newsWorldCargoMAY 2013

NEWSFreeport’s hybrid straddles 2Special mobiles for Napier 4ZPMC going direct 7Delay for Lekki 10Turf dispute in Táranto 11Queensland ports for sale 13LoadPlate in Raahe 14Djibouti master plan 18

ICT FOCUSSymeo collision avoidance 27WiMESH in Le Havre 29Janus Gate in Antwerp 33Malta takes Telematics 34SPARCS N4 for Auckland 35IDENTEC reefer monitoring 36

PORT DEVELOPMENTHolland/Belgium survey 39Black Sea/Turkey report 45Singapore’s prize award 49Singapore in pole position? 50

Brazil congestion worsens 51Rijeka gears up 52Wilhelmshaven pressure 55Global stevedores review 59

INTERMODALCalais as UK railhead 63Hupac stresses P400 65

CARGO HANDLINGPlaying the power game 67Braking cranes on the run 71New crane brakes 723D technology from Lase 73Orlaco in Antwerp 74Step up to the next tier 77A way back in for crossply? 79Container weighing options 81

INSURANCELosses and leviathans 82New container cover 83West African piracy 83

IN THIS ISSUE

Netherlands-based engineeringand consultancy Group RoyalHaskoningDHV (RHDHV) hasbeen appointed lead consultant forthe construction of an ambitiousexpansion project, estimated atUS$2.47B, for Tanjung Priok (Ja-karta), Indonesia’s leading port.Dubbed North Kalibaru Termi-nal Development Project, the new400-ha, man-made island is sched-uled to accommodate 13M TEUof container handling capacity, aliquid bulk berth and tank farm.

RHDHV was awarded the su-pervision contract by state-ownedIndonesian Port Corporation II(Pelindo II), which is the soleproject developer. On completionin 2023, North Kalibaru will haveincreased Tanjung Priok’s con-tainer capacity by more than

threefold. The port handled 6.1MTEU in 2012 and the forecast forthis year is around the 7M TEUmark, although nominal installedcapacity today is “only” 5M TEU.

The project is a key part of thenational “Master Plan for the Ac-celeration and Expansion of In-donesian Economic Develop-ment.” Indonesia’s president SusiloBambang Yudhoyono brokeground on the project in Marchand the first parcel of the firstphase is scheduled to come onstream during 2014. The construc-tion, financing and operation ten-der for this 1.5M TEU/year con-cession was won in March by Ja-pan’s Mitsui & Co Ltd, outbiddingAPMT and ICTSI. Pelindo IIplans to open tenders for the sec-ond and third 1.5M TEU termi-

nals this November. The 4.5MTEU/year first phase is plannedfor completion in 2018.

RHDHV will supervise ma-jor construction works, includingland reclamation, construction ofbreakwaters, quay walls and shoreprotection and reinforcement, plusthe bridge linking Kalibaru withthe mainland. The Dutch groupwill also take charge of finishingthe first container terminal’s on-shore infrastructure to allowMitsui to move in quickly.

The Mitsui terminal has to beoperational before the land to bereclaimed stabilises naturally, saidHerman Pals, RHDHV’s projectdirector in Jakarta. The seabed isof poor quality, so it would taketime for the landfill to be perma-nently settled to allow infrastruc-

Tanjung Priok super port

Prototype VDL hybrid drive AGV atECT, Rotterdam. The production runmachines will be fitted with a 150kW Euro V road truck engine

The Port of Tilbury, part of ForthPorts plc, has awarded a contractfor two panamax Paceco Portainercranes to Paceco España SA. The40t SWL cranes will operate at theshort sea terminal and will bringthe number of Paceco Portainersat Tilbury to 10, of which six arefrom Paceco España.

This includes four post-panamax cranes - two built in 2001and two in 2004. The new 13-widePortainers are expected to be in op-eration in April/ May 2014.

The picture (right) shows asimilar Portainer supplied last yearto IMT in Antwerp. This crane,Paceco España’s most recent de-livery outside the Iberian penin-sula, is also panamax, but is slightlybigger than the cranes for Tilbury.

Forth Ports has also taken de-livery of 14 new 4-high, 50t SWLdiesel-electric drive Kalmar strad-dle carriers in Tilbury. As previ-ously reported, these model ESC450W straddle car r iers areequipped with Kalmar’s standardW-type front cabin and they in-terface directly with the TOS. Theinvestment cost is supported by anEU Marco Polo short sea “Mo-torways of the Sea” grant awardedjointly to the ports of Tilbury andBilbao in an amount of €7.299M(£5.75M).

The machines were fabricatedat Cargotec’s MAUT assemblyplant in Poland and shipped toTilbury in erect mode. Forth Ports’

ECT opts for truck engine AGV

Paceco books Tilbury

The Tilbury Portainers will be similar,albeit slightly smaller, to the onesupplied to IMT Antwerp last year

Eyes on the prize! This is a screen shot from the US$1M winning entry,announced during Singapore Maritime Week in April, in MPA Singapore’sand Singapore Maritime Institute’s “Next Generation Container PortChallenge.” There is a full report on page 49

ture construction without the riskof subsidence. To overcome this,the initial container terminal willbe built with a suspended deck,with the piles reaching down tofirm ground. The rest of KalibaruIsland will be built in the tradi-tional land reclamation way, allow-ing for settlement on landfill.

Soil dredged for the new basinand the access channel will be themain feedstock for the landfill. Atpeak around 50 consultants andsupervisors will be on site, of whicharound 20 will be RHDHV staffand the remainder consultants/su-pervisors from local sub-consultantsPT Atrya Swascipta Rekayasa.

Down the track, the award ofthe first construction, manage-ment and operating concession toMitsui may create opportunitiesfor Mitsui Zosen to provide Pacecocranes, while the engineering andport operations know-how ofPortek may also be tapped.

As previously reported, last yearECT Rotterdam placed an orderwith Dutch firm VDL for 22 hy-brid AGVs, following acceptanceof the prototype machine earlierin the year. The first two produc-tion run AGVs will be delivered

this October and, following theirextensive operational testing, thethird will be delivered in January2014. An AGV will then be deliv-ered every seven working daysuntil delivery is completed in July.The order from ECT includedoptions for a further 62 AGVs.

Seven companies within theVDL Group worked on the de-sign and development of the hy-brid AGV. Siemens was the part-ner for the hybrid power manage-ment (using a similar concept toits ECO-RTG hybrid drive) andFROG was the partner for thenavigation and steering.

In line with VDL’s drive to-wards optimisation, ECT hasopted to fit the production serieswith a 150 kW Euro V road truckengine, similar to the engine fit-ted to VDL passenger buses, ratherthan the 257 kW Stage IIIb en-gine fitted to the prototype AGV.

This means that diesel fuelconsumption will be lower thanthe value of 4.8 litres/hour quotedby VDL for the prototype, but bythe same token the demandsplaced on the ultracaps (rechargedautomatically during travel) togenerate extra power when nec-essary, particularly when startingup long travel, have become moreimportant. In the prototype theengine running hours are quotedas 55% of operational hours andthe ultracap as 45%.

The prototype hybrid AGValready uses significantly less die-sel fuel than ECT’s first genera-tion of diesel-hydraulic AGVs andless fuel than the later, more fuel-efficient diesel-electric AGVs.

The extra fuel savings with the150 kW engine and the ratio ofthe running hours of the engineand energy store cannot yet bestated, says VDL, as long-termmeasurements are ongoing. How-ever, AGV performance is unaf-fected by fitting the smaller en-gine, and top speed of 6 m/sec andacceleration of 0.5 m/sec2 areunchanged. The smaller enginesaves around 1t in tare weight andservicing is easier as there is morespace to access filters, belts, etc.

The 150 kW engine is less ex-pensive to buy and as the 275 kWengine never really gets to its op-erational rpm in this application,there can be soot build-up, affect-ing cylinders and pistons. The 150kW engine runs at normal opera-tional rpm, so exhaust temperaturesare higher and emissions are fewer.

investment programme for thenew cranes, straddle carriers andnew IT systems at Tilbury Lon-don Container Terminal comes toaround £20M in total.

Br itish transport ministerStephen Hammond, MP has “cutthe turf ” to mark the start of con-struction of the 70-acre LondonDistr ibution Park (LDP) atTilbury. As previously reported,LDP is a joint venture of ForthPorts and Roxhill Developmentsand is aimed at foster ingportcentric logistics activities. Itwill offer almost 1M ft2 of newdistribution facilities, in modulesof 50,000 ft2 upwards..

01_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 16:04:59

May 20132

CARGO HANDLING NEWS

Four Konecranes superpost-Panamax STS cranes have been shipped semi-erect on board a DockWise teal class ship to the Port of Savannah, operated by the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA). The 65 LT SWL (twin 20 mode)-61m outreach (22-wide deck coverage) cranes are part of an order that Konecranes received in 2011. In addition to the four STS cranes, the order included 20 Konecranes RTGs that have already been delivered to the cus-tomer.

The design of the STS cranes is identical to the STS cranes that Konecranes delivered to the GPA a few years ago. According to Konecranes, these have turned out to be among the most pro-ductive cranes in the US. The Port of Savannah currently operates 116 Konecranes RTGs and 23 Konecranes STS cranes.

Separately, Konecranes has re-ported a recent order for four more RTGs from an existing customer in Valencia, TCV Ste-vedoring Company SA, which is part of Grup TCB. This will be Konecranes’ fifth RTG delivery to TCV and will bring its RTG complement to 23 machines. “Our cooperation with TCV started in 2004 when the first Konecranes RTGs were ordered and delivered,” said Kim Salvén, Konecranes’ sales director, Europe.

Delivery will take place in the fourth quarter of 2013.

The 16-wheel RTGs are equipped with Konecranes’ Ac-tive Load Control technology, diesel fuel saver technology, auto-steering and crane management system. They have an SWL of 50t and stack 1over 5 high and 6 + 1 wide.

At the time of writing, anoth-er five Konecranes 16-wheeler, 40t SWL, 7 + 1/1 over 5 RTGs are being erected at the Merid-ian Port Services (MPS) con-tainer terminal in Tema, Ghana. This follows the delivery of four fully-erect Konecranes RTGs to MPS Tema in March this year. All nine machines are equipped with Konecranes “Smarter Cab-in,” autosteering and Diesel Fuel Saver. The container positioning systems are connected to the TOS and the RTGs are also equipped with remote access technol-ogy for ready remote diagnosis by Konecranes’ engineers.

As previously reported, the Port of Houston Authority (PHA) re-cently placed an order worth al-most US$50M with Konecranes for four STS cranes for Barbours Cut Container Terminal. In addi-tion, PHA has varied upwards a separate order with Konecranes for eight RTGs for its Bayport Terminal to 13 machines, adding US$5.9M to the contract value.

Germany’s Römer Fördertechnik GmbH has launched a new rope rocker device to provide protec-tion against a falling load in the case of a wire rope failure. The rope rocker is designed for hoists with a minimum of two load bearing ropes. In the case of a fail-ure of one rope, “the second rope must bear the entire load while being stressed by a load shifting pulse” said Römer.

The rope rocker acts to reduce the effect of the load being sud-denly shifted to one rope. “Rope rocker dampers will be mounted parallel to both ropes,” stated the company. “These dampers are linked with the rope sweep and the supporting structure by joints. The

integrated automatic switching valve guarantees fast apply times and very low reset forces during normal operation. In case of a rope failure the rope rocker dampers damp immediately so that a free-fall of the load can be avoided.”

Hybrid straddles for FreeportTerex Port Solutions (TPS) has reported a recent order for 10 Terex NSC 634 E ECO hybrid straddle carriers from Freep-ort Container Port (FCP), the Hutchison Port Holdings affiliate in the Bahamas, with an option to purchase an additional 12 ma-chines. The first machines, which have a top unladen travel speed of 30 kph, stack 1 over 2 and have an SWL of 60t under twin 20, are slated for delivery during May.

This is believed to be the big-gest single order for Noell hybrid drive straddle carriers, following earlier deliveries to customers in Germany and in Antwerp. The drive comprises a diesel-powered generator and an array of ultraca-pacitors, which provide transient storage and recycling of energy re-covered during braking and low-ering. This results in significantly reduced fuel consumption and ex-haust emissions compared to a tra-ditional drive system. Load surges on the primary energy source, the diesel-generator set, are lower, al-lowing it to run in a smoother,

energy-efficient manner.According to TPS, opera-

tors are reporting up to 20% less fuel consumed (and hence lower emissions) with Terex straddle carriers fitted with hybrid drives compared to Terex’s conventional diesel-electric drives, depending on terminal and operating condi-tions. They also reported reduced noise emissions.

“For some years, our hybrid straddle carriers have proven their worth in everyday cargo han-dling,” stated Guido Luini, man-aging director of TPS, Würzburg factory. “The fact that we have re-ceived this order from Freeport for a fleet of machines equipped with this technology is confirmation of the acceptance for it and, at the same time, of our leading position in this segment of the market.”

Freeport is an existing custom-er for Noell straddle carriers, with a fleet of 25 diesel-hydraulic NSC 644 H machines, so it is mak-ing a fuel-saving “jump” by opt-ing for hybrids, as diesel-electric drives are more fuel-efficient than

diesel-hydraulic drives in straddle carrier applications.

According to TPS, as FCP gradually expands its operations, it is placing particular empha-sis on the cost-effectiveness and environmentally compatible op-eration of the handling machines used. In view of this approach, it was, said Luini, logical that the customer ordered Terex straddle carriers with hybrid drives.

Noell hybrid straddle carriers in Free-port, Bahamas

Portek to lease new cranes

New rope rocker damper

En route to Savannah

Konecranes STS cranes being shipped by DockWise to Savannah

Singapore-based Portek Group, part of Mitsui & Co, is preparing to step up its activities in the crane leasing market by offering long term lease arrangements for new STS and RTG cranes. Portek has long offered leases on used, refur-bished cranes, but it is now look-ing to broaden its leasing activity to include new STS and yard crane fleets large enough to operate a terminal handling over 1M TEU.

Leasing new equipment has been done before, but Portek CEO Takao Omori said most at-tempts by leasing companies have failed because leasing new cranes will not work as a purely financial arrangement. Leasing companies have the commercial strength to buy new cranes, but they have no expertise in crane operating and maintenance, no way to protect the asset and are not able to guar-antee equipment availability.

Portek’s executive director and CEO of Portek Systems & Equipment, Tok Soon Chong, believes leasing a large fleet of brand new cranes can be a viable

option if the lease terms combine financial and engineering/opera-tional conditions. What terminals want, he said, is guaranteed crane uptime over an extended pe-riod, up to 20 years. Removing the uncertainty over the cost of this is a very attractive proposi-tion as it takes some of the risk out of concession arrangements.

Now that it is owned by Mit-sui & Co, Portek has the financial backing to finance big crane or-ders. It is working on an arrange-ment for up to seven STS cranes and a commensurate number of RTGs. Portek would design and specify the cranes, supervise fabri-cation and installation, and service them for 20 years.

Having control of the crane design, specification and construc-tion enables Portek to lease new

equipment with confidence it can manage the life cycle costs and guarantee availability. Portek has experience specifying and super-vising crane fabrication and it has a lease fleet of around 10 cranes in service at any time, all of which are used cranes on shorter duration leases. It also has several crane main-tenance contracts in Indonesia.

Leasing STS cranes with guaranteed uptime begs the question whether Portek might supply labour to operate the cranes as well. Omori said Portek is not looking, at least initially, at this type of arrangement but it could be possible at some stage. Contracting a certain level of pro-ductivity, however, is likely to be too problematic as crane produc-tivity depends on more than just the cranes and their operators.

Schematic of new rope rocker

TUKAN K2,400 TONNES PER HOUR WITH ADVANCED ENERGYRECUPERATION AND BOOM EQUALIZER SAVING UP TO 70 % - COMPARED TO MOBILE HARBOUR CRANES (MHC)

ARDELTXL EFFICIENCYARDELT IS A MEMBER OF KRANUNION. (ENERGY CONSUMPTION)

TUKAN MHC

Anzeige_124x175_Ardelt_neu3_06_WorldCargoNews 22.05.13 08:29 Seite 1

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May 2013 3

CARGO HANDLING NEWS

Kalmar refurbishment dealsKalmar, part of Cargotec, has completed the heightening of six quay cranes at MSC Home Terminal. The project in-volved increasing the hoisting height of all the Kalmar quay cranes by 4m from 38m to 42m above quay level. All modi-fications were completed within a 12 month time frame Work initially started in April 2012. The first crane was recom-missioned in September and the sixth crane was recommissioned in March. The cranes were jacked up by Kalmar’s special-ist crane services team and leg extensions were added just below the gross gird-ers. In order to maintain stiffness, the sill beam was strengthened and bracers were installed on the waterside portal frame.

The project included extension of the personnel lift and staircase, partial renewal of the electrical wiring and software modifications. Essential maintenance work to the cranes was also undertak-en to minimise production downtime. Disturbance to quayside operations was minimised as the cranes were transported by self-propelled modular transporters (SPMT) to a designated construction site. Once modified, the cranes were then transported back to the original position on the quay. The cranes are more than 10 years old and were among the first orders placed (by the then Hessenatie) with Ka-lmar after it acquired Nelcon in 2001.

Kalmar has also announced that it has acquired total ownership of the Spanish crane refurbishment and maintenance service company Mareiport SA. Kalmar has owned 30% of Algeciras-based Ma-reiport since 2007 and this takeover is described as a strategic step for the com-pany to become a major global crane

refurbishment and services provider.Mareiport, which was privately-

owned, has provided maintenance serv-ices for ports and terminals and refurbish-ment and heightening services for a large variety of different cranes, including quay cranes, RTGs, bulk cranes and large ship-yard cranes especially in the Mediterrane-an area. Last year its sales came to around €20M. It employs some 250 people.

“There are around 5000 quay cranes in operation globally,” said Olli Isotalo, president of Kalmar. “Most of them have been in operation over 10 years and are in need of refurbishments and upgrades. At the same time, our customers are looking for modifications and upgrades

to their existing quay cranes to handle ever larger vessels.”

Kalmar has also announced an order from Terminales Rio de la Plata (TRP) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the ex-tension of the booms on two STS con-tainer cranes supplied by ZPMC. It is not clear whether this award is in any way connected to the Mareiport devel-opments. TRP is part of DP World.

To handle the larger container vessels cascading into north-south trades TRP needs longer cranes and in this award the outreach of the cranes will be ex-tended from 45m to 51m. Kalmar’s team has started work on detailed engineering plans so that the ZPMC cranes can be

recommissioned before the end of 2013. “Boom extension is one of our focus products and we are working with many enquiries globally,” said Marcelo Massa, managing director of Kalmar Argentina.� Kalmar has won an order worth around €10M for 25 DRF450 reach stackers from the Algerian port procure-ment company, Groupement D’Intérêt Commun des Entreprises Portuaires (GICEP). Delivery is scheduled over the next six months to five of the most im-portant ports in Algeria: Annaba, Skikda, Algiers, Mostagannem and Ghazaouet. � Port Otago in New Zealand has or-dered two Kalmar ESC 450W straddle carriers along with the Smartfleet main-tenance support system.

Crane lift height has been raised by 4m to 42m at MSC Home Terminal, Antwerp

Italgru has delivered a model IHC 2120 mobile harbour crane to Mormugao Port Trust in Goa. Supplied in 4-rope con-figuration to handle bulk as well as gen-eral cargo and containers, the crane has a maximum SWL (hook load) of 120t and outreach is 11m -51m. The crane was assembled and erected and fully tested in Porto Marghera (Venice) and shipped fully-erect from there for customer test-ing and final commissioning. A second, similar crane remains under option.

Still in the Indian market, Cochin Port Trust has an option for a second Italgru IHC 850 mobile harbour crane. The first crane, supplied in 4-rope configuration and with a 12 m3 mechanical grab, is also equipped with a cable reeling system, so the customer can plug it into the mains and run it fully electrically when required. Crane outreach is between 9m and 36m and SWL under hook at 18m is 40t.

Elsewhere, CCI de Rochefort in south west France (River Charente) is testing its first IHI 850 (two on order). Three IHC 2120S cranes for TCDD in the Port of Izmir are presently under construction. These cranes are similar to the IHC 2120s previously supplied to IFA in Ravenna, but have a specially reinforced load curve.

It’s a Goa for Italgru

IHC 2120 in container mode in Mormugao

TRAILER DESIGN and MANUFACTURE

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03_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 14/06/2013 03:08:17

May 20134

CARGO HANDLING NEWS

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Terex Port Solutions (TPS) has reported an order for two Terex Gottwald G HMK 6408 Model 6 mobile harbour cranes from long-standing customer in New Zea-land, Port of Napier Ltd. The two cranes, each with lifting capacities of up to 100t and radii up to 51m, will be modified by TPS to meet the specific conditions of the quays in the port and, from late summer 2013, will be handling mainly containers. Napier Port is expanding its fleet of cranes as a result of business growth, and is currently the second larg-est in New Zealand’s North Is-land in terms of the volume of total export cargo handled.

Napier currently operates a fleet of four Gottwald HMK 280 E and HMK 300 E MHCs that

were originally supplied with options including an extended tower and special chassis. With the two new cranes, the chassis will be fitted with a special set of axles that are spaced further apart than normal to take account of the site conditions. The chassis will also be equipped with eight axles, which will prevent the per-mitted loading of the quay from being exceeded. For the same reason, the extended propping system will provide an increased area to take into account the spe-cific quay conditions.

TPS has also delivered and commissioned the first of two Terex Gottwald HMK 170E mo-bile harbour cranes ordered by St Peter Port Harbour in Guernsey, as part of a turnkey contract that

Liebherr confirms repeat orders

Liebherr Container Cranes in Ireland has confirmed a brief report in the November 2012 edition of WorldCargo News (p1) that existing customer HPC

Exolgan will shortly take delivery of its ninth Liebherr STS crane

Ukraina, part of HHLA, has or-dered three more STS cranes for the new project of Odessa Con-tainer Terminal along the port’s Karantinny (Quarantine) Mole. HPC Ukraina already operates four Liebherr STS cranes at the existing container terminal. This has a capacity for 0.7M TEU/year and the new facility is esti-mated at 0.6M TEU/year.

The cranes will have an out-reach of 54.5m (20-wide), a lift height over rail of 41.5m and a SWL of 65t in twin-20 mode. HPC Ukraina already operates four Liebherr ship-to-shore cranes at the existing terminal. These have a 17-wide deck cov-erage (46m outreach), their lift height is 34m and SWL in twin-20 mode is 50t.

In Buenos Aires, Dock Sud container terminal operator Exolgan has confirmed the or-der for its ninth STS crane from Liebherr. Like the eighth crane handed over last September, this has an outreach of 51.5m (20-wide), a lift height of 40m and a SWL of 62.5t in twin-20 mode. Again the “upsizing” is signifi-ciant. Nos 6 and 7 delivered in 2010 have an 18-wide deck cov-erage (50.5m) and a lift height of 30.5m, although SWL in twin-20 mode is understood to be 65t.

As previously reported, the Karantinny Mole project fi-nally got underway in April 2010, after five years of pro-tractions and delays. In August 2011 a US$70M dredging and hydraulic engineering contract was awarded to Hamburg-based Josef Moebius. The total project is estimated at US$200M and the three new cranes, said to be worth US$35M, are the second big ticket item after the Moe-bius award.

The new terminal is being built on a raised beach occupy-ing 19.3-ha and will offer 650m of berthing space with a depth of 16m alongside. The paved yard will occupy 11.24-ha and will have a static storage capac-ity of 16,000 TEU.

Special Gottwald mobiles for Napier includes demolition of a quayside portal crane and a 32t quayside scotch derrick, along with civil reinstatement. The second new HMK 170E is slated for delivery this November, and TPS will de-molish two more old cranes.

Practically all Guernsey’s trade with the rest of Britain and the world passes through St Peter Port and the harbour is currently undergoing a £13.75M refur-bishment of its freight handling facilities. The modernisation in-cludes replacement of four exist-ing cranes with the two Gottwald cranes, which will handle 50,000t of container freight per year.

The 63t configuration HMK 170E MHCs have a radius of 38m and feature self-powered diesel generators. For increased efficien-cy and to avoid exhaust emissions within the port, the cranes can be hooked up to 11 kV electrical shore supply power connections.

The cranes for Guernsey are built in Düsseldorf and transport-ed to Antwerp for onward trans-fer by sea-going barge to St Peter

Port. The port’s Harbour Master, Captain Peter Gill, stated that TPS provided the lowest cost, technically acceptable proposal as part of the open tender process.

“When fully operational, the two cranes will be doing the work of the four former cranes, with obvious benefits in terms of the utilisation of available space and operational efficiency,” said Gill. “The transfer of the [first] crane from the barge to the quayside was carried out during a limited window of opportu-nity, dictated by the 10m tidal rise and fall that we experience at the harbour. The delivery and commissioning processes were carried out in a thoroughly pro-fessional manner.”

TPS’s recently appointed UK director Alex Stogianidis added: “Our ability to provide tech-nology-led solutions, backed by turnkey engineering and logistics packages, places us in a strong posi-tion to continue to win significant high profile contracts, reinforcing our position as a market leader.”

The chassis and propping system, seen here at the Gottwald plant in Düs-seldorf, has been adapted to special on-site conditions in Napier

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This comprehensive 245 page study is an in-depth analysis of capacity constraints, productivity, selectivity and flexibility of different containerhandling systems in terminals of different types and sizes: common-users or dedicated; hub centre (transshipment and/or relay) or import/exportvocation; gateway or feeder port;intermodal rail or truck distribution inland; with or without CFS, etc. Profusely illustrated with charts,figuresand explanatory tables. Effects of different call patterns of containerships and dwell day regimes.Predictive power provided through developmentof queuing theories. Hundreds of detailed equations.

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04_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 14/06/2013 03:10:21

“ControlTechniqueshelpedraise ourefficiency”

Paolo Mussi Technical Manager, La Spezia Container Terminal

EMERSON. CONSIDER IT SOLVED.TM

To find out more about this and other successful Control Techniques projects visit www.controltechniques.com

Paolo Mussi, Technical Manager at La Spezia Container Terminal,

is delighted with the partnership between the terminal and

Control Techniques; a relationship that is now ten years old.

“All our cranes are equipped with Control Techniques drives,

and by sharing their expertise with our key electrical staff,

they have helped us to improve our efficiency and productivity.”

M3k9506_A3_Control_Techniques_ItaliaGroup_A3.indd 1 04/03/2013 15:3005_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 14/06/2013 03:11:17

May 20136

NEWSCARGO HANDLING NEWS

Liebherr-Werk Nenzing reports that Spanish customer Galigrain SA in the Port of Marín is regularly reaching a peak rate of 1800 tph with its 4-rope LHM 550, which is used to unload bulkers up to panamax size. The crane, which is fitted with Liebherr’s hybrid Pactronic drive, was supplied in 2011. With a maximum outreach of 54m and a maximum lift capacity of 144t, the crane is also used to handle general car-goes.

Galigrain opted for the LHM 550 with the Pactronic hybrid power booster to improve the efficiency of bulk handling. The hybrid drive system, says Liebherr, allows for more turnover and less fuel consumption at

Liebherr toasts Galigrain bherr, helped us to optimise operational parameters,” said García. “As a result of the harmonisation of Galigrain’s bulk transportation chain, the utilisation of the crane capacity has significantly im-proved, leading to new turnover peaks.”

As previously reported, the Pactronic hydraulic hybrid drive system includes an accumulator as a secondary energy source instead of a bigger or additional diesel engine and it regenerates the re-verse power while lowering the load. In addition, the surplus power of the primary energy source is also used for charging the accumulator. The stored energy is transferred back to the system when the crane requires peak power during hoisting. In terms of turnover capacity, that means a plus of 30% com-pared to a conventional machine with equal power rating of the primary en-ergy source.

In addition, Pactronic leads to a re-duction of fuel/energy consumption (litre/tonne) as well as CO

2 and exhaust

emissions in the range of 30% depend-ing on the operation.

The hybrid drive system is claimed to be virtually maintenance-free, as it just needs visible inspection every 10 years. 100% recyclability as well as re-duced noise exposure are additional eco-friendly benefits.

Galigrain’s success highlights the benefits of the LHM 550 and Pactronic Drive, states Liebherr

New GPA simulatorEarlier this year GlobalSim delivered an advanced crane training simulator to the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) facility at Garden City Terminal in Savannah, Georgia. The simulator is configured with two separate models to provide training for both a Konecranes STS cranes and a Konecranes RTG.

“The modular design of the simulator allows for a wide degree of custom hard-ware and software components,” said GlobalSim’s SVP sales and marketing, Clyde Stauffer. “Specifically, GlobalSim was able to tailor the system to provide a training tool that matches the hardware layout and equipment functionality of both crane configurations. This includes the integration of a cross-reeved spread hoist cable model with an accurate phys-ics model and realistic visual model.”

The simulator replicates the critical functions required to train crane person-nel for normal, advanced, and emergen-cy operating procedures of each crane. The training arena was specially devel-oped to replicate the GPA’s Garden City Terminal, including a dogleg in the quay crane rail path, its reefer rack configura-tion and intermodal rail yard.

Stauffer said the level of visual real-ity and physics modeling in GlobalSim’s products continues to evolve. The GPA will benefit from new modeling of night operations that recreates the yard high mast and equipment-mounted flood-lights that are used during night opera-tions. GlobalSim is now working with GPA to define integration of its new eRTG s with the Conductix-Wampfler drive-in system into the training system.

While around 50% of the simulators GlobalSim supplies are now container-ised, the GPA system will be housed in its own training centre. GlobalSim will supply a training records management database permitting comprehensive col-lection, assessing, and reporting of all student performance data.

The GPA student training station is housed in the port authority’s own training centre

the same time, each in the range of 30%. “The LHM 550 has enlarged the ca-

pacity and performance of our terminals and fits perfectly into our efforts towards more efficient and environmentally friendly operations,” Galigrain’s manag-ing director Ceferino Nogueira García said. “The performance of the crane ex-ceeded by far our expectations and we are frequently reaching a peak turnover of 1800 tph.” High productivity has at-tracted more business.

In Marín, Liebherr engineers ana-lysed the port infrastructure and the logistics processes in detail in order to increase speed of bulk transportation throughout the port. “A detailed analy-sis of the crane data, carried out by Lie-

www.ttsgroup.com

Container terminal technology for horizontal transportOur systems are designed with a committed responsibility to safety as well as to the environment in

and around container terminals. These two considerations combine to improve capacity and system

reliability, generally advancing the cost-efficiency of container port logistics.

06_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 10/06/2013 14:34:04

May 2013 7

NEWSCARGO HANDLING/PORT NEWS

ZPMC going directZPMC is moving to rationalise its net-work of agents and spare parts suppliers and will be setting up a network of 15 offices worldwide to service customers in large markets directly.

ZPMC has never really sought ex-clusive arrangements with agencies and crane service companies, some of which are operated by its biggest cus-tomers, for the supply of crane spare parts. This has at times created confu-sion among customers as competing companies have claimed they are the exclusive agent for ZPMC parts in a particular region. In some instances ter-minals have opted to purchased direct from ZPMC in Shanghai rather than deal with agents, despite Customs issues and longer delivery times.

With such a large number of cranes in service there is obviously enormous potential in the spare parts market, which to date ZPMC has not capital-ised on fully. It has now set up ZPMC Netherlands as a 100% daughter com-pany under the leadership of Tony To-masouw as director of operations. He was formerly at ZPMC Europe.

Tomasouw said ZPMC will have more than one subsidiary in Europe and its former arrangement with ZPMC Europe (which was an independent company and not a ZPMC subsidiary) has been discontinued. Geographical boundaries are still being finalised, but Tomasouw said the Netherlands office will serve Holland, France, Belgium and the UK, while a German branch

will serve Germany, Russia and Scan-dinavia.

In Rotterdam the company formerly known as ZPMC Europe has changed its name to “EPMC Europe” and is still advertising itself as the “official agent from ZPMC Shanghai” and advertis-ing the full range of ZPMC cranes and spare parts.✉ A team from ZPMC, the national University of Singapore and Shang-hai Maritime University has won the US$1M “Next Generation Container Port Challenge” prize from the Marine and Port Administration of Singapore and Singapore Maritime Institute (see page 49).

Australia’s first Terberg 6 x 4 Through its Australian distributor and service agent, Clark Equipment, Ter-berg Benscop recently supplied what Clark claims to be the first 6 x 4 Ter-berg YT in the country, to Toll Inter-modal, part of Toll Group, in Western Australia.

Toll required low axle weights and it also specified a EURO 5 compliant engine.

According to Toll Intermodal the decision to specify the 6x4 axle con-figuration was influenced by the need to allow the yard tractor unrestricted access throughout the terminal and connecting roads when handling laden trailers.

The first Terberg YT220 6x4 EURO 5 compliant yard tractor in Australia

The 6x4 configuration effectively delivers lower axle loads and ground bearing pressure compared to the more popular 4x2 twin axle models.

Toll Intermodal also specified the option of the EURO 5 compliant Cummins ISB 162kW six cylinder die-sel engine.

Clark also offers a range of Terberg 4x2 and 4x4 tractors which, depend-ing upon the model selected, are of-fered with the option of a Cummins or Mercedes Tier IIIA engine or EURO 5 compliant engine.

Honduran tender offThe tender to build a dry bulk termi-nal at the Honduran port of Cortés has been cancelled and will begin again.

The three companies overseeing the process - the Commission for Public-Private Alliances (Coalianza), the Na-tional Port Authority (ENP) and Banco Atlántica - judged that the two bidders had not entered a bid complying with the tender requirements.

The Mexican consortium composed of Multisur and Grupo Naviera Pe-ninsular offered the lowest tariffs, but its financial offer was viewed as being incomplete. Chile’s SAAM Puertos wanted tariffs that were viewed as too high.

Neither company has yet declared whether they will bid for a new con-cession. SAAM stressed that its proposal met conditions set out in the tender document.

Boost for KarlskronaStena Line plans to build a new rail ter-minal in the Swedish port of Karlskrona to connect with Gothenburg and Stock-holm.

The Stena group bought the port of Karlskrona in southern Sweden in 2012. Stena’s Jacob Koch-Nielsen, freight commercial manager, said that being able to offer intermodal solutions and connected rail capacity over Karl-skrona “will open new doors into the market.”

Stena Line carried almost 87,000 cargo units in its Gdynia-Karlskrona liner service in 2012, an increase of 7.3% compared with the previous year.

The line added that it is too early to give detailed information as to the in-vestment and capacity of the new rail-head, but the facility will enable it to of-fer a through transport deal to customers.

Separately, Stena’s UK and Ireland freight manager, Richard Horswill, has said that the company is placing more emphasis on its entire network services rather than route-by-route.

T 230

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07_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 12/06/2013 21:09:21

May 20138

WorldCargonews CARGO HANDLING/PORT NEWS

Finland-based Oy Meclift Ltd has comeup with another niche product, based onits proven ML36CM Container Moverrange. Movers have been around for a longtime (since the mid-1980s) and they pro-vide terminal tractors with the ability toground or pick up containers, transportthem over long distances and load or un-load road chassis. They are either fixed ortelescoping, to handle 20ft, 30ft and 40/45ft containers.

In this new development, designatedML36CMt, Meclift has provided the ter-minal tractor with the ability to tip thebulk contents of a 20ft dry can container.Lifting capacity is 36t and lifting heightis 1800mm, or 1500mm in the event that

TTS Group has, through its subsidiaryTTS Port Equipment AB, signed anagreement to supply seven 2-axletranslifters together with 90 cassettes forthe PT Terminal Petikemas Surabaya inIndonesia (Pelindo III, Tanjung Perak).

Pelindo III will be the first lo-lo con-tainer terminal operator in Asia to use thecassette/translifter system. The equipmentwill be used mainly to transport contain-ers to and from the yard and the customsinspection area.

