Tanjung Priok super port - WorldCargo News Online

PORT DEVELOPMENT
With
In Russia’s Far East region, it owns
Vostochnaya Stevedoring Co which
has a terminal with a design capacity
of 550,000 TEU. In addition, GPI is
an important player in the transit cargo
market, owning Multi-Link Terminals
in Finland, which operates small container
terminals in Helsinki (Vuosaari)
and Kotka as well as three inland depots.
APMT and GPI will look at additional
investments and the Black Sea area appears
to be an obvious area for an operating
presence at some stage. But for
the time being the focus is on business
integration and process management
according to Fejfer, including in areas
DP World will add 1M TEU of capacity at
Jebel Ali Container Terminal 2 by the end of
2013 and 4M TEU will go into operation at
the new Terminal 3 complex in 2014
such as operations, procurement and IT.
Mid range players
Medium-sized terminal operating companies
also view emerging markets as
solid investment opportunities. Some examples
include:
• Grup TCB is spreading out from its
Spanish homeland (originally Barcelona)
to Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico,
Guatemala and Turkey.
• Philippines-based International Container
Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) is
active in many countries, including China,
the Philippines, Indonesia, Madagascar,
Georgia, Croatia, Poland, Argentina,
Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico.
• Turkey’s Yilport is contemplating
projects in Ecuador, Colombia, Ghana
and elsewhere in West and East Africa.
Although the GTOs’ main focus appears
At the heart of every industry,
At the centre of every movement
to be on emerging markets it does not mean
that Europe and North America are being
ignored. Indeed, APMT and DP World
are both involved in very large projects in
Rotterdam, each developing multi-million
TEU capacity, highly automated facilities
in the Maasvlakte II area of the port.
APMT is also a 30% shareholder in
the recently opened Jade Weser Port
(JWP) in Wilhelmshaven, Germany,
where it works with Eurogate. In April, a
technical and economic feasibility study
on a northern extension to the JWP
container terminal was launched (see
page 55). Elsewhere in Europe, APMT
has upgrade programmes in place at
Gothenburg, Algeciras and Poti, Georgia
(see page 48).
DP World, meanwhile, is set to open
its eagerly awaited London Gateway
(LG) terminal on the River Thames in
Q4/2013. Initially, it will have the capacity
to handle 1.6M TEU. However, a short
ramp up period will allow the operator
to process over 3.5M TEU by early 2015.
The adjacent rail-connected logistics
park, which is capable of accommodating
up to 925M m 2 of warehousing space,
distinguishes the new port from other
deepsea container ports in the UK. It has
been described by the terminal operator
as a “potential game changer” when it
comes to the organisation of future shipping
and freight distribution networks in
the country.
Value added approach
DP World CEO Mohammed Sharaf sees
LG as demonstrating the Dubai-based
group’s increasingly value-added-driven
approach to the terminals business. He
thinks that supply chains will become
more important in determining a company’s
success and its ability to compete.
At the same time, the opportunity to offer
customers choices should help shield
DP World from having to compete on
price alone.
Yet DP World has not revealed the
identity of any customers, despite parties
close to LG suggesting at least one
shipping line or carrier grouping will be
calling from day one with several services.
Discussions are also known to be taking
place with a number of potential clients
for the logistics park, thought to include
UK-based retailers including Marks &
Spencer and specialist logistics groups.
In April, Peter Ward, commercial manager
of the cargo supply chain at LG,
confirmed that 380,000 ft 2 of multi-use
warehousing would be built.
“A few months ago we started testing
the concept of developing common-user
facilities in the logistics park and it was
soon apparent that our plan was oversubscribed.
We are now evaluating a similar
approach for small and medium-sized
enterprises engaged in the fresh food and
time-sensitive environment,” he explained.
Behemoth challenges
A mounting challenge faced by ports
and terminals, especially the larger ones,
is how to handle much larger ships safely,
securely and, invariably, in existing
berthing windows. It can mean having
to process as many as 6,000 containers a
day – twice the handling rate achieved by
most operators currently – and that inevitably
involves more automation.
Various levels of automation are becoming
evident in most new terminals,
especially in countries where salaries are
high and there is an absence of strong union
opposition. Automation is also more
common when new terminals are developed
and/or where there are specific
safety or security issues.
For instance TCB, which operates TC
Buen at Buenaventura in Colombia, has
invested about US$3.5M on installing
various OCR systems on its ship-to-shore
gantries, yard cranes and at the gates. It
allows the terminal operator to optimise
and allow real-time traceability on all containers
entering and leaving the facility.
In contrast, only a few operators have
introduced radically new systems and/or
automated processes at existing terminals
because doing this while still trying to continue
day-to-day operations presents huge
challenges, both operationally and fiscally.
Costly investments
Automation is expensive, as is the cost of
investing in the bigger cranes, stronger
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May 2013