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Ro-ro in the South Pacific
While new and used vehicles are the main
international cargo, general cargo ro-ro occupies an
important niche in coastal shipping in Australasia
Wallenius Wilhelmsen Lines
(WWL) serves the Australasian
market with weekly ro-ro services
linking Australia and New
Zealand with Europe, South Africa
and the Americas.
Regional director Peter Dexter
says that vehicle and heavy machinery
imports have increased
but there has also been strong
growth in project cargo, such as
rail cars, wind turbines and other
outsized loads. The core market,
however, remains vehicles and
WWL has expanded into 3PL to
extend its influence. Oceania Vehicle
Processors operates from
seven sites across Australia and has
taken its market share from one
to 11 per cent since it was established
three years ago. Another
subsidiary, AgReady, was set up
for heavy machinery.
Inadequate
While recognising that urban
ports the world over are under
pressure from competing land uses
and that vehicle terminals are particularly
land-hungry, Dexter is
concerned that existing ro-ro facilities
at Sydney, Auckland and
Fremantle in particular are inadequate.
He adds that ro-ro is not
getting “the attention it requires”
as ports plan future developments.
Auckland and Sydney are under
pressure to release their inner
harbours for urban and recreational
space. WWL currently uses
Patrick’s Darling harbour terminal
in Sydney (not the new Australian
Automotive Terminal JV
with P&O Ports) and is mulling
options for when the lease expires
in 2006.
Port Kembla is frequently
mooted as an alternative to Sydney
but Dexter says customers
want their vehicles unloaded in
Sydney and “from a shipping
company perspective, we have to
do what they want.” Hubbing at
Brisbane or Melbourne and using
rail to access the Sydney market
is not really viable at this juncture,
says Dexter, as “intermodal
service still has a long way to go.”
In any case rail is not suitable for
outsize machinery shipments.
Kiwi Car Carriers (now part
of Hual group through its owner
Leif Høegh & Co ASA) hubs
through Brisbane, but at 3500 vehicles/year
it is a small player in
the Australian market. General
manager Terry Riches says the
decision to limit service to one call
at Brisbane was made to minimise
deviation from the Japan-NZ
route and not as part of a wider
intermodal strategy.
Kiwi boom continues
A predicted slowdown in used
vehicle imports from Japan into
NZ does not look like eventuating.
In 2002 demand for vessel
space surged as importers rushed
to build inventories before new
regulations effectively prohibiting
cars over five years old from being
imported came into force.
Kiwi Car Carriers is the main
player on the Japan/NZ route
with around one third market
share. Riches says volume was up
around three per cent last year to
65,000 vehicles and he expects
another 5-7 per cent growth this
year. The service has been extended
to cover Nelson and
Picton in South Island through an
arrangement with domestic
coastal line Strait Shipping. Vehicles
are transhipped in Wellington
onto Strait’s inter-island service.
Kiwi has won market share by
Toll now uses the Swedish-designed
SRC AutoTrestle system on three
ships. (Note: This WCN photo was
taken in Gothenburg four years ago)
setting up a terminal logistics and
services company, Kiwi Terminal
Services, that provides storage,
cleaning and certification services
in both Japan and NZ. This has
become more expensive recently
after the Ministry of Agriculture
and Forestry increased the “efficacy
rate” of vehicle inspections
to try and reduce quarantine risks.
Inspections now take more
time and 60-70 per cent of vehicles
now require a full clean before
shipping. From 2006, vehicles
must be emissions-tested and
Riches sees no reason why this
cannot be done in Japan as well.
One way ticket
When Hual purchased Kiwi in
2001 its aim was to generate revenue
from the long journey back
to Japan. However, the pressure for
import service frequency is such
that vessel operators are not currently
driving efforts to find return
cargo. Part of the problem for
Kiwi is that its current fleet is not
well suited to carrying forest products,
although MDF board is carried
from Lyttelton to Japan for
Carter Holt Harvey,
There is an opportunity for
Hual to redeploy vessels more suitable
for general cargo on the route,
as it takes delivery of seven new
vessels currently on order for other
trade lanes. But, says Riches, the
service will still have to run a very
high frequency, so extra port time
would not be welcome.