“This order demonstrates that theTTS cassette system can be a good so-lution for brown field terminals thatneed to boost their productivity,” saidCEO Johannes D Neteland. This state-ment effectively confirms that the orderis not associated with Pelindo III’s auto-mated terminal project at Lamong Bay,which is a “green field” development(WorldCargo News, March 2013, p41).

TTS has designed the translifters forPelindo III in such a way that they fit theexisting equipment used in the terminal,thus the investment cost for changing themode of operation is kept to a minimum.Delivery of the equipment is scheduledfor November 2013.

The cassettes themselves are designedto support containers safely while beingquickly transported, and containers canbe stacked and carried on a single cas-sette in a variety of configurations.

The translifters will be equipped witha lifting gooseneck so that it can be fittedto the standard road trucks (with fixedfifth wheels) that are used to move thecontainers within the terminal today.

The Tanjung Perak terminal will bethe third lo-lo container terminal in theworld to utilise the TTS cassette system.Pelindo III will join APM Terminals Vir-ginia (APMTV) in the USA and (the or-der confirmed recently) DP World’s newLondon Gateway terminal in the UK.

In the latter two cases, the system is(will be) deployed to shuttle containersbetween the container yard (the landsideend of the automated stacking cranestacks) and the on-dock rail yard.

DP World has ordered 10 2-axletranslifters and 115 cassettes for LondonGateway, phase 1. APMTV took its firstdelivery of 10 translifters and 220 cassettesin 2007 and placed a repeat order for thesame numbers of equipment in 2011.

New bulk tipping Container Mover

The ML36CMt has an SWL of 36 tonnes.The maximum tilt angle is 42 deg

the 20ft container is a 9ft 6in high cube.Depending on the terminal tractor, thelifting speed is 1 m/sec and the tiltingspeed is equivalent to 1.5-2 deg/sec. De-pending on lifting height, the maximumtilting angle is 42 deg. The sideways move-ment of the top lift units is ± 150mm.

The ML36CMt has an overall lengthof 10m and is 4120mm wide, and the dis-tance between its wheels is 3m. Overallheight is 4120mm with a container and3800mm in unladen travel mode. Optionsinclude a weigh scale (for example, ifproof-of-load is required), a rear viewcamera and monitor to assist the tractordriver, automatic lubrication and auto-matic levelling of drive height.

TTS forPelindo III

Prior to tilting, the container doorsare opened and secured to the sidewallsby the tractor operator or other worker,using a manually operated chain and hookcombination. However, as an other op-tion the ML36CMt can also be fitted withsemi-automatic, hydraulically-operateddoor securing latches attached to the reartoplift unit.

The horizontal forces caused by theload during tilting, which are directed tothe upper corners of the container, arecompensated by hydraulic tightening ofthe chains, the hooks of which are fas-tened to the lower rear corner castings.The chains are tightened simultaneouslywith the door opening.

TTS’s CEO Johannes D Neteland

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08_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 19:55:49

PARTNERS INPRODUCTIVITYMan Meets Machine In HamburgThe creators of the future in container handling will be the innovators – teams with the imagination to join man with machine to achieve more productive performance. HHLA Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA), with its pioneering automation and dual-cycle container handling, is one of these elite organizations. Part of HHLA, which also includes other highly-efficient terminals, CTA can move 130+ containers an hour on mega-vessels.

In 10 years the facility has rapidly and reliably handled more than 20 million TEU. High-throughput automated terminals demand the highest reliability in equipment, which is why you will find 170 Bromma crane spreaders at HHLA today, with 95 of them at automated CTA. To create a “gold standard” terminal you need the right equipment, the right support, and the right imagination. You need a partner in productivity.

In Germany, and everywhere,Bromma is committed to helping our customers succeed.

09_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 10/06/2013 14:31:53

May 201310

NEWSPORT NEWS

Transiidikeskuse (TK), the company that operates Muuga Container Termi-nal (MCT) in the Estonian port (Noviy Tallinn), has acquired Rail Garant Estonia (RGE), up to now the local af-filiate of Russia’s major privately owned industrial rail carrier Rail Garant (RG) and the designated operator of Muuga’s prospective second container terminal.

TK’s chairman Erik Laidvee said that MCT will soon reach the limit of its capacity. The facility occupies just 21-ha, but traffic has grown very quick-ly in the past 2-3 years. In 2012 MCT handled almost 225,000 TEU, 15% more than the figure in 2011, which it-self was 30% up on 2010, so the acquisi-

Hold-up for LekkiConstruction of the new port of Lekki in Nigeria has been delayed. The project was originally scheduled to open last year and latterly was expected to be completed in 2015. This date has now been put back to 2016 at the earliest and, given the delays that have affected development to date, it may not open until sometime after that.

No official explanation has been given for the slippage in the timetable, but some sources in Nigeria have sug-gested that there could be funding diffi-culties. Responding to such reports, the managing director of Lekki Free Trade Zone, Haresh Aswani, said that con-struction would begin as soon as World Bank approval and the full environmental

impact assessment had been received.As previously reported, the deep water

port is being developed by Singapore’s Tolaram Group, which aims to promote it as a transhipment port, as well as an entrepôt for trade in Lagos State. Locat-ed about 60 km east of Lagos, the port will be ideally situated to serve one of the world’s biggest cities. The container terminal, set to be operated by ICTSI under contract from Tolaram, will have handling capacity of 2.5M TEU a year, which will make it the biggest contain-er facility in Nigeria. China Harbour Engineering Company has been awarded the EPC turnkey contract to develop the entire port, including the container,

dry bulk and liquid bulk terminals.Aswani said that US$800M out of the

required US$1.55B funding had already been put in place and that 33 out of the 36 required permits had been received, allowing the project to be completed by 2016. He added that the project would “create close to 163,000 new jobs and spur economic development.”

The Lekki project is subject to further delay

Muuga acquisition dealtion allows TK to increase its business. Initially the new terminal will occupy 27-ha, but there is a further 44-ha in reserve.

“Our company’s development plan has always called for an expansion of the [existing] container terminal,” said Laidvee, “so now we can achieve our ambition to develop one of the Baltic region’s largest container terminals.”

TK has taken over not only the building rights on the new terminal, but has also concluded a stevedoring agreement with RG enabling it to han-dle the Russian group’s container traffic via Muuga. It will proceed immediately with phase 1, with an installed capacity of 150,000 TEU. Completion is slated for July 2014.

This is somewhat later than the port’s plan. RG started building the new facil-ity in January last year and committed to have the first stage ready by the first quarter of this year, but the work came to a virtual standstill in the second half of 2012.

The value of the transaction between TK and RG has not been disclosed, but the deal puts an end to the dispute between the two companies stirred up in April 2011 when RGE beat TK in the tender for the concession rights over the new facility. Under fire from TK, the port authority stated that it had chosen RG because the Russian trans-portation group would be able to secure steady container traffic over Muuga. TK countered that RG had no experience of port operations and could not make any guarantees on transit business.

On the basis of RG’s plans to build a network of inland container rail terminals in Russia, the port authority undertook to develop a new rail yard adjacent to Muuga railway station with new approach lines and four or five 1000m long tracks to handle full length trains.

New port for Walvis Bay?The government of Namibia is considering the development of an entirely new port in Walvis Bay, about 3 km north of the existing harbour. Plans to construct a new container terminal at the existing port had been delayed, apparently because of funding difficulties. However, it appears that government uncertainty over the project stemmed from consideration of the far more ambitious scheme. There is little room for expansion around the existing port, which is hemmed in by residential areas.

Apart from a container terminal with handling capacity of 2M TEU/year, a coal terminal is expected to be con-structed to handle coal exports from Botswana, along with liquid bulk, break-bulk and multi-purpose terminals.

Officials have hinted that the port will be operated by the state-owned Namibia Port Authority (Namport) on land that is already owned by the state. There is sufficient available land for both the port and a proposed industrial park. A harbour entrance channel and part of the deepwater harbour basin must be dredged and about 10 kms of quay wall constructed.

Reports in the Namibian press sug-gest that the Chinese government will help to fund the project. Located much further north west than any South Af-rican port, trade via Walvis Bay would shave days off shipping between North America or Europe and Southern Af-rica. However, China’s involvement could suggest that the coal terminal, which will primarily handle coal bound for Asia, is a key part of the vision. The Export-Import Bank of China had of-fered to provide funding for the new container terminal at the existing port via a 20-year loan with an interest rate of just 2% a year. This funding may now be transferred to the new venture, as long as a Chinese company is awarded the con-struction contract.

3

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10_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 14/06/2013 03:14:00

May 2013 11

PORT NEWS

Táranto disputeAs if the corruption scandal en-gulfing ILVA, Europe’s largest steel plant, and the damage caused by the huge tornado last Novem-ber were not enough, the Port of Táranto has been hit by legal action by bulk operator Con-sorzio Terminal Rinfuse Táranto (CTRT), a sister company of quarry company Italcave and ship agent Carmed within the privately-owned Caramia group.

The regional tribunal in Lecce (TAR Lecce) has upheld a claim brought by CTRT against the port authority (APT) over the non-renewal of a concession to operate a dry bulk terminal on a 46,695 m2 parcel, with a 300m long quay, at the port’s Multisector Dock (Molo Polisettoriale). TAR Lecce has put a stop to €100M of infrastructure works and dredging to take depth to -16.5m - projects aimed at relaunching the Ever-green container terminal (TCT).

APT's appeal will be heard by the Council of State on 23 Oc-tober, so it is hoping this will be a temporary delay. At risk is around €200M of new investment, in-cluding Evergreen’s commitment to new equipment and other improvements. In theory at least, another €219M earmarked for the adjacent logistics park is not affected, but its fortunes are in-evitably tied up with those of the container terminal.

CTRT’s facility is located at the neck of the Multisector Wharf and was originally dedicated to pet coke trades. APT awarded it to CTRT for two years and the concession expired at the end of 2011, al-though CTRT originally asked for four years and has continued op-

erations there pending the review. The key to this dispute is that

the facility has become a ma-jor revenue earner for Caramia since the tornado that hit Táranto on 28 November last year. The ILVA coal and iron ore recep-tion wharf was badly damaged and two gantry grab unloaders were destroyed. Until the berth can be put back into action ILVA is using CTRT and Caramia is reported to be earning €50,000/day by virtue of a price of €3/tonne unloaded. Materials are un-loaded directly to dumper trucks via hoppers and driven to the ILVA plant.

Port observers in Italy say Cara-mia is putting a temporary “wind-fall” ahead of future revenue streams, since Carmed is the agent for all Evergreen group’s con-tainer traffic over TCT. Its action could damage Carmed’s credibil-ity in the eyes of Evergreen and weaken the Taiwanese carrier’s commitment to the port.

Last year judges ordered €1B of steel and steel products seizure from ILVA as part of an ongoing corruption investigation linked to serious breaches of environmen-tal law. The authorities ordered a partial closure of the steelworks last July over pollution levels and eight executives were placed un-der house arrest. In January this year a top ILVA executive was ar-rested in London.

The steel company has em-barked on a 2-year clean-up op-eration after prosecutors charged that toxic emissions from the plant have led to abnormally high levels of cancer and respiratory ill-nesses in the region.

Progress on LamuA consortium of Chinese compa-nies has been awarded a contract to begin construction work on the new port of Lamu in Kenya. China Communications Con-struction Company is the lead contractor, while China Road and Bridge Corporation will build the first phase of the con-tainer terminal with three berths.

The port is designed to be the centrepiece of the far larger Lamu Port, South Sudan, Ethio-pia Transport (LAPSSET) corri-dor project, which will include an industrial zone, agro-indus-trial projects, road and rail links to Ethiopia and South Sudan, and an oil pipeline from South Sudan to the new port. Telecoms and power lines are planned to run alongside the main roads and railways.

The government of land-locked South Sudan, which is the world’s newest country, is keen to see Lamu develop as its main port. The chief executive of LAPSSET, Silvester Kasuku, said: “We called

for contractors and the best was a consortium headed by China Communications. We are do-ing the seed investment by con-structing the first three berths, just to break the ground. This will demonstrate there is govern-ment commitment and invest-ment and provide incentives for private sector investors to come on board.” The container termi-nal has been designed to provide scope for 32 berths in the long term.

The ancient town of Lamu on the island of Lamu has a long his-tory as a port, but has not been developed as a commercial port since independence. The new port project will be built on Manda Bay on the mainland, op-posite the island. However, con-tracts on the project were award-ed by the government of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, which lost power in the April elections. It remains to be seen whether the new government will honour the existing plans.

APM Terminals’ newly completed 600m quay at Liberia’s Freeport of Monrovia has been officially opened by President Ellen John-son Sirleaf. The 17-ha terminal is APMT’s first 100%-owned port concession in Africa, which will operate under a 25-year deal agreed in 2010. A three-year deadline for completion of the new wharf was stipulated in the concession agreement, concluded on a build-operate-transfer model.

APMT said it was a tight deadline which it met ahead of schedule.

Infrastructure investments will include roadway reconstruction, yard paving, new offices and gates and cargo handling technology. APMT is obliged to invest around US$120M over the term of the concession, but the company said it will invest an additional US$25M to upgrade the contain-er yard, buildings, gates and safety activities.

Monrovia hub opens

Through its local affiliate and Puerto Nuevo, Buenos Aires ter-minal operator, Terminales Rio de la Plata (TRP), DP World has signed an agreement with Quequén port authority (Con-sorcio de Gestion de Puerto Quequén) (CGPQ) in the prov-ince of Buenos Aires to develop a new container terminal and re-lated logistics park.

Puerto Quequén (also known as Necochea) is located 512 kms south of the city of Buenos Aires and is a key area for agricultural

exports from BA province and the Midwest of Argentina. The agreement will help shippers di-versify markets with the parcelisa-tion that containerisation brings, and increase the opportunities for selling specialty grains and IP-designated crops.

Shipments will be likely feed-ered to Buenos Aires, or Monte-video or Rio Grande do Sul for transhipment to deepsea vessels. CGPQ is understood to have signed a separate agreement with a regional feeder operator.

DP World for Quequén

Pictured at the opening ceremony (L-R): President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; Matilda Parker, managing director of the National Port Authority; Christina Tah, minister of justice; and Brian Fuggle, MD of APM Terminals Liberia

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11_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 10/06/2013 14:35:21

May 201312

NEWSPORT NEWS

South African transport utility Transnet has taken the first steps towards developing Africa’s big-gest container terminal on the site of the old Durban International Airport (DIA). The airport site, which is located south of the ex-isting Port of Durban, was made available when DIA closed and the new King Shaka International Airport opened. The details re-main to be finalised, but Transnet believes that a 9.6M TEU/year capacity container terminal could be developed as a public private partnership over about 20 years at a cost of R75B (US$8.16B).

Transnet has begun to hold meetings with stakeholders in the project, including the general public and local businesses. Marc Descoins, Transnet’s programme director for the project, said: “In-volving key stakeholders at this early stage of the process is essen-tial as it ensures strategic participa-tion in the discussion around the project’s environmental and so-cio-economic issues and impacts.

“The objective of engaging during the concept phase is to share project information, open lines of communication with stakeholders, and actively engage key representatives of the various stakeholder groups with the view to initiate dialogue on the project. We believe that the recent sessions were valuable in gaining a better understanding of the needs of the local communities.”

Government ownership of Transnet and support for the project should ease progress on the scheme. The company has already set out a preliminary timetable for development and a shortlist of likely design options should be finalised over the next three months, allowing the pre-

feasibility study to begin. Four phases are planned for

the container terminal, each with four berths. The first phase is due to open for business in 2020 and the fourth by 2037, although this timetable could be adjusted ac-cording to demand. A dedicated roro terminal is also planned.

As always, there have been en-vironmental objections, although some of these concern the site’s proposed new oil terminal, rather than the container terminal at the heart of the venture.

The government intends to promote the project as part of the wider development of the Durban-Gauteng corridor, in-cluding new high speed rail and upgraded road connec-tions between South Africa’s biggest port and its industrial heartland.In a separate development, Tran-snet has rejected calls for South African ports to be privatised. Responding to press reports that Bolloré Africa Logistics (BAL) was seeking to gain control of Transnet terminals in South Af-rica, Transnet’s chief executive Brian Molefe stated: “We are sit-ting on natural monopolies. The country isn’t big enough to have anything else than what we have. The ports handle what a country of our size can handle.”

Transnet owns and manages all eight main SA ports, including the oil port of Mossel Bay. It also operates almost all large terminals, with the exception of Richards Bay Coal Terminal and a handful of smaller terminals, such as Dur-ban coal terminal.

The transport utility’s position on private sector management has remained consistent over many years. The only area of possible

The recent commissioning of seven new tandem-lift super post-panamax ship-to-shore gantry cranes from ZPMC at South Af-rica’s largest port Durban, should, according to the nation’s public enterprises minister, Malusi Gi-gaba, boost the much needed im-provements in productivity and efficiency levels at the port.

He said the new equipment will allow gross crane moves per hour (GCH) - a key measure of terminal efficiency and how well equipment is used - to jump from the current 26 moves to 33 over the next three years, a 27% improvement in productivity.

He added: “Ship working hour (SWH), the rate at which a termi-nal is able to load and offload con-tainer ships in an hour and a key consideration for our customers, will also improve, rising from the current 68 containers to 85 once our operators are fully conversant with operating the equipment and when newer generation ves-sels with larger parcel sizes call at our ports. This will represent a 25% jump in efficiency.”

The optimism is a far cry from recent cargo-handling perform-ance levels at Durban, a port which some of its customers have described as being among their worst performing and most ex-pensive in their liner networks.

The decision by Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) to order new cranes in 2011 was itself an ad-mission that old, outdated and poorly-maintained equipment was a principal reason for poor and deteriorating performance levels in Durban.

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cooperation could be the planned new port on the site of the former Durban International Airport, where a public private partnership is one of several options. However, Transnet is becoming more com-mercially viable year on year and Pretoria hopes that it can become consistently profitable without the need to begin offering private sector concessions.

South Africa’s powerful trades union movement also opposes any further privatisation of state-owned entities. At its national

conference, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) released a statement: “We demand an end to any priva-tisation of Eskom, Telkom, Tran-snet and railway lines as envisaged in the NDP [National Develop-ment Plan] in the name of private public partnership. Sometimes we hear it called “concessioning” or “unbundling,” but it is just privatisation by other names. The death of Margaret Thatcher must signal the end of these Thatcher-ite policies.”

been installed at Durban’s Pier 2 facility, have an SWL of 80t and can simultaneously handle 2 x 40ft or 4 x 20ft containers. How-ever, according to TPT officials, “through further innovation and optimum planning, the cranes’ ca-pabilities can be stretched to lift 4 x 40ft empty containers simulta-neously through vertical twin lift procedures.” They have an out-reach capable of processing vessels stowed with 24 containers across the deck.

The new equipment pur-chased for Durban is a part of TPT’s parent company’s Tran-snet’s ZAR300B seven-year roll-ing investment programme aimed at meeting demand and enhanc-ing productivity levels across all of its operating units. Specifically at Durban’s Pier 2, capital projects should ensure that container throughput capacity will rise from approximately 2.2M TEU now to 3.3M TEU in 2018.

The new cranes arrived earlier this year. (Photo: Gerhard Duraan)

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12_13_WCN_May_2013.indd 2 10/06/2013 14:59:20

May 2013 13

NEWSPORT NEWS

The Queensland Government is like-ly to privatise the ports of Townsville and Gladstone after an audit of the state’s finances recommended asset sales as a key contributor to regaining a AAA credit rating.

The Queensland Commission of Audit (QCA), undertaken by former federal treasurer Peter Costello, argued that public ownership of GOCs (gov-ernment-owned corporations) is not necessary once these businesses are “es-tablished and mature.” It also said GOCs represent “commercial risks” to govern-ment, given the “entrenched public serv-ice culture that lacks the flexibility re-quired to compete in the private sector.”

The report’s executive summary - all that was initially released for public scrutiny - focused on the possible sale of government-owned energy assets, but included funds management (the Queensland Investment Corporation), public transport (Queensland Rail Lim-ited) - and ports.

These comprised a list of businesses

“capable of being owned and managed efficiently by the private sector” where there is no need for government to tie up scarce capital nor be required to pro-vide additional capital to support ongo-ing viability.

No GOC ports were identified in the executive summary, but in the QCA’s interim report, released late last year, the following were named: Far North Queensland Ports Corp, North Queens-land Bulk Ports Corp, Port of Townsville Limited and Gladstone Ports Corp.

Although FNQPC was subsequently ruled out, and NQBPC excluded be-cause parts of its portfolio are already privatised (eg Abbot Point Coal Termi-nal), the government was less than de-finitive about Townsville and Gladstone.

In response to vociferous local op-position, state treasurer Tim Nicholls refused to rule out privatisation, but pre-mier Campbell Newman told a Glad-stone function his “personal view” was that ports should remain in public hands: “I have a very firm view that ports are

a vital part of the mix for any govern-ment in how you get economic out-comes. Once you sell them off, you have no policy control over them,” Newman said. However, he went on to stress that this was his personal position and that the government could decide otherwise - which it did.

Releasing the full QCA report at the end of April, the government announced it would adopt most recommendations, including the effective privatisation of the two ports - not, technically, via a sale but through the offer off 99-year leases (as has already occurred with Brisbane and recently, in NSW, with Port Kembla and Port Botany).

In Townsville a Pricewaterhouse-Coopers business survey found 66% op-posed any port sell-off while Gladstone’s mayor said “We are devastated this as-set will be lost to the community for generations to come.” The Queensland Government has stated no sale will oc-cur ahead of the next state election, due in 2015.

Western Australia’s government has hinted it will follow its New South Wales and Queensland counterparts in “transferring” some port assets to the private sector, in a quest for increased efficiencies, but does not want to lose the returns they generate for taxpayers.

Addressing a Perth conference at which the government released its Re-gional Freight Network Strategy, treas-urer Troy Buswell revealed that some of WA’s eight port authorities were al-ready looking at the possibilities, but he denied the process could be de-scribed as privatisation.

Quoted in local media, Buswell said he had a strong view on the need to

generate returns for taxpayers: “I did some sums the other day and over the last 10 years the ports and by exten-sion, their users, have very generously through tax and dividend payments contributed A$400M to state finances. This year I expect our ports will gener-ate A$170M profit.”

As previously reported, WA’s port amalgamation plan, which will see seven existing authorities (other than Fremantle) merged into four, is due to take effect from 1 July. Boswell said that as part of the reform package external financial advisers had started working with port authorities “to help gauge the value of the assets and the rate of return required.”

Queensland ports now for sale …

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Asciano cuts back budget

still expected to be higher than the last corresponding period. This was con-ditional on “no further changes in the economic outlook or customer com-mitments.”

At the time of writing, Patrick is in the process of taking delivery of a fur-ther four ZPMC post-Panamax STS cranes for its Australian terminals. ZHEN HUA 21 arrived at Fremantle on 15 May to discharge one unit before sailing, depending on weather forecasts, either northabout or southabout, to Brisbane to unload a second. The two partly-erected cranes are destined for Mel-bourne, where they must pass beneath the West Gate Bridge to reach Patrick’s Swanson Dock facility. The 104.5m tall cranes have a 50m outreach and a backreach of 18m. The Fremantle and Brisbane cranes are expected to be op-erational by late June, with Melbourne’s up-and-running in August.

Subdued market conditions at wharves and onshore have led Australia’s Asciano to shave more than A$250M from its capital expenditure budget over the next two years.

Releasing 3Q/FY13 data at a Syd-ney conference, Asciano chief executive John Mullen said the planned current year spend of A$700M-$800M would be cut to A$575M-625M “in line with tougher economic conditions,” while FY14 investment would drop from A$800M-900M to A$700M-800M. The period represented an investment peak due to the Patrick Port Botany terminal redevelopment and significant replacement capex catch-up, but ongo-ing annual expenditure was expected to be A$300M from FY15.

The group reported a 4.1% fall in container lifts compared to the previ-ous comparable quarter (444,000 TEU v 463,000 TEU in 2012), with Mel-bourne and Brisbane Patrick terminals showing positive results, but Fremantle and Port Botany lower, the latter de-spite continued productivity improve-ment.

Ahead of the part-automation of Port Botany and considering the reduced volumes - one client service closed and VSA contracts shed throughput - the company will accelerate some redun-dancies into 4Q.

Pacific National intermodal volumes slipped 3.4% on a net-tkm basis, but steel volumes rose. PN Coal saw strong contract growth in Queensland and south-eastern Australia, but actual vol-umes slipped.

There was strong growth in vessels stevedored at bulk ports (up 27.5%), imported vehicle movements (up 20%) and storage days (78.4%), the latter as vehicle importers took advantage of favourable currency exchange rates to grow their local market.

Mullen said revenue and earnings before interest and taxes for the sec-ond half of the 2013 financial year were

ZHEN HUA 21 arriving in Fremantle to de-liver one ZPMC post-Panamax STS crane (Photo: Fremantle Ports)

He cited commodity trader Bunge’s recent development of grain-handling infrastructure at Bunbury, making alternative use of the port’s woodchip loader, as an example of a “new and innovative partnership with the private sector” that could result in the freeing-up of capital and greater efficiencies.

“I know that some ports are looking at some of these forms of innovation. This is not in my view privatisation. It is effectively providing or transferring assets to the private sector within a state and port.”

The RFNS found that significant public and private investment would be needed in all WA’s ports - includ-ing nine operating outside the port au-thority system - to meet a doubling of throughput to 1 Btpa by 2030.

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12_13_WCN_May_2013.indd 3 10/06/2013 14:59:21

May 201314

PORT NEWS

Finland’s Gulf of Bothnia Port of Raahe has completed the installation and com-missioning of its automated 20ft and 40ft container loading system from Actiw LoadPlate. As previously reported, Actiw has supplied a Multi LoadPlate loading system system, similar to one previously supplied to the Port of Kotka.

Four containers can be loaded in “one shot” one after another with the Load-Plate unit on a single track, enabling more loads to be stored and more containers to be simultaneously dispatched. Empty container imports and loaded container exports can be handled more efficiently than before.

The LoadPlate system is designed for the loading of timber, steel products, awk-

LoadPlate commissionedard loads and generally long and heavy items, although of course the platform can also be loaded by FLTs on each or one side with pallets, paper rolls, etc. In the Raahe installation, the entire con-tainer load is placed on the plastic loading plate in one go with a bridge crane. The plate with the load slides into a container, the load is held inside while the loading plate is pulled out, and the container is ready to leave. Loading a container takes less than five minutes.

A key customer is Ruukki Metals, which is shipping structural steel gird-ers, plate, pipes and profiles for commer-cial and industrial applications. “With LoadPlate we have been able to reduce lift truck and work force resources in

The Actiw Multi LoadPlate handling a Ruukki steel shipment (Photo: Port of Raahe)

container stuffing,” said Harri Tuomela, Ruukki’s logistics and delivery man-ager. “We are now able to stuff steel products into containers more easily, more safely, and more gentl and also

and clean in the containers when leav-ing Raahe.” As previously reported, the terminal measures 132m x 45m (ca. 6000 m2) and is equipped with a number of au-tomated doors.

Actiw’s managing director Reijo Vii-nonen made the point that extra savings are made in freight costs because open top containers are no longer needed to load long loads from overhead, while safety is increased and the risk of cargo damage is reduced. No modifications to the inside of standard containers or trailers are required.

Port director Kaarlo Heikkinen said: “Our services will notably improve over-seas transports, which gives the Port of Raahe a significant competitive position in the Bay of Bothnia area.” Raahe is con-nected with regular feeder and shortsea services to Hamburg, Bremerhaven and Antwerp for onward transhipment all over the world as required, as well as to Vejle, Hull, Ravenna and Szczecin. The port has a new 10m deep fairway and quay and has good motorway and rail connections. The railway is electrified and the port says that rail traffic to Rus-sia functions well, particularly via Kos-tomuksha to the Kola Peninsula.

SCT to investMexico’s transport and communications authority, Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT) is planning to invest PES5.5B (US$454M) in ports in Tama-ulipas state over the next three years. The plan will be fully co-ordinated with the state government and private compa-nies will also be encouraged to invest. Altamira, Tampico and Matamoros will all benefit from the Government’s capital expenditure programme, which includes a mix of channel improvement, infra-structure upgrade and terminal mod-ernisation work.

Under the investment plan, around PES1.5B is being allocated to the coun-try’s most north easterly located port of Matamoros, which is on the border with the US. It is also close to the country’s burgeoning oil and gas exploration in-dustries in the Gulf of Mexico and the port is seen as having a support role for these as well as serving the city which has a population of just under 500,000 people. Most of the investment will be targeted at extending the port’s two breakwaters by at least 2.5km each so that full operations at the port can com-mence in 2015.

In Tampico, the main focus is on ex-panding the port’s Terminal de Usos Multiples which handles mainly break-bulk, project cargo and some contain-ers. It currently handles about 6 Mtpa of cargo, a volume SCT would like to see rise to 9 Mtpa by 2016.

At Altamira, the largest container port in Tamaulipas, SCT’s main goal is to im-prove the port’s connectivity and ability to handle larger ships. Consequently, the main navigational channel and cargo berths will be dredged, new access roads constructed, including an underpass, and the port’s railway reconfigured. The lat-ter step will increase the port’s intermo-dal capacity and streamline cargo move-ments between the container yard and rail depot. This should allow Altamira to become more competitive in serving inland locations, including Mexico City and Guadalajara.

Commenting on the state invest-ment at the port, Guillermo Ruiz de Teresa, general coordinator of ports and merchant marine at SCT, stressed that it was a vital part in developing the area and exploiting business opportunities in the region. He also highlighted the holistic nature of its plan, with SCT issuing a statement that said: “Our objective is focused on developing a comprehensive port system between Matamoros, Tampico and Altamira, with piers in the Gulf of Mexico looking to avoid competition and rather com-plementing each other.” In 1Q/2013, Altamira handled 140,027 TEU, up 0.8% on the corresponding period of 2012. This followed a 6% rise in its box throughput to 578, 685 TEU last year. In contrast, Tampico’s first quarter contain-er traffic volumes plummeted by 62% to just 53 TEU.

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May 2013 17

NEWSPORT NEWS

Lübecker Hafen Gesellshaft (LHG), the operator of the Port of Lübeck, has introduced its own intermodal block train serv-ice, catering for shipping con-tainers, swap bodies and semi-trailers, to the heart of the Ruhr. The service will operate be-

tween 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.

Lübeck Ruhr rail service

Attempts by the PNG Ports Corporation Ltd (PNGPCL) to introduce new foreign competi-tion 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 ports, 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 ports, which it needed to ensure “full and proper use” through steve-doring operations conducted in a modern and efficient manner “which optimises the benefits to all port users.” Amongst respond-ents is believed to have been Asciano’s Patrick, which was re-ported to have been in joint ven-ture negotiations with a breaka-way group of shareholders from Lae stevedore Riback.

Tribal leaders of the Ahi peo-ple of six villages who claim tra-ditional ownership of Lae city took large advertisements in the PNG press in late April threaten-ing to close the port down. They claimed interests associated with the governing People’s National Congress Party were manoeu-vring, under the cover of the Lae port modernisation project, to push the Ahi-owned Riback Ste-vedores Ltd out of the port.

The six leaders said via press release that the Ahi were proud shareholders and beneficiaries of the investment in the nationally-owned Riback, which in Lae provides jobs and opportunities

PNG push against Patrick

for many previously unemployed youths.

However, “certain people with vested interest” were now active-ly working to displace landowner involvement at the Lae port, the advertisements stated.

The Ahi claimed the new group, led by a local PNG branch president and former Riback company director, in a joint ven-ture with some village splinter interests, was establishing a fourth stevedoring company that was seeking preferential treatment.

“Why give this company pref-erential treatment over long-established 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 port of Lae if the gov-ernment did not respond - and duly did so for 48 hours in early May. This brought a quick re-

sponse from Ben Micah, minister for ports, public enterprises and state investment, who suspended the EOI process, pending the ap-pointment of a “special investiga-tion” 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 op-erates a depot on the site of the old Lae airport. 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 reported, 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.

The new service is aimed at strengthening Lübeck’s position on the Sweden-Ruhr axis

View over Port Moresby. The main dispute centres on Lae

The New South Wales Govern-ment has vowed to continue its Port Botany Landside Improve-ment Strategy (PBLIS), despite the recent A$5.07B lease of Port Botany (and Port Kembla) to the NSW Ports consortium. “PBLIS, which drives more ef-ficient coordination of road and rail freight in and out of Port Botany, is now set to continue its future successful program of works through Transport for New South Wales,” said treasurer Mike Baird.

Introduced by Sydney Ports Corporation, PBLIS is ac-knowledged as instrumental in improving freight efficiency

in and around the Port Botany precinct, delivering 30% faster truck-turnaround times and “benefitting industry and cus-tomers 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

PBLIS stays in NSW has also increased from 72% be-fore PBLIS to 93% in March 2013, the government claims. It also says the PBLIS rail strategy to grow rail mode share is gain-ing solid momentum through voluntary participation in the Port Botany Rail Team by in-dustry.

“PBLIS has been instrumental in both supporting smarter road freight movements and work-ing with the rail operators and network providers to improve freight coordination in the port rail supply chain,” the govern-ment said. We look forward to this work continuing through Transport 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 Eu-ropean 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 effi-cient transport via Lübeck. On this route, a load of 26 tons pro-duces 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 serv-ice manager, added that the com-pany 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 coopera-tion with DHL. The rail traction contractor on this route is ERS Railways.

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17_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 10/06/2013 15:05:56

May 201318

PORT NEWS

DP World Australia, 75% owned by investors repre-sented by Citi Infrastructure, made a loss of A$32M in 2012 according to accounts filed with the Aus-tralian Securities and Investment Corporation. The result - a significant improvement over calendar 2011’s A$74M loss - came largely thanks to a one-off gain of almost A$47M from the enforced sale of a controlling stake in the Adelaide container terminal to Flinders Ports (WorldCargo News, July 2012, p7).

Despite the sale, revenue from DPWA’s opera-tions, including its remaining container terminals in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Fremantle, rose by 15% to A$592M.

The losses seem at odds with annual Australian Competition and Consumer Commission steve-doring monitoring reports, which have attacked DP World and rival, Asciano’s Patrick, for ‘excessive’ profitability. The ACCC’s drive against high returns and for greater competition has encouraged the en-try into the Australian market of Hutchison Port Holdings, although critics doubt the market’s ability to support three stevedores.

DPWA is investing A$250M on part-automating its Brisbane terminal and has flagged similar chang-es for Port Botany, but has announced no plans for Melbourne or Fremantle. As far as is know the company has only one new STS crane on order, a Liebherr post-panamax unit for Melbourne’s West Swanson Dock. This is despite an accelerating rush

It's tough for DPW Australiaof post-panamax containerships into Australian trades as tonnage cascades from other routes.

DPWA recently suspended Saturday landside op-erations at its Fremantle terminal after a four-month trial, meaning no weekend receivals-and-delivery (RAD) is now available at the facility. The stevedore said it would resume RAD if demand warranted, but its new ‘Expert Decking’ yard operation meant volumes could be capably handled Monday-Friday.

Meanwhile, Hutchison Ports Australia has se-cured its first - albeit very modest - customer for its A$250M Brisbane Container Terminal. The AUSPAC consortium, comprising Neptune Pacific, Pacific Direct Line, Pacific Forum Line, Sofrana Unilines and Swire Shipping, will call with its two 900 TEU vessels on a fortnightly basis. AUSPAC was previously a Patrick customer and remains with that stevedore in Port Botany and Melbourne.

