MEDIUM SIZE EXTRA LARGE VALUE INTRODUCING THE NEW TEREX ® GOTTWALD MODEL 5 A A A Working radius up to 51 m enables container handling up to post-Panamax Maximum lifting capacity of 125 t for flexible heavy load handling Functional, compact design with impressive lifting capacity curve for best-in-class cargo handling Visit us at www.terex<strong>port</strong>solutions.com © 2013 Terex Corporation. Terex is a registered trademark in the U.S. and many other countries.
NEWS PORT NEWS PBLIS stays in NSW The New South Wales Government has vowed to continue its Port Botany Landside Improvement Strategy (PBLIS), despite the recent A$5.07B lease of Port Botany (and Port Kembla) to the NSW Ports consortium. “PBLIS, which drives more efficient coordination of road and rail freight in and out of Port Botany, is now set to continue its future successful program of works through Trans<strong>port</strong> for New South Wales,” said treasurer Mike Baird. Introduced by Sydney Ports Corporation, PBLIS is acknowledged as instrumental in improving freight efficiency Lübeck Ruhr rail service in and around the Port Botany precinct, delivering 30% faster truck-turnaround times and “benefitting industry and customers tens of millions each year in cost savings including increased equipment utilisation and reduced demurrage costs.” Prior to its implementation, PBLIS was expected to deliver in its first 10 years a Net Present Value (NPV) benefit to NSW and industry of A$21.2M. After an independent review in 2012 of its first year of operation, the PBLIS NPV increased by over A$33M to A$54.7M. The on-time performance of trucks arriving at Port Botany Lübecker Hafen Gesellshaft (LHG), the operator of the Port of Lübeck, has introduced its own intermodal block train service, catering for shipping containers, swap bodies and semitrailers, to the heart of the Ruhr. The service will operate between Duisburg-Hohenbudberg and Baltic Rail Gate (BGT) at Lübeck-Travemünde. BGT was originally built by HHLA along with a dedicated lo-lo feeder terminal to offer customers an alternative to the Kiel Canal for feedering into the Baltic. The new service is aimed at strengthening Lübeck’s position on the Sweden- Ruhr axis has also increased from 72% before PBLIS to 93% in March 2013, the government claims. It also says the PBLIS rail strategy to grow rail mode share is gaining solid momentum through voluntary participation in the Port Botany Rail Team by industry. “PBLIS has been instrumental in both sup<strong>port</strong>ing smarter road freight movements and working with the rail operators and network providers to improve freight coordination in the <strong>port</strong> rail supply chain,” the government said. We look forward to this work continuing through Trans<strong>port</strong> for New South Wales and building on the program’s successes more widely in the NSW freight network.” The new block train, which is aimed at strengthening Lübeck’s position in Sweden-Ruhr trades, is operated by LHG affiliate European Cargo Logistics (ECL), whose managing director Jörg Ulrich remarked: “With this new rail connection we can offer our customers another alternative for environment friendly and efficient trans<strong>port</strong> via Lübeck. On this route, a load of 26 tons produces 426.7 kgs of CO 2 by truck and only 128.1 kgs by rail. This is a reduction of 70%.” Tobias Behnke, ECL’s intermodal service manager, added that the company hopes to increase frequency to two pairs/day in due course. ECL already operates a service between Lübeck and Verona, on a five pairs/week basis, in cooperation with DHL. The rail traction contractor on this route is ERS Railways. PNG push against Patrick Attempts by the PNG Ports Corporation Ltd (PNGPCL) to introduce new foreign competition into Papua New Guinea’s stevedoring sector have been sharply rebuffed by local tribes invested in existing companies. In March PNGPCL advertised widely, seeking expressions of interest from “experienced and qualified operators” interested in stevedoring access agreements in the nation’s two main container <strong>port</strong>s, Lae and Port Moresby. PNGPCL said its volumes had increased by 28% over the past five years and it had invested in four MHCs for the two <strong>port</strong>s, which it needed to ensure “full and proper use” through stevedoring operations conducted in a modern and efficient manner “which optimises the benefits to all <strong>port</strong> users.” Amongst respondents is believed to have been Asciano’s Patrick, which was re<strong>port</strong>ed to have been in joint venture negotiations with a breakaway group of shareholders from Lae stevedore Riback. Tribal leaders of the Ahi people of six villages who claim traditional ownership of Lae city took large advertisements in the PNG press in late April threatening to close the <strong>port</strong> down. They claimed interests associated with the governing People’s National Congress Party were manoeuvring, under the cover of the Lae <strong>port</strong> modernisation project, to push the Ahi-owned Riback Stevedores Ltd out of the <strong>port</strong>. The six leaders said via press release that the Ahi were proud shareholders and beneficiaries of the investment in the nationallyowned Riback, which in Lae provides jobs and op<strong>port</strong>unities View over Port Moresby. The main dispute centres on Lae for many previously unemployed youths. However, “certain people with vested interest” were now actively working to displace landowner involvement at the Lae <strong>port</strong>, the advertisements stated. The Ahi claimed the new group, led by a local PNG branch president and former Riback company director, in a joint venture with some village splinter interests, was establishing a fourth stevedoring company that was seeking preferential treatment. “Why give this company preferential treatment over longestablished Papua New Guinean majority-owned companies” the leaders asked. “These people are engaged in a divide-and-rule tactic to divide our people so they can move in and set up their own joint venture with foreign interests.” The Ahi group threatened to close the <strong>port</strong> of Lae if the government did not respond - and duly did so for 48 hours in early May. This brought a quick response from Ben Micah, minister for <strong>port</strong>s, public enterprises and state investment, who suspended the EOI process, pending the appointment of a “special investigation” by an independent party into the allegations made by the Ahi. Patrick has declined to comment on the situation. Riback has a number of major clients, including ANL, Maersk, Sofrana, Carpenters and Kyowa and as well as stevedoring it operates a depot on the site of the old Lae air<strong>port</strong>. The other Lae stevedores are Lae Port Services, a joint venture between local interests and Steamships (Swire) and United Stevedoring, which is a Consort Express Lines (also Swire-controlled) affiliate. As previously re<strong>port</strong>ed, last November Mitsui & Co Ltd’s affiliate Portek International signed an agreement with PNG- PCL to collaborate with it in the operation of the Lae and Port Moresby container terminals for a 5-year period. 600+ STS cranes worldwide are operating with MALMEDIE couplings… HOW ABOUT YOURS MALMEDIE. SIMPLY THE ORIGINAL. www.malmedie.com May 2013 17
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