bias tyres, therefore with inherent excellent<br />
stability characteristics, but a completely<br />
new tread pattern delivers cooler<br />
running and hence a tyre life that is<br />
claimed to get closer to that of a radial<br />
tyre. If you then factor in the lower price<br />
for bias construction, the claimed result<br />
is an even lower cost per running hour<br />
than is possible with the best radial covers.<br />
Braking distance is also said to be<br />
shorter in a like-for-like comparison.<br />
Continental has tested the new tyres<br />
in different countries on various machines<br />
and in widely varying climatic conditions,<br />
and is confident that it is “onto a winner.”<br />
As part of the launch, all the new<br />
<strong>port</strong> tyres will be branded to Continental<br />
and the Simex brand will no longer<br />
be used for <strong>port</strong> tyres.<br />
Enhancements<br />
Continental has also announced a number<br />
of product enhancements to various smaller<br />
industrial tyres. For example, the tread<br />
depth of the RT20 radial tyre for FLTs has<br />
been increased to the point where 30%<br />
greater service life can be achieved, the<br />
company claims. Laden travel speeds of up<br />
to 25 mph are possible, and a high-traction<br />
tread pattern enables the FLTs to carry<br />
heavy loads on unsurfaced ground as well<br />
as paved ground.<br />
The CSEasy resilient tyre is fitted with<br />
an adapter between the tyre and the rim.<br />
This allows the tyre to be fitted directly<br />
onto any Lemmerz-contoured rim simply<br />
by using a torque wrench. There is no<br />
need for a mounting press, so the time<br />
A major product launch at TOC CSC<br />
Europe could change the thinking about<br />
tyres on mobile container handling plant<br />
taken to change a tyre is drastically reduced.<br />
This means, for example, that FLT<br />
retailers and hire companies can easily<br />
change between standard and non-marking<br />
tyres depending on the customer’s<br />
requirements.<br />
Continental was the first company to<br />
develop a resilient tyre capable of being<br />
mounted on a pneumatic tyre rim and<br />
says that its range of <strong>super</strong>elastic tyres now<br />
account for 40% of the world’s industrial<br />
tyre market. To date over 8M <strong>super</strong>elastic<br />
tyres have been produced.<br />
Retreads<br />
The company has also introduced<br />
LifeCycle, a retreaded <strong>super</strong>elastic tyre.<br />
The worn tread is removed from the cas-<br />
Radial tyres, such as these Nokian BAS tyres,<br />
dominate the straddle carrier market. Could<br />
Continental change all that<br />
Tackling the toughest tasks<br />
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
Katoen Natie in the Port of Antwerp is a recent<br />
customer for Continental SC20 CSEasy<br />
<strong>super</strong>elastic tyres. The tyres are fitted all-round<br />
to its fleet of indoor- and outdoor-working<br />
warehouse FLTs<br />
VCHR delivers exceptionally long tire life and <strong>super</strong>ior driving comfort leading to cost effectiveness and<br />
operational safety. With their outstanding performance in the toughest conditions, VCHR tires can successfully<br />
tackle diverse tasks throughout your site to keep your operations in reliably on target.<br />
Tire size Load index/speed symbol TRA code<br />
16.00R25 200A5 Industrial Service<br />
VCHR<br />
V-steel Container Handler Rib<br />
For your nearest Bridgestone Authorized Dealer,<br />
visit our web site<br />
www.bridgestone.com<br />
May 2013 79
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
The new Magna Tyres M-Straddle<br />
16.00R-25 tyre<br />
ing and completely replaced, using<br />
a rubber compound identical<br />
to that used in Continental’s premium<br />
new tyres. With this<br />
method, around 65% of the existing<br />
tyres can be reused and only<br />
35% has to be new materials,<br />
which sends out a strong environmental<br />
message. LifeCycle sits<br />
alongside the premium<br />
<strong>super</strong>elastic tyres SC20, SH12 and<br />
CSEasy and is aimed at single shift,<br />
lighter use applications.<br />
A recent customer for SC20<br />
CSEasy tyres is Belgian <strong>port</strong> and<br />
80<br />
logistic operator Katoen Natie,<br />
which has fitted the tyre to its entire<br />
fleet of indoor and outdoor<br />
use warehouse FLTs and reach<br />
trucks in Antwerp and has re<strong>port</strong>ed<br />
good results with them.<br />
HARBOUR<br />
HEAVIES<br />
Our sturdy material-handling machine<br />
tires and harbour tires carry the load<br />
tirelessly, passing it on reliably to<br />
reach its final destination.<br />
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STABILITY FOR HARBOUR<br />
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STRUCTURE AND TREAD<br />
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Tel. +358 10 401 7000<br />
heavy@nokiantyres.com<br />
New OEM deal<br />
In April, Sweden-based Trelleborg<br />
Wheel Systems (TWS) and<br />
NACCO Materials Handling<br />
group (Hyster, Yale, Utilev) announced<br />
a new partnership for the<br />
