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PORT DEVELOPMENT
Amsterdam spreading its wings
In April the Port of Amsterdam
became incorporated,
with City of Amsterdam as the
sole shareholder. The new status
enables the port authority
to act autonomously and
more quickly, and have access
to new funding sources.
The port, which was previously
an internal division of the
city, has already adopted a new approach
regarding land bank accumulation.
It has a target of handling
125 Mtpa by 2026 on the
Multi trailer Tractor
Rail-Road Vehicle
Stand C62
same surface area as today, and at
the same time it is looking for
“value, not volume.” This is a relatively
new approach in the regional
context, as traditionally port
authorities derive most revenue
from concessions, rents and leases.
Of Antwerp’s 2012 turnover of
€2.768B, for example, the largest
contributor by far at 47% was
“concessions” - that is, the revenue
generated by terminal leases.
The “new” port inherited the
long-standing dossier for a new
PORT EQUIPMENT
MOL CY nv
Diksmuidesteenweg 68
8840 STADEN
BELGIUM
and bigger sea lock and this is a
step closer to reality following approval
of the scheme by the Dutch
Minister of Infrastructure and
Environment, Melanie Schultz
van Haegen. The outline financing
package is now in place, with
the port contributing E130M, the
local province E458M and the
government a further E574M.
The new lock, measuring
500m x 65m and with a sill depth
of 18m, will replace the existing
Noordersluis, which currently
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handles around 80% of the port’s
traffic. When the latter lock was
constructed in 1929, it was the
largest lock in the world at 400m
x 50m x 15m sill depth. The new
lock will be sited between the
Noordersluis, and the 1896-built
Middensluis, measuring 225m x
25m x 10m sill depth. If construction
starts on schedule in 2015, the
lock should be completed in 2019.
The Noordersluis will be
mothballed and activated only in
the event of a “calamity” or downtime
for maintenance in the new
lock. Navigational restrictions on
two large ships passing each other
in the North Sea Canal make it
impractical to keep both locks
open, on the basis of “one in and
one out.” The Middensluis and the
even older and smaller Zuidersluis
will remain open, for barges
and small coasters only.
At the same time as the lock is
under construction, the port is
planning to build an outer harbour
breakwater structure outside the
locks for lightering capesize
bulkers to facilitate navigation in
the ship canal. While the sill depth
is 18m, maximum canal draught
will probably be restricted to
14.5m in the short to medium
term until dredging, where possible,
of the canal is implemented.
Green shoots
Last year, Amsterdam recorded a
growth of 1.3% overall, a positive
performance given the results of
some of its neighbouring ports. In
all, some 94.3 Mt were handled
by Amsterdam and its affiliated
ports on the North Sea Canal of
Beverwijk, Zaandam and Velsen/
Ijmuiden. If the latter facilities are
stripped out, Amsterdam proper
recorded an impressive growth,
given the general economic conditions,
of 3% to reach 77 Mt, the
highest since the port’s 2008 peak.
Much of the growth is attributed
to liquid bulk, as the port is
now promoting storage, but not
processing, of oils. Coal remained
stable at 15.6 Mt, while agri-bulk
dropped 15% to 6.8 Mt. Biomass
is a potential new traffic. If it displaces
coal imports, at under half
the mass of coal it will require
more ship calls to provide the generators
with the same thermal
energy as coal.
A test biomass cargo was discharged
from a bulker loaded in
Vancouver (BC) with 47,000t of
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Biomass discharge operation under way at OBA in Amsterdam
wood pellets for RWE, with the
cargo split between its Dutch
power station at Geertruidenberg
and also transhipped to Tilbury.
A problem the port faces is that
while it abuts the largest city in
the Netherlands, it is still very
much a “regional” port in terms
of general cargo. Leaving coal
trains aside, Amsterdam has never
really “exploited” the potential of
a wider hinterland, although Ter
Haak operates a container barge
shuttle along the North Sea Canal
from Ijmuiden to its USA
(United Stevedores Amsterdam)
terminal for reefer containers carrying
fresh fish from the Ijmuiden
fishing market.