The government of Djibouti has revealed that it has already secured 57% of the funding required to fi-nance its planned US$5.9B investment in new trans-port infrastructure. According to the chairman of the Djibouti Ports and Free Zones Authority, Aboubaker Omar Hadi, the money has been promised by a vari-ety of investors, including a Saudi Arabian investment fund and the government of China. In common with several other African states, the government of Djibouti aims to turn the country into a middle in-come country, in this case by 2035.

Unlike other African countries, however, the plan is based almost entirely on the country’s position as a trade entrepôt. Located near the entrance to the Red Sea, the Port of Djibouti is already an impor-tant transhipment centre and acts as the main port for landlocked Ethiopia. The transport strategy in-volves increasing the annual handling capacity of DP

World-operated Doraleh Container Terminal, to 3M TEU by 2015 and developing five other specialist terminals. These include oil and liquefied natural gas terminals, plus a dedicated salt and gypsum terminal, to export production from Djibouti’s Lake Assal.

In addition, Export-Import Bank of China has agreed to provide a US$3.3B loan to fund a new 723 kms railway from the Port of Djibouti to Sebeta in central Ethiopia. The railway line itself will be devel-oped by China Railway Engineering Corporation and China Civil Engineering Corporation.

Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, the Djibouti minister for foreign affairs and international cooperation, said: “Djibouti is considered a gateway to Ethiopia, a very big market. We are even targeting other markets that include Southern Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda and parts of Uganda. Our ambition is really to open up our markets to those countries that are landlocked.”

Djibouti targets master plan

The latest Tanzania Economic Update published by the World Bank has called for productivity and effi-ciency improvements at the port of Dar es Salaam as key to transforming the nation’s economy and that of the surrounding region of East and central Africa.

According to Jacques Morisset, the World Bank’s lead economist for Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi, Dar es Salaam handles 90% of Tanzania’s import and export trade and is the main access point for Bu-rundi, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Ma-lawi, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia, but in 2012 its inefficiencies resulted in total global welfare losses valued at US$ 1.8B in Tanzania and US$830M for the neighbouring countries.

“These losses were equivalent to approximately 7% of Tanzania’s annual GDP, and affected a wide range of local consumers, businesses and govern-ment agencies,” wrote Morisset, who authored the report, “and they cost Tanzanians and other East Af-ricans dearly, as they must pay more for imported goods, including basic products such as crude oil, cement, fertilizers and medicines.”

The report: “Opening the Gates: How the Port of Dar es Salaam Can Transform Tanzania,” said that long delays affecting ships arriving in Dar es Sa-laam were the main cause for the losses. The author wrote: “In mid-2012, ships were waiting up to 10 days on average just to berth and an additional 10 days to be able to unload and move their merchan-dise. The excessive delays in anchorage alone trans-lated into an additional cost of 22% on container imports and about 5% of bulk imports.”

The World Bank Tanzania Economic Update, which is published twice a year, also identified cor-ruption as another key factor contributing to the port’s poor performance and generally low levels of efficiency.

A ray of hope was highlighted in the report, with the author citing: “The appetite for reforms at Dar es Salaam has increased in recent months as citizens and city officials have gained greater clarity about what needs to be done to improve processes and upgrade infrastructures. Equally importantly, the Government has begun taking bold measures to implement reforms, including the firing of the Tan-zania Port Authority Board on corruption charges in early 2013.”

Given that the World Bank is projecting annual-ised growth in Tanzania’s economy of 7% per year for the foreseeable future, a working Dar es Salaam is critical to this growth and also to opening up the country and region to more international trade.

Dar es Salaam ‘must improve’

Cargo delays blight Dar es Salaam port

At PortMiami, we’re investing more than $2 billion in capital

improvements—a deeper, minus 50-foot channel, a new port tunnel

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Hosting TOC Container Supply Chain: Americas Come and Visit us 1-3 October 2013

18_19_WCN_May_2013.indd 2 14/06/2013 03:22:28

May 2013 19

PORT/INLAND/INTERMODAL NEWS

Forth Ports sees the lightUK port operator Forth Ports plc is continuing with its transition to low energy lighting. It has installed LED fixtures in a bulk storage shed at its Leith facility, where it had earlier installed LEDs in the engineering workshop and cruise terminal.

Shed 3 at Leith was previously lit with 13 x 400W SON fixtures that were inadequate even with daylight coming through skylights. The shed is used for bulk food commodities and heat from the fixtures burned dust onto the polycarbonate lenses, reducing their output considerably.

Forth Ports replaced the lights with 8 x 172W LED fixtures from Dialight’s DuroSite series. It is extremely happy with the quality of the light from the Dialight fixtures, particularly their improved colour rendition. Dr Derek McGlashan, environ-ment and energy manager at Forth Ports, said that

so far the company has taken two different ap-proaches to energy efficient lighting for warehous-es: LEDs at Leith and new generation fluorescent fixtures in Tilbury. “Both have been received posi-tively,” he added.

One of the biggest benefits for Forth Ports is the reduced maintenance requirement. The SON lights needed regular attention, which was a problem as maintenance could only be carried when the shed became empty, which might take up to a year. Forth Ports now expects regular maintenance to have been eliminated, and Dialight has supplied the DuroSite series fixtures with a 5-year performance warranty.

With regard to energy usage, Forth Ports esti-mates it will achieve a 60-75% energy saving from LEDs. The 13 x 400W SON fixtures were actually drawing around 440W each compared to 172W

each for eight new LED fixtures. In terms of CO2

emissions from energy consumption, Forth Ports calculates a reduction of 0.4 tpa per light. Further savings could be achieved by taking advantage of LED’s instant on capability to install motion and daylight sensors to control the lights.

Dr McGlashan is encouraged by the perform-ance of LEDs so far. Forth Ports has also installed Dialight LEDs on some 14m high mast poles at Leith and, although they have not been tested in winter conditions, results so far have been positive. It will also be testing bigger 25,000 lumen Dialight fittings on higher (25m) poles shortly.� Forth Ports has launched a new website (www.forthports.co.uk), which it said “takes custom-ers on a journey” through its diverse serv-ices and the recent significant investments at its ports. Group CEO Charles Hammond said: “It is important to tell the whole story of Forth Ports and demonstrate the portcentric solutions we can provide across the UK.”

Iran is planning to increase the length of its domes-tic rail network from 11,000 kms today to 15,000 kms by 2015 and 25,000 kms by 2025. To date the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (IRIR) has, ac-cording to its managing director Abdol-Ali Saheb-Mohammadi, had an average potential to build just 500 kms of railways per annum.

Last year IRIR signed a €1B memorandum of understanding with the National Development Fund and the Industry, Mine and Trade Ministry to expand the nation’s rail infrastructure. Also last year a production facility for manufacturing 120 loco-motives/year was opened in the northern Alborz province.

As most land transportation in the country is road-based, the Iranian government is keen to build momentum in developing the railway, with a special emphasis on electrification. The goal is to increase rail’s modal share of inland freight to 8.5% and en-sure that all this large country’s provinces are linked by rail.

The country needs at least US$2B each year to implement its infrastructure development projects, around half the necessary financing is covered through selling bonds, Iranian deputy roads and urban development minister Ahmad Sadeqi said recently.

Despite political problems with much of the West, Iran has so far raised almost US$0.6B this year. In 2012, it carried out 23 out of the 54 railway, freeway and highway projects for a total of US$2.4B using revenues earned from selling bonds.

Internationally, Iran has, since 2007, been partak-ing in the building of the 904 km long Ozen-Gor-gan railway along the Caspian Sea’s eastern shore. This is expected to open during the second half of this year, to connect Kazakhstan with Iran via a 700 km stretch through Turkmenistan. With the com-pletion of the project, trade turnover between the countries could, in the opinion of Iran’s ambassador in Astana, Gorban Seifi, go from US$1.2B last year up to US$5B, while the capacity of the line could reach 10 Mtpa.

Since 2011, the project has been part of the planned Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran- Oman-Qatar international transit route opening access to both Central Asia and the Persian Gulf. Last year, Iran reached an agreement with Afghanistan and Tajikistan to build motor roads and a 392 km rail-way to link the three countries, as well as eventually connect them with Kyrgyzstan and Western China.

Iran plans big in rail

Rhenus Group is set to increase its stake in Mier-ka Beteilungs GmbH (MBG), the 100% owner of Austrian Danube port opertor Mierka Donauhafen Krems GmbH (MDK) from 26%, which it acquired in summer 2010, to 51%. The deal is being con-ducted via a capital increase in MBG and is subject to regulatory approvals.

According to an official statement, Rhenus and Hubert Mierka, managing owner of the port of Krems, aim to increase operating efficiency and carry out new investments. “The new funds will enable us to invest in our Danube Mission,” said Hubert Mierka, “including our involvement in Rhenus Mierka Danube Shipping established in 2012.” MDK covers a large storage and operations area and boasts an agri-products terminal with stor-age silos as well as bulk and container barge and rail terminals.

Last October HHLA’s affiliate Metrans acquired from MDK the company that operates the trimodal container terminal in Krems. Since February this year three train pairs/week have linked the Austrian Danube port with Hamburg and Bremerhaven.

Rhenus goes for Krems

Rhenus Group is set to become the majority owner of Mierka Donauhafen Krems

At PortMiami, we’re investing more than $2 billion in capital

improvements—a deeper, minus 50-foot channel, a new port tunnel

for easy interstate access and on-port rail with links to the

national railway system. Quicker connections, better for business.

For more information, visit www.miamidade.gov/portmiami

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May 2013 21

INLAND/INTERMODAL NEWS

CEVA Logistics recently announced the launch of a new daily China-Europe intermodal rail service, connecting Su-zhou, located west of Shanghai, with the Netherlands. Total transit time for the whole journey is around 28 days, fol-lowing an 11,000 kms northerly route across Russia.

This new routing follows a successful trial service that CEVA conducted for a customer in the technology sector dur-ing a traditional “busy time” for China’s rail net. CEVA says it brought significant cost savings to the customer compared to air freight, along with a shorter tran-sit time of 13-15 days compared to sea freight. This is the classic “sell” for the Trans-Siberian landbridge. The service is more expensive than sea freight, but door-to-door transit time is much short-er; air freight is the quickest but is too expensive.

In the trial shipment, the container travelled across Russia at temperatures as low as -38 degC. CEVA provided GPS tracking and “visibility” throughout the journey, along with specially insulated packaging materials to protect the ship-ment. Suitable packaging will be provid-ed to keep products cool in hot summer temperatures.

Martin Thaysen, CEVA Logistics’ EVP, China said: “This new service pro-vides more options for customers to optimise their supply chain by integrat-ing different transportation modes. It is a good example of where we combine our experience of China’s domestic net-work with our international freight so-lutions to support our customers’ supply chains...we developed this new railway route to allow our customers the flex-ibility of daily departures from Shanghai and Suzhou.”

Pretoria (South Africa)-based Transnet Engineering (TE), an operating unit of state-controlled rail freight, ports and pipelines group Transnet, is hoping that a new locomotive it is designing will boost its sales across the African sub-continent and in South America. It is understood that the company has been working on a prototype of the locomo-tive for more than two years and that it should be ready early in 2014.

TE has been building up its design expertise with the project since being commissioned by Chicago-headquar-tered General Electric to manufacture more than 140 locomotives for which it had received orders from TE’s sister company Trans Freight Rail. The new locomotive features a design that enables it to use a propulsion system different from normal practice, where traction motors are fitted underneath the engine and attached to each axle.

According to Richard Vallihu, CEO of TE, the locomotive is “better able to withstand the jarring and bumping that comes from travelling over uneven railway lines.” In Africa many rail tracks are in poor condition and funds are ex-

tremely limited to upgrade them. At the same time the demand for rail services is increasing as exports of bulk commodi-ties rise along with the need to use alter-natives to roads, which are also in poor condition, as imports for landlocked Af-rica are also increasing.

Thoba Majoka, general manager of strategy and marketing at TE, added: “For African rail conditions, you need something that is rugged and strong. We will use a hydro-dynamic box system manufactured by German engineering and technology firm Voith to provide the hauling power.”

As part of Transnet’s seven-year strate-gic plan, TE has been tasked with gen-erating additional revenues from sales outside of South Africa with ZAR6B the target figure by 2019. This compares with current sales of around ZAR865M and the pan-African locomotive is one of the projects designed to help achieve this fiscal goal. TE is also looking beyond Africa and sees opportunities for its planned locomotive and also its rolling stock modules on narrow gauge rail sys-tems elsewhere in the world, particularly in Chile and Colombia.

TE plans to build pan-Africa locomotive Spain’s rail track authority, ADIF, has

awarded a concession to operate a freight terminal in Murcia to a joint venture consisting of MacAndrews, the CMA-CGM affiliate specialising in short sea shipping, and Spain’s Continental Rail. The contract is for five years.

A second contract, also for five years, covering the Rail Logistics Centre at Badajoz, was declared deserted. Three other freight yards are to be put out to tender, these being Granollers (four years), Zaragoza-Plaza (five years) and Mérida (five years). For these latter three, a new type of contract involving more risk and reward is to be offered.

Since Gonzalo Ferre was appointed as the new president of ADIF (Admin-istrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias) in January this year, the organisation has

tried to adopt a more flexible approach to concessions, to attract a wider range of bidders on the basis of different busi-ness models for them to pursue accord-ing to preference. � Progeco Vigo SA has requested an 8000 m2 area on the Arenal del Puerto quay at the north-western Spanish port of Vigo to build a terminal to handle containers and other cargo. Progeco Vigo was set up in 1994 and operates a CFS in the port, and it also provides project cargo lashing services, second-hand container sales and related services. Vigo is “back on the agenda” for a second “motorway of the sea” link with France. Spanish and French officials are working on a tender for a Montoir (St Nazaire)-Vigo link. Currently Louis Dreyfus Armateurs op-erates a Montoir-Gijón link.

Kazakhstan, traditionally heavily de-pendent on engine and railcar imports, is set to produce freight rolling stock for its own and export markets. It is estimated Central Asia’s largest country needs up to 53,000 freight wagons by 2020 due to substantial write-downs and retirement of available railcars.

Askar Mamin, president of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ, Kazakhstan Rail-ways) stated that the government has

settled on a plan to reduce the country’s dependence on rolling stock imports and develop its own production facili-ties, not least because traditional sources (mainly Russia) are concentrating on their own networks.

Last year 1978 wagons were built in Kazakhstan, and of those 85% were pro-duced by the Kazakhstan Car Manufac-turing Company (KVK). This plant was set up in 2008 on the basis of wagon

repair workshops, when rolling stock depreciation reached 70%.

Astana has also managed to create conditions for global industry leaders such as General Electric and Talgo to lo-calise production in Kazakhstan, and last December France’s Alstom and Russia’s TransMashHolding (TMH) launched production of freight (KZ8A) and pas-senger (KZ4AT) locomotives in Astana, with the aim of producing up to 100

CEVA into Eurasian landbridge

ADIF’s Murcia award

Kazakhstan to export rolling stockunits of each type per annum by 2015. The �50M project is aimed at covering the domestic market (up to 200 freight and 95 passenger locomotives a year) and exporting the balance.

Kazakhstan’s president Nursultan Nazarbayev has declared his country’s preparedness to be able to supply the other Tax Union markets (Russia and Belarus) with Kazakhstan-made loco-motives. Taking into account more so-phisticated technologies and lower costs of local production, Kazakh engines could provide lively competition for their Russian-made peers.

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21_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 10/06/2013 15:19:52

May 201322

SHIPPING NEWS

New Russian ship typeThe government of Liberia has banned the export of unprocessed rubber and intends to introduce new regulatory leg-islation due to corruption, theft, illegal sales and illicit tapping. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf also wants a greater pro-portion of Liberian rubber production to be processed within the country.

Rubber is Liberia’s biggest source of employment and most valuable export, accounting for 40% of export revenues, though there is some uncertainty over how much is exported in its raw state. Firestone Natural Rubber Company op-erates the world’s biggest rubber planta-tion in Liberia under a 100-year conces-sion that runs out in 2025.

Most lawful production is shipped

from the Port of Monrovia and it is likely that most illegal production also passes through the port. A source in Monrovia revealed that a new inspection regime may benefit from EU funding. An EU mission visited the port in May to iden-tify improvements that EU member states could help finance.

Construction work on Monrovia container terminal is already being un-dertaken as part of APM Terminals’ new concession. According to Matilda Parker, managing director of the National Port Authority (NPA), the ports of Monrovia and Buchanan have been awarded interna-tional security clearance. The NPA is hop-ing to achieve clearance for the country’s other two ports, Greenville and Harper.

Rubber exports banned

Hutchison’s Bulldog spiritJohn Meredith, group managing di-rector of Hong Kong headquartered Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), claims he is determined to help the UK’s small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) increase their exports and develop new markets overseas.

To do this he has launched “Project Bulldog,” effectively an export assistance programme. Through the initiative, Me-redith has promised to share the expertise he has gained in running an internation-al ports business for more than 40 years and to provide advice to SMEs in areas such as the law, tax/fiscal policies, edu-cation, shipping practices and customs.

The HPH executive said that he had launched his initiative largely out of frustration after seeing Britain decline as a world manufacturer and exporter over the years. At the launch of “Project Bulldog,” he mentioned the strange re-sponse he received to lectures he was asked to give on export opportunities to Asia by the UK Government’s Trade & Investment (UK T&I) agency last year. “Most of the people who came forward afterwards were security people, software houses, lawyers and/or consultants,” he said. “There were not many people who were actually making things.”

This year the UK T&I had asked him to give similar presentations, but with the focus on opportunities in Latin America, and he felt a change was also needed with the emphasis on manufac-tured exports.

In running a company that operates the container ports of Felixstowe and Harwich in the UK, he said this situation was mirrored in the “stuff that is moving out…The containers are mainly empty or carrying scrap, but no products and I get irritated by this. Britain needs to focus on manufacturing, including offering tax breaks and cheaper energy for export-ers, or it risks getting left behind [fur-ther] by other more innovative nations.”

Meredith stressed: “You can’t rely on North Sea oil and gas and the City of London. We [as a country] have to go back to basics and start making stuff.” He suggested that in many places British products were valued, hence many op-portunities existed.

HPH is a global ports operator run-ning 52 ports in 26 countries and han-dling 76.8M TEU in 2012, up 2.3% on the previous year. Meredith has worked at the company for 42 years, taking it from its roots in Hong Kong to the mul-ti-billion corporation it is today.

Russia’s Nevsky Shipbuilding and Shiprepair plant in Shlisselburg, in Leningrad region, has built a new type of fluvio-maritime bulk carrier in the fashion of the former Volga Don river-sea vessels. NEVA LEADER 3 was built for North-Western Shipping Company (SZMP) and is a self-pro-pelled 7150dwt bulker, which at the time of writing is undergoing sea trials.

The vessel is the result of project “RSD 49” undertaken by the Marine Engineering and Design Bureau in Saint Petersburg. It is understood that up to 12 more RSD 49 vessels may be ordered from SZMP-owned Nevsky Shipyard, mainly to carry bulk com-modities such as grain, iron and steel,

timber, coal, and project cargoes. The areas of operations are the Caspian Sea, White Sea and North Sea and, during the Russian winter, intra-Mediterrane-an and Irish Sea trades.

The vessel has a length overall of 139.95m and a 16.7m beam. River draft is 4.7m and sea draft is 3.6m. Cargo hold capacity is 10,920 m3 and the midships hold can accept oversized cargo pieces up to 52m long. The ves-sels are classed by the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping and can carry IMDG classes 1.45, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.1, 8 and 9.

Owned by Russian transport and logistics service group UCL Holding, SZMP is Russia’s largest shipping com-pany with a fleet of 105 cargo vessels.

Lines link upMitsui OSK Lines (MOL) of Japan and Singapore-based Pacific International Lines (PIL) have inked a series of agree-ments on the small, but expanding trade lanes connecting South East Asia with the Indian Ocean islands and Mozam-bique. The deals will mean more effec-tive use of existing ships, better align-ment of slot capacity to demand and improved service reliability.

A mix of local and deepsea feeder cargo is moved on both routes and with Singapore offering hub opportunities, MOL and PIL can seamlessly plug the Indian Ocean and Mozambique into their global networks.

The revised fixed day of the week In-dian Ocean service uses 4x 1100 TEU vessels, with each partner contributing two ships. For its part, PIL has stopped its separately scheduled IOL service.

The new link features direct calls at Singapore, Port Louis, Tamatave, Reun-ion and return to Singapore. The Mo-zambique operation is based on PIL’s new MZS service, which links Singa-pore with Maputo, Beira and Nacala us-ing seven ships. MOL buys space on the operation and, consequently, has halted its former Mozambique Zuid Africa IOI Service (MZX).

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22_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 14/06/2013 03:24:39

Please visit us at

TOC Europe 2013Rotterdam, June 25-27Stand No. E66

CORPORATE PROCUREMENTFramework for the Supply of Fork Lift Trucks for Port UsageSunderland City Council is seeking expressions of interest from suppliers wishing to be considered for the Framework for the Supply of Fork Lift Trucks for Port Usage for a period of 48 months commencing 4 October 2013.

This tender includes:

• Contract Hire (with maintenance) of small to medium Fork Lift Trucks (3 to 10 tonne)• Contract Hire (with maintenance) of large Fork Lift Trucks (10 to 20 tonne)• Purchase (with maintenance) of small to medium Fork Lift Trucks (3 to 10 tonne)• Purchase (with maintenance) of large Fork Lift Trucks (10 to 20 tonne)

This is an electronic tender via the Council’s ProContract eTender system. All organisations interested in this tender should register an expression of interest against this Framework online at ‘www.nepoportal.org’, Tender Reference QTLE-98ECTM. All tender documents are available to download via this portal. The Council will be using the Restricted Procurement Procedure and completed Pre Qualifi cation Questionnaires (PQQs) must be returned via the portal by 12 noon on 8 July 2013, in accordance with the instructions in the documents.

As part of the tender process Sunderland City Council intend to hold a supplier briefi ng session on 18 June 2013 at The Port of Sunderland, Capstan House, Greenwells Quay, South Docks, Barrett Street, Sunderland, SR1 2BU. Arrive 2.15pm for a 2.30pm start. The aim of the briefi ng is to provide advice on submitting a compliant Pre Qualifi cation Questionnaire, there will also be an opportunity to ask questions. You should confi rm your intention to attend this briefi ng direct to andrew.raft@sunderland.gov.uk no later than 12 midday on 17 June 2013. Please read the PQQ documents to ensure this is a suitable opportunity for you before registering to attend this briefi ng.

Please note that the award of this framework is subject to approval from the Port Board.

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23_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 14/06/2013 03:29:45

                               

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24_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 14/06/2013 03:36:01

May 2013 25

SHIPPING NEWS

Car companies work with Achilles on riskThe past two years or so have been extremely challenging ones for global car manufacturers as a spate of largely natural disasters have affected their sup-ply chains, halted the shipment of often critical components and disrupted pro-duction programmes. A combination of the additional costs and higher risks of reputational damage caused by such events has spurred several in the auto-motive industry into action. Recently Toyota Motor Europe and UK manu-facturers Aston Martin and Land Rover Jaguar joined forces with Lord March, founder of the UK’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, and supply chain management company Achilles, to come up with a proactive system of sharing identifying and managing potential risks in their supply chain.

The solution adopted comprises: • An online portal – this offers compre-hensive and up-to-date information and allows the participants to identify and manage effectively potential health, safety, compliance, financial and corpo-rate social responsibility risks within the system

• Supply chain mapping – this compo-nent has been pioneered by Toyota and it allows users to assess which sites are potentially exposed to risks, such as natural disasters, fiscal issues, etc, and to mitigate against these. It also addresses potential logistics bottlenecks, such as at ports and reliance on single suppliers

• Financial Analysis model – this essen-tially serves as a financial health check on suppliers.

The supplier information management system adopted is hosted by Achilles, whose global business director, Luis Olivie, said: “The automotive sector is truly globalised and by working col-laboratively these industry leaders are setting standards in gaining visibility of

Rotterdam-headquartered Samskip Multimodal, which is a leading provider of freight transport services in the intra-European market, has phased a much larger and faster ship into its liner service linking Rotterdam and Hull.

Since mid-May, Samskip Multimodal has been deploying the 803 TEU capac-ity ship HENRIKE SCHEPERS on the route and introduced an additional sailing each week. Previously, Samskip’s vessel on the Rotterdam/Hull link could only load 340 TEU.

The new sailing takes place on a Wednesday evening out of Rotterdam and this allows consignees in the UK to pick up cargo in Hull on Thursday afternoon and ensure delivery through-

out the UK on Friday. This is extremely important for weekend sales, which can be crucial in industries such as retailing and leisure.

In addition, Samskip Multimodal has extended its cargo cut-off times in Hull and also Tilbury, which is another of its main UK port calls. Commenting on the service upgrade, Diederick Blom, chief operating officer of Samskip Mul-timodal, said: “These improvements are focused around offering our customers even more competitive and sustainable connections to the rest of Europe and other Samskip routes.”

issues which could affect people, planet and profit.

“This technology will enable OEMs to map and understand their own supply chains right through the many tiers. It will allow them to see their interaction and dynamics and assess risks in a way that has never been done before. It works not only up and down in the shippers’ own supply chains, but across different companies to maximise benefits.”

All parties are hoping their solution will be embraced across the whole in-dustry.

New pocket guide for bulk safetyWhen bulk cargoes shift, liquefy, catch fire or explode as a consequence of poor loading procedures, the consequences can be massive. Ships may capsize, lose stability or sustain severe structural dam-age. Such happenings enhance the risks - and the occurrence - of death, injury, insurance claims, operational delay and considerable expense.

This has prompted the UK P&I Club, Lloyd’s Register and Intercargo to pro-duce a pocket guide and checklist for ships’ officers and agents who arrange cargoes for loading. Carrying solid bulk cargoes safely: Guidance for crews on the International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes Code outlines the precautions to be tak-en before accepting solid bulk cargoes for shipment; sets out procedures for safe loading and carriage; and details the primary hazards associated with differ-ent types of cargoes. A quick reference checklist and flowchart summarise the steps to be followed.

The guide reflects the compliance re-quirements of the IMSBC Code, which became mandatory on January 1st 2011 under the SOLAS Convention. It ad-dresses the Code’s three key groups: A (which may liquefy), B (chemical haz-ards) and C (all others). Appendices cover IMO regulations and guidance relating to the transport of solid bulk cargoes and provide an overview of the IMSBC Code. It comes in a laminated flipover format for on-the-spot use and for enhancing awareness among opera-tors, shippers and charterers.

Lloyd’s Register and the UK P&I Club have produced a number of check-lists to aid safety and regulation compli-ance. Subjects have included Port State Control detention, marine fire safety and the Maritime Labour Convention.

Samskip adds capacity

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25_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 14/06/2013 03:42:20

May 201326

NEWSCONTAINER INDUSTRY NEWS

Braid has introduced a new, sin-gle-trip flexitank designed for high-viscosity bulk liquids and those with a high solids content that require mixing for discharge. Braid claims the new unit, dubbed Agi-tank, overcomes the handling difficulties experienced with such products when using traditional one-way flexitanks.

Agi-tank was designed in 2010 by Chris White of Gray-

hog Industries, an engineer with a background in the pump and agitation equipment industry. He is now part of Braid, following its acquisition of Grayhog in 2012. The newly restyled and patented Agi-tank is marketed exclusively from a new group office headed up by White at Denham Springs, on the outskirts of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As well as developing this new niche market product

with existing US clients, the Braid strategy calls for rolling it out worldwide via Braid’s global office and agency network.

The Agi-tank uses a series of injection points in the top sur-face of the tank to agitate and mix the cargo pneumatically via injection probes that are inserted prior to discharge. The mixing system disperses and re-suspends the solids in the liquid, enabling

Braid launches Agi-tank a full discharge to take place. The system is capable of handling both liquid/solid and liquid/ liquid separations.

The injection points also allow the insertion of heated mixing probes inside the tank, an op-tion which enables the carriage of viscous products that require heat prior to discharge. The abil-ity to provide agitation and heat increases the efficiency of the heating process. White explained that at least twice the heat transfer rate can be achieved with the Agi-tank compared to the rate possible with a traditional flexitank steam heater pad. The capability makes the Agi-tank suitable for the car-riage of viscous liquid cargoes.

Hamburg-based tank container operator Hoyer has established Hoyer Saudi Arabia (HSA), a joint venture with Saudi Ara-bia’s Globe Marine Group and UAE-based Sharaf Group. Based in Dammam, the new firm has branch offices in Al Jubail and throughout Saudi Arabia. HSA will coordinate intermodal liquid bulk transport opera-tions in Saudi Arabia and GCC countries; operate a third-party drumming plant in Al Jubail; and focus on onsite logistics projects for the region’s growing petro-chemical industry.

To help develop a regional lo-gistics network and attract new business opportunities, the joint enterprise will invest in liquid bulk transport equipment and build an independent drum-

Hoyer opens Saudi firm

Hoyer is repositioning a large number of European tanks to the Saudi Arabian operation for the start-up phase of the joint venture company

ming plant in Al Jubail. A sub-stantial number of Hoyer’s 20ft ISO tank containers will be re-

positioned from Europe to Sau-di Arabia to facilitate the launch of the HSA operation.

The global tank container fleet now totals around 338,260 units, according to a new report by the International Tank Container Or-ganisation (ITCO). The study also estimated that the output from the world’s 16 leading manufactur-ers in 2012 totalled 39,700 tanks, with the same builders on course to build a similar number this year.

The ITCO Tank Container Fleet Survey states that 71% of the fleet is being used by dedicated tank container operators and lo-gistics companies. The remaining 29% is shared among a range of

Global tank container surveyusers, including chemical pro-ducers, other cargo shippers, rail operators, shipping lines, oil com-panies and military/governmental bodies.

While providing qualified esti-mates of tank numbers, the survey is based on rigorous methodology, ITCO emphasised. Compiled with the support of ITCO mem-bers and based on data provided from tank-owning firms, the ITCO survey gives details of 117 tank operators worldwide. The operator fleet figure of 228,460 units is, numerically, dominated

by global operators such as Stolt, Bulkhaul, Hoyer, InterBulk and VOTG, but a growing number of new regional operators have been established in recent years.

The survey lists 27 leasing companies which, between them, control 150,440 tanks. However, because the majority of these tanks are leased to operators or shippers, and are therefore includ-ed elsewhere in statistics, leasing company figures do not form part of the survey’s global total. The exceptions are those leased tanks not currently in operation.

Den Hartogh ordersDen Hartogh Logistics has brought forward an order for new 25,000 and 26,000 litre tanks from Singamas in China. The Netherlands-based compa-ny said strong customer demand has also prompted it to place an order for an additional 500 units at Welfit Oddy and Singamas, to enter its fleet this year.

“The fast growth of the busi-ness for Global has made this decision possible, said Hans Ekelmans, director of Den Har-togh’s Global unit.

“The reactions from the mar-ket are very positive – in all

regions we see a clear positive trend in business volumes. The target for running a tank fleet of 5,000 units in the global fleet by the year 2015 is clearly within reach. In the first quarter of 2013, Den Hartogh Global per-formed significantly better than planned. Business has more than doubled compared to 2012 and the fleet utilisation has improved strongly. The strongest growth has been seen in the Middle East region, managed from our Du-bai offices.” The unit also oper-ates from Singapore, Houston, Le Havre and Rotterdam.

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26_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 14/06/2013 03:46:44

May 2013 27

ICT FOCUS

Collision avoidance on the radar

Symeo has installed its system in a German steel mill and is looking to apply the technol-ogy to container terminals

Positioning system specialist Symeo has successfully tested a collision avoidance system at a major straddle carrier terminalCollision avoidance is on the radar of several terminal operators looking to improve safety. Tracking equipment us-ing GPS to optimise travel paths and record container moves is relatively common, but Germany’s Symeo is now working on a system that uses its Local Position Radar (LPR) technology to track equipment for the main purpose of collision avoidance.

The system design goes beyond es-tablishing safety zones around equip-ment and generating alerts when prox-imity is breached. Symeo is focusing on more comprehensive anti-collision functionality that uses different sen-sors and software-based rules to allow equipment to operate in close proxim-ity at slow speeds without generating unnecessary alarms, while at the same time raising an alert when a real risk is imminent.

Lessons from steel millsSymeo has installed a collision avoidance system in the hot slab storage area at a steel mill operated by Voestalpine Stahl GmbH. It covers cranes, straddle carri-ers and other vehicles that operate in a 75,000 m2 area.

The positioning system consists of LPR transponders mounted around the facility as reference points and LPR radar units on vehicles and cranes. The position information is used by a Col-lision Warning System (CWS), a central controller similar to the TCAS system used for airplanes. Machines can deter-mine any potential collision risks lo-cally using data from its own position and from the other equipment.

The vehicles transmit position, speed, travel direction and their own shape to other vehicles. The information is used to calculate a dynamic safety zone around each vehicle that controls the warning signals. Drivers have a six-inch display that shows their vehicle position and surrounding obstacles and gives visual and acoustic warnings when there is a collision danger.

Symeo general manager Christoph Rommel explained that the system took some time to configure. It was initially set up (according to the cus-tomer’s specifications) to provide warn-ings based on proximity alone, but this proved too indiscriminate and gener-ated too many alarms.

Together with Voestalpine, Symeo went back and developed specific warning rules to allow two vehicles to pass at low speed, and gantry cranes to work in the same area in tandem with-out generating alarms. It is only by tak-ing this approach, believes Rommel, that a workable system can be designed for a complicated environment with lots of moving equipment like a con-tainer terminal.

Container applicationsFor a container terminal, said Rom-mel, a CWS needs intelligence to iden-tify parameters including speed and direction of travel at the vehicle level and report only those events that con-stitute a risk to the central software. It also needs to integrate information from quay cranes including trolley position, spreader height and portal beam height.

Rather than set up alarms based solely on proximity events, the system designer needs to work methodically through all the instances where equip-ment comes into close proximity and define rules around what is safe and what is not.

A straddle carrier could, for ex-ample, enter the proximity zone of a crane spreader but not pose a risk if the spreader is being hoisted.

All terminal traffic patterns have to be analysed and every fixed obstacle, including light towers and hatch cov-ers, must be identified and mapped. The

hardware and software also need to be configured for different vehicle types, such as three- and four-high straddle carriers, that require different safety rules.

Decentralised systemSymeo does not believe the best way to design a system is to have a large fleet of vehicles reporting position and status constantly to a central application. The

triggers an alarm if the operational rules are breached.

All communication is via triple re-dundant ZigBee at 2.4GHz using the Symeo data protocol. This means, ex-plained Rommel, that there are no interference issues with the terminal’s WiFi network. The system has now been successfully tested at a container terminal, it fulfils the customer’s re-quirements and implementation is planned for 2014, said Rommel.

The LPR system can also be lever-aged to provide container position in-formation and vehicle telematics if re-quired.

GPS has been preferred for this ap-plication, to date, particularly for strad-dle carriers, but Rommel believes this will change. Terminal operators want one PDS technology that can work

across the whole terminal, and GPS sys-tems continually struggle because they lose signal underneath the quay cranes, he added. �

CWS at the steel mill is designed with a decentralised architecture. “Data is sent to a server only for replay analysis of near misses – all collision avoidance de-cisions are made locally on the vehicles and cranes; this minimises the amount of data that needs to be sent from equipment to the central software,” said Rommel.

Each vehicle has a collision zone and a defined proximity radius. An onboard collision calculator monitors for obsta-cles in the proximity radius, but ignores other equipment unless their proximity radii overlap. When that occurs, posi-tion information is sent to the CWS software on the local machine, which

See us at TOC Europe

at booth B30

27_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 20:03:26

May 201328

ICT FOCUS

Spanish process automation and engineering specialist Orbita Ingenieria is shortly to announce a crane OCR solution to add to its GateSuite gate automation system.