supply and fitting of replacement<br />
tyres for the whole EMEA region.<br />
Under this aftermarket deal, TWS<br />
has become NACCO’s preferred<br />
and approved supplier to end users<br />
and dealers and will work with<br />
dealers across the region.<br />
In some countries, said Elio<br />
Bartoli, TWS’s director, Europe,<br />
replacement services will be carried<br />
out by Interfit, TWS’s service<br />
brand. “We built Interfit to offer<br />
lift truck OEMs and their dealers<br />
a service designed around their<br />
needs and to deliver value,” said<br />
Bartoli. TWS and NACCO will<br />
work together to provide technical<br />
and commercial sup<strong>port</strong> to the<br />
dealer network. TWS is a major<br />
supplier to NACCO at OEM<br />
level globally and already operates<br />
an aftermarket tyre programme for<br />
NACCO in the US.<br />
TWS is one of five business<br />
areas in the Trelleborg Group, the<br />
others being Trelleborg Coated<br />
Systems, Trelleborg Industrial Solutions,<br />
Trelleborg Offshore &<br />
Construction and Trelleborg Sealing<br />
Solutions. This structure was<br />
set up in January this year.<br />
Acquisition trail<br />
Earlier this year (February), TWS<br />
announced that it had acquired<br />
the industrial tyre business of<br />
Dutch company Industriebanden<br />
Beheer BV, for an undisclosed<br />
sum. “The acquisition gives us the<br />
op<strong>port</strong>unity to expand our successful<br />
industrial tyre service concept,<br />
while also allowing us to<br />
grow in the areas of service and<br />
distribution in Europe,” said<br />
Maurizio Vischi, TWS business<br />
area president.<br />
“Industriebanden commands a<br />
strong position in the market and<br />
has a favourable profitability<br />
record.” Industriebanden logged<br />
sales of around €6M in 2012,<br />
mainly in the Dutch market.<br />
Consolidation is the name of<br />
the game in the industrial tyre<br />
market. TWS finalised the purchase<br />
of UK-based Watts Industrial<br />
Tyres for around SEK300M<br />
(£21.6M) in February 2011, just<br />
a few months after Canada’s<br />
Camoplast acquired Solideal and<br />
all its R & D and manufacturing<br />
facilities in Asia, Europe and<br />
North America, including the<br />
Solideal share in the Loadstar joint<br />
venture with the Jinasena group<br />
in Sri Lanka. Last year the renamed<br />
Camoplast Solideal group acquired<br />
a regional US aftermarket<br />
specialist and dealer, Forklift Tires<br />
of Florida, based in Jax<strong>port</strong>.<br />
QM award<br />
Another Netherlands-based company,<br />
Magna Tyres, was awarded<br />
ISO 90001:2008 for its quality<br />
management system, following a<br />
successful audit of its headquarters<br />
in Waalwijk by TÜV<br />
Nederland (TÜV Nord) completed<br />
in March. Magna sees the<br />
certification as key to its expansion<br />
in international markets as a<br />
company committed to the highest<br />
quality standards.<br />
New tyres<br />
An independent company with<br />
more than 30 years experience of<br />
OTR, industrial and truck tyre<br />
manufacturing, Magna started radial<br />
OTR production in 2006 and<br />
has gradually been extending its<br />
range. Last November it launched<br />
the M-Straddle, a 16.00R-25 tyre<br />
with heavy duty sidewalls and a<br />
deep, double rib tread pattern, of<br />
the type that is now widely<br />
adopted by straddle carrier operators.<br />
Terex Port Solutions (formerly<br />
Noell Mobile Systems)<br />
confirmed that it would be carrying<br />
out OEM trials.<br />
This followed the launch of<br />
the Magna MB01 CM Container<br />
Master, an 18.00-25 bias tyre in<br />
40 PR rating for reach stacker and<br />
heavy mast truck applications. This<br />
has an E4 tread pattern and an<br />
extra wide shoulder design. This<br />
has been tested by another TPS<br />
arm (Terex PPM) on a reach<br />
stacker at the River Rhône <strong>port</strong><br />
of Lyon. (Magna has had an OEM<br />
agreement with Terex in<br />
Zweibrücken for truck-mounted<br />
mobile cranes since 2010). The<br />
tyre has also been fitted to Kalmar<br />
reach stackers at Barge Terminal<br />
Tilburg, in the Port of Rotterdam<br />
and in Nuuk in Greenland.<br />
As part of its OTR tyre international<br />
expansion drive, in February<br />
Magna appointed Construction<br />
and Mining Solutions Ltd in<br />
Rangiora (Canterbury) as its exclusive<br />
dealer for New Zealand.<br />
In March it announced a strategic<br />
agreement covering its OTR tyres<br />
with leading German tyre wholesaler<br />
Interpneu. This puts Magna<br />
in touch with German equipment<br />
operators through Interpneu’s nationwide<br />
service network,<br />
Pneuhage Riefendienste.<br />
X marks the spot<br />
Michelin launched its X-Sraddle<br />
dedicated straddle carrier tyre in<br />
2003-4 and came up with a (then)<br />
novel size for this application, 480/<br />
95R 25, between a 16.00R-25<br />
and 18.00R-25 cover, aimed at the<br />
(then) emerging market for 50t<br />
SWL machines with twin 20<br />
spreaders. Originally it was thought<br />
that the trend towards 4-high stacking<br />