These are loaded on its own
barges at its terminal adjacent to
the fish docks using a long wheelbase
reach stacker with a negative
lift attachment. Ter Haak accounts
for most of the container traffic
handled in Amsterdam.
Cocoa pops
The establishment by Ter Haak
and Katoen Natie of a “cocoa
shuttle” train to Berlin from the
port (WorldCargo News, April 2013,
p1) shows that “niche” intermodal
opportunities exist and the port
wants to exploit them.
A seemingly unlikely generator
might be coal traffic. The coal
terminals already dispatch substantial
volumes by rail, and the volume
is anticipated to increase to
2.5 Mtpa with implementation of
new terminal loading infrastructure
and new marshalling and
consolidation rail yards.
At present there is not enough
“aggregation” to support more
container block trains, but it might
be possible to couple container
wagons to coal trains. As demand
for intermodal services grows,
block trains to certain destinations
might become viable. In the
meantime the port is prepared to
act as a “facilitator” to bundle traffic
in “cross-chain logistics.”
This is already happening with
the cocoa train. Cocoa shipper
Cargill is providing the base load,
but there are third party slots available
on the service, and these
might prove attractive for
groupage operators, particularly
when the frequency of the shuttle
is doubled to twice/week. ❏
Zeebrugge in the frame
If there is such a thing as a short
sea hub port in Europe, it is
Zeebrugge. P&O Ferries and
Transfennica have extended their
cooperation and now offer a joint
landbridge service for accompanied
and unaccompanied trailers
between Spain and England, with
Zeebrugge as the pivot.
P&O Ferries provides daily
services between Zeebrugge and
Hull, Teesport and Tilbury. On
Tuesdays and Thursdays
Transfennica sails between Zeebrugge
and Bilbao. Customers can
through book between the UK
and Spain. Transfennica’s vessels
call at P&O’s 113-115 terminal.
Finnlines has started a weekly
service linking Rostock, Zeebrugge
and Bilbao, as an alternative
to long-haul trucking. DFDS
Logistics is operating a weekly
container service linking Moss
with Zeebrugge and Immingham.
Between them the four Belgian
seaports accounted for 134.1
Mt of shortsea shipping traffic in
2012, just 0.85% less than in 2011,
despite the deteriorating economic
climate in Europe, but still
13% higher than the disastrous
year of 2009. Shortsea shipping
accounted for 52% of overall volume
in the ports.
“Extended gate”
On the deepsea side, APM Terminals
Zeebrugge has launched an
“extended gate” service, which
provides a direct seagoing barge
or train connection from
Zeebrugge to Antwerp.
Deepsea vessels discharging in
Zeebrugge instead of Antwerp
save 12 hours sailing time. Under
the programme, barges and trains
synchronised with mother ship
calls in Zeebrugge discharge containers
in a dedicated area in the
trimodal terminal on the right
bank in Antwerp.
Barge and rail services between
Zeebrugge and Antwerp have previously
been available, but APM
Terminals says that it will manage
and operate the new service
without any planning required
from the shipping line. The operator
states that its end-to-end
process management will provide
shipping lines to plan in an additional
slow-steam without any disadvantage
for cargo owners.
Maersk Line started using the
service when it went “live.” All
containers destined to Antwerp
were discharged from the mother
vessel in Zeebrugge and transferred
by barge or rail to Antwerp.
APMT Zeebrugge recently
signed an MOU with China Shipping
Terminals for a 24% share.
The transaction is expected to
close in June. Currently, APMT
Zeebrugge holds a 75% stake, as
25% was sold to Shanghai International
Port Group in 2010. ❏
APM Terminals Zeebrugge is offering end-to-end process management for
containers shipped by barge or rail between Zeebrugge and Antwerp
www.bannerengineering.com
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A205-AdTOC2013-WorldCargoNews-Radar.indd 1 2013 May 24 10:23:46
May 2013