Orbita was recently selected by Grup TCB to provide a gate au-tomation system for 10 new en-try and exit lanes at Grup TCB’s flagship facility, Terminal de Con-tenidors de Barcelona (TCB). This will be the third gate au-

tomation project undertaken by Grup TCB, following systems in Valencia (Orbita) and Buenaven-tura, Columbia (APS Technology Group). The APS system includes crane OCR, and Grup TCB wants this for Barcelona as well.

Orbita is also improving its GateSuite by evolving the data capture technology, adding sup-port for multiple brands of OCR cameras and improving the inte-gration interface. Francisco Cav-

anillas, account manager for ports and terminals, said this will boost automation rates. Grup TCB’s Valencia terminal now achieves automation percentages in the high 90s, but TCB will get 95-98% right from the get go, he expects.

The gate system for TCB in-cludes OCR for container num-bers and truck license plates, im-age capture for container damage inspection, and RFID and QR

Orbita to launch crane OCR

Tideworks has announced a contract to supply services to Stockton Port Authority for its new “M-580 Marine Highway” barge service linking Stockton with Oakland.

Earlier this year Tideworks’ sister company SSA Marine was awarded the contract to provide terminal services for this new service at Stockton. Tideworks’ contract is with the port, to deploy its Spinnaker Planning Management System and Star-Gate gate utility.

Tideworks will deliver the solutions under a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. Stockton will have no hardware on site. “The TOS will be hosted via Tidework’s data centre in west-ern Washington [Lynwood],” said Mitchell Hall, senior sales engineer at Tideworks. “As part of the service, Tideworks will

manage all the infrastructure, including OS upgrades/patches, DB administration, application software monitoring, back-ups, etc.”

Users will access the TOS through the internet or over a VPN connection. “The applica-tions are hosted on the server using Citrix tools. The applica-tion sessions are run locally on the server and the users interact with the client sessions via a vir-tual connection to the server,” added Hall.

The TOS will treat all barge moves the same as vessel moves at a marine terminal, with both inbound and outbound Baplie files. Tideworks will take care of all EDI as part of the service, which is expected to go live in Q2 2013. Stockton will pay a monthly subscription, but there is no annual license fee.

Stockton via SaaS

Israel’s HiTech Solutions (HTS) has announced a contract to install OCR at the Super Terminais facility in Manaus, Brazil. The system will be de-livered and installed by HTS Brazil, the Brazilian Branch of HTS Israel established along with its Brazilian partner, Ergos Technology. HTS is currently planning the civil works to meet the deadline for project comple-tion in September. This project follows HTS’s installations in Brazil for Tecondi at the Port of Santos (pictured) and Libra Terminais in Santos and Rio de Janeiro.

The Port of Luka Koper in Slov-enia has completed a project to replace its Cosmos TOS with Tideworks Technology’s entire suite of TOS solutions.

Replacing a TOS is compli-cated, and it took Luka Koper longer than initially expected. Tideworks had to integrate its software with other systems in-cluding an in-house business sys-tem called Tino. This was devel-oped by a third party, Actual IT, approved by Customs and inter-twined with the port community.

As soon as the project began Boris Susmak, head of IT at

Code readers. The RFID readers are for a port authority-issued se-curity card that drivers must vali-date by entering a PIN number.

Orbita will supply all the hard-ware and its GateOS software to integrate the OCR data with the TOS, which in this case is Grup TCB’s in-house system called AR-GOS. The project also covers the removal and relocation of TCB’s existing Megaports radiation de-tection portals and infrastruc-ture to the new terminal gates.

An interesting feature of the project is the use of “valida-tion kiosks” where truckers will also be able to check a transac-tion prior to entering the ter-minal. Truckers often know or suspect, said Cavanillas, when there is a problem with a gate transaction and everyone benefits if this can be identified out of the main gate traffic flow. Where a truck still presents with incom-plete or missing information the driver will get a printed trouble ticket with information on the problem and who to call to resolve it. They will then pull out of the traffic flow into a separate lane.

“The new automated gates will bring a lot of benefits to everyone in the logistics chain,” said Narcis Pavon, terminal and operations manager at TCB. “All of the current paperwork will disappear, as every single opera-tion will be identified by a pre-advised PIN code that the truck driver will input at the entrance gate. The new process will allow us to optimise terminal planning, resource allocation and cost con-trol, while trucking companies will be able to plan their sched-ules better.”

Luka Koper TOS goes liveLuka Koper and Ronald Rob-inson, regional vice president for Tideworks, led a team to define necessary processes and requirements and “set realistic and achievable expectations” for the conversion. “Integration with Tino was extraordinarily complex,” said Susmak, but by collaborating with the port and Actual IT, Tideworks managed to achieve it “efficiently and cost effectively”.

Luka Koper had been us-ing Cosmos for 10 years and so transitioning to a new TOS was also a major cultural change.

“Naturally, there was some initial resistance to such a large-scale change; people become accustomed to doing things a certain way after so many years, and now you are giving them a completely new set of tools to accomplish their tasks,” said Robinson.

“Collectively, we engaged in a

training effort that was probably several-fold what it might have been in a start-up operation due to this phenomenon,” he added.

Tideworks went live in Q4 2012, initially for containerised cargo only, with other cargo types to be added in the future.

Both parties describe the sys-tems conversion and deployment process as “tricky” but Luka Ko-per is very happy with the result, and the service it received in the implementation phase. The new TOS and the Traffic Control system with graphical interfaces for CHE operators has helped increase productivity, improve yard inventory accuracy and re-duce re-handles.

Luka Koper credits Tide-works’ TOS, in conjunction with “certain process changes”, with lifting its gross crane rate to 23.2 moves an hour and ena-bling it to hit a record 100 moves per vessel hour last month.

Tideworks will deploy its Spinnaker Planning Management System and Star-Gate gate utility at the port of Stockton, but no hardware will be installed on site

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28_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 10:59:19

May 2013 29

ICT FOCUS

WiMESH for GMP

Luceor’s WiMESH network requires very little fixed infrastructure to provide coverage across the two GMP terminals

Générale de Manutention Portuaire (GMP), a joint venture between DP World and CMA CGM, has installed a WiMESH network from Luceor at two terminals in Le Havre. The terminals have a total capacity of 1.3M TEU and a combined quay length of 2400m.

France-based Luceor designs outdoor communications systems for emergency service providers and industrial applica-tions like container terminals. It has de-veloped a WiMESH system that features redundant routing and meshing capa-bilities to allow routers to connect step-by-step dynamically, without any central control. Luceor believes WiMESH is ideally suited for container terminals be-cause it can provide ubiquitous outdoor coverage over large distances without a lot of fixed infrastructure, reducing the cost of deployment.

GMP was previously using a nar-row band network. IT Director Patrick Labbé said it could not support the data requirements of the real-time equip-ment monitoring systems GMP wants to implement.

The new Luceor WiMESH network achieves a minimum band width of 300Mbit/s and covers two terminals. The network infrastructure consists of six fixed access points on the larger (76-acre) terminal and four on the second. GMP’s 90 straddle carriers are equipped with WiMESH routers with omni-di-rectional antennas operating at 5.4GHz. 16 STS cranes have WiMESH routers (5.4GHz) and local WiFi access points (2.4GHZ).

Luceor’s strategic accounts manager Christian Raux said a big advantage

of WiMESH is the reduced fixed in-frastructure requirement. A traditional WiFi network offered as an alternative required 11 access points at the 76-acre terminal, some of which would have needed civil works to connect. By putting a router on each straddle carrier Luceor allows mobile routers to “mesh”, connecting to the access points through other mobile routers when required.

WiMESH avoids the problem of data being lost in the meshing process by achieving very low signal latency. GMP uses the wireless to send job instructions and equipment position information from its DGPS system to the TOS. Raux said GPS information is very sensitive

to signal latency. Travelling at up to 30 km/h, the straddle carriers are perma-nently connected to at least two routers with less than 30ms latency to maintain sessions.

Low latency is also supported by a “real full mesh” topology, “which means that mobiles are not only connected to access points, but also between each other in Ad-Hoc mode,” said Raux. “If a mobile loses a direct connection to the infrastructure, it is instantaneously and automatically relayed by another mo-bile.” In addition, the Level 3 (routing) network allows redundancy.

While the Luceor deployment faced a few challenges during set up, Luceor re-sponded with deployment tool improve-ments and it is now performing well.

“We have the bandwidth that we require,” said Labbé. For the straddle

carriers this is an available real time TCP/IP bandwidth of between 3 and 5 Mbit/s. GMP intends to use the band-width to support additional applica-tions that work better with real time equipment monitoring, including Navis PrimeRoute and, potentially, a collision avoidance system. VOIP is also being considered.

Installing a router on all mobile equipment requires more investment in hardware than other options, but it is be-coming more common. If the terminal wants to move beyond sending simple work instructions, it needs a network that can support more data and provide real-time connectivity, Labbé added.

Managed WiFi on the way US-based Wireless Network specialist Fidelity Comtech will soon launch a new product called NetWatch that will enable it to deliver WiFi as a managed service with guaranteed data throughput rates.

Fidelity is tendering on new termi-nal projects in the US and also working with existing marine and rail terminals that have not had good experiences with wireless systems. At the moment, said Fi-delity’s director of sales Bryan Lonergan, many terminals depend on the expertise of local contractors to configure and in-stall a WiFi network correctly and have no visibility into issues when they occur.

Lonergan said Fidelity has learnt, through discussions with potential cus-tomers, that what terminals want from a wireless supplier is “accountability so their business processes can work”, particularly where automation is being implemented. More importantly, that accountability has to be at the device level.

Often the only information available is whether access points are working and the terminal has no visibility into why devices on equipment are not connect-ing, he added.

Fidelity believes it has the hardware and expertise to provide consistently reliable WiFi that can support the most demanding applications like AGVs. Its Phocus Array 802.11 network is now operating in several terminals and more recently it launched a Magnetic Mount Cline Bridge (MMCB) for terminal ve-hicles. This improves WiFi reception by placing a router and two omni-direc-tional antennas on the roof of a vehicle.

With the new NetWatch product Fi-delity “will take connectivity monitor-ing all the way out to the vehicle” by connecting a network monitoring tool to the ethernet port of the MMCB. This will give Fidelity remote information on signal strength and data throughput rates at the mobile equipment, where the ter-minal needs connectivity that it can use to manage the network.

The logical next step for Fidelity is to offer WiFi as a managed service, with guaranteed data throughput rates. Net-Watch will be a core part of this offering and Fidelity is now expanding and add-ing more staff in preparation for launch-ing a managed service.

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29_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 10:53:49

May 201330

ICT FOCUS

The port of Osaka is leveraging smart-phones as part of its patent-pending Port of Osaka Container Truck Information System. This is a web-based service that sends real time traffic information via smartphones and websites. Smartphone users access an App that displays the length of the gate queue on a map, with pictures from cameras outside the gates, and a dis-play showing the number of vehicles in the line and the estimated waiting time.

Information from connected smart-phones is also fed into a website that shows registered trucking companies the location of their trucks outside the ter-minal. Masaharu Shinohara, executive officer for engineering and planning at Osaka, said the App has proved very use-ful in helping balance the gate workflow. Truck queues can reach up to 3km long at times. Truckers can access the App and decide not to come to the port if gate congestion is too heavy and they are able to take another job.

Port Newark Container Terminal (PNCT) in New Jersey has deployed a new App called Lynx MCA (Mobile Customer Access) to give truckers and other customers real time access to in-formation from its Navis applications. Lynx MCA was developed by Versiant Corporation, which has a lot of experi-ence with Navis software and is its sole SPARCS N4 implementation partner for the Americas.

Ports America-owned PNCT oper-ates Navis SPARCS 2.7 and Express, plus WebAccess. IT Director Adam Su-lich said WebAccess is used widely by desk-based staff, from freight forwarders and shipping lines, to access container

information by a web browser, but the trucking community wanted an App that made container information avail-able without having to navigate through PNCT’s website. “The trucking com-munity is used to dealing with compa-nies like Fedex and UPS that have Apps tailored for various contractors, and they wanted something similar,” he said.

Using Versiant’s Lynx MCA, PNCT customers can verify container availabil-ity, view vessel schedules, review book-ings and evaluate gate EIRs prior to ar-riving at the terminal using virtually any mobile smartphone or tablet device that is directly routed from PNCT’s website.

PNCT tested and refined the App

A new software application called Auto-Stow for automated vessel planning is being tested in Singapore. The software was developed by the Nanyang Tech-nological University (NTU) Maritime Research Centre and School of Com-puter Engineering as part of a project in association with APL and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).

One of Singapore’s biggest vessel planning challenges as a transhipment hub is balancing the loading weight distribution required for vessel stabil-ity with the need to optimise the vessel stow for onward ports of call. Optimis-ing the stow for onward calls can mean having to add ballast water. Ballast water is deadweight that costs the shipping line money to carry – re-handles require ex-tra port moves and add to port time.

According to the MPA experienced planners in Singapore take around two hours to produce a vessel plan, but it takes years of training to get to that level, and when planners leave they take all their knowledge with them. Four years ago the MPA and APL approached NTU about developing software to au-tomate vessel planning. Funding was obtained for the AutoStow project and NTU researchers started experimenting with advanced optimisation techniques in the stowage planning process.

“The greatest challenge lies in trans-lating the strategies of human experts for handling various situations into consist-ent and efficient computer algorithms, and this phase lasted for about two years'” said the MPA. The result is a soft-ware application that can plan container distribution within minutes once planers set up the details of the voyage and vessel and input the discharge and loading lists.

The project is now in its final stage of testing with APL. At this stage around 70-80% of the plan generated by soft-ware can be used directly, with the bal-ance requiring minor “tweaking” by manual planners.

Osaka App

PNCT goes mobile

The Lynx MCA smartphone App allows PNCT customers to verify container avail-ability, among other useful functions, with in-formation routed from PNCT’s website

useful for notifying users about PNCT’s status in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy last year.

Edward Read, Versiant vice president for application development, said Apps like Lynx MCA are the way of the fu-ture and the firm is now talking with other terminal operators in New York and New Jersey that also want to use it. Versiant has developed Lynx MCA to integrate with SPARCS N4, older Navis software, other brand TOS applications and other software like billing systems. It can be configured for two-way commu-nication to enable users to send infor-mation from mobile devices if required.

AutoStowin testing

for two months before rolling it out for Apple, Blackberry and Android Phones. According to Sulich, the response from truckers was “enormously positive”. They provided feedback that led to some changes in format and functions, but the App itself and integration and with the TOS worked from the begin-ning without any problems.

Since Lynx MCA was introduced, PNCT has seen a significant reduction in calls to its service centre and is now considering giving more options to mo-bile users. Currently they can view in-formation, but the App is not configured to enable two-way communication. It would boost efficiency if truck drivers could update certain information and pay demurrage online. PNCT would also like to link the App to its Twitter feed, which Sulich said was extremely

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May 2013 33

NEWSICT FOCUS

DP World Antwerp has now been op-erating the “Janus Gate” RFID e-seal system from Belgian company Leghorn Perfra since December 2012.

Janus Gate uses the RFID UHF ISO 18000-6 (EPC Global) standard for pas-sive tags operating in the 865-869 MHz frequency. Leghorn supplies a range of e-seals, including its Neptune model that is built to the ISO 17712 2010 standard for bolt seals, but Janus Gate can support any EPC Global e-seal operating at 865-869 MHz.

At Antwerp Gateway, readers with a range of 6-8m are installed before the OCR portals on three “fast lanes”. The readers are connected to the Janus Gate software and collect data comprising: e-seal serial number; gate and lane ID; date and time; sequential readings where a container has two seals or where there are two containers on a trailer; and secu-rity seal state (if supported by the e-seal). The software generates a log file of this information.

In early December DPW made it compulsory for hauliers serving its Ant-werp Gateway terminal to provide ad-ministrative details in advance through its web portal. Once jobs are confirmed, the haulier is given a TAS (Truck Ap-pointment System) number, which is entered at the terminal and matched by the gate software to the truck and con-tainer data collected by OCR.

The fast lane stations were also in-stalled in December but e-seals are not compulsory. Containers with e-seals do not have to stop for a physical seal inspec-tion, instead continuing straight through one of the three fast lanes. Truckers can still use the fast lane if they enter the seal number themselves at a self-service desk. In the future, trucks using the fast lane and being served by ASCs will be able to access the terminal out-of-hours and get served during shift breaks.

By the end of 2012, 10-15 container transport companies had begun using e-seals regularly. Early this year, Leghorn

E-seals at Antwerp gate

made some adjustments to the filters so the readers only read the RFID e-seals and not truck or chassis tags from other systems. “The system runs faultless, and DP World is very satisfied,” said Leghorn managing director Alex Le Clef. Users were initially concerned about the cost of the e-seals but are now satisfied that leghorn can keep it below €1 per seal, he added.

Despite the low cost and the opera-tional incentives, e-seal adoption could be better. “At this moment only con-tainer transport companies are using them,” said Le Clef. Leghorn, along with the commercial team at DPW, is trying to raise awareness among shippers and shipping lines of the advantages of e-seals and fast lanes along the wider sup-ply chain. To make them more attractive Leghorn is now extending the range of data its e-seals can carry.

Groups like the European Shippers Council are now promoting e-seals to their members, but Le Clef said the technology will become “a real success” when other ports embrace it too and install fast lanes at their terminals. Dis-cussions in this direction are now under-way and Le Clef is confident that within two years several other terminals will be equipped with the technology. “After all, [it] is very accessible in price and with a very fast ROI, especially in use with OCR,” he added.

In the future, trucks served by ASCs will be able to access the terminal out-of-hours

Port of Tyne takes two

Container operations at the Port of Tyne will benefit from a variety of modules included in the Autostore Container Terminal Management System

The UK Port of Tyne has contract-ed Central Systems and Automation (CSA) and DBIS to provide separate applications that will be integrated to form a unified cargo management system. Tyne has nearly doubled its ton-nage since 2009 and handles around 5 Mt of dry bulk, 70,000 TEU and over 650,000 vehicles.

CSA’s two main products are its Autostore TOS and a Warehouse Man-agement System (WMS). DBIS, which is owned by Terex-Gottwald through its subsidiary TBA, has a specialist Termi-nal Management System (TMS) called CommTrac for dry bulk terminals. Tyne will implement the Autostore Con-tainer Terminal Management System (CTMS) and Autostore Resource Man-agement system. A number of modules are included within this – vessel plan-ning, EDI, Destin8 interface, vehicle booking, billing and functionality for container maintenance and repair.

On the bulk side, DBIS will supply CommTrac to manage bulk operations, vessel management and berth planning. DBIS will extend its vessel management module into a full marine operations sys-tem, managing vessel movements, tugs and pilotage, as well as berth planning.

CSA and DBIS put in a joint bid for the project, which has a total value of £1M. “Our offer to the client was based on the principle that selecting ‘best of breed’ products for each op-erational area with good interfaces be-tween is a much better solution than seeking a ‘one size fits all’ port manage-ment solution and obviously the client agreed with this philosophy,” said DBIS sales director David Trueman.

A number of TOS suppliers of-fer breakbulk, auto and general cargo functionality with their TOS, but dry bulk cargo is quite a different market. CommTrac is designed in a very differ-ent way to a TOS, WMS or general cargo system, forming a layer between business ERP systems and machine-based con-

trol systems like SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) and weigh bridges that measure bulk cargo flow.

CSA director Andrew McKaig added that the two systems are “a good fit” from a technology perspective because they are both based on Microsoft SQL databases. As the main contractor, CSA is responsible for systems integration and delivering a single, unified web in-terface for external users. The integra-tion work will be done off-site, made easier because the CSA and DBIS of-fices are only an hour’s drive apart.

Another aspect of the integration is connecting the port systems to the Destin8 Port Community System. CSA will be able to do this virtually off-the-shelf as it already has an interface to Destin8 used by other UK clients.

The software will be rolled out in stages over a 12-month period. The Autostore CTMS will be installed first, followed by the DBIS vessel manage-ment system, DBIS bulk management system and then the Autostore resource management system. This will cover vir-tually all Tyne’s operation, except some

general cargo which is handled through another WMS application, and was not included in the scope of the project.

CSA will make some customisations to Autostore to meet the requirements of Tyne’s business with Nissan, but oth-erwise it is implementing “standard soft-ware”, said McKaig. Having two ven-dors does not add to the implementation time significantly – a complex system like this should be rolled out in stages, rather than trying to implement all sys-tems in one “big bang”, added McKaig.

CommTrac has been deployed at mixed terminals before, including APMT’s Pipavav and Callao facilities where it manages dry bulk, handled alongside container operations control-led by Navis software. The two systems are not, however, integrated in any way. Trueman and McKaig are optimistic that there is a good market for a more integrated approach. “On the surface it looks like the amalgam of two solutions is more complex than a Port Manage-ment System but typical PMS solutions don’t provide the level of functional-ity required by the individual termi-nal operations and it is here that our integrated solution will pay dividends,” said Trueman.

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May 201334

ICT FOCUS

Malta takes TelematicsFreeport Malta is now using a telematics system to provide in-formation on vehicle location for yard planning purposes to its Navis TOS, and on machine condition to its IBM Maximo maintenance and fleet manage-ment software.

Before it was acquired by Car-gotec, Navis had been pushing into the telematics market, with an ultimate goal of bringing in-formation on a vehicle’s location and its condition together to im-prove overall fleet management and yard planning. Cargotec is now marketing equipment-based systems and products under the Kalmar brand, where they are of-fered as a TOS and equipment OEM agnostic product.

Kalmar has installed GPS units on 63 terminal tractors and 23 STS cranes at the terminal. The GPS units are part of an on-board vehicle controller supplied by CrossControl, which is now part of Actuant Corporation and specialises in controllers for diag-

nostic and integrated fleet man-agement applications.

CrossControl is supplying Bromma with controllers and displays for its Green Zone products. Kalmar is also using CrossControl’s processor (called Main Controller) and display computers in its SmartPort range of port automation products. At Malta Freeport Kalmar installed Main Controller processors without a display to provide the GPS position that Freeport uses as part of its yard planning system.

Malta Freeport is using Navis PrimeRoute vehicle allocation and travel optimisation software. This benefits from “job step-ping”, where the software gets a message when a particular piece of equipment has arrived at one stage in a move, such as under-neath a crane or at the right spot in an RTG block. Malta Freeport uses the GPS on STS cranes to implement geo-fences around the crane portal so the software knows instantly when a termi-

nal tractor arrives under a crane without having to rely on the tractor driver hitting a function key.

Freeport is also implementing IBM’s Maximo software, which tracks assets and is used to de-velop maintenance schedules to ensure preventative maintenance is scheduled and completed. It also manages spare parts inven-tory and can be used to operate a just-in-time ordering system for spare parts.

To support Maximo, the Main Controller connects to the trac-tors electronic system via CAN Bus to collect data, which is then sent by WiFi to the SmartPort server. Data on fuel level, engine hours, coolant level, coolant tem-

TSB in the process mineKorea’s Total Soft Bank (TSB)

is encouraging terminals to con-sider “process mining” as they look for ways to leverage opera-tional data to boost productivity.

Data mining is a way of analys-ing data to discover hidden cor-relations and trends in recorded events. In a container terminal context, said TSB, data mining typically clusters “containers by cargo type or operator to figure out average handling time for the group.” This is useful to some ex-tent, but is ultimately limited by the existing statistical functions of the TOS. It cannot really tell anything more than the handling time of various containers bro-ken down by their attributes, said TSB.

Where terminals want to dig into data to try and identify where they can improve per-formance TSB considers “proc-ess mining” is a more useful approach. “Process mining is a branch of data mining focusing more on events and timing,” said TSB. It examines event logs to determine a sequence of events and when they happened.

According to the software company, container terminals are ideal for process mining be-cause they have a TOS to con-trol cranes and other container handling equipment. There are lots of event logs with all the

necessary information required, “like which container has been handled by which crane at which time”. Terminals also have a well defined “priori process model”; meaning they have clear repeti-tive processes and time period norms against which specific events can be compared.

“By breaking down the con-tainer handling process via proc-ess mining, we are able to grasp the average time required be-tween events and check which containers are handled over av-erage time and then try to find common attributes of containers or events through data mining techniques” said TSB. Process mining requires some expertise to distinguish important data from other events and this is where the experience of a TOS supplier is needed.

Getting detailed event logs is obviously important for this type of process mining. Automated or semi-automated terminals where the position of equipment is known through the crane or fleet management software have much more detailed event logs than conventional terminals. At conventional manned terminals equipment positions might only be recorded intermittently. Typi-cally a TOS knows equipment positions only when drivers re-port arrival at various points in

perature, and oil pressure is then forwarded on to Maximo every five seconds.

Freeport Malta is still imple-menting Maximo and is not yet using this information to support some of its advanced features,

like scheduling fuelling dynami-cally. So far the main benefits Malta has achieved from the te-lemetry system relate to getting accurate information in real time. Freeport is now confident it has the platform to get the benefits

Malta Freeport is using vehicle telematics to provide real time data to planning and fleet management applications

of its investment in Maximo and planning applications like Prime Route without having to rely on manual processes or data entry. A company spokesperson said the results so far “are very encouraging”.

the task. TSB noted that in these cases, machine generated data should be incorporated before process mining begins.

TSB has used process min-ing at the Kao Ming Container Terminal (KMCT) in Taiwan to investigate the reasons behind re-handling moves in its auto-mated RMG stacks. It collected information on the re-han-dling moves and the re-handled container attributes over a one-week period. Through process mining TSB identified seven rea-sons for re-handling and was able to suggest improvements to two specific types of patterns. The

TSB used process mining to investigate re-handling at Taiwan’s Kao Ming Container Terminal, which is slated to expand to four berths next year

details are confidential but TSB said the improvements reduced shuffling moves by between 25% and 50%.

Chih-Cheng Kao, KMCT vice president of terminal op-eration, said process mining pro-duced a good result quickly. Its administrators were able to get the required data easily and take immediate action to reduce shuf-fling. “[Process mining analysis] is one of the intelligent analysis tools for terminal operators to manage and control job orders smoothly at the yard and shipside. Thanks to the instant and reli-able analysis data obtained from it, we can decrease the shuffling rate in yard and increase opera-tional performance immediately at shipside and yard,” he said.

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34_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 14/06/2013 03:49:43

May 2013 35

NEWSICT FOCUS

Auckland’s efficiency drive

New Zealand’s Ports of Auck-land Limited (POAL) is chart-ing a new course as it prepares to make the transition from Navis SPARCS to SPARCS N4. The move involves replacing several applications including SPARCS, the PACTS yard inventory sys-tem developed in Australia by Patrick Stevedores, and an in-house development called PIMS (Port Information Management Systems) that provides billing functionality and operational re-porting with SPARCS N4.

As previously reported, in 2008 POAL contracted Korea’s Total Soft Bank to complete a “blueprint and detailed planning phase” for a comprehensive sys-tem covering all aspects of con-tainer terminal operations, CFS, billing and e-commerce services. After considering several options, Raoul Borley, POAL general manager of port operations, said the decision was made last year to stay with Navis, for several reasons.

“We believe SPARCS N4 is the best platform for an IT structure that can support our productivity targets and goal of being the technology leader in the New Zealand market,” he explained. POAL wants to em-brace new technologies as they become available, and it believes Navis is a leader in this respect. “Navis has been tried and test-ed by most other large ports in New Zealand, POAL’s customers are familiar with it and POAL’s Board were assured that this was a good investment,” he added.

Borley’s own experience with SPARCS N4 also played a role. He worked for 15 years in a va-riety of roles at Ports of Auck-land prior to leaving in 2010. He then moved to UK-based Best Shore Business Solutions, a Navis SPARCS implementation partner and process improvement consultant, before returning to Auckland in January 2012.

Productivity driveWith a strong directive from the CEO and executive team, POAL has a clearly stated objective to raise its productivity, but it is not looking to SPARCS N4 to de-liver a step change all by itself. POAL is engaged in process im-provement right now, developing new yard planning and opera-tional rules that it will carry over to SPARCS N4.

Although it has made a lot of capital investment in STS cranes and straddle carriers, POAL in the past has struggled to achieve productivity over 28-29 moves per hour. Yard planning plays a key role in crane rates and this was one of the main areas where Borley saw immediate scope for improvement. “Though we use Navis Expert Decking, we weren’t using it very well,” he said.

Before testing any new strat-egies an expert was brought in to conduct a detailed analysis of cargo types and container distri-bution across the yard. This anal-ysis showed how better planning of container locations could sup-port higher vessel productivity.

Since then the port has changed yard allocation criteria to better utilise the stacking area closer to the quayside. The focus of yard planning has gone from minimising straddle travel dis-tances to staging and re-planning

the yard to support higher crane productivity. This does mean straddle carriers are doing more moves, but they are performed within existing shifts, so the ad-ditional cost is limited to fuel and maintenance.

Some of the planning con-cepts POAL is implementing are in fact borrowed from ASC yard planning, where containers are commonly moved three or more times as they progress from the landside to the waterside end of the block. Other new ideas are being developed in conjunction with Navis.

Dwell timePOAL is also tackling shipping practices that adversely affect its productivity. Dwell times are 2.5 days for import containers and 3.5 for export boxes, but these figures do not include rolled boxes. It has made significant progress tackling the problem of containers arriving at the termi-nal without a Customs Export Delivery Order (CEDO). Ship-pers would apply for a CEDO when the box was in the yard, but if it was not given, the con-tainer would have to be removed from the loading list and rolled.

This played havoc with yard and vessel planning and POAL worked out 53% of vessels were impacted by CEDO issues. It was particularly a problem where one box in a pre-staged twin-lift pair failed to obtain a CEDO. Since February POAL has been enforcing a policy of removing from the load list any box with-out a CEDO two hours prior to the vessel ETA, and charging demurrage if the box is subse-quently rolled. Financial penalties are bringing a change in shipper behaviour.

Through a combination of process and yard planning changes POAL has been able to lift crane productivity above 32 moves per hour. Borley said it recently hit 37 moves on several vessels and he is confident the terminal can get to 42 without adding more handling equip-ment.

The experience has high-lighted to POAL the difference between just using a TOS and using more advanced features to the full extent to unlock the po-tential of its investment in equip-ment. It has decided to purchase TBA’s CONTROLS emulation software to give it the ability to test different scenarios and con-figurations as it continues this process.

Path to SPARCS N4Borley acknowledges that tran-sitioning to SPARCS N4 is a big challenge, particularly in the integration and EDI areas where other ports are still having issues. POAL will manage as much of the transition as possible itself, and is now developing a plan for testing interfaces and imple-menting the software in stages.

At this stage the plan is to make the transition in the Q2 2014. Concurrently, POAL is running a separate tender for a Gate Operating System, which will be rolled out with gate and crane OCR after the TOS im-plementation is complete. An-other project undergoing evalua-tion is a new GPS system for the straddle carriers that will be used to support real time container in-

Auckland is using yard gantry crane planning concepts to support higher crane productivity with a straddle carrier system

Ports of Auckland is trying a new yard planning scheme as it gearsup to transition to SPARCS N4

ventory and yard planning.Borley emphasised that get-

ting the most out of SPARCS N4 entails a lot more challenges than the technical, integration aspects. POAL wants to work with its customers to show them how current business practices impact port productivity, and in some cases get them to embrace

change. The port could mandate RFID truck tagging, for exam-ple, but a lot more efficiencies could be gained if the trucking community embraced RFID in its planning too. The port is now engaging with the wider New Zealand supply chain, including other NZ ports, on addressing some of these issues. �

Maher Terminals in New Jer-sey is now rolling out SPARCS N4, which would bring to an end what is believed to be the longest running SPARCS N4 implementation project to date.

Maher made the announce-ment that it would replace its in-house TOS with SPARCS N4 in 2008 and has been conducting extensive on-site testing using Aecom’s General Marine Terminal Emulation tool.

This couples a simulation en-gine to the TOS to test how the TOS functions with real opera-tional data and gives a graphi-cal overview of how a terminal operates under the rules and parameters of the TOS plan-ning functionality.

The cultural and operational transition from Maher’s in-house system to SPARCS N4 has been a significant factor in prolonging the project.

After it acquired Maher

Terminals, Deutsche Bank’s RREEF Infrastructure re-viewed its business and Brad Gordon, director of acquisi-tions, said Maher’s processes were out of step with the rest of the industry. He described its in-house TOS as a “huge waste of money” with “all the learnings of Maher and none of the learnings of the rest of the industry.”

Maher is taking the final im-plementation in stages, starting with the empty depot in April before moving on to its main container terminal this month.

Aspects of its existing CTMS TOS will run in par-allel with SPARCS N4 for a time before the transition is completed in June.

This makes the implementa-tion period more complicated, with customers required to enter data into two systems at times, but significantly lowers the risk of operational prob-lems.

Maher starts roll out

35_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 16:14:00

May 201336

ICT FOCUS

Reefer monitoring set to rollIDENTEC Solutions has launched three new pilot projects for its Reefer Asset Management System (RAMS) over the last six months. All are at con-tainer terminals that are looking for a system to automate the reefer monitor-ing process as far as possible.

The heart of IDENTEC’s Reefer Asset Management System is its UHF 868-920 MHz active RFID technology and the Wireless Asset Management System (WAMS) platform developed by IDENTEC’s partner Mark-It Serv-ices, a US-based supplier of cold chain services. IDENTEC’s iQ350 RFID tags support two-way communication with its iPORT 350 readers to send and re-

ceive information to reefer boxes from the iSHARE server that supports the RAMS application.

Rather than relying on the reefer having a power line modem, IDEN-TEC connects to the serial port directly to access the reefer’s micro controller. The RFID tags communicate with a local network of readers and have a 500m range for sending informa-tion and a 250m range for receiving. The RFID network is set up like a lo-calised wireless system, with minimal fixed infrastructure, enabling it to be de-ployed very quickly virtually anywhere reefers are stored, including wheeled yards and temporary storage areas

where reefers are powered by gensets.RAMS is independent of the reefer

unit and carrier. Some reefer manu-factures use proprietary data proto-cols for communication with the mi-cro controller, in particular Thermo King with its i-box system. Michael Dempsey, IDENTEC’S general man-ager for ports and terminals, said it has come to arrangements with the reefer manufacturers and can connect to any container that has a serial port, includ-ing the four major suppliers, Carrier, Daiken, MCI/Star Cool and Thermo King. There are still some reefers that have no serial port at all in service, but IDENTEC is confident is can sup-

port 97-99% of the active reefer fleet. In the past, the reefer monitoring

market has suffered from getting caught up in the uncertainty over e-seals and container tracking. Container terminals have been reluctant to invest, not know-ing whether truly ubiquitous container tracking and monitoring would emerge as a supply chain norm driven by ship-pers and shipping lines.

Maersk is rumoured to be announc-ing a new global monitoring system this year, but Dempsey does not see this dampening terminals’ demand for their own system. Over the last 12 months there has been a “huge awakening” to the potential of reefer monitoring, he added, driven mainly by the value prop-osition to container terminals.

Reefer traffic is growing much faster than containerisation as a whole, and

while a lot of terminals contract out reefer management services, the cost savings from automating the process are significant. Comprehensive monitoring also delivers a better service to shippers by enabling accurate information to be made available through the terminal’s customer web portal.

Yard automation and safety are also driving factors. The need to keep au-tomated cranes out of reefer zones while technicians are working creates an operational imperative to minimise the time technicians are on reefer racks servicing boxes.

The location of the three pilot projects is confidential at this stage but they are all for different operators and include integration with Navis SPARCS and Tideworks TOS applica-tions.

The container tracking market is poised for spectacular growth, accord-ing to a new report from Sweden-based business intelligence analyst Berg Insight. Berg’s latest report found that the installed base of container track-ing systems grew 54% in 2012. The number of active remote container tracking units deployed on intermodal shipping containers was 137,000 in Q4 2012, up from 89,000 a year ear-lier. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 49.1%, this number is expected to reach 1M by 2017. The penetration rate of remote tracking systems in the total popula-tion of containers is forecast to increase from 0.7% in 2012 to 4.1% in 2017.