and heavier SWLs would call<br />
for a full 18.00R-25 size, but this<br />
proved not to be the case.<br />
The X-Straddle has a double<br />
rib pattern and is also available in<br />
16.00R-25 size. Original tread<br />
depth is 61/32nds (49mm) with<br />
the 16.00R-25 and 63/32nds<br />
(50mm) with the 480/95R 25.<br />
Michelin has launched a new<br />
generation of X-Straddle tyre,<br />
called X-Straddle 2. This is designed<br />
with more protective<br />
sidewalls, a new bead and a new<br />
tread for added stability, safety and<br />
CARGO HANDLING<br />
18.00R-25 wheel assembly for VDL AGV. Gottwald is fitting 21.00R-25<br />
wheels to its Battery Lift AGVs. It looks as though Kalmar will be fitting this<br />
bigger size to its new AGV, although the drive is not thought to be all-electric<br />
longer life. Faster laden travel<br />
speeds are possible, so typical distances<br />
per hour of operation are<br />
extended and this translates into<br />
higher productivity. Michelin did<br />
not respond to <strong>WorldCargo</strong> <strong>News</strong>’<br />
request for more information.<br />
Turning the wheels<br />
UK-based GKN Wheels, part of<br />
GKN plc, chose BAUMA in Munich<br />
in April to launch a new, customised<br />
15.00-23/3.0 multi-piece<br />
wheel for container trans<strong>port</strong>er<br />
AGVs in <strong>port</strong>s. “Heavy construction<br />
and container equipment<br />
wheels are subject to high stresses<br />
during their service life,” said<br />
Gianpietro Bramé, R & D director,<br />
GKN Wheels Europe. “We have<br />
developed a tough, hard-working<br />
wheel for AGVs to suit the specific<br />
load and operating conditions.”<br />
It is understood that GKN has<br />
been working on this project with<br />
Kalmar, which is developing prototype<br />
AGVs for testing by PSA<br />
Singapore. The wheel was developed<br />
and manufactured by GKN<br />
in Denmark. The development<br />
team originally produced a rim/<br />
wheel that was then vehiclemounted<br />
and field-tested using<br />
fatigue analysis and strain gauge<br />
measuring equipment.<br />
The prototype loads and<br />
simulations were recorded using<br />
special computer software and<br />
modelling. This meant, continued<br />
Bramé, that GKN could predict<br />
the real lifetime impact of the<br />
wheel with precision, and design<br />
a product to meet that specification<br />
accordingly.<br />
Using new paint plant technology,<br />
the wheel has been finished<br />
to what is claimed to be the<br />
highest finish available, known as<br />
C5 High, which offers long-term<br />
corrosion resistance even in saline<br />
atmospheres such as sea<strong>port</strong>s.<br />
GKN has also introduced<br />
“Swift ID” as a wheel service tool.<br />
Data are transmitted from RF tags<br />
attached to the wheel to handheld<br />
readers used by the service/maintenance<br />
team. The data from the<br />
handheld devices can be transferred<br />
to a central database and<br />
accessed anywhere on-line. The<br />
system is currently being tested on<br />
mining equipment in Australia.<br />
Sizing up<br />
Container trans<strong>port</strong>er AGVs are<br />
generally fitted with 18.00-25 size<br />
tyres mounted on multi-piece<br />
rims. Nearly all Gottwald AGVs<br />
in service are fitted with 18.00R-<br />
25 tyres, for example, and this is<br />
also the case with the new hybrid<br />
AGVs launched recently by VDL.<br />
However, in a departure,<br />
Gottwald’s Lift-AGVs are fitted<br />
with 21.00R-25 tyres. Due to the<br />
lift platforms and the additional<br />
deadweight of the battery array,<br />
the vehicle is heavier and requires<br />
larger road contact. The bigger<br />
tyres help spread the load more<br />
evenly. The suspension system has<br />
also been reinforced. Judging by<br />
the dimensions of the new GKN<br />
rim, Kalmar is also fitting its new<br />
AGV with 21.00-25 tyres. ❏<br />
May 2013
CARGO HANDLING<br />
Weighing up all the box weighing options<br />
TOC CSC Europe in Rotterdam<br />
in June includes “round<br />
table” workshops on container<br />
weighing and a closely allied<br />
safety issue, safe packing.<br />
TT Club’s global risk director<br />
Laurence Jones chairs the first,<br />
with sup<strong>port</strong> from Capt Richard<br />
Brough OBE, ICHCA’s technical<br />
advisor. This is tagged “who<br />
bears responsibility for weight accuracy,”<br />
to which the simple legal<br />
answer is the shipper or (last)<br />
container stuffer. The second is<br />
chaired by TT Club’s risk management<br />
director Peregrine<br />
Storrs-Fox, with sup<strong>port</strong> from Bill<br />
Brassington of ETS Consulting. Its<br />
focus is the new Code of Practice<br />
for [safe packing] of cargo trans<strong>port</strong><br />
units (CTU).<br />
Compression, tension<br />
Thinking about weighing in terms<br />
of compressive or tensile forces is<br />
a good way of assessing where in<br />
the supply chain container weights<br />
should be verified, in the run-up<br />
to DSC/18 this September.<br />
Compression weighing means<br />
weighbridges, <strong>port</strong>able weighing<br />