The same high demand is
keeping WWL from seeking more
cargo for the trans-Tasman leg of
its Europe/Oceania service. This
service calls at Manzanillo, Papeete
and Auckland on its way to Brisbane.
Some sawn timber destined
for the Australian market is loaded
at Auckland but most of the available
cargo is at Tauranga. Dexter
says pressure on service frequency
is such that “way port” deviations
ROLL-ON/ROLL-OFF
to collect additional cargo are not
being considered at this time.
Toll over Bass
Since it purchased Bass Strait operator
Brambles in November
2002, Toll has invested in vessel
upgrades and equipment to improve
the capacity of the ro-ro
operation. Its vessels TASMANIAN
ACHIEVER and VICTORIAN RELIANCE,
have been extended by 32m, increasing
their capacity from 7600
to 11,200 swt, sufficient for an
extra 44 rolltrailers per trip.
Toll Shipping’s sales manager
Simon Hine says that, although
Bass Straight volumes are not
growing strongly, the extra capacity
allows the vessels to carry all
its business during peak periods.
AutoTrestles fitted
As part of the refit process, Toll has
adapted the vessels for use with
the SAT AutoTrestle system designed
by SRC Scandinavian Ro
Ro Consultants (and now built by
Novatech in Poland). As previously
reported, the AutoTrestle is
a platform that is coupled directly
to the trailer kingpin and moved
with the trailer by the terminal
tractor. The trestle can be automatically
clamped to the deck of
the vessel by four twistlocks (larger
than conventional container
twistlocks) that are actuated from
the terminal tractor.
Toll staff saw the system when
in Europe last year looking for a
charter to fill the gap while
ACHIEVER and RELIANCE were extended.
During their refit the vessels
were fitted with the deck pots
for the trestle pins and 50 trestles
were also delivered on TOR
FUTURA, the vessel chartered for
temporary Bass Strait service. Toll
also bought six used Terberg RT22
tractors in Europe, which were
refurbished prior to shipment.
Cutting costs
Consolidating all its business with
Toll Shipping has affected Patrick’s
Bass Strait volumes. In its report
on performance for the half year
ended 31 March, Patrick Corporation
noted: “Flowing from significant
market overcapacity, the
performance of the shipping operation
continued to show an unacceptable
level of return on funds
employed in the period.”
Over the last two years Patrick
has completed upgrade projects its
Devonport (Tasmania) and Webb
Dock (Melbourne) terminals. At
Devonport Patrick relocated the
facilities of Patrick Tasmania (formerly
Holyman Transport) to a
new site next to the Patrick Shipping
terminal. This effectively increased
the storage area and elimi-
8000-car PCTCs
Wallenius Lines AB has placed an
order for three new PCTCs that
will be the biggest in the world:
228m long and capable of carrying
8000 cars. Earlier this year,
Wallenius ordered three ships with
a capacity of 6500 cars from
Daewoo and announced that it
was to extend five of the fleet’s
BOHEME class vessels by 28m to
228m, increasing their capacity by
20 per cent to 7100 cars (World-
Cargo News, April 2004, p16).
The investment in the new and
lengthened vessels is US$450 mill.
“We are adapting to market requirements
and once again leading
the technical development of
car carriers,” said Wallenius’ president
Christer Olsson.
“The ability to load more
cargo on to each vessel means
an increase in efficiency, not
least from an environmental
perspective.”
Five of the ships will be built
by Daewoo. As previously disclosed,
the first two new ones will
have a capacity of 6700 cars and
will be delivered at the end of
2006. The other three, each with
a cargo capacity of 8000 cars, will
be delivered in late 2007 and early
2008. The ships will be operated
by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Lines.
The sixth ship, with a capacity
of 6400 vehicles, is being built at
Hyundai in Korea and will be
operated by Wallenius’ Korean
joint venture, Eukor.
The lengthening of five ships
will be carried out by Hyundai
Mipo Dockyards, at its yard in Vietnam
- Hyundai Vinashin Shipyard.
MIGNON, ELEKTRA, BOHEME,
MANON and UNDINE will be extended
during 2005.
Once all six vessels have been
delivered, Wallenius will have at its
disposal a fleet of approximately
50 PCTCs that will be operated
by various affiliates. ❏
42
September 2004