Berg’s 2013 forecast is actually less optimistic than its 2012 prediction. Then it calculated that the CAGR for container tracking was 66.9% and 1M installed units would be reached by 2016.

Berg noted that after acquiring StarTrak, PAR LMS and GlobalTrak, Orbcomm has emerged as the larg-est vendor of tracking devices. It re-cently announced its first “self-pow-ered M2M tracking and monitoring device” for container tracking, the Orbcomm GT 1100. Orbcomm is also focusing on the trucking market where it just announced seven new transport companies have signed up for its ReeferTrak solution for refrig-erated transport assets.

Berg bullish on tracking

PearTrack’s GPS tracking system and Sweloxx’s reusable container lock are com-bined in a new range of e-seals

RFID dealsThe UK’s Avonwood Developments Ltd has won further orders for its RFID-based safety system, ZoneSafe. The system uses Eureka dual frequency active RFID transponders worn by ground staff, to-gether with RFID readers on equipment, to warn drivers when people enter a safe-ty zone around a vehicle.

The new orders come from undisclosed ports in Chile and Australia. “The system will be fitted to reach stackers, heavy-du-ty forklift trucks and small forklift trucks operating within the ports to improve safety between pedestrians and industrial vehicles,” Avonwood said in a statement.

The firm is marketing ZoneSafe as a “safety aid” that is especially useful in re-ducing some of the issues and safety risks associated with industrial vehicles such as limited visibility and blind spots. It comes in two options: Compact and Standard. The Compact version is designed for small forklifts and machinery, while the Standard system is suitable for large in-dustrial vehicles like reach stackers, but versions are compatible.

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38_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 20:13:10

PORT DEVELOPMENT

May 2013 39

WorldCargonews

The first phase of the Port of Rotterdam’smassive Maasvlakte II (MVII) docks wereofficially opened during May, after almostfive years of construction work. Theproject got under way in September 2008.Since then the contractors, led by Boskalisand Van Oord have dredged and pumped240M m3 of sand, constructed a 3.5 kmslong, hard seawall with 7 Mt of stone and20,000 concrete blocks from the old sea-wall, built 3.5 kms of quay wall, 24 kmsof roads and 14 kms of rail track.

Almost 1000-ha of land have beencreated, including a reserve bank of 300-ha, while the enclosed port basins have a20m deep water area in excess of 560-ha.All of this, says the port authority (HBR),was achieved on time and for €150M lessthan the budget of €1.7B.

When the plans for MVII were firstunveiled in the early 2000s, the economicoutlook was very different from today’s.As such, while MVII is a marvel of engi-

neering and project management, its im-mediate aim, to relieve pressure on exist-ing facilities, is less pressing. Hence it willlead to even more competition in thecontainer handling sector than envisaged.

As is well-known, ECT’s ownerHutchison filed a lawsuit against HBRclaiming €900M for damage to its inter-ests caused by the opening of rival con-tainer terminals on MVII. The case is on-going and is sub judice.

The construction of the two MVIIcontainer terminals - to be operated by

Rotterdam World Gateway (consortiumof DP World, APL, MOL, HMM andCMA CGM) and APM Terminals - is onschedule and both will be operationaltowards the end of next year.

MVII is also generating interest fromcompanies that want to establish them-

ECT has taken a joint stake in the Rot-terdam company that developed a shore-based constant tension mooring system.As previously reported (WorldCargo News,June 2010, p6), the design, known asShoreTension, was developed by KVRE(the Royal Boatmen’s Association), whichis responsible for the mooring andunmooring of seagoing vessels in Rot-terdam and some other Dutch ports.

ECT tested ShoreTension at its DeltaTerminal and in April this year it acquireda 50% stake in a joint venture with KVRE,ShoreTension Holding (STH). It also ac-quired four stand-alone systems togetherwith the associated hydraulic primers.

The advantage of Shore Tension. saysSTH, is that the mooring rope tensioncan be monitored directly from the shoreand the stevedore does not have to worrythat the vessel’s self-tensioning winchesare performing to standard. It is the dif-ference in tension between the differentmooring lines that cause a ship to moveand potentially cause the mooring linesto snap. Even if the ship’s winches areworking correctly, but adjusted for dif-ferent tensions, problems may arise.

ShoreTension dampens the ship’smotion and absorbs its energy. As a result,vessels hardly move even in strong winds,swells, fast currents or in the wake of pass-ing shipping traffic. Even in extreme con-ditions, the system is capable of prevent-ing mooring lines from snapping.

The ShoreTension cylinder exerts thesame, constant pressure to the ship’s moor-ing lines fastened to the bollards on thequay. No on-going power is needed. Anexternal hydraulic system, normally sup-plied from a specially equipped van, isrequired, but only at start-up to primethe unit to the correct tension prior touse. After that, the cylinder moves hydrau-lically in line with the forces to whichthe mooring line is exposed.

The system provides high tensionforce and pays out the line, coping withpeak loads without exceeding the line’sminimum breaking load (MBL). Thisdampens ship motion and absorbs theenergy. When peak loads have passed, theunit heaves in the line with the energystored and returns to its initial position.For additional security, ShoreTension isused in combination with a high-qualitymooring line made of HMPE, a super-strong synthetic fibre. These mooring linesare issued to the ship from the shore. �

ShoreTension on test in Rotterdam

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39_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 20:11:02

May 201340

WorldCargonews PORT DEVELOPMENT

selves in the associated distribu-tion park, although as yet there areno firm bookings.

Opening upCurrently the only deepsea mar-ket competitor to ECT is APMT,which operates on a 100-ha par-cel (formerly known as DeltaSealand terminal) on the Deltaterminal where ECT occupies theremaining 270-ha. ECT also op-erates the Euromax terminal onthe Yangtzehaven, which is nowthe approach channel to the MVIIterminals. Last year, ECT handledaround 7.7M TEU in Rotterdam,including the City terminal in theWaalhaven (formerly known asHome terminal), while APMThandled 4M TEU.

Now that the main construc-tion work for MVII is complete,it will be possible to extendEuromax into the newly re-claimed land area.

ECT is currently refurbishingand upgrading the Delta termi-nal. It is understood to have or-dered 11 ZPMC cranes with a 24-wide deck coverage and a clearlight height above quay of 50m. Ithas also ordered 11 ASCs fromKalmar and 22 hybrid drive AGVsfrom VDL as replacements for age-

ing equipment at Delta, but thereis no indication where the STScranes will be deployed. ECT de-clined WorldCargo News’ requestfor information.

Steady goingThe last three years have seenRotterdam’s container volumesrelatively stable at around the 11MTEU level - 11.15M TEU,11.88M TEU and 11.87M TEUin 2010, 2011 and 2012 respec-tively. While this is not the growthpattern the port enjoyed whenMVII was planned, HBR is com-fortable with these figures, notingthat competing ports are in a simi-lar position, if not worse.

Antwerp, the third biggestcontainer port in Europe, has re-mained consistent at around 8.5MTEU, while second place Ham-burg saw bigger fluctuations. Its2010 throughput of 7.9M TEUjumped to 9M TEU in 2011 andfell back to 8.64M TEU last year.

Containerised tonnage hasgrown faster than volumes, due toa reduction in empty backhauls tothe Far East. The figure for Rot-terdam was 125.4 Mt last year,marginally up from 123.6 Mt in2011 while the 2010 tonnage wasover 10 Mt lower at 112.3 Mt.

Containerised tonnage was thebiggest segment after liquid bulk,comfortably above dry bulk,which fell slightly to 78.1 Mt.

Container focusThe port remains firmly focusedon containers for long termgrowth. There is no provision formajor bulk handling facilities onMVII as HBR considered thereis sufficient capacity at theWaalhaven, Europoort and atMaasvlakte I, in the form of EECV,EMO and 15 smaller terminalssuch as Rotterdam Bulk Termi-nal, European Bulk Services,Marcor, ADM and so on.

It also considers that the tra-ditional staples of heavy bulk im-ports, such as thermal coal, ironore and coking coal are in decline.While thermal coal handling isprojected to remain stable, if notgrow, for the next decade or so,fossil fuel power generation willeventually be overhauled by re-newable energy. Even if biomass,a substitute for coal burning, takesover from coal, it will not needthe heavy handling plant and largeopen stockyards that coal requires.

The European steel makingmarket is also changing. It willemerge as a far slimmer industryfocused more on high grade rolledsteels rather than trying to com-pete with basic steels, which willbe imported from China and evenfrom the US, where shale gas isdriving down energy prices.

MVII is about handling semi-processed commodities and con-sumer goods carried in contain-ers, and the logistics to sort, storeand distribute this traffic, alongwith the formation of businesspark “clusters” to support theseactivities. There are advanced plansfor developing an industrial parkfor a bio-based chemical industryon the site next to Lyondell. To-gether with partners, HBR is de-veloping the infrastructure for the

site, such as jetties and mains serv-ices connections for gas, water,electricity etc. This approach, be-lieves HBR, offers businesses theadvantage of being able to con-centrate on their core activities.

Dukes of AlbaHBR is placing mooring piles forship-to-ship transfer, which it seesas a growing, but possibly, shortterm market. Demand for this typeof activity is growing strongly, es-pecially in the liquid bulk sector,due mainly to oil coming fromRussia, which is shipped to Asiain larger tankers than the panamaxsize that can access the Baltic.

There is also interest from thedry bulk sector, particularly forgrains and other agri-bulks, whilethe area could also be employedfor biomass transhipment fromtransatlantic bulkers to barges fordelivery to Dutch and Germaninland power plants. This activity,on a limited scale, is currently car-ried out in the Waalhaven, whichis limited in space and also entailsa long passage upriver for the deepsea vessel. HBR is investingaround €10M in the moorings andthey will be ready next year.

FinancingWith MVII phase 1 now opened,HBR has been able to determinethe actual costs. In 2006 it was es-timated that €1.7B would be spenton the first phase. On top of that,due to the project’s complexityand size, a “contingency” of€200M was added to allow forsetbacks and deviations from theplan, taking the budget to €1.9B.It appears that the first phase camein at €1.55B, or €150M underbudget, while the €200M contin-gency fund was not necessary.

The net result of the port au-thor ity in 2012 was almost€228M, some €33M above thefigure for 2011. CFO Paul Smitsnoted: “These figures imply we

This shot of Delta DDE 2 shows how tight the Amazonehaven is, as thecontainer barge is backing out. The grabs in the foreground are on a floatingcrane moored near the end of the EMO coal and iron ore terminal

can continue to invest in our portarea. This is very important fordevelopment in the long-term.

“At the same time it offers theopportunity to increase dividendsto our shareholders [Rotterdammunicipality 70% and the DutchState 30%]. At the end of last yearwe had already agreed with thecustomers to reduce port dues tobelow the level of 2008.”

The two most importantsources of income are site leasesor rents and port dues. Lease/rental income increased by 9.3%to €291.7M, driven by the newleases on MVII, price indexationof current contracts, and the re-newal of a number of contracts atmore competitive prices. Port duesincreased by 0.6% to €307.3M,which was a lower rate of growththan the increased throughput due

The first two ASCs from Hans Kuenz have been erected at APMT’s MVIIterminal. They are just visible in the middle of the picture on p39 (Photo: Provoice)

to higher discounts. Considerableport due discounts also apply in2013. In total, operating incomeincreased by 4.6% to €615.3M.

A total of €625.7M was in-vested in the port in 2012, ofwhich €394.1M related to MVII.Investments are thus higher thanoperating income, but in the nextfew years investment volume willbe considerably lower as the firstphase of MVII is over and it willgenerate lease income..

The port has proposed a divi-dend of €85.6M. In addition toits share of that, the Dutch Statehas also been “repaid” €290M ofits original contribution to theconstruction of MVII. The favour-able financial returns provided theopportunity to reduce the debteight years earlier than was origi-nally agreed in 2005. �

Maasvlakte II panorama in April 2013. (Photo: Aeroview)

40_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 17:14:38

PORT DEVELOPMENT

May 2013 41

WorldCargonews

Along with other ports in the Ham-burg-Le Havre range, Antwerp’s2012 performance was relatively

stable, with a total of 184 Mt handled (-1.6%). Container traffic was off by 0.3%to 8.64M TEU, although containerisedtonnage fell by 1% to 104 Mt. This 1:12TEU/tonnage underscores the port’s con-tinuing “cargo generation” role relativeto other leading North Continent ports.

The 1Q/2013 results appear satisfac-tory, but show some alarming trends. To-tal throughput was up by 1.4% to 47 Mt,with liquid bulk traffic up by 37.4% to14.21 Mt, a port record. However, drybulk throughput fell by 33.2% to 3.56 Mt,with coal traffic plunging by 69% to536,000t and iron ore tonnage down by12.4% to 581,600t. In unit and tonnageterms, container traffic fell respectively by3% to 2.13M TEU and by 5.7% to 25.46Mt, resulting in a weaker TEU/tonnageratio of 1:11.9. This points to ongoingweakness of the European economy.

Land bankAntwerp has a significant land bank, oc-cupying around 1070-ha on the left bankof the Schelde, where the existing en-closed docks are relatively underutilisedand in some cases, such as the Doeldokand Verrebroekdok, uncompleted. A keyreason is that access is dependent on justone lock, the Kallo Lock. The construc-tion of a second lock access could trans-form the prospects for the Left Bank.

Arguably this new access should havefollowed on from the construction of theDeurganckdok, and cut into the end wallof this tidal dock, where PSA occupiesone side and DP World Antwerp Gate-way the other. At the time, however, theport was anxious to expand its containerhandling capacity due to rapidly increas-ing demand. Although a lock at the endof the dock was included in the plans,the finance, estimated at €340M lock, wasnot in place and was not actively sought.

Subsequently the European InvestmentBank stepped in with a 50% soft loan, withthe remainder split between the City ofAntwerp, the Flanders region and the Bel-gian national government. Measuring500m x 68m and with a sill depth of 17.8m,the new lock is claimed to be the largest inthe world. More importantly, it will takepressure of the Kallo Lock.

As the Kallo Lock is working at fullcapacity even though some of the portzones it gives access to are underutilised,it follows that overall utilisation levels can-not increase unless and until alternativeaccess is provided. The port forecasts thatLeft Bank tonnage throughput could in-crease from 16 Mt in 2011 to around 25Mtpa by 2020 due to the new lock. It isscheduled for completion by 2016 and,because of its location, will offer easierand quicker access to the docks.

Ambitious plansThe port has ambitious plans for the1070-ha Saeftinghe Development Area tothe north of the existing port. The de-finitive allocation of land for maritime,industrial or logistics activities will bedecided later, but other investments arealready agreed. These include the Schijnsand Waasland logistics parks, new rail in-frastructure including the Liefkenshoekrail tunnel under the Schelde, which willlink directly to the main marshalling areaon the Right Bank. It is also proposed todevelop a 60-ha logistics site at theVerrebroekdok, which will be extended.

The port has not “given up” on thetidal Saeftinghedok, which would be sitedparallel with the Deurganckdok, but thereis no definite time frame. The develop-ment has run into serious environmentalobjections, particularly as the Deurganck-dok is underutilised. As reported onworldcargonews.com in March, the port hasfined Antwerp Gateway and PSA a totalof €13.48M because they are short of thetonnage commitments in their respectiveconcession agreements signed in 2003.This was the first penalty charge leviedin five years and, in theory, they couldhave been fined a total of €67M.

In-house expansionExpansion is currently under way on theLeft Bank without port master planning.

Antwerp Euroterminal, a joint venture ofGrimaldi and Mexiconatie, is lengthen-ing the quay length beyond 1600m.

The terminal is a hub for bothGrimaldi’s north-south traffic and thetransatlantic service of it affiliate ACL, andit also caters for Finnlines’ busy Antwerpservice. The quay extension will make iteasier to accommodate ACL’s five ‘G4’con-ro newbuildings, due in 2015.

Opposite Antwerp Euroterminal inthe Vrasenedok, EuroFruitPorts, the newmulti-purpose refrigerated fruit terminal,recently completed its cold store facili-ties on schedule, occupying 13,600 m2.As previously reported, EuroFruitPorts isa joint venture of Euroports Group and

Marseille-based importer and traderCompagnie Fruitière. Construction be-gan last September and the facility han-dled its first vessel in January.

The site occupies 38,700 m2 and is ad-jacent to the original Westerlund timberterminal (also Euroports.) On build-out itwill also provide two 8100 m2 dry cargowarehouses, a 17,500 m2 CY with 500reefer plugs and reefer repair facilities. �

View of the new lock construction, showingthe PSA office (white building) and Doeldokat the top and Deurganckdok on the right.Subsequent dredging of Deurganckdok willenable the terminals there to be extended. Theroad will go over a lift bridge

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41_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 17:21:37

May 201342

WorldCargonews PORT DEVELOPMENT

Amsterdam spreading its wingsIn April the Port of Amster-dam became incorporated,with City of Amsterdam as thesole shareholder. The new sta-tus enables the port authorityto act autonomously andmore quickly, and have accessto new funding sources.

The port, which was previ-ously an internal division of thecity, has already adopted a new ap-proach regarding land bank accu-mulation. It has a target of han-dling 125 Mtpa by 2026 on the

same surface area as today, and atthe same time it is looking for“value, not volume.” This is a rela-tively new approach in the re-gional context, as traditionally portauthorities derive most revenuefrom concessions, rents and leases.Of Antwerp’s 2012 turnover of€2.768B, for example, the largestcontributor by far at 47% was“concessions” - that is, the revenuegenerated by terminal leases.

The “new” port inherited thelong-standing dossier for a new

and bigger sea lock and this is astep closer to reality following ap-proval of the scheme by the DutchMinister of Infrastructure andEnvironment, Melanie Schultzvan Haegen. The outline financ-ing package is now in place, withthe port contributing E130M, thelocal province E458M and thegovernment a further E574M.

The new lock, measur ing500m x 65m and with a sill depthof 18m, will replace the existingNoordersluis, which currently

handles around 80% of the port’straffic. When the latter lock wasconstructed in 1929, it was thelargest lock in the world at 400mx 50m x 15m sill depth. The newlock will be sited between theNoordersluis, and the 1896-builtMiddensluis, measuring 225m x25m x 10m sill depth. If construc-tion starts on schedule in 2015, thelock should be completed in 2019.

The Noordersluis will bemothballed and activated only inthe event of a “calamity” or down-time for maintenance in the newlock. Navigational restrictions ontwo large ships passing each otherin the North Sea Canal make itimpractical to keep both locksopen, on the basis of “one in andone out.” The Middensluis and theeven older and smaller Zuider-sluis will remain open, for bargesand small coasters only.

At the same time as the lock isunder construction, the port isplanning to build an outer harbourbreakwater structure outside thelocks for lighter ing capesizebulkers to facilitate navigation inthe ship canal. While the sill depthis 18m, maximum canal draughtwill probably be restricted to14.5m in the short to mediumterm until dredging, where possi-ble, of the canal is implemented.

Green shoots?Last year, Amsterdam recorded agrowth of 1.3% overall, a positiveperformance given the results ofsome of its neighbouring ports. Inall, some 94.3 Mt were handledby Amsterdam and its affiliatedports on the North Sea Canal ofBeverwijk, Zaandam and Velsen/Ijmuiden. If the latter facilities arestripped out, Amsterdam properrecorded an impressive growth,given the general economic con-ditions, of 3% to reach 77 Mt, thehighest since the port’s 2008 peak.

Much of the growth is attrib-uted to liquid bulk, as the port isnow promoting storage, but notprocessing, of oils. Coal remainedstable at 15.6 Mt, while agri-bulkdropped 15% to 6.8 Mt. Biomassis a potential new traffic. If it dis-places coal imports, at under halfthe mass of coal it will requiremore ship calls to provide the gen-erators with the same thermalenergy as coal.

A test biomass cargo was dis-charged from a bulker loaded inVancouver (BC) with 47,000t of

wood pellets for RWE, with thecargo split between its Dutchpower station at Geertruidenbergand also transhipped to Tilbury.

A problem the port faces is thatwhile it abuts the largest city inthe Netherlands, it is still verymuch a “regional” port in termsof general cargo. Leaving coaltrains aside, Amsterdam has neverreally “exploited” the potential ofa wider hinterland, although TerHaak operates a container bargeshuttle along the North Sea Ca-nal from Ijmuiden to its USA(United Stevedores Amsterdam)terminal for reefer containers car-rying fresh fish from the Ijmuidenfishing market.

These are loaded on its ownbarges at its terminal adjacent tothe fish docks using a long wheel-base reach stacker with a negativelift attachment. Ter Haak accountsfor most of the container traffichandled in Amsterdam.

Cocoa popsThe establishment by Ter Haakand Katoen Natie of a “cocoashuttle” train to Berlin from theport (WorldCargo News, April 2013,

p1) shows that “niche” intermodalopportunities exist and the portwants to exploit them.

A seemingly unlikely genera-tor might be coal traffic. The coalterminals already dispatch substan-tial volumes by rail, and the vol-ume is anticipated to increase to2.5 Mtpa with implementation ofnew terminal loading infrastruc-ture and new marshalling andconsolidation rail yards.

At present there is not enough“aggregation” to support morecontainer block trains, but it mightbe possible to couple containerwagons to coal trains. As demandfor intermodal services grows,block trains to certain destinationsmight become viable. In themeantime the port is prepared toact as a “facilitator” to bundle traf-fic in “cross-chain logistics.”

This is already happening withthe cocoa train. Cocoa shipperCargill is providing the base load,but there are third party slots avail-able on the service, and thesemight prove attractive forgroupage operators, particularlywhen the frequency of the shut-tle is doubled to twice/week. �

Zeebrugge in the frameIf there is such a thing as a shortsea hub port in Europe, it isZeebrugge. P&O Ferries andTransfennica have extended theircooperation and now offer a jointlandbridge service for accompa-nied and unaccompanied trailersbetween Spain and England, withZeebrugge as the pivot.

P&O Ferries provides dailyservices between Zeebrugge andHull, Teesport and Tilbury. OnTuesdays and ThursdaysTransfennica sails between Zee-brugge and Bilbao. Customers canthrough book between the UKand Spain. Transfennica’s vesselscall at P&O’s 113-115 terminal.

Finnlines has started a weeklyservice linking Rostock, Zee-brugge and Bilbao, as an alterna-tive to long-haul trucking. DFDSLogistics is operating a weeklycontainer service linking Mosswith Zeebrugge and Immingham.

Between them the four Bel-gian seaports accounted for 134.1Mt of shortsea shipping traffic in2012, just 0.85% less than in 2011,despite the deteriorating eco-nomic climate in Europe, but still13% higher than the disastrousyear of 2009. Shortsea shippingaccounted for 52% of overall vol-ume in the ports.

“Extended gate”On the deepsea side, APM Termi-nals Zeebrugge has launched an

“extended gate” service, whichprovides a direct seagoing bargeor train connection fromZeebrugge to Antwerp.

Deepsea vessels discharging inZeebrugge instead of Antwerpsave 12 hours sailing time. Underthe programme, barges and trainssynchronised with mother shipcalls in Zeebrugge discharge con-tainers in a dedicated area in thetrimodal terminal on the rightbank in Antwerp.

Barge and rail services betweenZeebrugge and Antwerp have pre-viously been available, but APMTerminals says that it will man-age and operate the new servicewithout any planning requiredfrom the shipping line. The op-erator states that its end-to-endprocess management will provideshipping lines to plan in an addi-tional slow-steam without any dis-advantage for cargo owners.

Maersk Line started using theservice when it went “live.” Allcontainers destined to Antwerpwere discharged from the mothervessel in Zeebrugge and trans-ferred by barge or rail to Antwerp.

APMT Zeebrugge recentlysigned an MOU with China Ship-ping Terminals for a 24% share.The transaction is expected toclose in June. Currently, APMTZeebrugge holds a 75% stake, as25% was sold to Shanghai Inter-national Port Group in 2010. �

APM Terminals Zeebrugge is offering end-to-end process management forcontainers shipped by barge or rail between Zeebrugge and Antwerp

Biomass discharge operation under way at OBA in Amsterdam

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42_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 17:27:11

PORT DEVELOPMENT

May 2013 43

WorldCargonews

In theory the two parts of the ZeelandSeaports, Terneuzen and Vlissingen, arewell placed on either side of the Scheldtestuary to take advantage of capturingsome of Antwerp’s deep sea traffic. Inpractice, this does not appear to be thecase and the ports serve their respectivehinterlands, particularly the industries at-tracted to this region of Holland. There isconsiderable barge traffic betweenZeeland ports and Antwerp and furtherinto the Belgium/Dutch canal network,but mainly for domestic cargoes.

Last year Zeeland Seaports (ZSP) re-corded a 4% drop in overall seagoing ton-nage to 34 Mt, although CEO Hans vander Hart notes that “mid 2012, we weredown 8%, so the figures were quite satis-factory in the end, especially when wetake results of surrounding ports into con-sideration.” Barge traffic increased 12%,taking total volumes to around 70 Mt.

ZSP wants to increase seaborne cargoto 50 Mtpa and inland shipping through-put to 40 Mt by 2020. To achieve this, theport argues, it will need a deep sea con-tainer terminal. The ports already handlesome containers, with tonnage increas-ing 7% last year to 202,000t. Most con-tainers are handled at the Katoen Natieshortsea/barge terminal located adjacentto the large Dow Chemicals plant atTerneuzen, which provides the maincargo source, with very little third partytraffic accommodated.

Looking westVan der Hart is confident that “containerhandle will remain a spearhead [of portstrategy]. The Westerschelde ContainerTerminal project (WCT) is still in the pic-ture. In the meantime, together with othercompanies, we are looking at possibilitiesto realise a terminal within the existingdocks. This is really important.”

The CCO, Dick Gilhuis, endorses this:“We are convinced that containerisationis necessary for the growth of all tradeand industry. Therefore, we have to thinkabout container facilities in our port.”However, Gilhuis noted that he was nottalking about facilities on the scale ofWCT, but about a smaller scale containerterminal in Vlissingen.

“A WCT-scale facility will becomeimportant longer term. We have to havesuch a terminal to serve our customers ina better way. A small terminal will handlearound 500,000 TEU. ” According to theCCO, negotiations with various partiesare looking quite promising.

Gilhuis calculates that current north-ern European container handling capac-ity is around 60M TEU, which will in-crease to around 100M TEU by 2020.“Looking at these figures, one may won-der whether we still have to develop amajor container terminal, such as WCT.That is why we will not embark uponsuch a venture yet. But a terminal is builtto last for 40 years or so. If we stop theplans now, we will come up against quiteanother problem in the future.”

Tactical withdrawalThese cautious remarks reflect what is ac-tually happening on the ground. The part-ners behind the Scaldia Terminal Opera-tor (STO) container terminal have pulledout of the venture, stating that “the mar-ket we aimed at has collapsed...As the re-cession spread, container lines becameever more reluctant to move to Flush-ing.” STO was to be established on a 55-ha site by the Antwerp-based stevedoringcompany Zuidnatie in conjunction withthe Ghent-based group Sea-Invest, withthe latter holding a 70% stake.

It is widely anticipated that the domi-nant Zeeland operator, Verbrugge, whichlast year handled over 15 Mt at the twoports, will take at least 13-ha of the siteearmarked for STO, to which it may addat a later date (see also p56). Verbrugge re-cently secured a major contract to han-dle cellulose imports from Eldorado Bra-zil Cellulose, which recently commis-sioned the largest single-line pulp mill inthe world, with a capacity of 1.5 Mtpa.

A substantial part of this will shippedfrom Santos, Brazil to the Scaldiahavenin Vlissingen, where it will be stored andsubsequently transported to the paper and

tissue industr ies in the hinterland.Verbrugge will act as the European lo-gistics hub for this traffic. It secured thecontract in the face of strong competi-tion, particularly from Antwerp.

Invest at the bottomDespite the financial crisis and the eco-nomic recession, Verbrugge Terminalscontinues to investing substantially in itsVlissingen and Terneuzen sites. Last year,the operator invested €45M in expand-

ing its terminal in Terneuzen, while in2011 similar amounts were put towardsthe expansion of Verbrugge Terminals inthe new Scaldiahaven in Vlissingen, whereVerbrugge was the first operator.

Since 2007, the company has invested€165M in its facilities at both ports. Inall, Verbrugge has three terminals inVlissingen and Terneuzen, comprisingover 1M m2 of covered storage facilities.

Looking to fulfil their potentialMainstream container handling remainsan elusive target for Zeeland Seaports

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43_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 17:29:48

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WorldCargonews PORT DEVELOPMENT

According to president and CEO MartinVerbrugge, “the timing [for investment]is right as materials, such as steel, are some-what cheaper than they were in 2008.There is overcapacity on the market, sothis is a good time to build warehouses.”

Last year, the company invested €40Min seven new warehouses for paper andmetal products. It considers them as “long-term investments covering at least 25years.” A 50:50 joint venture has been es-tablished between Pacorini, a Glencoresubsidiary and Verbrugge Terminals, calledScaldia Zeeland Warehousing (SZW).SZW is currently developing dedicated

warehouse capacity registered with theLME, mainly for aluminium storage, ofup to 130,000 m2.

Locked togetherWhile the Port of Ghent may be Bel-gium’s third largest port, it is still linked

to Zeeland Seaports by the ship canal.Every ship that is bound for Terneuzenor Ghent must navigate the sea lock. In-deed, the overlap between the two portscan be confusing. Cargill, for instance, in-stalled four new maize silos last year at itsplant at Sas van Gent on the ship canal toreceive ocean going shipments, yet thisarea falls under ZSP rather than Ghent.

While Ghent has been pushing for anew sea lock for some time, ZSP nowsupports this development as it couldstimulate further development atTerneuzen. The Westsluis dock is not onlythe smallest sea lock in the Hamburg-LeHavre range, but also the most heavilyused with a utilisation rate in excess of70%. This eaves little time for regularmaintenance and requires precise trafficmanagement to reduce congestion.

Agreement of the financing of thenew lock, which will measure 427m x55m x 16 m sill depth, has now beenagreed, with the port of Ghent alreadymaking provisions for its contribution onits balance sheet. A two year environmen-tal impact study (EIS) will now be un-dertaken, of which €4M of the total€7.85M cost will be funded by the EU.Assuming a favourable EIS, it will be fol-lowed by a 5-year construction period fora 2020 commissioning date at the latest.

Seine-NordThe other main infrastructure which in-volves the port, the construction of theSeine-Scheldt (Seine-Nord) canal may benearer clarification. The project was signedoff by French President Sarkozy withcompletion scheduled for 2017. However,when the Hollande Administration cameto power in France it decided to audit onall major infrastructure investments.

This is expected to be completed bymid-2013 and France will then apply fora larger EU subsidy. If this is secured, thecanal, which will be able to handle bargesup to 4500dwt, should be commissionedby 2019, linking the Paris basin with theFlemish seaports.

Ghent is cautious in the short term.Having topped its all time record of 50Mt in 2011, it slipped back to 49.5 Mtlast year, although a drop of 1.2% cannotbe considered too bad given the perform-ance of nearby ports. This figure includesboth seaborne and inland waterway traf-fic, which last year increased 1.3% to 23.2Mt. Marine trade fell 3.2% to 26.3 Mt.The drop in cargo is, however, not re-flected in the port’s financial performance.Last year the port’s revenues increasedfrom €30.4M to a record €31M, generat-ing €8M profit. Of its total revenue, some35% was attributed to lease payments,while 34% was earned through ship dues.

One growth area is containers, withGhent Container Terminals, operated byMultilink,, recording a growth of 9% lastyear to 88,160 TEU from the 2011throughput of 80,100 TEU. In terms oftonnage, growth is even better at 13.5%with 618,880t handled. Terminal facili-ties are modest with shoreside handlingcarried out by a harbour mobile crane.

Slow starterThe port admits that 2013 “got off to ashaky start,” with throughput dropping3.6% to 11.6 Mt compared to the corre-spondingly period last year. However, theport also noted a year ago that “total cargotraffic had a poor start to 2012.” In thefirst quarter this year, a total of 6 Mt ofseaborne traffic was handled, a drop ofalmost 4% compared with 1Q/2012.

As last year, the port recorded amonthly average of 2 Mt for seabornecargoes in the first three months, althoughJanuary saw a decrease, February an in-crease, but there was a further decrease inthe total volume of cargo traffic in March.Inland barge volumes, at 5.6 Mt weredown 3.3% to 200,000t. �

Pictures from Ghent - left: agribulk terminal;and, right, DFDS Gothenburg service ro-roship in the Mercatordok. ZSP now supportsGhent’s call for a second and larger sea lock

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44_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 17:31:55

PORT DEVELOPMENT

May 2013 45

WorldCargonews

Since 2000, liner shipping companies, lo-gistics service providers and global ter-minal operators have rushed to gain afoothold in the burgeoning economies ofTurkey and the wider Black Sea region,as rising levels of industrial production,rapidly expanding inward investment andwide-ranging political and economic re-forms boosted this area’s importance inthe global trading arena.

While securing a presence has not al-ways proved easy and profitable for ei-ther liner shipping companies or termi-nal operators, container traffic has gener-ally risen. However, both Turkish andBlack Sea ports suffered heavily in 2009,with the former’s container throughputfalling 13.5% to 4.52M TEU, comparedwith the previous year. Black Sea portsposted an even more dismal performanceas their container traffic crashed more than40%, falling from 2.55M TEU in 2008 to1.49M TEU in 2009.

“The banking and economic crisis hitthe Black Sea container market hard, ac-tually very hard,” said Eero Vanaale, a con-sultant at London-based Drewry Mari-time Advisors, addressing delegates at thePort Finance International Black Sea con-ference held in Istanbul earlier this year.“The low demand for the region’s ex-ports, the lack of cash for imports andvarious governments’ recession and aus-terity measures mean that total volumeshave still not recovered to their 2008level,” he added.

Fewer direct callsIn general, fewer direct-call liner servicesare in place as carriers have suspendedoperations, regrouped and in several casesreturned to relaying the smaller volumesof cargo moving via ports in the Istanbulregion, Port Said and elsewhere in theeastern Mediterranean.

However, a pick-up in activity hasbeen noted over the past 12 months andthe average size of vessel deployed hasincreased as ocean carriers have soughtto reduce their unit costs by employingbigger ships.

Hence, the group comprising ChinaShipping Container Lines, Yang Ming, KLine, PIL and Wan Hai Lines now usesships of 5,600 TEU in its Asia/Black Seaservice while the G6 Alliance deploys 9x6,200 TEU class units in its weekly AsiaBlack Sea Express loop.

Vanaale was confident that demand inthe region would recover and that portauthorities, terminal operators and statebodies need to continue investing in theirports and transport infrastructure.

At the Romanian port of Constantza,for instance, container volumes have risenalmost 23% since the nadir in 2010 whentraffic dropped to 556,694 TEU. None-theless, the near 685,000 TEU handledin 2012 was well down on the record1.4M TEU handled in 2007.

Market GrowthThe Drewry consultant projected thatup to 2017, Eastern Europe would beamong the fastest growing containermarkets in the world, posting annualgrowth rates of at least 10% over thisperiod. This compares with forecastedrises of less than 2.5% a year for north-ern Europe and 7% per year rises forboth the Far East and Africa.

Vanaale believes these rates of growthexceed planned capacity increases, an is-sue that needs to be addressed if the re-gion is to achieve its potential. He con-cluded: “There are scarce quality invest-ment opportunities as the fundamentalsin the region’s port sector remain robust.”

The traffic growth figures in Turkeyalso look impressive but the situation re-garding future development appears verydifferent. In 2000, the country’s ports han-dled just over 1.6M TEU, a figure thathad risen to 7.2M TEU last year, equiva-lent to a compound annual growth rateover this period of more than 14%.