mats or load cells on the chassis<br />
or trailer. Ideally, containers should<br />
be weighed at or near the shipper’s<br />
or consolidator’s premises.<br />
This means both that the weight<br />
is verified for shipping purposes<br />
and the legality of the load for road<br />
trans<strong>port</strong> in terms of gross mass<br />
and axle loads can be determined.<br />
This is a key safety issue. Incorrectly<br />
loaded containers can give<br />
rise to dangerously ex-centric loads<br />
and wide variations in axle loads<br />
and tyre pressure that can turn road<br />
trucks into lethal weapons. Heavy<br />
axle passes are the main cause of<br />
accelerated road fatigue.<br />
Weighbridges are extremely<br />
accurate, but have limitations<br />
when it comes to two 20ft shipments,<br />
while <strong>port</strong>able mats have a<br />
limited life and can easily get lost<br />
or damaged. All the same, compression<br />
weighing is clearly the<br />
ideal total supply chain solution.<br />
There is a commercial op<strong>port</strong>unity<br />
here for container road<br />
haulage companies to provide a<br />
weighing service to the shipping<br />
line, shipper or forwarder, whichever<br />
is his contracting party for the<br />
road haul to the <strong>port</strong>, by fitting<br />
load cells to the chassis. 3PL providers<br />
are now fitting axle weight<br />
readers to their road trailers.<br />
Calculation<br />
One total supply chain solution<br />
within IMO’s competence is<br />
weighing-by-calculation (as proposed<br />
by Germany at DSC/17).<br />
This will likely be acceptable to<br />
shipping lines and national maritime<br />
administrations for homogenous<br />
or metered cargoes shipped<br />
in regular trades. The calculation<br />
methodology will need to be accredited<br />
to the relevant international<br />
standard and/or QA audit.<br />
Nobody knows what percentage<br />
of the world’s container traffic<br />
will be covered by weighingby-calculation:<br />
10% 50% However,<br />
individual shipping lines will<br />
have a fair idea for their own trades<br />
based on their customer profiles.<br />
Tension weighing means<br />
hoisting equipment with a suspended<br />
container load using calibrated<br />
and certified equipment -<br />
and this generally means <strong>port</strong>s<br />
(sea<strong>port</strong>s, inland <strong>port</strong>s, container<br />
barge or rail terminals) where the<br />
vast majority of the world’s container<br />
lifting equipment is located<br />
and where the container is transferred<br />
from the road truck.<br />
This is the <strong>port</strong> solution. It is<br />
not as comprehensive as the total<br />
supply chain solution, but it will<br />
probably be the most common<br />
way of verifying container<br />
weights. When trucks are used for<br />
local C & D, there is an op<strong>port</strong>unity<br />
for the inland intermodal railhead<br />
or inland barge terminal operator<br />
to fit weighing equipment<br />
to their lifting gear. This is, in effect,<br />
a “tensile force supply chain<br />
solution,” as it occurs early in the<br />
move to the sea<strong>port</strong>.<br />
Not obligatory<br />
Clause 14 of the draft Revised<br />
Annex 2 of SOLAS VI/2 states<br />
that “all <strong>port</strong> terminal facilities<br />
handling containers should have<br />
a means of verifying the gross mass<br />
of packed containers.”<br />
However, <strong>port</strong> operators will<br />
not be obliged to provide this<br />
service. Responsibility for ensuring<br />
that the “verified gross mass is<br />
stated in the shipping document”<br />
remains with the shipper. All the<br />
same, many <strong>port</strong> operators will see<br />
a commercial op<strong>port</strong>unity to enter<br />
into a container weight verification<br />
(CWV) contract with the<br />
shipping lines.<br />
Annex I of the draft Amendment<br />
to SOLAS VI/2 states: “If the<br />
shipping document with regard to<br />
a packed container does not provide<br />
the verified gross mass and the<br />
master or his representative and the<br />
terminal representative have not<br />
obtained the verified gross mass of<br />
the packed container, it shall not<br />
be loaded on to the ship.”<br />
PEMA guidelines<br />
The Port Equipment Manufacturers’<br />
Association (PEMA) has been<br />
working on guidelines on CWV<br />
equipment (CWVE) for lo-lo <strong>port</strong><br />
operators. Based on a presentation<br />
by Beat Zwygart to the ICHCA<br />
pre-DSC/18 workshop in London<br />
in April, these are believed to<br />
include the following information.<br />
It should be stressed that this is a<br />
draft and may be subject to change.<br />
● STS gantry cranes - load cells<br />
located in the boom tip accurate<br />
to ± 5% of full scale (FS); subject<br />
to dynamic loads (4-5 secs to “fix”<br />
weight; twin 20 problem.<br />
● RTGs/RMGs - load cells on the<br />
trolley accurate to ± 3-5% of FS;<br />
subject to dynamic loads (2 secs<br />
to fix weight); twin 20 problem<br />
● MHCs - load cells or hydraulic<br />
pressure measuring, mounted into<br />
the boom head sheave pins or into<br />
