Tanjung Priok super port - WorldCargo News Online

PORT DEVELOPMENT
Looking to fulfil their potential
In theory the two parts of the Zeeland
Seaports, Terneuzen and Vlissingen, are
well placed on either side of the Scheldt
estuary to take advantage of capturing
some of Antwerp’s deep sea traffic. In
practice, this does not appear to be the
case and the ports serve their respective
hinterlands, particularly the industries attracted
to this region of Holland. There is
considerable barge traffic between
Zeeland ports and Antwerp and further
into the Belgium/Dutch canal network,
but mainly for domestic cargoes.
Last year Zeeland Seaports (ZSP) recorded
a 4% drop in overall seagoing tonnage
to 34 Mt, although CEO Hans van
der Hart notes that “mid 2012, we were
down 8%, so the figures were quite satisfactory
in the end, especially when we
take results of surrounding ports into consideration.”
Barge traffic increased 12%,
taking total volumes to around 70 Mt.
ZSP wants to increase seaborne cargo
to 50 Mtpa and inland shipping throughput
to 40 Mt by 2020. To achieve this, the
port argues, it will need a deep sea container
terminal. The ports already handle
some containers, with tonnage increasing
7% last year to 202,000t. Most containers
are handled at the Katoen Natie
shortsea/barge terminal located adjacent
to the large Dow Chemicals plant at
Terneuzen, which provides the main
cargo source, with very little third party
traffic accommodated.
Looking west
Van der Hart is confident that “container
handle will remain a spearhead [of port
strategy]. The Westerschelde Container
Terminal project (WCT) is still in the picture.
In the meantime, together with other
companies, we are looking at possibilities
to realise a terminal within the existing
docks. This is really important.”
The CCO, Dick Gilhuis, endorses this:
“We are convinced that containerisation
is necessary for the growth of all trade
and industry. Therefore, we have to think
about container facilities in our port.”
However, Gilhuis noted that he was not
talking about facilities on the scale of
WCT, but about a smaller scale container
terminal in Vlissingen.
“A WCT-scale facility will become
important longer term. We have to have
such a terminal to serve our customers in
a better way. A small terminal will handle
around 500,000 TEU. ” According to the
CCO, negotiations with various parties
are looking quite promising.
Gilhuis calculates that current northern
European container handling capacity
is around 60M TEU, which will increase
to around 100M TEU by 2020.
“Looking at these figures, one may wonder
whether we still have to develop a
major container terminal, such as WCT.
That is why we will not embark upon
such a venture yet. But a terminal is built
to last for 40 years or so. If we stop the
plans now, we will come up against quite
another problem in the future.”
Tactical withdrawal
These cautious remarks reflect what is actually
happening on the ground. The partners
behind the Scaldia Terminal Operator
(STO) container terminal have pulled
out of the venture, stating that “the market
we aimed at has collapsed...As the recession
spread, container lines became
ever more reluctant to move to Flushing.”
STO was to be established on a 55-
ha site by the Antwerp-based stevedoring
company Zuidnatie in conjunction with
the Ghent-based group Sea-Invest, with
the latter holding a 70% stake.
It is widely anticipated that the dominant
Zeeland operator, Verbrugge, which
last year handled over 15 Mt at the two
ports, will take at least 13-ha of the site
earmarked for STO, to which it may add
at a later date (see also p56). Verbrugge recently
secured a major contract to handle
cellulose imports from Eldorado Brazil
Cellulose, which recently commissioned
the largest single-line pulp mill in
the world, with a capacity of 1.5 Mtpa.
A substantial part of this will shipped
from Santos, Brazil to the Scaldiahaven
in Vlissingen, where it will be stored and
subsequently transported to the paper and
Mainstream container handling remains
an elusive target for Zeeland Seaports
tissue industries in the hinterland.
Verbrugge will act as the European logistics
hub for this traffic. It secured the
contract in the face of strong competition,
particularly from Antwerp.
Invest at the bottom
Despite the financial crisis and the economic
recession, Verbrugge Terminals
continues to investing substantially in its
Vlissingen and Terneuzen sites. Last year,
the operator invested €45M in expanding
its terminal in Terneuzen, while in
2011 similar amounts were put towards
the expansion of Verbrugge Terminals in
the new Scaldiahaven in Vlissingen, where
Verbrugge was the first operator.
Since 2007, the company has invested
€165M in its facilities at both ports. In
all, Verbrugge has three terminals in
Vlissingen and Terneuzen, comprising
over 1M m 2 of covered storage facilities.
Typical bulk handling operation in Terneuzen
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May 2013 43