This year, the country’s box traffic isexpected to expand by 8-9% and then av-erage between 7% and 8% a year over thenext decade or so. This is well above theglobal annual average projection made byanalysts, which stands in the 4-5% range.

This optimistic scenario will be fuelledby the Turkish Government’s plan to tri-

Betting on Black in uncertain times

ple the nation’s GDP between 2010 and2023 and the considerable investmentplanned in new industrial parks, agricul-tural ventures and infrastructure projects.

Huseyin Sipahioglu, an independ-ent consultant specialising in ports, anda former employee at the ports ofMersin and Iskenderun, thinks boxtraffic is set for consistent growth, but

After mixed fortunes in recent years thereis optimism for the future of Turkish andBlack Sea ports, but is too much capacitybeing built, particularly in Turkey?

Throughput at Constantza recovered to685,000 TEU in 2012, but this figure wasstill down on the 1.4M TEU handled in 2007

he is concerned that there is a risk ofcontainer handling capacity getting outof control in the country.

Speaking at the aforementioned con-ference in Istanbul, he said: “Only 60% of

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WorldCargonews PORT DEVELOPMENT

over 42M TEU within the next 10 years.“In addition, Turkey has the potential

to become a central transport, freight lo-gistics and trading hub for the greater re-gion, as it has the population, scale ofbusiness and industry and political stabil-ity for this to work. It means that the state’slarge-scale port plans at Candarli, Filyosand Mersin plus the new railroads andpipelines will be critical in this process.”

More privatisationThe Government, meanwhile, is pressingahead with its port privatisation pro-gramme. According to Yesim Kurna, headof the project group at the PrivatisationAdministration, seven ports controlled byeither the Turkish Maritime Organisationor the General Directorate of State Rail-ways are in various states of readiness.

Robert Yildirim believes that Turkey hassignificant potential, but is concerned about thenumber of terminal schemes in prospect

“We are entering the third era of portprivatisation in Turkey,” she said, “havingalready raised US$226M from phase oneand US$1.43B from stage two, which in-cluded the sale of the concession atMersin to PSA International/Akfen forUS$755M in 2007.”

Among the general cargo and con-tainer ports that will be privatised un-der this next phase, the sale of Tekirdagis the most advanced. At Derince andIzmir, both of which had their privati-sation tenders cancelled in 2010, zoneplanning studies are underway in ad-vance of new documents being issued,according to Kurna.

Robert Yildirim, chairman of theYildirim Group, which owns Yilport – thebiggest operator of ports and terminalsin Turkey – agrees that the country has

the country’s current capacity of 12MTEU was utilised in 2012, yet private portoperators are adding 10.2M TEU and theGovernment is planning to build at least19.6M TEU of extra capacity over thenext 10 years or so. This is a massive 142%increase on present day capacity levels.”

Jonathan Beard, chairman and CEOof Catoni Group of Companies, one ofTurkey’s largest ship agency firms, did notshare this view. He argued that the na-tion’s infrastructure, including its ports,needed to be improved and expanded sothat Turkey would be able to support itseconomic growth and trading potential.

“With this country’s GDP forecast torise three-fold by 2023, our container traf-fic could grow between five and six timesthe level it is now,” he said. “Potentially,that means having the capacity to handle

significant potential, but he is concernedabout the rapid expansion in the containerport sector, especially in regions, such asthe eastern Mediterranean.

“We have looked at several projectsin the Bay of Iskenderun but have de-cided not to put money into directlybuilding ports/terminals here because ofthe number of schemes being talked aboutand the high risks involved,” he said.

“But that does not rule out our com-pany’s participation in managing such fa-cilities and/or buying/helping them outwith handling equipment. Our logisticscompany ETi, which runs various railservices and is building inland cargo serv-ice centres in the region, can also helplocal shippers and consignees streamlineand improve their supply chains.”

OvercapacityYildirim’s concerns are perhaps under-standable given that in 2012 the EasternMediterranean region processed just1.3M TEU but has between 7M and 12MTEU of new capacity being developedover the next 10-12 years.

The main projects comprise:� Mersin – raising capacity of the exist-ing PSA/Akfen operation from 1.7MTEU to 2.5M TEU.� Mersin International Port – Govern-ment-sponsored plan to build a facilitycapable of handling up to 10M TEU an-nually. Initially, US$370M will be spenton constructing just over 3 km of quayline and a yard area sufficient for process-ing 4M TEU/year. It is hoped that thiswill be operational in 2016.� Various private projects – largely basedon a number of existing finger piers and/or greenfield beaches. A potential addi-tion of 2.5M to 4M TEU could be de-veloped in the next five-six years.� Assan Port – increasing handling capac-ity from a current 250,000 TEU/year to450,000 TEU/year in 2014. MSC is itsmain customer with CMA CGM alsousing the port.� Limak Iskenderun – The company se-cured the 36-year operating and invest-ment concession in late 2011 and com-menced container handling operations inMarch 2013 with a design capacity of600,000 TEU/year. This will be expandedto 1.3M TEU by the end of this year, withphase 2, if it goes ahead, increasing theterminal’s capacity to 3M TEU/year.

Yildirim’s main terminal investmentsare located in the Marmara Sea area ofTurkey, a region described by the group’schairman as being “at the very heart ofthe country’s container and general cargo-handling activities.” Currently, this region’sports, which include Marport, Evyap,Haydarpasa, Yilport, Der ince andGemport, process about 68% of Turkey’snational container throughput volumes.An estimated 13.6M TEU of new capac-ity is under development.

InvestmentsThe Yildirim group has been strengthen-ing its position in the region through acombination of capital expenditure andacquisitions. In the past 12 months thecompany has bought 86.6% of Gemportand all of RotaPort, the latter of whichhandles mainly bulk/breakbulk cargoes,including grain, cement and steel.

Yilport is pumping more thanUS$200M into the latter as the port’sexisting jetties are upgraded and its ware-housing capacity expanded.

“In this sector there is not so muchcompetition around,” explained Yildirim,“and I view our plans as adding consid-erable weight to the existing port opera-tion and as offering our customers bettervalue services.”

Yilport is also investing in its containerterminals with four super post-Panamaxship-to-shore gantry cranes on order fromthe Japan-based manufacturer Mitsui.These will support Yilport’s second phaseexpansion programme and the upgradeplan at Gemlik.

According to Sean Pierce, CEO ofYilport Holding, the new cranes will bedelivered in January 2014 and will be ableto service ships loaded with 23 contain-ers across the weather deck.

He said that Gemport and Gemlik willmerge to become one of the biggest con-tainer handling complexes in theMarmara Sea area and this should allowus to offer a much better product by man-

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46_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 17:41:38

PORT DEVELOPMENT

May 2013 47

WorldCargonews

aging prices and costs more effectively,while improving overall service levels toour customers.

“We have a clear strategy and with asizeable presence in Izmit Bay [YilportGebze] and Gemlik Bay, both of whichserve the faster growing industries lo-cated on the Asian side of Istanbul, weare well positioned to handle the ris-ing cargo volumes.”

Attracting cargoMeanwhile, Yildirim highlighted the im-portance of the group’s metallurgical busi-nesses and the close relationships it hasdeveloped with ocean carriers, includingMSC and its direct investment in CMACGM, as being “highly significant indrawing cargo to its ports”.

As to the future, the ebullient Yildirimwants his port and terminals group to bea strong player in the top 20 port opera-tors’ league with a decent global presence.

“We are targeting up to three acqui-sitions a year, believing this is fully sus-tainable for our group,” he said. “Our fo-cus is on brown field sites/existing ter-minals where we know we can raise pro-ductivity and operating performances,largely through better training and the in-troduction of new equipment. When thisresults in more business, then we moveon to bigger infrastructural projects, in-cluding the wharves and yard areas.”

Initially, the global strategy is focusedon Latin America (Colombia, Peru, Ec-uador and Chile) and West Africa wherethe company has existing and plannedmining and trading activities and whereefficient ports are an important elementfor the group’s supply chain.

Compatriot terminal operator Arkas,which controls the Marport complex inAmbarli port and which handled 1.58MTEU last year, appears content to stay inTurkey when it comes to its port man-agement operations.

Larger vesselsRecent years have seen the operator gearup the terminal to handle more large ves-sels, particularly from its primary customerMSC. “We extended the berthing line atour West Terminal by 64 km and also ex-panded the stacking areas and this allowsus to handle the 14,500 TEU class shipsthat MSC bring into Turkey,” explainedAlp Capa, trade and customer relationsmanager of the port services group.

“We have also expanded our ware-housing capacity as the LCL business fromAsia has been growing rapidly and wehave also seen a lot of breakbulk cargocoming into the port from Russia for con-tainerisation, and then on-carriage.”

In other moves, Marport has beenmaking efforts to reduce its carbon foot-print, according to Capa, “working aheadof more stringent laws eventually com-ing into effect in Turkey”.

He explained: “We have spent aboutUS$4.5M on electrifying 35 of our rub-ber-tyred yard gantry cranes and we havemany other initiatives in place.”

Looming challengeMarport’s biggest challenge though isdealing with the loss of at least 500,000TEU and perhaps as much as 800,000TEU of cargo when MSC shifts some ofits cargo volumes to Aysaport, nearTekirdag. This facility is mainly for theuse of MSC, having been developed byits port operating arm Terminal Invest-ments Ltd (TIL). Operations at the 1MTEU capacity terminal are due to com-mence later this year with MSC expectedto redirect most of its Black Sea tranship-ment business and some local cargo (forthe Tekirdag area) to the port.

International terminal operators havegenerally found Turkey challenging, withHong-Kong headquartered HutchisonPort Holdings having had its concessionat Izmir cancelled in 2010 and Dubai’sDP World still resolving issues and facingsevere delays in its plans to develop a 1.5MTEU capacity facility at Yarimca.

Observers have pointed to landownership issues in Turkey, a failure tolock down partnership agreements andthe nation’s different legal system as po-tential sticking points for deals and thereasons why so many projects have beendelayed and/or cancelled.

PSA International, however, has en-joyed considerable success, with Mersin’s

throughput having risen every year sincethe Singapore-based operator and its part-ner Akfen secured the concession in 2007.In 2012, a record 1.2M TEU was handled.

Terminal developmentAPM Terminals (APMT) is also happywith the progress being made on itsproject near Izmir, recently cementing adeal with Petkim Petrokimya Holding, aTurkey-listed petrochemicals companymajority-owned the State Oil Companyof Azerbaijan, to press ahead with devel-opment of a 1.5M TEU capacity terminalon land Petkim controls in Nemrut Bay.

Initially, an estimated US$400M willbe spent on the Aegean Gateway Termi-nal, which APMT will manage under a28-year concession agreement. The dealallows for a possible expansion of the fa-

cility’s design throughput capacity to 3MTEU/year and for the development ofan on-dock rail yard.

“This is an exciting opportunity forus and the region as a whole which needsa purpose-designed container terminal,”said Martijn van Dongen, head of Euro-pean business development for APMT.

“In this region the major ity ofcontainerships are being handled atsmaller facilities with limited water depthand the available capacity is heavily uti-lised. Our new terminal will provide thismuch needed additional capacity whilealso raising levels of efficiency and pro-

Marport terminal in Ambarli faces the challengeof losing up to 800,000 TEU of cargo whenMSC shifts most of its transhipment businessand some local cargo to Aysaport, near Tekirdag

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47_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 17:44:01

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WorldCargonews PORT DEVELOPMENT

ductivity.” He expects the first phase ofthe terminal to be fully operational in2015 and said that it was being builtmainly to cater for the growing demandsof the local region.

Romanian growthBack in the Black Sea area, a huge amountof capital is being invested in Constantza,Romania, the largest port in the region.The government and the port authorityhave been successful in getting access toEuropean Union (EU) financing, withmany of the latter’s construction and im-provement projects funded to the tune of

85% by the EU’s Operational Programmefor Transport 2007-13.

These include:� Expansion of the northern breakwaterby 1,050m. The project will improve op-erating performances and productivitylevels in the southern basin by decreasingwave activity. It will be completed dur-ing 2014 and cost an estimated €144M.� The €43M construction of a new roadbridge over the Danube Black Sea Canal– this will provide a connection betweenthe northern and southern parts of theport complex and, via the Constantza ringroad, a direct connection between theport and the Bucharest/Constantza high-way. The work is scheduled to be com-pleted by the end of 2013.� The creation of a so-called systematisedrail complex in the river/maritime sec-

tor of the port. Estimated to cost €22M itwill be completed by the end of 2015and will allow the port’s customers addi-tional and competitive options to movetheir import/export cargo.

In the longer-term the port author-ity is planning to expand the port bybuilding Pier IIIs and Pier IVs adjacentto the current DP World-operated con-tainer terminal.

According to National CompanyMar itime Ports Administration SAConstantza (MPA Constantza), the fa-cilities will be for specialised cargoesand will be supported by a landsidelogistics park. It is understood that theDutch Government is supporting theproject. Various designs are under study.

Danube gatewayAmbroziu Duma, port operations direc-tor for MPA Constantza, is keen to ex-ploit the port’s strategic location at theestuary of the Danube, believing that ithas opportunities as a gateway and loadcentre, particularly for the trade lanes be-tween Asia and central Europe.

“Our 64.4 km long Danube Black Seacanal offers a seamless connection to thenavigable waters of the river and can cuta massive 4,165 km off Far East/Europeroutings via Benelux ports,” he said.“That’s a huge saving on bunker costs forocean carriers and it’s much kinder to theenvironment.”

Elsewhere in the Black Sea, develop-ments in the container handling sectorare more modest and typically involvecargo handling equipment purchases, gen-eral refurbishment and process improve-ment schemes. Nonetheless, at Russia’sBlack Sea port of Novorossiysk signifi-cant capacity increases are planned. Delcogroup-owned NUTEP and Novoros-lesexport, owned by the NovorossiyskCommercial Sea Port Group, are both inthe midst of substantial capacity invest-ment programmes at the port.

Novoroslesexport’s project involvesexpenditure in excess of RUB6.5B(US$207M). This covers the cost ofdredging its facilities at berths 28 and28A, purchasing a third ship-to-shoregantry crane, two mobile harbourcranes and additional support equip-ment for yard operations. A third railtrack will be constructed to boostintermodal cargo movements. Overall,container handling capacity will beexpanded to 700,000 TEU/year.

Meanwhile, NUTEP – which handled215,307 TEU in 2012, up 7.6% on theprevious year – is set to increase its de-sign throughput capacity to 600,000TEU/year by 2015. This will be achievedby increasing the total berthing quay linefrom 754m to 900m and expanding theyard area to 35-ha.

Rail upgradeRecently, NUTEP completed its rail up-grade programme by constructing a newyard and two loading/unloading tracks,meaning the facility can now process twoblock-trains each day. As the work meanta reconfiguration of the terminal’s exist-ing rail network, the operator has beenable to raise the stacking capacity of itsyard to 11,000 TEU.

In the Ukraine, dredging is in place atthe country’s main sea ports and a 600,000TEU/year deep water terminal is goingahead in Odessa with HPC Ukraina, theHHLA affiliate that operates the port’sexisting container terminal.

In Georgia, APMT and Manila-headquartered International ContainerTerminal Services Inc (ICTSI) are bothactive, operating container terminals inPoti and Batumi respectively. At the latterport, ICTSI has the ability to quadruplethe facility’s current throughput capacityto 400,000 TEU, a decision that will betaken in line with demand.

At Poti, where APMT works withRakia, the terminal operator hasbeen investing in equipment, systemsand training programmes in an ef-fort to bring the terminal up to simi-lar safety and productivity levels toother facilities in its global network.

While the trading and investmentopportunities in the region are encour-aging, its general economic volatilitymeans that uncertainty will prevail andmatching supply and demand will alwaysbe extremely difficult. �

An estimated US$400M will be spent on the3M TEU/year capacity Petkim AegeanGateway Terminal, managed by APMTerminals under a 28-year concession deal

- THE MAGIC OF AUTOMATED CONTAINER AND TRAILER LOADING

Creating pro�t

48_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 17:48:21

PORT DEVELOPMENT

May 2013 49

WorldCargonews

In October 2011 the Singapore MaritimeInstitute (SMI) and the Maritime Port Au-thority of Singapore (MPA) launched a“Next Generation Container Port Chal-lenge” to “identify ideas that will achieve aquantum leap in port performance, pro-ductivity and sustainability for a new gen-eration of container port.” They announceda US$1M prize for the winning entry.

The “Next-Gen” container port hadto be capable of handling 20M TEU ayear (80% transhipment) on a 2.5 km x1km reclamation with a guaranteed berthon arrival (BOA) rate of 90% of ship calls.Dwell time was fixed at four days and KPIswere established in productivity (land andlabour), environmental sustainability andfinancial sustainability. The US$1M win-ing entry was the “SINGA Port” conceptfrom the National University of Singa-pore (NUS), Shanghai Maritime Univer-sity (ShMU) and ZPMC.

Two storey yardThe most striking feature of the SINGAPort concept is its two storey yard systemserved by triple trolley STS cranes. Thelower (ground) floor sees the return ofthe overhead bridge cranes as installed atPasir Panjang phases I and II, althoughthey would not be as high. The upper flooryard cranes would be automated RMGswith counterweight technology to reducepower consumption. “As there are cut outsbetween the two floors, a tailor-madeRMG is used to move containers betweenthe two floors besides its normal activityin handling containers in its respectiveblock,” said Professor Lee Loo Hay, oneof the designers from NUS.

Having two separate yard areas is in-tended to increase overall capacitywithout overwhelming the quay-to-stack interface. It creates more bufferspaces at handover points, improvestraffic congestion and reduces the de-pendency between STS cranes and thehorizontal transport system, which is alow-height straddle carrier called anAutomated Lifting Vehicle (ALV).

SINGA Port includes three options forthe yard layout and crane orientation. “Inone design layout,” said Professor Lee, “thecontainer blocks are arranged in a per-pendicular direction to the 2500m berth.In each block, the container lengths areperpendicular to the block length [ie par-allel with the quay]. When the ALV picksup or discharges a container at the blockarea, it does not need to turn 90 deg toenter the handover area, which increasesthe efficiency of yard operations.”

Triple trolley cranesSINGA Port proposes a triple hoist quaycrane with tandem lift capability on thewaterside hoist. The waterside trolleymoves the two containers between thevessel and a lashing platform. There aretwo landside trolleys: one in the backreach serving the upper floor yard, andone on the lower crane portal serving theground floor.

The team calculates the cranes canachieve 38 cycles and “move 152 TEUper hour” by better utilising the potentialof tandem crane operations. “Owing totwo separate trolleys that serve the differ-ent floors and the transfer platform, thetandem lift technology can now be morepractically used because the two contain-ers do not need to be discharged side byside,” said Professor Lee. Quayside pro-ductivity could be further enhanced witha crane system that allows two boomsacross adjacent bays (as per APM Termi-nals’ FastNET concept), he noted, but thiswas not part of the proposal.

The ALVs for horizontal transport are1-over-1 machines powered by a hybridor fully electric drive. Two options aresuggested for charging: fixed stations oran inductive loop in the ground. Profes-sor Lee said at the moment inductivetechnology cannot support the power re-quirement, but that is expected to changewithin the next decade.

Getting smartOverall power consumption will be man-aged by “smart electric power manage-ment.” In essence, grid supplied electric-ity will transform crane operation from astand-alone mode to collective mode.

“Regenerative energy recovered frombraking cranes can be shared among othercranes through the grid for achievingcommon economical and technical ben-efits as well as better overall energy effi-ciency,” said Professor Lee.

Simulation resultsNUS used a queueing model to analyse

quayside performance. Meeting the BOAtarget for a 20M TEU terminal required75 STS cranes, 400 ALVs and 250 yardcranes. Average equipment efficienciesrequired are: STS cranes 35 moves/hour,

SINGA Port has a putative capacity, basedon four days dwell time, of 20M TEU/yearon a footprint of just 250-ha

Is Singapore going up in the world?The US$1M prize-winning entry inSingapore’s “Next Generation ContainerPort Challenge” contest uses a two-storeyyard system and triple trolley cranes

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WorldCargonews PORT DEVELOPMENT

yard cranes 16 moves/hour, ALVs8.8 moves/hour. Even with fur-ther increases in vessel size beyondTriple-E, the 90% BOA target canbe achieved, added Professor Lee.

New softwareThe project team does not considerthat the TOS software available to-day is suitable for SINGA Port. “Wepropose an intelligent managementsystem that combines the smartelectric power management, theterminal operating systems (TOS)and the equipment control system,”said the professor.

As well as controlling all the

equipment in real time, theequipment control system willprovide real time information tothe power management systemto bring energy efficiency intoyard planning.

Cost-effective?A big question is whether the de-sign is economical. One reasonbridge cranes never went beyondSingapore is the high cost of theconcrete support structures. Sup-porting RMGs on an upper levelwould be even more expensive,but this has to be placed in theSingapore context where the Tuas

Singapore is quietly confidentthat automation will give it anadvantage in the battle fortranshipment traffic as biggerships come on stream.

The loss of Maersk and thenEvergreen to Tanjung Pelepas in2000 not only dented Singapore’sconfidence, but changed the PSA’swhole approach to technology.The PSA had spent a fortune de-veloping overhead bridge cranesat its Pasir Panjang Terminal, butwhen PTP came on the scene itreverted to RTGs.

The picture today is very dif-ferent, even though there is morecompetition than ever - PTPTanjung Pelepas handled 7.7MTEU last year (up 2.4%). Westportand Northport in Klang both haveexpansion plans and Indonesia hasnot given up on establishing atranshipment hub near Batam, onSingapore’s back door. But Singa-pore believes it can get a competi-tive advantage by leveraging au-tomation and using software tomake its terminals more efficient.

Shipping lines continually re-mind ports that they need a step

change in productivity to meet theneeds of bigger vessels. Singaporebelieves such an improvement ispossible and, through the PSA, theMaritime Port Authority andother government-backed institu-tions, is investing heavily in soft-ware and systems for automation.PSA believes software is a com-petitive advantage and most of itsapplications, including its coreCiTOS TOS, are proprietary.

Robots versus RTGsPTP is currently adding twoberths with a total length of 720mthat will be equipped with eightSTS cranes and 32 RTGs, a 1:4ratio. PTP’s first phase (which tookit to 5M TEU) had 24 quay cranesand 72 RTGs, a 1:3 ratio.

PSA is now equipping PhasesIII and IV at PPT with automatedstacking cranes. When completedPSA will have 15 new 400mberths with a capacity of 15MTEU, boosting overall capacity to50M TEU. PSA is also workingon AGV technology, although thisis unlikely to feature when the firstberths open next year.

Maersk has already announcedits first EEE vessels will call at PTPand not Singapore. The longerterm question, however, iswhether PTP can deliver the pro-ductivity needed. PTP’s rise wasrapid, but it is now grappling withmaintenance issues as its equip-ment ages. In its 2012 annual re-port, PTP’s majority owner MMCCorp notes that “for 2013, thefocus will be on improving theport’s equipment availability andreliability to ensure capacity canbe maximised to capture containerdemand.” PTP declined to com-ment, but why does Maersk stillput so much through Singapore?

MMC knows that PTP has tolift its performance and cannotcount on APM Terminals’ 30%stake to guarantee all of Maersk’sbusiness. Commenting on theRM 1.6B it is spending to increasePTP’s capacity to 10.5M TEU,MMC group managing directorDatuk Hasni Harun said the in-vestment is to “show the compa-ny’s desire” to capture more ofMaersk’s business. “Of the 7MTEU handled by PTP last year,about 6M TEU came fromMaersk, a few million TEU ofwhose cargo was also handled bySingapore. If our ports are readyin terms of capacity and efficiency,those few million TEU may bemoved to PTP,” he was quoted assaying in The Malaysian Insider.

Northport refocusesAt Port Klang, Northport andWestport are taking different ap-proaches. Westport is pushingahead aggressively with the com-pletion of two new berths (CT6and CT7) and is part way throughthe reclamation for CT8 and CT9,which must be completed by 2014under its concession agreement.CT7 will have two 300m berthsand Westport has ordered sevenquay cranes and 42 RTGs for de-livery early next year.

Westport will have a capacityof 11M TEU when CT7 is com-

pleted and is promoting itself asready for 18,000 TEU vessels.Throughput grew to 6.91M TEUlast year and it is forecasting a fur-ther 7% growth this year to 7.4MTEU. Much of this is driven byCMA CGM, which now accountsfor 35% of Westport’s business, butsome has come from Northport.

Northport handled 3.08M in2012 and volumes fell 10% to675,755TEU in 1Q/20013. CEOAbi Sofian Abdul Hamid said thefall is mainly due to weaker ex-ports and it is unclear whetherthese will recover this year.Northport is pushing on with itsexpansion plan and will add a new350m berth (8a) equipped withfour cranes. This will take its quayline to 3.4 kms and total capacityto 5.6M TEU. Plans are now be-ing made for an additional expan-sion to increase that to 7M TEU.

Not too muchAbi Sofian denies that Northportis adding too much capacity andsaid there is a mismatch betweentheoretical capacity based onberths and cranes and what it canactually achieve. Northport’s wa-ter depth ranges from 11m to 15mand only when berth 8a is com-plete will it be able to offer one350m berth with 17m of water.

The cost of upgrading theolder berths to handle larger ves-sels is not practical, but Northporthas to provide for the tonnage thatlines want to deploy to serve thecargo base. Northport, he said, isnot in a race to keep up with PSAand PTP. “We have to create ourown niche for mid-range vessels.”

This leverages Northport’s po-sition as a balanced port (48% ex-ports, 52% imports) to attractmore regional transhipment busi-ness. There are many smaller portsdeveloping in Indonesia, andNorthport can offer lines a chanceto get better vessel utilisation bycombining its local cargo withtranshipment moves.

Not convincedAs to whether there will be a pro-ductivity battle in the tranship-ment business, Abi Sofian is notconvinced that lines are willing topay for more productivity. Theirmain criteria at the moment are aberth on arrival, a fixed departuretime, and a discounted rate, he said.Northport delivered an average of28 moves per crane hour last yearand could do more, but this re-quires more prime movers thanlines are willing to pay for.

Northport also has a challengemeeting the needs of its bulk cus-tomers. Some time ago a consult-ants’ study forecast that bulk vol-umes would dwindle as contain-ers took over, but bulk cargo is ac-tually growing at 15% annually.

Port Klang also has bulk op-erations at Southport, but this haslimited water depth. What PortKlang really needs, Abi Sofian said,is a master plan that addresses howbest to grow transhipment busi-ness, provides for bulk cargo andcomes up with a better system forintra-terminal transfer betweenNorthport and Westport. �

A guaranteeed berth-on-arrival rate of 90% of ship calls is required

Megaport will be built entirely onreclaimed land.

Below ground levelTo reduce construction costs, theproject team proposes an “in-dented yard” system where thelower level is actually belowground level. This reduces theamount of sand needed for recla-mation. Cost depends on whichof three yard layout options is se-lected, but is estimated at S$642M(US$841M) per berth.

One issue that does not fea-ture in the project criteria is theoverall visual impact of the design.The bridge cranes already have adense visual impact, and adding asecond storey makes for an eventaller structure. This might not bean issue for the new Tuas port, butwould certainly be a problem atmany city ports around the world.

MPA and SMI will now workwith terminal operators in Singa-pore to identify elements of thedesign to take forward for furtherdesign and testing work. “Depend-ing on the outcome of these R&Dactivities, particular concepts ortechnologies could be consideredfor future new container termi-nals,” said the MPA. �

The first berths of Phases III and IV at Pasir Panjang will be ready next year

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PORT DEVELOPMENT

May 2013 51

WorldCargonews

In a recent report, Brazil’s Ministry of De-velopment, Industry and Foreign Tradestated that vessels calling at ports in thecountry last year spent 90% of their timeeither waiting for a free berth or for thearrival of an export shipment in the port.As a result, Brazilian ports are expensiveto use and exports are less competitive.

In Santos the average time for a vesselto be loaded with maize was 18.7 days, ofwhich 16.3 days were down to waitingtime. It was a similar position with soyabean meal and sugar, whereby 8.8 days ofthe total layover of 11.4 days were downto waiting time. As already reported inWorldCargo News, some Chinese custom-ers have cancelled contracts for soya beans.Truck queues outside the port of Santosstretched at one point to 30 kms.

This was in a year when the soya beancrop in Brazil amounted to 83 Mt. Santoshas been particularly hard-hit this year be-cause the harvests for both soya bean andmaize are more than double in terms ofvolume than the previous year. Brazil ison target to overtake the US for the veryfirst time in soya bean production thanksto this year’s crop, while the US has beenhard hit by drought. Brazil’s port and in-land transport infrastructure is being over-whelmed. However, as the protracted de-bate over MP 595 shows (WorldCargoNews, March 2013, p23-24), there is noconsensus on the way forward.

Freight impactsA government official noted that the longwait for berthing directly impacts onfreight rates, given that demurrage finesare contractually allocated to the Brazil-ian importer or exporter, thereby under-mining profits, causing damage or evenresulting in the loss of future business.

The report prepared for the Ministrysays that the long stay that vessels areforced to endure “indicates a possible lowoperational capacity at Brazilian portsand/or low productivity import opera-tions.” It highlights the need for “majorinvestment” to expand capacity.

Santos is not the only port to be af-fected. In 2012, container vessels stayedan average of 36.3 hours in all Brazilianports, of which 20.5 hours were waitingat anchor. At Salvador, the average han-dling time was 45.7 hours, of which 33.8hours was waiting time. In Paranaguá,waiting time was 25.2 hours out of a to-tal stay of 40.9 hours.

In a 2012 World Bank study, Brazil wasin 121st position out of 185 countriesanalysed in terms of the cost of export-ing containers. In South Africa, the samecost was 73% of that charged in Brazil. InMexico it was 65% and in the US, Ger-many and China the cost was less than50% of that being charged in Brazil.

Too little, too lateOn the export side, measures being putinto place to solve the problem of truckshaving to queue at the port of Santos willonly come into effect after most of thisyear’s harvest has been shipped. This isbecause measures such as the expropria-tion of land and environmental licensingtake several months to implement.

Santos port authority Codesp is tobuild a new parking area on the right bankof the port covering 22.6-ha, which willbe the third area for trailers accessing theport. However, this year it will be able tooperate only at 33% of capacity.

In Guarujá, where heavy congestionhas been reported, the state governmentis to build a second access road to theterminal. This is unlikely to be in opera-tion before June. At present, this area,which contains the largest container han-dling facilities in the port, is accessed viaan 1100m long “funnel,” which is usedby 4000 trucks daily. To reduce conges-tion, a new system that segregates trucksby cargo type has been introduced, butwhat is really needed is a new access road.

DiversionTrucks that previously delivered soya beanconsignments to the ports of Santos andParanaguá are frequently being sent alonga 1600 km diversion to the port of RioGrande do Sul. Using Rio Grande hasbeen dictated by lower waiting times, but

the diversion means that queues at RioGrande are now three times longer thanthey were a year ago.

Even so, waiting time is half that atSantos or Paranaguá. Ships docking in thesecond week of May in Rio Grandewould have had to wait until early Juneto access either Santos or Paranaguá. Vet-eran truck drivers in Brazil say the situa-tion at the country’s ports is the worstever, with the queue to enter Santos nowanything up to 24 hours. Take-up of con-

tainers by grain shippers has increased dra-matically this year, as they seek to avoidcongested bulk terminals.

Cabotage problemsThe problems also affect domestic move-ments of goods, according to Conab, Bra-zil’s national supply company. It states thatit is more expensive and slower to shipgrain domestically by sea. Consignmentsshipped to the north east of the countryfrom the central region using a combina-

tion of road and sea can take between 40and 60 days to be delivered.

A shipment moving between Goiásand Ceará can be delivered by road in 3-6 days at a cost of US$177 per tonne.However, using a combination of road andsea the cost rises to US$363 per tonne.On hauls between the southern provinceof Paraná and the north east, the price isaround US$327 per tonne.

Conab says the high price of usingroad and sea is due to the elevated priceof cabotage, and longer delivery times dueto the fact that it takes truck aggregationto fill a coastal vessel, so service frequencyis out of line with market requirements.The situation is especially acute duringharvest, when queues at ports for exportshipments result in fewer trucks beingavailable for domestic movements. �

Port congestion crunch in BrazilThe situation is getting worse whilearguments over port reforms continue

The continuing row over the port reform lawMP 595 is not helping matters

V3

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the ZPMC cranes can lift 51t.In addition, the May delivery

included two 19.5m-span RMGs for AGCT’s expanded on-dock rail yard, with each 41t-capacity gantry able to work across four loading/discharge tracks. ZPMC also delivered six RTGs, each able to span across seven contain-er rows plus the truck lane and with a lift height of one-over-five and SWL of 41t.

“This new equipment, firm-ly puts Rijeka on the map of the northern Adriatic region,” stressed Marsham. “We now have a couple of months in which to commission the equipment and the new terminal should be fully operational in July. This coincides with Croatia joining the European Union (EU) and that means seamless borders with our northern neighbours, which will also encourage trade. We are happy that everything is coming together. This is indeed a new chapter for the port of Rijeka.”

For the remainder of the year, AGCT management will focus on expanding and improving the rail transfer facility, including laying tracks for the RMGs. The gate will also be relocated away from the city and closer to the main motorway and the inland container depot at Skrljevo.

With all customs activities also due to be conducted on site, rather than split between the ter-minal and a location elsewhere, Marsham expects truck turna-round times to improve further and for this to be another strong selling point for AGCT.

Enticing the carriersHe is confident that the new deep draught berth at AGCT will provide Rijeka with much bet-ter operating flexibility and lead to some ocean carriers revamp-ing their north Adriatic service networks by placing Rijeka as the first port of call and, conse-quently, discharging more cargo.

He explained: “Currently Maersk Line/CMA CGM, for instance, call at Trieste and Luka Koper first because of our sea and air draught [under the crane] limitations, but then have to re-turn to Trieste for empties. Our new terminal can change this and save them voyage time and costs.”

The AGCT chief also alluded to Luka Koper’s yard and rail ca-pacity as filling up and its operat-ing efficiency as being in decline. It handled more than 600,000 TEU in 2012.

“With our new terminal and handling equipment, expanded yard, increased rail capacity and closer distance to the Hungarian border, plus Croatia’s admission to the EU, we can offer ship-ping lines a clear first port of call advantage and their customers faster transit times to key mar-kets, such as Budapest. We can save the shipping lines a day on their voyages.”

He also believes AGCT now has the potential to act as a sub-regional hub for northern Italy (Ancona-Venice) and for small-er eastern Adriatic ports in the Split-Durres (Albania) range.

Critical to the success of the expanded terminal will be im-provements to the nation’s rail network where capacity and av-erage train speeds need to be im-proved. Already, the government has made progress with a unified power system, allowing non-stop train services to Budapest. Since November, AGCT has been dis-patching regular services to Ser-bia and Budapest, with the latter destination reached in 48 hours.

Longer-term, Marsham sees great opportunities in develop-ing a so-called “Baltic-Adriatic freight corridor” and linking up with ICTSI’s port operations at the Baltic Container Terminal in Gdynia, Poland.

Rail improvementsWithin the port, AGCT is set to double its intermodal rail capac-ity, raising the yard’s capacity to 360,000 TEU a year. Four 240m tracks will be used for loading/discharge activities. Ultimately, these will be extended to 318m in length so that standard size European block trains can be run.

“After this year, AGCT will move into an operational phase and upgrades at the site will then become volume related,” ex-plained Marsham.

He is confident that the de-clines in cargo that have taken place at AGCT in recent years – in 2012 126,680TEU was handled compared with 168,779 TEU in 2008 – can be stemmed. “Our projections are for box traffic to double by 2015 when we expect to be handling 245,000 TEU,” Marsham told WorldCargo News.