the rope anchors, accurate to ±<br />
3-5% of FS; twin 20 problem<br />
● Straddle carriers - load cells in<br />
the rope anchors or hoist motor<br />
current measuring, accurate to ±<br />
5% of FS; twin 20 problem<br />
● Reach stackers - load cells in rotator<br />
mounting pins or boom lift<br />
cylinder hydraulic pressure measure,<br />
accurate to ± 5% of FS; twin<br />
20 problem (but RSCs not often<br />
fitted with twin 20 spreaders)<br />
● FLTs - load cells in the chain<br />
anchors or lift cylinder hydraulic<br />
pressure measure, accurate to ±<br />
5% of FS; twin 20 problem (but<br />
FLTs practically never fitted with<br />
twin 20 spreaders)<br />
● Spreader twistlocks - load cells<br />
under the nut or sensors inside the<br />
twistlock, accurate to ± 0.5-1% of<br />
FS; no twin 20 problem as sensors<br />
are fitted to all twistlocks.<br />
Independently of PEMA, another<br />
load measurement specialist,<br />
Strainstall, says that it is in the<br />
process of writing a paper that it<br />
hopes “will clarify load measurement<br />
methods within <strong>port</strong>s and<br />
terminals and displace any myths<br />
surrounding the debate.”<br />
In any event, unofficially<br />
PEMA estimates that the world<br />
population of container spreaders<br />
is around 35,000, of which those<br />
“eligible” for fitting with CWVE<br />
is around 12,000. In most cases,<br />
leaving CWV to the quay crane<br />
would be too late, so generally<br />
CWVE would be fitted to the<br />
yard equipment - usually RTGs<br />
or straddle carriers, but sometimes<br />
Work on safe packing and container<br />
weighing are inter-related. (Photo:<br />
Richard Brough, ICHCA workshop)<br />
reach stackers. This is what is<br />
meant by “eligibility.”<br />
Retrofitting spreaders on such<br />
a scale is unlikely. Many <strong>port</strong> operators<br />
may opt out of weighing,<br />
and simply not accept bookings<br />
of containers whose weight has<br />
not been verified somewhere else.<br />
However, <strong>port</strong> operators willing<br />
to supply a CWV service to their<br />
shipping line customers have<br />
started to specify CWVE spreaders<br />
on new yard handling equip-<br />
ment in increasing numbers.<br />
CWVE is already being used to<br />
collect data on longitudinal or lateral<br />
load ex-centricity. This can be<br />
fed back via carriers to shippers<br />
and encourage them to load containers<br />
more evenly, which would<br />
also greatly enhance road safety.<br />
Richard Marks, the chairman<br />
of ICHCA’s Expert Panel, is one<br />
who believes that shippers “will<br />
soon get the message” if their containers<br />
“miss the ship” because of<br />
a weight discrepancy and there<br />
was no time to adjust the stowage<br />
plan. The ICHCA pre-DSC/18<br />
workshop in London in April<br />
moved the discussion a deal forward.<br />
The industry knows where<br />
the legal responsibility lies and<br />
what choices there are for weighing,<br />
in terms of how and where.<br />
True cost of service<br />
What <strong>port</strong> operators need is an<br />
honest debate about the true cost<br />
of providing a CWV service.<br />
Equipment vendors focus on the<br />
cost per lift, which is a small<br />
amount per se, but this is only part<br />
of the story. If a major discrepancy<br />
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
Misdeclared container weights, or cargo shifting inside containers due to incorrect<br />
packing, or both (Source: ibid)<br />
is discovered, the container has to<br />
be rehandled and trans<strong>port</strong>ed to a<br />
“pending stack,” which means<br />
extra handling costs and loss of<br />
regular space in the terminal. The<br />
line has to tell the shipper, who<br />
may “demand a recount.” Dwell<br />
times will be long, so yet more<br />
space may be needed; and what<br />
about “problem” reefers<br />
Anyone in the supply chain<br />
providing a CWV service must<br />
meet whatever accuracy limits are<br />
set down by the jurisdiction where<br />
the container is weighed. This is<br />
not just about ± percentages, but<br />
about periodic testing and maybe<br />
recalibration. That is a cost.<br />
And what happens if, on investigation<br />
after a container misses<br />
a sailing, it turns out that the declared<br />
weight was right after all<br />
and the CWVE was faulty; or a<br />
container is “passed” by the<br />
CWVE for loading on board, but<br />
is actually dangerously overweight<br />
and a stow collapses Such potential<br />
litigation questions have to be<br />
covered by insurance policies.<br />
Within jurisdictional tolerances,<br />
should allowance be made<br />
for cargo type and moisture<br />
changes according to temperature<br />
or humidity And does the ship’s<br />
master vary the tolerances according<br />
to whether it is a big or small<br />
one Clearly, there are many practical<br />
questions to resolve. ❏<br />
May 2013 81
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
Of losses and leviathans<br />
Last year, worldwide merchant<br />
ship losses were down by 27% on<br />
the 10-year average, according to<br />
a re<strong>port</strong> from Germanyheadquartered<br />
insurance industry<br />
giant Allianz. In the 12 months to<br />
November 2012, 91 ships were<br />
lost, compared to 106 in the same<br />
period a year earlier, while the 10-<br />
year average was 146 ship losses<br />
per annum.<br />
In its annual review of maritime<br />
losses, Allianz Global Corporate<br />
& Specialty attributed<br />
the long-term downward trend<br />
in ship losses to improvements<br />
in technology, training and<br />
regulation, and a proactive response<br />
from the shipping industry<br />
to safety improvement.<br />
The re<strong>port</strong> warned, however,<br />
that human error remains the<br />
greatest risk, being the root cause<br />
of most incidents. The insurer lists<br />
fatigue, economic pressures and<br />
inadequate training as the main<br />
causes for concern. Other insurance<br />
sources indicate that<br />
containership casualties are still<br />
considered to be too high, despite<br />
the fact that 300-plus such vessels<br />
are currently inactive.<br />
Raised eyebrows<br />
Marine underwriters raised an<br />
eyebrow at the recent news that<br />
China Shipping Container Lines<br />
(CSCL) had taken advantage of<br />
what were termed “very attractive”<br />
prices and followed Maersk<br />
into the jumbo-sized boxship<br />
market by ordering five 18,400<br />
TEU vessels in South Korea.<br />
It was not only insurers who<br />
did a double-take at this move by<br />
CSCL. Quick off the mark was<br />
no less than the China Shipowners’<br />
Association, whose executive<br />
vice president, Zhang Shouguo,<br />
criticised owners who placed<br />
Ship losses are down, but there are<br />
fears over the accumulation of risk<br />
with growing numbers of larger ships<br />
After its engine room flooded the 2006-built EMMA MAERSK was towed to the<br />
Fincantieri yard in Palermo, where it is undergoing lengthy repairs<br />
speculative orders, enticed by shipyards’<br />
rock-bottom prices.<br />
Such deals, Zhang said, would<br />
prolong overcapacity. “Even if<br />
there are no more new orders in<br />
the next several years, the oversupply<br />
will still be there,” he added.<br />
While stopping short of criticising<br />
CSCL directly, the timing of<br />
the association’s intervention sent<br />
an inherent message.<br />
According to Alphaliner, although<br />
the scrapping of<br />
containerships is likely to reach a<br />
record level this year, newbuilding<br />
deliveries will still outstrip the<br />
capacity removed due to demolition<br />
by a ratio of one to three.<br />
It is not the size of vessel that<br />
worries insurers but the accumulation<br />
of risk, particularly when these<br />
leviathans are moving in and out of<br />
<strong>port</strong>s in emerging markets, and even<br />
the adequacy of the infrastructure and<br />
stability of labour relations in the<br />
world’s major container hubs such as<br />
Rotterdam or Hong Kong (which<br />
has just suffered a five-week dock<br />
workers’ strike).<br />
Pushing the envelope<br />
Further, industry observers are<br />
asking whether naval architects<br />
and operators are pushing the envelope<br />
too fast. They point, for instance,<br />
to the recent withdrawal<br />
of the mega boxship EMMA<br />
MAERSK after its engine room became<br />
flooded due to a technical<br />
failure in the propulsion system.<br />
The 2006-built, 15,500 TEU capacity<br />
vessel has been towed to the<br />
Fincantieri repair yard in Palermo,<br />
Sicily, where it is undergoing<br />
lengthy repairs.<br />
Safety onboard and in <strong>port</strong> is a<br />
vital issue for the container industry.<br />
As ship sizes increase, so do the<br />
problems and the cost of claims. A<br />
seminar arranged by the London<br />
Shipping Law Centre’s Maritime<br />
Business Forum heard how boxship<br />
accidents in recent years have<br />
proved extremely difficult to manage<br />
and have been followed by<br />
huge claims on underwriters. The<br />
warning was clear: these developments<br />
are placing increasing emphasis<br />
on ship safety for owners and<br />
managers – encompassing the development<br />
of systems beyond statutory<br />
requirements and the promotion<br />
of strict safety cultures ‘bought<br />
into’ by all seafarers.<br />
Peregrine Storrs-Fox, risk management<br />
director of the TT Club,<br />
said that with 18,000 TEU vessels<br />
entering service, a full load, positioned<br />
end to end, would stretch<br />
for about 70 miles. Assuming 85%<br />
capacity for commercial viability,<br />
each voyage would place greater<br />
demands on <strong>port</strong> and terminal facilities,<br />
particularly in relation to<br />
pilotage, tug services and loading/<br />
discharging. This in turn would step<br />
up the extent of insurance requirements<br />
and add complexity to the<br />
associated contracts and assessing<br />
appropriate premiums.<br />
Precious cargoes<br />
Another speaker, Steve Cameron,<br />
maritime director of RTI Forensics,<br />
explained that the total cargo<br />
value of a well-laden 18,000-<br />
20,000 TEU vessel could exceed<br />
US$900M. Assuming individual<br />