The expansion of AGCT is just one part of the port author-ity’s own gateway aspirations for Rijeka. It is determined to add a second container terminal and has already secured €70M in World Bank funding to build the first 400m of a planned 680m of quay at the new facility. It will have a draught alongside of up to 20m.

“We hope to have the first phase of this project completed in late 2016 or Q1 2017,” ex-plained Vlado Mezak, director of Rijeka Port Authority. “The schedule for the remaining 280m of wharf will be determined by whether public/private or EU funding is used, but I can con-firm that tender documents for the 30-year operating concession will be published by the end of this year. We anticipate that con-tainer handling operations will commence during 2018.”

He rejected claims that the new terminal could lead to an oversupply of capacity in Rijeka, arguing that in five years’ time AGCT’s utilisation levels would be approaching 60% of its design throughput. “It is important we act ahead of the demand curve to ensure the port’s operations are ef-ficient,” he said. “A throughput ca-pacity of 1.2M TEU for this port, given its potential, is not so big.”

The developments at AGCT and the port of Rijeka look set to change the nature of container handling activity and liner ship-ping patterns in the Adriatic in the coming years. �

Rijeka gears itself up Croatia’s port of Rijeka is readying itself to handle a bigger slice of the growing liner trade between Asia and central/eastern Europe and out of the northern Adriatic Sea, especially to and from Asia, providing improvements are car-ried out to Croatia’s rail network,

something the government has promised to do.

The transformation started in April 2011 when Manila-head-

quartered ICTSI (51%) and Luka Rijeka, the operating arm of the Port Authority of Rijeka (49%), gained management control of Bradjica Container Terminal. The 30-year operating and in-vestment concession commits the parties to investing €65M over this period.

Immediately, ICTSI and Luka Rijeka put in place a capital ex-penditure programme, initially targeted at raising productivity and efficiency levels, but with the goal of expanding the terminal and gearing it up to process big-ger ships. The business plan was also focused on enhancing Ri-jeka’s regional role for the Bal-kans, eastern and central Europe – a sector of the business mainly handled by Luka Koper (Slove-nia) and the Italian port of Trieste.

Creating a gateway Highly indicative of this whole process was the decision to re-name and rebrand the facility as the Adriatic Gate Container Terminal (AGCT). “We have a dream here and that is to help develop Rijeka as the new gate-way for south and central Eu-rope,” CEO Phillip Marsham told WorldCargo News. “This is fast becoming a reality and it makes absolute sense as there is a six-day difference between call-ing here and calling at Benelux and/or German ports.”

He was speaking after a re-cent reception at the terminal to commemorate the completion of 328m of new quay line, with a depth alongside of 14.2m, and de-livery of €24M of new handling equipment. This included the facility’s first post-panamax STS gantry cranes, featuring a 50m outreach, capable of handling ships loaded with 18 rows across the weather deck. Equipped with RAM twin-lift spreaders,

The past two years have been ones of rejuvenation at Croatia’s largest port, Rijeka, and nowhere has this been better illustrated than at the port’s container ter-minal where more than €30M will have been spent on expan-sion and modernisation pro-grammes by the end of this year.

The terminal is now poised to handle a much larger share of the growing liner traffic moving in

AGCT recently took delivery of €24M of new equipment including two ZPMC post-panamax STS gantry cranes and six RTGs

AGCT’s CEO Phillip Marsham

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54_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 18:01:42

PORT DEVELOPMENT

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WorldCargonews

The JadeWeserPort management com-pany, JadeWeserPort Realisierungs-gesellschaft, is tendering for a €2M feasi-bility study to examine ways and meansto boost competitiveness and throughputthroughout the JadeWeserPort LogisticsZone. The results of this EU-wide tendershould become available in 2015.

The document contains informationon the economic and technical case forbuilding a second container port to thenorth of the existing terminal, of whichonly phase 1 is operational. The findingswill serve as the basis for a political deci-sion as to the timing and procedures forundertaking the expansion into the 2020s.

The tender covers various objects:� Technical investigation for realising anextended port area.� Possible expansion of the road and railconnections.� Environmental impacts such as noiseand light nuisance from port operations.� Feasibility of environmental mitigationmeasures, for example compulsory coldironing, use of (battery) electric equip-ment, LNG instead of diesel, etc.

The tender was drawn up by JörgBode when he was minister for economicaffairs for the state of Lower Saxony (NS).The CDU/FDP administration has beenreplaced by a “red and green” coalition,which has opted to carry on with Bode’splan as well as pursue new marketing ini-tiatives. JWP Realisierungsgesellschaft’smanaging director Axel Kluth describedthe feasibility study as a positive sign. “Weneed a little patience,” he said.

Understatement?Perhaps this is what us meant by an un-derstatement. The new Wilhelmshavencontainer port faces serious problems, de-spite ceaseless marketing and sales effortsby JWP and the operator, Eurogate Group.At the time of writing Eurogate’s top brassare touring Prague and Budapest to pro-mote Germany’s only really deep watercontainer terminal. They have spent thepast two years “globe trotting” to drumup support from the world’s shippers andcarriers, with little reward.

Phase 1 of the facility is handling aweekly Maersk Far East service (AE-1string) and (now) two regular MaerskSeago Baltic feeder services, but through-put in the first two months of 2013amounted to just 7000 containers, farbelow expectations and even that hascome off the Eurogate/Maersk joint ven-ture operation in Bremerhaven (NTB).

The Nordfrost group is the only ten-ant in the logistics zone, although it hasbeen reported that a second customer, 3YLogistics, has been signed up and will in-vest €15M-20M in a 2500 m2 warehouse.

Maersk has a 30% stake in Eurogate’sconcession through APM Terminals. Aspreviously reported, 322 of the 400-strongworkforce has been put on short timeindefinitely. Officially Eurogate expectsvolumes to start picking up this Autumn,so normal working probably would notbe fully restored until early 2014.

The company is trying everything.Its rail operating affiliates EurogateIntermodal and Acos are offering everydestination in Germany and neighbour-ing countries through their own networkand their intermodal tariffs have beenadapted to the levels offered from Ham-burg and Bremerhaven. Acos is also op-erating a shuttle service betweenWilhelmshaven and Hamburg andBremerhaven for containers beingshipped in and out over the three ports,with guaranteed arrival times.

Heavy commitmentsBetween them the states of NS andBremen have invested €500M of taxpay-ers’ money to create JadeWeserPort, whileEurogate’s commitment is up to E350Mif you count phase 2 cranes, straddle car-riers, etc. The port operating area occu-pies 130-ha and has a 1725m deep waterlinear quay able to accommodate four18,000 TEU vessels. The adjacent logis-tics centre (GVZ) occupies another 160-ha. Even when it opened (late) last Sep-tember the port was forecast to handle180 ship calls in 2012 and 500 this year,building to 880 calls annually in 2015.

Good timing means everythingNow is not a good time to be opening newcontainer terminals in Europe

“The forecast figures bumped into re-ality,” remarked a spokesman for the NSministry of economic affairs. Eurogateguaranteed a throughput of 700 000 TEUin the first full year of operations. “Basedon the present situation it will only be aportion of this figure,” stated EmanuelSchiffer, Eurogate’s joint managing direc-tor. Up to the end of April the facility isunderstood to have handled 65,000 TEU.

Maersk has announced that it will callat NTB Bremerhaven with the Triple E-

class vessels, not Wilhelmshaven. This is ablow for Eurogate and some hard talkingbetween the partners has been going on.

Over the years heaps of political as wellas investment capital have gone intoJadeWeserPort and relations are strainedat all levels. If an expansion programme isundertaken, the state of Bremen wouldhave to contribute 50% of the costs, whichit is not keen on.

The state of Hamburg stayed awayfrom the project because it wanted to

JadeWeserPort Wilhelmshaven is currently handling just one mainhaul Maersk call a weekalong with two weekly Maersk Seago Baltic feeder services

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55_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 18:05:08

May 201356

WorldCargonews PORT DEVELOPMENT

prioritise the Elbe deepening and did notwant to hand Berlin a reason not to sup-port it, but that project is still in abeyanceand faces yet further objections.

Image problems?On top of everything, continuous prob-lems during the construction period havecompromised JadeWeserPort’s image andclaims between the various partners overextra costs and charges do not help con-vince shipping lines to call there. Hinter-land connections are not ideal, and hav-ing the largest container shipping com-pany as a partner in the terminal may bemore of a hindrance than a help.

Add to that the fact thatWilhelmshaven is hardly a centre of in-ternational business. It remains to be seenhow Eurogate will overcome this diffi-

cult situation, particularly as the Hamburgand Bremerhaven facilities are also suf-fering from the present economic crisis.

The continuing problems of theEurozone have severely dented the recov-ery from the 2008-9 recession that couldbe seen in 2010 and the early part of 2011.Europe’s economy is bumping along, butunfortunately it is impossible to timemega-projects such as JWP to come onstream during an “up” cycle.

Vlissingen blowWilhelmshaven is not the only port thatis suffering. As reported on worldcargo-news.com on 8 May, the Belgian firms Sea-invest and Zuidnatie have finally pulledthe plug on their container terminalproject in the Dutch port of Vlissingen(Flushing), part of Zeeland Seaports. The

55-ha site of the proposed Scaldia Termi-nal Operator (STO) facility has been re-turned to the port authority (ZSP).

“The market we aimed at has col-lapsed,” said a spokesman for Sea-Invest,the 70% partner in STO. Zuidnatie di-rector Marcel Dubourg told Antwerppublication De Lloyd: “As the recessionspread, container lines became ever morereluctant to move to Flushing.”

The project was unveiled in autumn2010 in a high profile ceremony with thechief guest being the (then) Dutch Headof State, Queen Beatrix, but nothing ma-terialised. Last June the 375m perpendicu-lar quay was leased to Supermaritimealong with a 9-ha section of the 42-haSTO terminal area. It is understood thatVerbrugge Terminals could take a further13-ha of the land handed back to ZSP.

The other private container terminalinitiative in Vlissingen, the 50:50 projectof Verbrugge and Eurogate Group, is dor-mant and its future must be open to doubt.Similarly the chances of ZSP’s own pre-ferred project, Westerschelde ContainerTerminal (WCT), ever being built mustbe very slim. There have been no “takers”to replace PSA, which inherited theproject when it took over HesseNoord-Natie, but pulled out of it in 2010.

M&S anchor?Questions are also being asked about DPWorld London Gateway. Phase 1 of thefacility is due to open towards the end ofthis year. An intermodal rail service agree-ment has been signed with DB SchenkerRail (UK), but there is no hint about anyshipping lines making a commitment andno-one has signed up for the huge, adja-cent logistics park.

However, at the time of writing (mid-May), there are rumours that Marks &Spencer will sign up for 1M ft2 of ware-housing. As M&S sources most of its non-food ambient goods from China and SEA,(a) deep sea carrier(s) must be waiting inthe wings. Separately, there is a rumourthat Evergreen will switch its Thamesportcalls (but not its Felixstowe calls) to Lon-don Gateway. (Hutchison has its ownproblems at Thamesport. The automatedyard equipment is now 20 years old, butthroughput does not really justify new in-vestments).

This is not an easy time for DP World.It has massive investment commitments,including around US$1B in LondonGateway up to the end of 2014, but itsparent Dubai World is under pressure tospeed up asset sales before its first debtrepayment deadline in September 2015.Dubai World reached a US$25B debt re-structuring deal in 2011 with a bankingconsortium led by Abu Dhabi Commer-cial Bank. DP World has sold its HongKong terminals and a breakbulk opera-tion in Belgium to improve liquidity.Dubai World has an 80% stake in DPWorld and wants to hold on to it.

DP World acquired P&O Ports in Feb-ruary 2006, including the conditionalplanning approval awarded in June 2005.Full consent was awarded in June 2007,but DP World’s decision to proceed sur-prised some observers. There is a view thatP&O Ports went to planning in order toincrease its sale appeal, but had no realintention of developing Shellhaven as thecost, which includes all the civil infrastruc-ture and dredging out to “The Sunk” 100miles from the port and “straightening”part of the Thames, was just too high. �

The Scaldia Dock in Vlissingen, looking south west towards the Scheldt. The aborted STOcontainer terminal would have been located on the north bank (right), opposite Verbrugge Terminalson the south bank. (Photo: ZSP, 2010)

Glimpse of London Gateway landsideequipment park in March this year: Kalmarshuttle carrier and automated stacking crane

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May 2013 59

PORT DEVELOPMENT

Global operators on a rollDespite high levels of volatility and uncertainty over container growth prospects, global terminal operators continue to invest heavily

The past four years have seen huge variations in annual container

throughputs, with 2009 seeing the first decline (-10%) in the industry’s history, 2010 a strong return to growth (12%) and 2011 and 2012 more modest increases in the 4-6% range. This year most analysts are expecting growth in the 5-6% range.

Although global terminal oper-ators (GTOs) scaled back on their capital expansion programmes slightly in the fiscally constrained 2008-10 period, they still invested and secured new operating con-cessions. For the past 20 years or so, the sector has seen a constant increase in its share of the global container market. This is a situa-tion that is expected to continue, despite some renewed interest in ports and terminals from equity groups, financial intermediaries and pension funds.

But the GTOs will be operat-ing in a slower trading environ-ment with annualised growth rates of only 5-6% a year expected over the next decade. This com-pares with average volume rises of 10-12% a year throughout the 1990s and 2000s, a period that was characterised by robust traffic

rises and hundreds of new deals being concluded by the main in-ternational terminal operators/stevedores as they gained ground in the industry.

Maturing sectorWhile the slower rates of growth in container handling activity partly relate to poorer global eco-nomic growth prospects, especial-ly in the OECD countries, they also reflect the maturing nature of the container shipping industry. In many regions of the developed world well over 80% of general and neo-bulk cargoes – such as steel, lumber and forest products – have already been unitised.

Having said this, there remains a significant volume of refriger-ated cargo that is moved in spe-cialised ships, while a range of agricultural commodities, such as soya beans, lentils, some grain and ores, are moved conventionally and could be containerised if the right infrastructure were in place.

Geographically, it is the emerging markets that offer the GTO industry the best prospects, principally because:• Annualised rates of growth over the next 10 years in regions such as Africa, Latin America and

PSA will spend S$3.5B to build an additional 8M TEU of capacity at Pasir Panjang terminal over the next decade, while the Singapore government is planning a new box port at Tuas in the west of the island

parts of Asia are projected to be three-four times higher than those in Europe, North America, Japan and maturing nations in Asia, such as South Korea, Tai-wan and Singapore.

• There is a rising demand for the development of modern cargo/container handling facilities and associated infrastructure. Local port authorities are often short of cash or unable to raise the fi-nance for such projects.

• Rising levels of foreign direct in-vestment by a mix of companies, quite often including manufac-turers/producers, dictate that efficient supply chains are in place. Fundamentally, this means efficient ports and container ter-minals to handle the import/ex-

port flows that normally follow on from the investment.

APM Terminals (APMT), China Merchants Holdings (Internation-al) (CMHI), DP World and PSA International (PSA) are among the leading GTOs already well-estab-lished in managing terminals in the developing world. Each is ac-tively chasing new opportunities.

Russian roulette Last year saw APMT make a key move into the Russian market, a region singled out by group CEO Kim Fejfer as displaying the fast-est growth rates of any BRIC na-tion last year and offering sound prospects. The Netherlands-headquartered terminal operator bought a 37.5% stake in Global

Ports Investments (GPI), Russia’s leading operator of container ter-minals, which also has a presence in Finland and Latvia. GPI han-dled about 1.4M TEU in 2012, up 8% on 2011, and with about a 30% share of Russia’s total con-tainer market.

“Russia will need world-class port infrastructure and operation-al excellence to serve global ship-ping lines and meet its own ambi-tions of economic development and GPI has a ‘good eye’ to grow the business. This deal is a great op-

portunity for APMT,” said Fejfer. He added: “The nation’s rap-

idly developing middle class, Rus-sia’s integration with the global economy as evidenced by its membership of the WTO plus the country’s wealth of natural resources will continue to fuel the growth in exports and imports in the long run.”

GPI controls the Petrolesport and Moby Dik terminals in St Petersburg – a total operating capacity of 1.8M TEU – as well as the city’s Yanino Logistics Park.

Concessions catapult capacity All the main global terminal op-erating companies have sizeable operating and investment con-cessions in place which are due to deliver a significant amount of additional container handling capacity over the next two to three years.

A conservative estimate sug-gests that by the end of 2015, six leading GTOs – HPH, PSA International, DP World, APM Terminals, China Merchants Holdings International and Co-sco Pacific – collectively will have added 30M-35M TEU of annualised handling capacity to the global total. Of these, DP World and APMT come out as being highly ambitious.

DP World’s main projects are set to add about 12M TEU of new capacity over the next two-three years. Around 40% of this new capacity will come on stream at its home port of Jebel Ali in Dubai, with 1M TEU added through its Jebel Ali Container Terminal 2 extension project by the end of 2013 and up to 4M TEU coming into operation at the new Terminal 3 complex in 2014.

Elsewhere, its Embramar project in Santos, where it works with Odebrecht, will add 1M TEU later this year. At Lon-don Gateway at least 1.6M TEU will come on stream this year, with the possibility of a further 2M TEU within the next two years. While there is some un-certainty about the scheduling of its Rotterdam World Gateway complex, it is expected to open in late 2014 with a design ca-pacity of 2.4M TEU and even-tually will be able to handle 4M TEU a year. By 2020 DP World hopes to have doubled its 2011 handling capacity and have fa-cilities capable of handling close to 100M TEU in place.

APMT has an ambitious expansion programme in place too, with a goal of becoming the world’s leading container port and inland serv-ices operator by 2016. On the basis of new developments, the operator will phase in to service an estimated 12M TEU of new capacity over the next three years.

Due to open in late 2014, APMT’s Maasvlakte II termi-nal is among its biggest projects, with stage one delivering about 2.7M TEU of extra handling capacity to the Benelux market, eventually increasing to 4.5M TEU, to be phased in according to market demand. Develop-ments in the emerging markets will be responsible for most of the group’s remaining capacity increases as terminals in Santos, Callao, Lazaro Cardenas, Izmir, Port Moin and Ningbo are completed.

Hong Kong’s HPH and Sin-gapore’s PSA International have fewer concessions and expan-sion programmes in place, al-though the Singapore Govern-ment is preparing to build an entirely new box port at Tuas in the west of the island. While no time frame is known for the development, PSA’s leases with the government for its terminals at Keppel, Pulau Brani and Tan-jong Pagar will expire in 2017.

In the meantime, PSA is fo-cused on expanding its Pasir Panjang terminal. An estimated S$3.5B will be spent on phases three and four with at least 8M TEU of additional handling ca-pacity expected to be in place at the complex over the next dec-ade. The next two years will also see it complete a 1.8M TEU capacity terminal at Dammam in Saudi Arabia and add some capacity at Port Mariel, Cuba.

Outside of the leading pack, Manila-based ICTSI has se-cured a number of high profile concessions in the last few years and was recently shortlisted in the bidding process to build a third terminal in the port of Melbourne, Australia.

The next two-three years will see the group introduce new handling capacity throughout its network, including at its flagship facility in Manila, at Manzanillo in Mexico, Lekki in Nigeria, Gdynia in Poland and Rijeka in Croatia. Overall, a projected 4M-5M TEU of new handling capacity will be added to ICT-SI’s global portfolio of facilities over this period.

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PORT DEVELOPMENT

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 facili-ties 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 capaci-ty 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 accommodat-ing up to 925M m2 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 ship-ping and freight distribution networks in the country.

Value added approachDP 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 com-pany’s success and its ability to compete. At the same time, the opportunity to of-fer 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 par-ties 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 man-ager of the cargo supply chain at LG, confirmed that 380,000 ft2 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 over-subscribed. We are now evaluating a simi-lar 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 safe-ly, 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 inevi-tably involves more automation.

Various levels of automation are be-coming evident in most new terminals, especially in countries where salaries are high and there is an absence of strong un-ion opposition. Automation is also more common when new terminals are de-veloped 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 con-tainers 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 con-tinue day-to-day operations presents huge challenges, both operationally and fiscally.

Costly investmentsAutomation is expensive, as is the cost of investing in the bigger cranes, stronger

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

In Russia’s Far East region, it owns Vostochnaya Stevedoring Co which has a terminal with a design capac-ity 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 con-tainer 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 ap-pears to be an obvious area for an op-erating presence at some stage. But for the time being the focus is on business integration and process management according to Fejfer, including in areas

such as operations, procurement and IT.

Mid range playersMedium-sized terminal operating com-panies also view emerging markets as solid investment opportunities. Some ex-amples include:• Grup TCB is spreading out from its Spanish homeland (originally Barcelo-na) to Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala and Turkey.• Philippines-based International Con-tainer Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) is active in many countries, including Chi-na, the Philippines, Indonesia, Madagas-car, 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

With

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PORT DEVELOPMENT

quay walls and deep water alongside and in the channels to accommodate the new classes of ultra-large container ships. This is another reason why the GTOs want closer working relationships with their ocean carriers and why discussions are taking place that aim to link tariffs and handling rates more closely to the invest-ment that has been made, or is needed, in the terminals.

In new terminals, unmanned yards are becoming increasingly common. Gradu-ally the ship-to-shore interface will go the same way as the larger cranes being installed will be controlled by operatives working the units remotely from com-puter work stations rather than physically working controls in the cab.

But as all of the main GTOs acknowl-edged, it is not only about buying new equipment and installing more sophis-ticated planning and terminal operating systems. “It is also about investing in peo-ple and ensuring that they are properly trained and fully conversant with all safety and security issues,” said Sharaf. “It is also vital that tighter communication links are put in place and there are better and more streamlined exchanges of information be-tween all parties.”

Criticising carriersDP World’s Sharaf was, however, highly critical of liner companies’ attitudes when it came to co-operation. Addressing the recent Lloyd’s List shipping summit, held in London, he said he has been trying for seven years to set up more effective communications in the interest of driv-ing efficiencies, but price generally took precedence.

“The focus right now [again] from the liner industry is only on price. But we say: ‘Let’s put the price aside and see how much you will save through efficiencies achieved by process and technological improvements’,” he said.

The need for better communication also extends in the other direction and needs to include beneficial cargo owners. It is noticeable how port authorities and GTOs have reached out to shippers and consignees in an effort to better under-stand their supply chain needs and also the inland distribution aspects of their businesses.

In selected terminals in their portfolios, Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), DP World, APMT and HHLA have all made moves in this direction. It is a trend that will continue as ports and operators seek to process a higher proportion of cargo off-site.

A clear trend over the past few years has been that of so-called “portfolio cleansing”, a process whereby individual GTOs actively manage their investments/terminal estate often to a set of specific strategic, fiscal (including profitability) and operational criteria.

Disposing of assetsArguably, APMT and DP World have been the most active on this front over the past two years. Both companies have disposed of terminals no longer consid-ered to be of core value and/or when they did not have management control. They have used the resulting funds to strengthen their balance sheets, top up their ‘investment pots’ and/or boost prof-itability.

It was a process highlighted by Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, chairman of DP World, at the company’s annual results announcement in March. “This year, we have continued to actively manage our portfolio to maximum advantage, divest-ing of non-core or low return assets. This has enabled us to move capital into those markets where we see more profitable returns whilst strengthening our capital base,” he said. “It is such actions, whether investing for growth, actively managing our portfolio of assets, or strengthening our balance sheet, that will allow us to deliver higher returns for our sharehold-ers over the medium term.”

This year has started off in a simi-lar vein with DP World in the process of disposing of its terminal interests in Hong Kong. These include its 100% stake in Asia Container Terminal and its 75% stake in CSX World Terminals, which operates Berth Three at the Kwai Chung Container Terminal and the ATL Logistics Centre – sold, respectively, to

Hutchison Port Holdings Trust and Goodman Hong Kong Logistics Fund. The deal with Goodman includes an ongoing management contract for the facilities, which gives DP World “an ongoing and significant toehold in this important market”, according to a local analyst.

Future structure So what about the future organisational structure of the industry? While GTOs will continue to see their share of the market rise, it is clear that within this sector Chinese money and China-based companies will feature more. Recent years have seen both Cosco Pacific and CMHI move into markets outside of China, with the latter active in Lagos, Togo and Djibouti and developing facili-ties in Sri Lanka.

in emerging markets and its potential pipeline of new projects present another driver for its volume growth and financial returns in the future.”

Nonetheless, organic growth remains important for the GTOs and an active pipeline of developments is in place at most companies, whether it be in ful-filling recent concession awards and/or expanding facilities held for several years (see box story, p55).

AcquisitionsOf course, the situation could change immediately should acquisitions or mergers occur, something that is difficult

ICTSI will add 4M-5M TEU of new ca-pacity to its global portfolio in the next three years, including expansion at its flagship facil-ity in Manila

CMHI also made what some in the in-dustry call a “transformational deal” when it acquired 49% of CMA CGM’s terminal business earlier this year. The €400M deal to buy Terminal Link expanded CMHI’s global footprint at a stroke, for the first time giving the company a presence in ports such as Dunkirk, Le Havre, Hou-ston, Miami, Tanger Med, Marsaxlokk and Busan. In terms of total throughput, Terminal Link processes in excess of 8M TEU a year.

CMHI chairman Dr. Fu Yuning de-scribed the deal as being highly strategic for the group. “The transaction marks a significant step towards expanding our in-ternational footprint, and Terminal Link’s strategic relationship with CMA CGM will help to ensure the long-term sustain-ability of its operations,” he said. “Besides, Terminal Link’s exposure to terminals

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61_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 17:01:13

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NEWSPORT DEVELOPMENT

to predict. But as the deals men-tioned above suggest, there are signs that corporate activity is picking up compared with the period from 2008 to early 2012. APMT’s Fejfer attributed this to higher levels of financial liquid-ity and the greater availability of capita at low interest rates.

While pension and special-ist equity/infrastructure funds and general investment entities have rekindled their interest in the ports/terminals and logistics sectors, ocean carriers appear to have become more willing sell-

ers in an attempt to monetise at least some of their holdings.

In addition to the CMA CGM/CMHI deal, for instance, MSC recently signed an agree-ment to sell 35% of its 100% stake in Terminal Investments Limited (TIL), its port manage-ment/stevedoring arm, to Aus-tralia-based Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and a group of that company’s LP co-investors. Subject to regulatory approval, the US$1.93B transaction is ex-pected to be concluded by the end of June 2013.

GIP is already well estab-lished in the utility, rail and air infrastructure sectors and has some existing port investments, through its wholly owned sub-sidiary International Port Hold-ings (IPH), with a total through-put below 1.5M TEU. These comprise of Great Yarmouth Port Company (100%), which handles no containers, Port of Brisbane (27%) and International Trade Logistics (50%), which operates the Exolgan facility in Buenos Aires.

The TIL deal will significantly elevate the Australian group’s presence in the maritime ports business, giving it an interest in 30 existing/under development terminals, with an estimated an-nualised throughput of 12M-13M TEU a year.

Best in classAccording to Adebayo Ogun-lesi, GIP chairman and manag-ing partner, the TIL deal is in line with the group’s invest-ment strategy of “developing best-in-class joint ventures with industry leaders”. IPH chairman Alistair Baillie, who was instru-mental in developing P&O Ports into a leading GTO prior to its US$5.7B sale to DP World in 2006, will join TIL as presi-dent.

Subsequent to the arrange-ment with TIL, GIP was part of the consortium that successfully secured the 99-year lease awarded by Australia’s New South Wales state government to operate Port Botany and Port Kembla.

It is clear that opportunities abound in the GTO sector and it continues to be one of the only bright spots in an otherwise gloomy market. It is for this rea-son that activity and investment are likely to stay at high levels for the foreseeable future. �

Cometh the ChineseMainland China-based terminal operating companies, including Cosco Pacific, Shanghai Inter-national Port Group (SIPG), China Merchants Holding In-ternational (CMHI) and China Shipping Terminal Develop-ment (CSTD) are increasingly planting their flags in overseas markets. They are doing this, both by aggressively bidding on new concessions and through corporate activity, including by forming partnerships with incumbent operators, buying shares in projects and/or taking direct stakes in other companies.

Neil Davidson, senior advi-sor, ports at Drewry Maritime Research, thinks the Chinese are set to become much bigger players in the global terminal operating business and he also sees more corporate activity tak-ing place. “After a lull in merger and acquisition activity in the sector, brought about by the global slowdown in 2009, activ-ity levels are building up again and we expect to see more ma-jor deals taking place,” he said.

Davidson suggested that “ownership and ranking of the world’s major terminal opera-tors may be significantly differ-ent in a year’s time”, though he stopped short of specifically re-ferring to the business develop-ment strategies and expansion philosophies of China’s main GTOs.

Large deals have already been concluded and although the CMHI deal to buy 49% of CMA CGM’s Terminal Link was the highest profile event of the past 12 months, several other highly significant transactions have also been completed, including:

• CMHI, Cosco Pacific and CST, the port management arm of the China Shipping Group, joined forces to buy Yang Ming’s 10% shareholding in Kaohsiung’s Kao Ming Con-tainer Terminal.

• CMHI acquired 50% of Togo-based Thesar Maritime and became a shareholder in Lome International Container Ter-minal. The Chinese company is now a partner with Terminal Investment Limited in develop-ing a purpose-designed 2.2M TEU capacity container termi-nal in the West African coun-try’s largest port.

• CSTD signed a Memorandum of Understanding with APMT in March 2013 to buy a 24% share of APM Terminals Zee-brugge in Belgium. SIPG already owns 25% of the operation.

• A framework agreement was concluded between CMHI and the Tanzanian Government for the overall planning, design, development, construction and management of the Bagamoyo special economic zone devel-opment project, including the construction of a new port.

• CMHI acquired 23.5% of the shares in Port de Djibouti SA, which controls the multipur-pose terminal in the port of Djibouti, 66.66% of the Do-raleh Container Terminal and 23.1% of Djibouti Dry Port, which has responsibility for the Djibouti Free Zone.

CMHI chairman Dr. Fu Yuning has been targeting investment opportunities in the developing world for several years and sees considerable growth opportuni-ties in sub-Saharan Africa. “Dji-bouti does not only avail our

group with another attractive opportunity to establish its pres-ence in East Africa but also, together with the group’s ear-lier investments in West Africa, strengthens our position in the increasingly affluent African market,” he said. “The acquisi-tion is consistent with CMHI’s long-term development strat-egy to gradually roll out its in-ternational footprint.”

Despite these various deals, the overseas port networks of Chinese companies remain lim-ited.

Moreover, in the case of Cosco Pacific and CSTD sev-eral of their facilities appear to be run mainly to complement and help improve operations at their sister shipping lines, Co-sco Container Lines and China Shipping Container Lines, re-spectively.

Currently, Cosco Pacific has four overseas investments cen-tred on Singapore, Antwerp, Pi-raeus, and Port Said – where it is a shareholder in Suez Canal Container Terminal, managed by APMT. Apart from Piraeus, it is the junior shareholder in all cases.

CMHI, which also owns a slice of Hong Kong-head-quartered Modern Terminals Limited, has no direct owner-ship links with liner shipping companies and its investments are as a pure terminal operator. In this regard, therefore, it can be viewed in a similar light to HPH, PSA International and DP World.

While the strategies may differ, Chinese operators will definitely be bigger forces in the third party port manage-ment and GTO market over the coming years.

Equipment recently arrived at the 2.2M TEU capacity Brasil Terminal Por-tuário in the Port of Santos, Brazil, one of several new APM Terminals facili-ties in emerging markets

Terminal operator

PSA InternationalHutchison Port HoldingsDP WorldAPM TerminalsCosco PacificTerminal Investment LimitedChina Shipping Terminal DevEvergreenEurogate/Contship ItaliaHHLATotal of leading 10World throughput

M TEU handled

47.643.433.132

15.412.17.86.96.66.4

211.3588.6

% share of world throughput

8.1%7.4%5.6%5.4%2.6%2.1%1.3%1.2%1.1%1.1%

35.9%64.1%

Notes: The leading five operators control 29.1% of the market; Leading China-based groups (including HPH) have a 11.3% share. Source: Drewry Maritime Research

Leading GTOs according to equity share of TEU (2011)

VDL Containersystemen

62_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 17:05:00

INTERMODAL

May 2013 63

WorldCargonews

French property developer DCB In-ternational is proceeding with Cal-ais Premier, a new logistics park that

aims to become one of the leading gate-ways for goods distribution between theUK and continental Europe.

Calais Premier is the biggest logisticsproject in northern France, with a totalsurface area of 160-ha. It is located in theTurquerie industrial zone, which stretchesalong the Calais-Dunkirk railway linebetween the Port of Calais and the Chan-nel Tunnel terminal at Fréthun.

The first phase of the project with asurface area of 50-ha is due for comple-tion by 2014 and is expected to have220,000 m2 of warehousing, 50,000 m2

of industrial parks, and 11,000 m2 of com-mercial property. The project owner, theCap Calaisis urban community, is plan-ning to invest €2B to create a railway junc-tion at the site as well as modernising thewhole Calais-Dunkirk railway line.

On top of that, the Calais 2015 portproject is aimed at doubling the size ofthe port. Franck Edouard Tiberghien, stra-tegic development director of CCI Côted’Opale, which manages and operates theport, says that the plan is to build a newsea wall to shelter 110-ha of new dockarea to the north of the existing port. Theentrance channel will be dredged to adepth of 13m and a new rail terminal willbe constructed between the two basins.

The project is estimated at €600M andis backed by the Nord Pas-de-Calais re-gional government. The new berthswould be used for ro-ro and lo-lo as Cal-ais looks to a wider short sea shipping/motorway of the sea vocation. “Calais willassert its strategic position as a Europeancrossroads,” stated the town’s mayor,Natacha Bouchart.

Beaming at the gateAs previously reported, Germany-basedCargoBeamer is installing a rail terminal(called “CargoGate”) at Calais Premierthat will enable standard road semi-trail-ers deployed in UK-Continent logisticsflows to be switched onto CargoBeamertrains. Hence, truck drivers would be re-quired only for the UK trunk haul andthe crossing to Calais via Eurotunnel orferry. (As an aside, it may be worth not-ing that with Eurotunnel’s freight shuttle,there is no alternative to the road tractorgoing with the trailer. For a ferry, how-ever, it may be possible to drop the trailerin Dover, ship it unaccompanied to Cal-ais and then engage another tractor headfor the short haul between the port andthe CargoBeamer terminal).

CargoBeamer aims to create a “railmotorway” connecting the UK andFrance with Eastern Europe and Russia.Speaking at a recent Calais Premier pres-entation in London, CargoBeamer’s salesdirector Michael Baier said: “Cargo-Beamer offers the only fully automatedsystem for transferring non-cranablesemi-trailers on and off the railway. Withinone of our CargoGates, we can shift upto 10 times more trailers to trains than acrane terminal can operate.

“We have chosen to base our facilityat Calais Premier as it is strategically animportant location, close to the UK andthe extensive European rail network.”CargoBeamer uses parallel, rather thansequential, loading, so trailers can beloaded on the train within 15 mins.

Very ambitiousCargoBeamer’s long-term goals are highlyambitious. It aims to have up to 75CargoGates in Europe, creating a networkof all freight centres and connecting allEuropean cities, from Glasgow in thenorth west to Moscow and Istanbul inthe east. However, a basic constraint wouldbe the available structure gauge. ACargoBeamer trailer would not be ableto operate anywhere in the UK, for ex-ample, except on HS1 between the Chan-nel Tunnel mouth at Cheriton and Lon-don-Barking.

As previously reported, CargoBeamerhas conducted extensive trials with itsprototype CargoGate in Leipzig, wherethe company is based. And as reported inthe January 2013 edition of WorldCargoNews (p1), Volkswagen is committing toa CargoBeamer service for trailers loaded

with automotive parts. CargoGates willbe built at the VW plant in Wolfsburg andin Bettembourg in Luxembourg. On de-training in Bettembourg, the trailers willbe transferred by terminal tractors to theLorry-Rail service using the Modalohrhorizontal technique between Bettem-bourg and Perpignan. In Perpignan thetrailers will be switched to road for on-ward shipment into Spain.