container contents averaging<br />
US$50,000 and an 80% overall<br />
load, cargo worth US$750M<br />
could be six times the value of<br />
the carrying vessel.<br />
Insurance broker Andrew<br />
Webster, a partner at JLT Speciality,<br />
said that the insurance risk<br />
in new terminal projects could<br />
crop up in a very wide range of<br />
fields. While a project was<br />
underway, these could range from<br />
Cargill recently made its first<br />
grain shipment using an electronic<br />
freight document in an<br />
endeavour to cut paper documentation<br />
and speed up the<br />
processing of deals.<br />
The US agribusiness group<br />
completed its first trade using an<br />
electronic bill of lading, dubbed<br />
CargoDocs, developed by<br />
Malta-based Electronic Shipping<br />
Solutions.<br />
The im<strong>port</strong>ation of a single<br />
cargo by sea requires an average<br />
of 36 original paper documents<br />
and 240 copies from 27 separate<br />
parties, and amendments to bills<br />
INSURANCE<br />
Following losses such as the MSC FLAMINIA, ravaged by a fire last year, the<br />
IUMI will review an initiative on new fire-fighting facilities for boxships<br />
the construction process and cost<br />
overruns to protest actions and<br />
archaeological finds. Post-completion,<br />
they included risks from<br />
operations and maintenance, as<br />
well as technology performance<br />
and environmental questions.<br />
Recently, the International Union<br />
of Marine Insurance (IUMI) re<strong>port</strong>ed<br />
that it was reviewing a significant<br />
initiative on new fire-fighting<br />
facilities for containerships in the wake<br />
of major losses such as the MSC<br />
FLAMINIA, ravaged by a fire at sea in<br />
July 2012. This will be launched at<br />
IUMI’s annual conference in London<br />
next September, and then discussed<br />
with the IMO’s maritime safety committee<br />
and with flag states.<br />
In the meantime, all eyes will<br />
be on what further regulatory<br />
changes may be in the offing under<br />
the IMO’s Convention for<br />
Safe Containers when the agency’s<br />
maritime safety committee<br />
next meets. ❏<br />
Electronic grain gain<br />
of lading at <strong>port</strong>s and customs<br />
posts, which are common, making<br />
the process even more cumbersome.<br />
The transfer of bills of lading<br />
took 19 minutes for Cargill’s<br />
grain shipment from Houston to<br />
Veracruz in Mexico on the dry<br />
bulk carrier UBC BREMEN. Cargill<br />
is working to expand the use of<br />
CargoDocs across various tanker<br />
routes and petroleum barge<br />
trades in Europe.<br />
“After nearly 150 years of paper<br />
bills of lading, the first electronic<br />
BL represents an historical<br />
milestone for us,” said Cargill. ❏<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
www.sicom-containers.com<br />
Since <br />
1975 your container manufacturer in Europe<br />
82<br />
May 2013
INSURANCE<br />
Club launches container cover<br />
Piracy moves<br />
to menace<br />
West Africa<br />
The hijacking of the German fully cellular,<br />
2008-built containership CITY OF<br />
XIAMEN in late April served to illustrate<br />
that the piracy flashpoint has moved from<br />
Somalia, where incidents have shown a<br />
big reduction, to West Africa. The growing<br />
number of attacks and successful<br />
hijackings in the Gulf of Guinea are pushing<br />
up insurance costs and damaging and<br />
disrupting trade, and “insider complicity”<br />
is suspected. A re<strong>port</strong> was published by<br />
worldcargonews.com on 12 April 2012 (“Pirates<br />
step up West African attacks”).<br />
According to a new Reuters re<strong>port</strong>,<br />
the International Maritime Bureau, the<br />
industry watchdog, said that 14 heavily<br />
armed pirates attacked the vessel and<br />
breached its citadel. The pirates took five<br />
officers and crew captive, including the<br />
master, before escaping with cash and the<br />
crew. The whole incident remained<br />
something of a mystery at the time of<br />
writing, with the ship still anchored off<br />
Equatorial Guinea and relatives of the<br />
crew unable to obtain any information.<br />
Ransom demands<br />
But it can be said that the pirates operating<br />
in this area are increasingly focusing<br />
on taking hostages in order to extract ransom<br />
payments. In a region where political<br />
uncertainty and military actions are<br />
documented in the media almost daily,<br />
there is a grey area between the motives<br />
of pirates and terrorists on land pulling<br />
the strings, some observers assert.<br />
It is interesting to note that at the end<br />
of 2012 the first boxship with a built-in<br />
citadel was delivered to its owners, Eastern<br />
Mediterranean Maritime in Greece.<br />
Two sister ships will follow the<br />
1,700TEU TZINI. As an anti-piracy measure,<br />
a citadel was incorporated in the<br />
vessel’s design, and was fitted in the steering<br />
gear room. Inside, the crew have control<br />
capability of the vessel, emergency<br />
rations, safe air supply, CCTV control,<br />
and good external communications.<br />
Could this be the way ahead for<br />
containerships, at least for smaller types<br />
Released hostages<br />
Meanwhile, some of the seafarers who<br />
were held hostage for almost three years<br />
after the general cargo ship ICEBERG was<br />
hijacked by Somali pirates were pictured<br />
in Mumbai at a meeting of the International<br />
Trans<strong>port</strong> Workers’ Federation’s<br />
maritime safety committee. Those present<br />
heard of the appalling treatment suffered<br />
by the 23 crew members during their long<br />
ordeal, including beatings and torture.<br />
One crewman died as a result of malnutrition,<br />
and the seamen had to watch<br />
their officers being hung upside down<br />
and tortured, and the ears of a senior officer<br />
being chopped off for failing to<br />
move the ship.<br />
From mid-May, a new motion picture,<br />
A Hijacking, is on general release, inspired<br />
by real events. The film has been widely<br />
praised with one critic telling audiences to<br />
prepare for nerve-shredding tension.<br />
The ROZEN, seen on screen, was actually<br />
hijacked by Somali pirates in 2007, and<br />
some of its crew are also in the film, which<br />
was shot on the cramped interior of the<br />
vessel off the Somali coast. ❏<br />
Norway’s Gard P&I Club has introduced<br />
the latest product to its range, a property<br />
policy to cover damage to or loss of containers<br />
– on and off the ship. Launched in<br />
March, the Container and Equipment<br />
Cover (CEC) was developed to meet the<br />
needs of container owners, operators or<br />
lessees, typically liner vessel operators.<br />
CEC will respond to theft, loss of or<br />
damage to containers, flatracks, roll trailers<br />
and similar equipment used for carrying<br />
goods. In addition, it covers a container’s<br />
contribution to general average.<br />
CEC complements liability insurances<br />
like P&I and the Comprehensive Carriers<br />
Cover. But while marine liability insurance<br />
is normally closely linked to the<br />
insured ship, the main focus of CEC is<br />
the cargo carrying equipment.<br />
CEC is not restricted to sea trans<strong>port</strong>.<br />
For example, if a box sustains damage<br />
whilst being stored at a shoreside terminal<br />
or during inland trans<strong>port</strong> by truck,<br />
the cover may still respond.<br />
The limit of cover is tailored according<br />
to the insured’s needs, with a maximum<br />
limit of US$50M for all claims arising<br />
out of one and the same incident.<br />
Where replacement and insured values are<br />
different, CEC covers the lesser value.<br />
Gard’s CEO Claes Isacson said that<br />
since the company provided P&I and/or<br />
marine insurance to more than half of the<br />
world’s container fleet, extending the<br />
product <strong>port</strong>folio to cover the containers<br />
themselves was a natural next step.<br />
Exposure<br />
He added: “Liner operators take responsibility<br />
for the overall trans<strong>port</strong> cost, time,<br />
delivery detail and quality of their clients’<br />
trans<strong>port</strong> chains. Thus, they are increasingly<br />
exposed to a wide range of risks in<br />
their daily operations relating to the trans<strong>port</strong>ation,<br />
storage and handling of cargo.<br />
Our ability to offer seamless coverage is a<br />
strong proposition.”<br />
The new CEC cover is basically a<br />
property insurance. What happens inside<br />
the container while it is on the move remains<br />
of pressing concern to all P&I clubs.<br />
<strong>WorldCargo</strong><br />
news<br />
Bad stowage<br />
Meanwhile, the UK Club has reiterated<br />
that one of the main contributory causes<br />
of container cargo damage is bad stowage.<br />
“It would seem we have merely shifted the<br />
cargo problem further back up the transit<br />
chain,” was its caustic remark.<br />
A considerable pro<strong>port</strong>ion of the UK<br />
club’s time is taken up handling container<br />
cargo claims where 25% of the damage is<br />
physical, 14% temperature-related, 11%<br />
boxes lost overboard, 9% theft and 8%<br />
shortage.<br />
The club reckons that shore error now<br />
accounts for around 27% of large container<br />
claims, compared to 19% for all<br />
types of cargo claims. Tie this in with bad<br />
stowage statistics and it seems to point to<br />
problems originating at stuffing.<br />
However, although it is a major<br />
cause of container cargo damage, said<br />
the club, it would be wrong to lay the<br />
origin of all container cargo claims on<br />
bad stowage alone, and it lists no fewer<br />
than 25 other reasons for damage. Its<br />
statistics show that container cargo<br />
claims it handles by vessel type now<br />
occupy the No. 3 slot (15%), after<br />
bulkers (28%) and dry cargo (25%).<br />
As a postscript, the TT Club estimates<br />
there are 95M loaded container movements<br />
a year. Because of the woes currently<br />
besetting the container trades, this<br />
number must be suspect, but in the long<br />
term it will rise exponentially. ❏<br />
May 2013 83
BY GAUSS<br />
IN<br />
RA