Berlin and LegnicaThe first CargoBeamer service from Cal-ais Premier will operate to Berlin and thenonwards to Legnica in southern Poland.Corresponding CargoGate terminals willbe built in both locations. This means that

distinct Berlin-Calais and Berlin-Legnicaservices could be offered as well as Cal-ais-Berlin-Legnica. Initially, says Cargo-Beamer’s managing director Hans-JürgenWeidemann, there will be two train/pairsweek, but it is hoped to develop businessup to daily train pairs. The company iscurrently analysing the details of its serv-ice schedule with the rail track authori-ties and prospective traction partners.

The Channel tunnel is not competi-tive for UK-Germany/Eastern Europerail freight. CargoBeamer at least gets thetraffic off the roads on the Continent.

On the designated route, theCargoBeamer trains have a capacity for36 wagons (ie 36 trailers) with a maxi- Marshalling a standard road trailer alongside the CargoBeamer wagons

CargoBeamer for Calais-Poland run

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63_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 18:25:46

May 201364

WorldCargonews INTERMODAL

mum trailer weight of 37t. The structuregauge clearance on the route is reportedto be P400/C400, so 4m high trailers canbe carried on the wagons, even thoughthe platform height is 320mm, 50mmhigher than a pocket wagon for conven-tional unaccompanied combined trans-port. Weidemann adds that a correspond-ing P/C400 permit has to be issued bythe track authorities to the rail operators.This was successfully executed for pilottransports with the CargoBeamer wag-ons in 2012 during which it transported4m high trailers. The company is notaware of any physical modifications re-quired to the upper or lower structuregauge profiles on the line of route.

Weidemann adds that so far

CargoBeamer has been almost completelyprivately-funded. Support is available aspart of the EU’s Marco Polo programmefor the ESTRaB project, which coversCargoBeamer transports between Rot-terdam and the Baltic including rail gaugeswitching at the Poland/Lithuania bor-der and a CargoGate terminal in Lithua-nia. This gauge switching facility is underconstruction now. Lithuanian transporta-tion and energy company Achema is partof the ESTRaB project.

High system costsAccording to last year’s study byKombiConsult for the UIRR, overall sys-tem costs of CargoBeamer are ca. 40%higher than the system costs of conven-tional unaccompanied combined trans-port (UCT) for semi-trailers loaded ontopocket wagons by cranes or reach stack-ers. This analysis was made in relation totransalpine combined transport axesthrough Switzerland (for review, see World-Cargo News, February 2013, pp37-38).

CargoBeamer caters for standard non-cranable trailers, or around 80% of theEuropean semi-trailer market, which isnot capturable by lo-lo UCT. In this con-text, however, Kombi-Consult posed animportant question for suppliers of hori-zontal loading systems for non-cranablesemi-trailers, such as Cargo-Beamer,Modalohr and Kockums Industrier.

When road transport firms procurenon-cranable semi-trailers, they do sobecause they intend to use them in ac-companied over-the-road services; thedistances may be too short for combinedtransport to compete, or they are not ca-pable of forwarding the trailers unaccom-panied by rail, as they do not have an or-ganisation at both ends of the rail leg orthe critical mass for regular shipments ongiven corridors.

For a company that can systematicallyand regularly make use of UCT, the ex-tra price for a cranable semi-trailer of€1500-2000 will be amortised in a fewjourneys and the extra tare of around 300kgs is not really significant, especially asthese days most loads “cube out.”

In contextThese are sharp points, but they have tobe seen in the context of established UCTcorridors. What about east-west traderoutes such as north east France-south-ern Poland where there are no establishedUCT corridors and where, up to now,there has been no tradition of shippingsemi-trailers by rail and no alternative tolong haul road transport?

East-west transit through Germanyand Germany-East Europe road transportis becoming increasingly unacceptable toGerman public opinion; the autobahns arecongested and there are too many acci-dents, leading to huge tailbacks, extrapollution and so on. Hans-JürgenWeidemann points to some key “drivers”for CargoBeamer and the ability to usestandard trailers without any modificationis only the start.

Other key factors are the total trans-port price, including “soft” issues such asinsurance, damage costs, wear on the truckand driver, the shortage of long-distancedrivers, higher turnover with the samenumber of trucks and drivers, compul-sory rest regulations (9h driving/11hpause), autobahn truck bans on Sundaysand public holidays, congestion and pol-lution, transport sustainability, and so on.

Horizontal transfer of trailer onto wagon bed

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64_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 18:34:14

INTERMODAL

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In combination with new large-scale ter-minals in Switzerland, the NEAT (NeueEisenbahn Alpen Transversale) line is able tobring further traffic volumes of maritimeand continental traffic to the tracks, ar-gues Swiss UIRR company Hupac, as itbrings long, flat track passing loops andsufficient route profile (P400). If thesethree infrastructural prerequisites for theGotthard corridor are present, an annualbenefit of CHF135M can be achieved forcombined operators, railway companiesand infrastructure providers.

This is the result of a master thesisdeveloped on behalf of the Cargo ForumSchweiz association. The required infra-structure comprises the NEAT, extensionof passing loops, and the 4m corridor. Theaggregate benefit of these three measurescorresponds to 75% of the operationalcontributions the Swiss federal govern-ment grants to combined traffic each year.

The construction of the 4m corridor,the decision concerning which will bemade by the Swiss Parliament in the nextfew months, is a worthwhile project froman economic point of view, insists Hupac,and economic added value is particularlyhigh for the Luino line. “Abandonmentof the adaptation of this highly frequentedroute will result in a value-destroying sce-nario for the overall investment of the 4mcorridor,” stated Hans-Jörg Bertschi, presi-dent of Hupac at the company’s annualresults conference in Zurich in May.

Italian connection“Pre-financing of the construction workin Italy is necessary in order to make useof the potential added value as soon aspossible. It is essential that negotiationsregarding the implementation of the 4mcorridor on the Luino and Chiasso linescontinue as top priority...in the absenceof an adaptation of the routes up to theterminals in Italy, benefits will fail to ma-terialise along the entire traffic corridor.”

Hupac is again expressing concern thatthe Italians will not make the necessaryinvestments in tracks and terminals tomaximise the potential of the newGotthard base tunnel. The problem is thatthis key transalpine intermodal corridoris only as efficient and adapted to marketrequirements - in particular the need tocater for 4m high semi-trailers on stand-ard P270 pocket wagons - as its weakestlink allows it to be.

Concern has also been expressedabout the ability of combi-terminals inGermany to cope with the potential ex-tra traffic that the Gotthard base tunnelcreates, particularly in terms of access forcollection and delivery drayage trucks.

Hupac already caters for 4m high trail-ers via the Lötschberg and Brenner Pass,on which routes it operates around 130shuttle trains a week. The study carriedout in 2012 by KombiConsult in Ger-many for the Brussels-based UIRR hasshown that semi-trailers are becoming

more important again for unaccompaniedcombined transport in Europe, and espe-cially on the transit routes through Swit-zerland (see WorldCargo News, February2013, pp37-38). However, with theexecption of road tankers and trailers spe-cifically built for dense, heavy cargoes, the

Swiss get tunnel vision

Of course, with the exception ofstandard road trailers, these factors alsoplay to lo-lo UCT, but the vast majorityof trailers in east-west trade lanes cannotmake use of it and combined transportservices are not well-established anyway.

Over time, CargoBeamer may be-come a kind of “feeder” for unaccompa-nied combined transport. As road trans-port firms become more confident in un-accompanied rail for the long haul, if theyhave critical mass for regular use of railthey will increasingly look to unaccom-panied combined transport. Critically,however, CargoBeamer says it knows al-ready that on its selected east-west routesit can beat the truck on price.

Response to failure?It looks as though CargoBeamer’s Calaisterminal may be able to position itself asthe answer to the almost complete fail-ure of the Channel tunnel to deliver vi-able UK-Germany/Eastern Europeintermodal services.

To the extent that structure gauge is afactor in this, only one route in GreatBritain is capable of handling high cubeswap bodies and piggyback trailers, HS1between the tunnel and London-Bark-ing. The Dover Straits “retail” services -Le Shuttle Fret and the ferries - are suck-ing in British o/d traffic from up to 100miles north and west of London. Cargo-Beamer provides an alternative mode, atleast on the French side of the water. �

The state-of-the-art freight corridor viaGotthard makes up a major part of theoperational requirement for combinedtraffic, says Hupac

Semi-trailers have become more important in Swiss transit traffic

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overall height of the vast majority ofstandard curtainsider of box-type semi-trailers is 4m, so structure gauge restric-tions limit their transferability to rail.

Switch to articsThe increase in trailer traffic is bound upwith the gradual switch from road trains.KombiConsult found that the split wasroughly 50:50 in transit via Switzerlandin 1992, but has now moved decisivelytowards artics, with a figure of 758,000,or 71.4% share, in 2010.

Why is this? According to the firm,key factors include the changes in logis-tics processes following liberalisation ofroad transport in Europe (starting from1985) and the big increase in transportcapacity following the break-up ofComecon and the gradual integration of

This way, valuable synergies areleveraged, since Swiss combined import/export traffic is for a large part continen-tal. Equipping terminals for swap bodiesand semitrailers is a “must.” The aim mustbe to concentrate the largest possible vol-

the Eastern European economies into theEuropean goods supply structure. This de-mand could be met most quickly and ef-fectively by semi-trailers.

Related to that point, artics have morefavourable driving dynamics than roadtrains and it is easier to manoeuvre themin reverse, so the new pool of drivers fromEastern Europe could adapt more easily.

In terms of unaccompanied combinedtransport, the key comparators are a semi-trailer and a road train with two C typeswap bodies, mounted on the rigid plat-form and the drawbar chassis. Both pro-vide the operator with a deal of flexibil-ity, since they can equally be used for long-distance road transport if for some reasonthe combined transport alternative is una-vailable or is uncompetitive. The A typeswap body, however, is generally not free-

standing, so it relies on heavy lifting equip-ment, normally found only in the com-bined transport terminal, to lift it on andoff the chassis. To that extent, 12m-13.6mlong swap body operators are “locked in”to combined transport.

The planned large-scale terminalsBasel-Nord and Zürich Limmattal openup new perspectives for combined traf-fic. From Hupac’s point of view, termi-nals should have a concentration func-tion on the north-south axis that is asbroad as possible, also regarding the open-ing of the NEAT and the impending ex-tension of the Ligurian sea ports (to cre-ate a viable alternative to the Rhine seaports for Swiss shippers). The terminalsmust cater for maritime and continentaltraffic, as is usual in the large Europeanhinterland terminals.

Overall volume for Hupac was off by almost 11% in 2012

umes, in order to guarantee economic op-eration of the terminals and, on the otherhand, to allow the formation of blocktrains for efficient forwarding of traffic onthe territory. The new terminals must beintegrated fully into an overall concept.

Commercial drivePrivate business aspects should be of ma-jor importance to the organising institu-tion and operators of the future large-scaleterminals. The future operator(s) shouldalready be involved in the project plan-ning phase, because an optimised, eco-nomically sustainable layout is decisive forefficient operation. Hupac supports amixed organisation regarding the termi-nals, involving all key stakeholders.

By means of the “Rail traffic on theterritory” Bill submitted to the legisla-tive process through consultation in April,the federal government is framing newboundary conditions for import/exporttraffic. Hupac welcomes equal considera-tion of freight traffic during the planningphase and advocates the principle of eco-nomic viability.

Start-up financing of new rail prod-ucts by the federal government must,however, be called into question, it says,because there is a risk of market distor-tion and cannibalisation of existing of-fers. From an international perspective,this type of financing concept has notproved successful. Planned new financialassistance for non-economically viableregional rail freight by a joint effort ofcantons and the federal government mustbe critically assessed. It creates new sub-sidies and reinforces bottlenecks in therail infrastructure. In Hupac’s view, onlysupport for geographically-handicappedperipheral regions is reasonable.

Traffic downFor the record, Hupac carried 646,214shipments (1.3M TEU) in the 2012-13financial year ended 31 March. This vol-ume represents a decrease of 10.7% fromthe previous year. The main reason forthe negative traffic development was citedas weak demand for transport services asa result of the current economic crisis inEurope and particularly in Italy.

Traffic through Switzerland was putunder additional strain by three total clo-sures of the Gotthard line lasting 40 daysin all. Further restrictions were imposedby construction work on the Lötschberg/Simplon axis. Overall, the route via Swit-zerland recorded a 11.9% reduction inconsignments, around half of which wasdue to the line closures.

In transalpine traffic via Austria, Hupacachieved a growth of 0.7%. This was par-ticularly due to the efficient 4m corridorfor the transportation of P400 semi-trail-ers. Hupac was able to strengthen its mar-ket position in this segment. There was areduction of 20.1% in non-transalpineimport/export traffic.

ConsolidationAs a result of the negative economic en-vironment, Hupac was forced to adjustcapacity and consolidate services betweenthe Rhine sea ports and Switzerland. Thetransport axes Benelux/Germany-Po-land/Russia, Benelux/Germany-Austria/Hungary/Romania and Benelux-Spainalso witnessed consolidation and the ad-justment of operational concepts.

Due to the decline in volume, turno-ver decreased by 7.8% to aroundCHF454.5M. Thanks to rigid cost con-trol, Hupac says, it achieved a satisfactoryoperating profit of CHF4.4M (+65.6%).Investments in tangible fixed assets cameto CHF33.3M and were primarily relatedto the purchase of rail wagons, the com-pletion of the Busto Arsizio-Gallarate ter-minal and the building of the wheel-setrefurbishing centre of Busto Arsizio. �

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As first reported in last month’s WorldCargoNews, Terex Noell Crane Systems (China)Ltd, majority-owned by Terex Port Solu-tions, has been awarded a contract worthUS$40M by PTP Tanjung Pelepas for 26E-RTGs, with an option for 32 more.PTP is also engaged in a project to con-vert all its existing RTGs to mains power.

Noell China has previously suppliedconventional RTGs to PTP, but this or-der is the biggest single order for RTGsit has received. The machines will be builtat its facility in Xiamen. As also previ-ously reported, PTP has two new berthsunder construction along a 720m longlinear quay. These are scheduled to openin May next year and the RTGs will bedeployed in the new yard. They are 7 +1/1 over 5 x 9ft 6in high machines withan SWL of 50t. Gantry speed is up to136 m/min (empty travel) and trolleytraverse speed is 70 m/min.

The new RTGs will run off aConductix-Wampfler conductor rail, un-der that company’s frame agreement withAPM Terminals, but they will also beequipped with an auxilary diesel genera-tor to allow them to change lanes or moveout of the stack for maintenance, etc.

Conversion projectPTP declined WorldCargo News’ requestfor comment on its new E-RTGs and itsRTG retrofit programme, which couldinvolve up to 120 installed RTGs andwould make a major contribution to im-proving local air quality and significantlyreduce CO

2 emissions and noise levels.

Typically RTGs account for more thanhalf the diesel fuel consumption in anRTG-based terminal, although this fig-ure has come down because of propri-etary systems such as Siemens’ ECO-RTG, Control Techniques’ RISGA andthe general trend towards variable speedgenerators, which reduce idling speeds.

According to data from Conductix-Wampfler, a diesel RTG typically accountsfor 454,000 kg of CO

2e/year. Theoreti-

cally an E-RTG accounts for 188,000 kg/CO

2e, but in practice about 10% of the

running time will be diesel (blockchanges, travel for maintenance, etc), sothat figure is adjusted upwards to 215,000kg, still a massive CO

2e reduction of 52%.

A conventional (non “eco”) RTGconsumes around 21 litres/hour of dieselfuel, using a benchmark of 10 hoistmoves/hour (2-3 RTGs per STS crane).For this case, Conductix-Wamplfer cal-culates a fuel cost of US$22.5/hour (priceof US$1.07/litre) or US$195,000/RTGyear. In contrast, based on a grid price ofUS$0.2/kWh, and a power requirementof 40 kW for 10 moves/hour, the cost isUS$8/hour or US$64,000/RTG year.

Although diesel fuel prices have comedown since 2008, they are less stable andtherefore less predictable than grid prices,and there may also be security of supplyquestions to factor into a total life costanalysis. In addition, maintenance costsassociated with diesel generators work outat around €5-6/hour. But that begs aquestion. Going forward, what will be themaintenance costs for busbars or cablemanagement systems?

There may be more on this in a newreport being drawn up by the Port Equip-ment Manufacturers’ Association (PEMA)in Brussels. PEMA’s members includeCavotec Group, Vahle, Conductix-Wamplfer, Prysmian and Tratos Cavi (butnot Stemmann-Technik).

Northport goes electricPTP could prove to be a tricky installa-tion for busbars, given the prevailingground conditions, with plenty of differ-ential settlement. Another Malaysian op-erator, Northport in Port Klang, is takinga different approach. The operator has justtaken delivery of the first of 13 all-elec-tric RTGs from Japan’s Toyo UmpankiCo (TCM). TCM has previously deliv-ered straddle carriers and RTGs toNorthport, but these latest units areNorthport’s first E-RTGs. They will bedelivered without a genset, instead usinga Lithium-ion battery pack to changeblocks as required.

G Sundaraja Perumal, assistant generalmanager, equipment and maintenance atNorthport, said that the company con-

sidered both a conductor rail and a cablereel system for powering the E-RTGs. Inthe end it opted for a cable reel system,mainly because the ground at Northportis subject to so much subsidence. Thecontainer yard is actually built on a swampand even the paved RTGs runways areextremely uneven.

This creates an issue with keeping aconductor rail relatively straight. Whilesome deviation can be managed,Sundaraja said he has seen another ter-minal in Malaysia that has had problems

with subsidence and conductor rails andNorthport’s crane consultant, US-basedCasper Phillips & Associates, also advisedagainst it.

The cable reel system has been sup-plied by Cavotec and will run on oppo-site sides of adjacent cranes (ie betweentwo stacks), away from the truck lanes. Acable reel does not offer the “drive in”capability of the latest conductor bar sys-

Container terminals still E-power madThere remains plenty of RTG electrificationwork around, for newbuilds and retrofits

New E-RTGs from TCM being installed inNorthport, Port Klang

We add the “E”to your RTGElectrification ofRubber Tyred GantriesConverting a conventional RTG into an electrical one (E-RTGTM) means to shut down the diesel generator and to power the RTG with electrical power only.This con-version is now possible with the complete RTG electric power solutions developed by Conductix-Wampfler:Plug-In Solution, Drive-In P & L Solution and Motorized Cable Reel Solution.

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E-RTG-V3_EN_WCN_TOC_EU_130515.indd 1 15.05.2013 08:09:24

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A 125m long P4 roller energy chain installed in the outdoor testing facility atthe Igus plant in Cologne

Igus GmbH, a world leader inenergy chains and polymer plainbearings, is continuing its growthtrend. Despite difficult marketconditions in 2012, turnover forthe year increased by 5% to arecord €399M, representing morethan 4200 shipments from its 13global dispatch centres to 175,000customers around the world.

All products are now devel-oped and marketed in specificbusiness divisions, although thisdoes not involve any complica-tions for the customers. Growthareas in 2012-13 include projectbusiness with enrgy chains, in theports and industrial sectors.

Major achievements in 2012included completion of a hugemechnical sludge processing plant,with a rotating arch bridge span-ning almost 180m, for the Port ofAntwerp and the Flemish authori-ties. Built and commissioned overa period of 30 months, the plantincorporates what Igus claims isthe world’s biggest polymer en-ergy chain, model E4.350, with ahose filling rate of more than 100kg per metre.

It features additional interiorseparations for power and signalcables, and opening crossbars withlow friction “iglidur” roller toguide the hoses as gently as possi-ble. Similar chains are proven inheavy machinery construction, insteelworks and on oil platforms.

Higher demandsIn the port crane sector, Igus notesthat demands on energy chainshave increased because of fasterspeed requirements and this dic-tates smooth running propertiesand low noise levels.

The company specificallydeveloped its P4 generation ofroller energy chains for this pur-pose, whereby the rollers nolonger roll over one another,and where all chain links havethe same short pitch.

One installation of a P4 e-

roller system with 220m of longtravel has been in operation forfour years and, says the company,has proved to be a reliable and safesolution for transmission of bothenergy and data.

With experience from this andother projects, Igus now offers sys-tems for long travel application ofall-electric RTGs. Igus energychains are installed on the trolleytravel of hundreds of STS cranes,RTGs, RMGs and ASCs and italso has long travel references onSTS and barge-to-shore cranes.

P4 is a modular systemconfigurable for distances of up to1000m and it can cater for fillingweights of up to 30 kg/m, or moreif additional centre links are fit-ted. The upper and lower runs ofthe chain roll offset one another,so the polymer profile rollers,which are optimised for interac-tion in relative motion, are notrolled over. Instead they roll on aconsistently wide area, which in-creases the service life of the chain.

In addition, the pitch of thechain links is identical with andwithout rollers, which means theenergy chain achieves particularlysmooth and vibration-free move-ment in the radius. The rollersthemselves are firmly integratedinto the sides of the energy chain.

“Auto-glide” cross-bars madeof polymere that go easy on ca-bles and a special groove systemprovide a safe guide for the en-ergy chain, says Igus. The P4 sys-tem is available with inner heightsof 32mm, 56mm or 80 mm andin different inner widths and cen-tral links for “infinite” widening.Different bending radii can bechosen according to cable layout.

Igus offers a mixture of stand-ard parts (e-chains, chainflex cables)and project-designed parts with theaim of meeting all requirements. Intotal the company has to dateequipped more then 4000 portcranes with energy chain systems,including chainflex cables. �

Igus rolls them out

tems, such as the Vahle installationat MTL, Hong Kong, for exam-ple (WorldCargo News, May 2012,pp60-61). However, Sundaraja saidthat Northport typically has main-tenance people on site who canplug and unplug the cranes safely.The cable will run on the ground,with no special trench or protec-tion system. As the truck lanes areon the “far side” of adjacent stacks,the cables are not exposed toheavy wheeled traffic.

Sundaraja is satisfied that a Li-ion battery pack can meet North-port’s requirements without hav-ing a small genset for back up. Thebattery can supply enough powerfor two row crossings and 500mof long travel, which is more thanadequate for Northport’s opera-tional needs. Based on the robust-ness of the grid supply to the STScranes, the company has no con-cerns about the lack of operating“redundancy” on the E-RTGs.

A cable reel system has theadvantage of familiar ground forport operators as the vast major-ity of the world’s all-electricdockside cranes operate withthem and there is an opportunityfor parts commonality. In princi-ple, the operating system is exactlythe same. Once the RTG has ac-celerated to its full travel speed, therotation speed becomes constant,but the torque varies according tothe mass of cable on the reel.

A complicating factor is thatmany new RTGs are now speci-fied with two long travel speeds,one for laden travel and a fasterone for empty travel (typically al-most three times the speed of STScrane gantry travel).

Stay with festoonsNorthport has also taken deliveryof the first two of six new STSgantry cranes from HyundaiSamho. All the cranes will be de-livered with a festoon systemrather than a cable chain.Sundaraja said festoons are a main-tenance item, but he has seen ca-ble chains where damage to oneor more links has damaged the restof the chain significantly as it slidesupon itself, requiring the wholechain to be replaced. The down-time to order and replace a cablechain, he added, is significant.

The first two cranes are rela-tively small (40m outreach) andwill have a non-motorised festoon.The next four cranes are muchlarger (23-wide) and will have aConductix-Wampfler motorisedfestoon. Northport has made onechange to Wampfler’s standard sys-tem by specifying a different typeof cable clamp at the bottom ofthe hanging loops. Normally theseare a metal clamp, but Sundarajasaid Northport has found thatthese can tear the insulation offthe cable and it prefers a rubberband type clamp.

Elsewhere in Malaysia,Conductix-Wampfler’s “Drive-In” system was installed on 4 x300m RTG blocks in the Port ofPenang in 2011.

Turkish dealsAs also reported last month,Konecranes is in the process of de-livering eight E-RTGs to EyvapPort in Istanbul. It is estimated thatthe RTGs, which are alsoequipped with network braking,will reduce energy consumptionby up to 60% and reduce localemissions by up to 95%. Again, theE-RTGs will run off Conductix-Wampfler conductor rails.

This is not the latest fully au-tomated and electrified “Drive-InL” system from Conductix-Wampfler, but an earlier versionthat relies on a pneumatic arm,which is less compact and less“smooth” and takes more time toconnect. This is because, as well asordering new Konecranes RTGs,Eyvap is retrofitting (go to page 64)

Above: A Noell China E-RTG, such as ordered by PTP Tanjung Pelepas. Below:panorama of PTP container yard

eRTG featuring fuel saver, cost saver,rapid power switcher.

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68_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 18:52:44

CARGO HANDLING

May 2013 69

WorldCargonews

Canada-based rail and aerospace giantBombardier has launched an inductivelycharged battery propulsion system forbuses and other industrial vehicles. CalledPRIMOVE, the system uses inductivepower transfer to charge batteries, eitherin motion or at rest. PRIMOVE was ini-tially developed for trams, with a highcharging rate designed to allow trams tocharge at passenger stations without slow-ing their normal service speed.

Bombardier has now adaptedPRIMOVE for road and industrial vehi-cles and claims that it is particularly suitedto vehicles that have a duty cycle withregular stops, such as horizontal transportin container terminals.

Bombardier adds that PRIMOVE hasan advantage over other inductive systemsthrough its concept of “high power op-portunity charging” that allows batteriesto be smaller and lighter. The chargingprocess itself is fully automated, safe andworks in all ground conditions, includ-ing snow and ice. The first system on apassenger bus has recently been demon-strated in Geneva, Switzerland.

Not hanging aroundThe idea of applying inductive power toequipment in ports is not completely new.In the late 1990s, Vahle installed a CPS(contactless power system) together withits slotted microwave guide signalling sys-tem on the trolley of rope-driven (powerrequirement of just 50 kW) STS containercranes in the USA and in Hong Kong, asa complete alternative to a cable festoon.

More recently TTS Group developedthe C-AGV concept in association withSwitzerland-based Numexia, which haddeveloped suitable contactless energytransfer technology. The ground-basedelements and coils would be placed un-der both the quay cranes and the ASChandover areas, while the energy pickedup by the AGV-mounted coil would bestored in supercapacitors (WorldCargoNews, October 2008, p47).

The problem was not technology, butprice, and TTS Group had to move awayfrom this concept, although Numexiawent on to develop a 3.5t 2-axle truckfor urban goods delivery using contactlesscharging.

More recently, of course, Gottwald hascome up with a battery-electric AGV.Judging by the commercial success of thisdesign in Rotterdam and Long Beach, itmust be a cost-effective product. Partlythis is to do with the fact that it uses lead-acid batteries, which are far less expen-sive than Lithium-ion batteries and arealso 100% recyclable.

The lead-acid batteries are much big-ger and heavier than equivalent Li-ionbatteries and require more space, but thisis not a problem in an AGV configura-tion. The battery array adds considerableweight and Gottwald has increased thesize of tyres from 18.00-25 to 21.00-25.

Inductive power will not go away fromthe ports, however. RTG lanes are in manyways an ideal location for contactlesspower transfer beds. This has been inves-tigated, but for the time being it is stilltoo expensive, since such a big movingmass would require beds at relatively shortintervals. But in the future, who can say?

Another promising area for AGVs ishybrid drive using a regen energy store anda “rightsized” engine, as VDL is showing atECT in Rotterdam. Looking ahead, a hy-brid drive with fuel cells and some formof dynamic “primer” may also be in play. �

Induction coursefor urban buses

its existing Kalmar RTGs to run off the localgrid. Vahle had a similar project in anotherTurkish port, Mardas, converting eight exist-ing RTGs with a manual, plug-in system.

Full redundancyEyvap’s new RTGs are equipped with afull-size diesel generator (together withKonecranes’ diesel fuel saver technology)in case of electricity blackouts.KimSalvén, Konecranes’ sales director, portcranes, Europe, considers that unless theoperator is assured of 100% grid avail-ability, it is safer to fit a full size dieselgenset for redundancy. Otherwise asmaller genset can be fitted as it is only

needed when the machine changes lanes.Over the life of the RTG the extra capi-tal cost of a full size diesel genset is rela-tively low, while the maintenance andservice costs are also relatively low as it isnot used very often.

Eyvap and GPA Savannah (the latterwith Conductix-Wampfler’s Drive-In L- see WorldCargo News, January 2013,pp29-30) are Konecranes’ first E-RTG in-stallations with busbars, and it is workingon other projects. The E-RTGs in Savan-nah can switch between diesel and thegrid via an auto-engage system. GPA ex-pects them to operate on electrical powerfor around 90% of total hours.

Most of Konecranes’ E-RTG instal-lations to date have been with cable reels,usually from Cavotec, although it is opento other suppliers. As Salvén explains,

where there are 2-3 RTGs over a stack,the power cable of the RTG that is near-est the turnover point located at mid-point of the runway is always on the top.The main requirement is to ensure thatthe channel is the correct depth as it mustbe covered to protect the cables fromwheeled traffic.

Another question with cable-poweredRTGs is whether the diesel genset is fixedor can be mounted on a removable plat-form with FLT pockets. The latter can bea good solution if the machine does notchange lane very often. �

Vahle’s conversion project at MTL, Hong Kongis the biggest RTG retrofit programme to date.Major new conversion projects are in hand atPTP Tanjung Pelepas and GPA Savannah.(Photo: Modern Terminals Ltd)

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69_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 18:55:30

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70_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 18:56:31

CARGO HANDLING

May 2013 71

WorldCargonews

In 2011 the Japanese Associationfor Cargo Handling MachinerySystems, in operation with theMinistry of Land, Infrastructureand Transport, Omaezaki Port andShizuoka Prefectural Office con-ducted an experiment with dy-namic rail clamps. As a result, dy-namic rail clamps are now recom-mended for all Japanese ports.

Not everyone in the brakingindustry agrees that rail clampsthat act on the top of the cranerail are a good option for a dy-namic storm brake. Several manu-factures believe they are a hold-ing brake only, and cranes shouldbe equipped with wheel brakes tostop the crane in the long traveldistance. However, many cranesare fitted with rail clamps withbrake pads (rather than serratedshoes) to provide dynamic brak-ing in an E-stop situation.

Blown awayIn January 2010 a crane in the Portof Omaezaki was blown along therail by wind. The port and the or-ganisations listed above began astudy to try and determine,amongst other things, whether railclamps can effectively stop a cranein motion, and a realistic coeffi-cient of friction (CoF) to usewhen specifying rail clamps(known as “rail brakes” in Japan).

The biggest problem with railclamps is that the crane rail is thebraking surface. It can be wet,greasy from hydraulic oil andother contaminants, warped anduneven. To test some of these fac-tors, Omaezaki used a crane onits west wharf fitted with a railclamp with a pressing force of 500kN on top of the rail, generatinga braking force of around 300 kNwith a maximum stroke of 10mm.

Two sets of brake pads wereused: one measured 290 x 125mm

and the other was half that size.The linings were a metal-basedsynthetic resin material.

The dynamic CoF of the brakewas calculated in a series of ex-periments where the crane was ac-celerated to a predeterminedspeed and the emergency stopbutton was then pressed. Tests wererepeated over several months toassess the impact of wear of thebrake pads, in dry and wet condi-tions and on a greasy rail.

Wide variationsThe first results were quite ran-dom, with dynamic CoFs varyingbetween 0.1 and 0.4. It made lit-tle difference whether the rail waswet or dry. Grease and oils, how-ever dramatically cut the dynamicCoF to around 0.1, and once thepads were contaminated this couldnot be improved by cleaning.

Further investigation revealedthat the biggest factor affectingperformance was the state of thecrane rail and the clearance be-tween the rail and brake pad.When the test was repeated onanother section of crane rail wherethe clearance did not exceed thespecifications of the clamp, theresults were much more consist-ent, with dynamic CoF values inthe range of 0.22 to 0.36 on wetand dry rails. Doubling the size ofthe brake pad had little effect.

The study concluded that dy-namic rail clamps are able to stopcranes in a reliable, predictablemanner, but there is a need for railclamps that have more stroke tol-erance to accommodate unevencrane rails. Masharahu Sinohara,

executive officer for engineeringand planning at Osaka Port re-marked that although rail clampsare not mandatory, they are nowrecommended and most new STScranes in Japan have them.

Long travel targetIn other developments, Chinesebrake manufacturer JiangxiHuawu Brake Company has madedeveloping electromagnetic multi-disc brakes and wheel brakes forgantry long travel applications aresearch priority. In recent yearsHuawu has focused on brakes forwind turbines and it achieved salesof Yuan50M in this market in2012. It is now targeting otherindustrial applications where im-ported products still dominate thedomestic Chinese market, work-ing with universities and theJiangxi Provincial Science andTechnology Department to de-velop new products.

As far as growing its exportbusiness is concerned, Huawu re-cently stated its intention to “con-tinue to intensify efforts to de-velop the international market.” Itwill try to leverage ZPMC’s over-seas spare parts network to builda sales channel into overseas mar-kets, but is also building an “in-ternational marketing team” topromote cooperation with foreigncompanies.

Römer into AsiaGermany-based manufacturer ofbrakes and other componentsRömer Fördertechnik GmbH hassigned an exclusive representationagreement with Singapore-based

Portek. Portek, which previouslyworked with Ican, will be Römer’ssole representative in the follow-ing markets: Singapore, Indonesia,Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines,Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Brunei,Cambodia and Hong Kong. Theagreement also covers countrieswhere Portek is operating termi-nals - currently Algeria, Gabon,Malta, Rwanda and Latvia.

In its brake product lineRömer has developed a newthruster called the Turbo brake lift-ing system (TBLS) that reducesthe brake actuation time from350-450 millisecs to 150 millisecs.Römer builds its own thrustersunder the RBL (Römer Brems-Lüftgeräte) brand. Depending onthe load, said the company, theapply time of a regular hydraulicthruster according to DIN 15430amounts to ca. 300-500 millisecs.By a special control of the pumpmotor, this apply time is reducedto about 150 millisecs, independ-ent of the load (even in case of apower failure) with integrated un-interrupted power supply.

The control system reduces theinrush current and the thermalload on the motor, which Römersays will improve service life sig-nificantly. The TBLS can be usedwith drum, disk and band brakes.

Römer is making a concertedpush into ports and has suppliedcrane OEMs including HansKuenz, Konecranes, Terex, KSRGermany (part of Kranunion) andPaceco España. It is also targetingstorm brakes, where it claims thatmany brakes are actually undersizedbecause they are specified with anunrealistically high CoF for the ap-plication. Römer is adamant thatthe only appropriate value isµ=0.25 according to DIN 15019,but says this is frequently exceeded.

As regards other crane com-ponents, Römer has developed anew buffer system that enables thepiston rod of the buffer to retract

Italy-based RIMA Srl has kept upa busy stream of business this year,following a strong 2012. It has re-ceived multiple orders for stormbrakes for container handlingcranes, in particular for auto-mated stacking cranes (ASCs)and bulk handling cranes, placedby OEMs in Germany, India,China and the Middle East. Inaddition, there were important or-ders for other hydraulic compo-nents including micro-motion con-trol systems for port cranes and off-shore applications.

In the early part of this yearmore orders have come in, from

OEMs including MitsubishiHeavy Industries, Mitsui Engi-neering & Shipbuilding, Balt-kran and PHB (in Spain).

Highlight include the ordersfrom Trans Gulf Port cranes (partof IMCC) in Abu Dhabi for therail clamps and hydraulic trim,list and skew systems for 10 STScranes and the rail brakes for 25ASCs it is building for DP World,Jebel Ali Terminal 3.

The 40 ASCs being sup-plied by Kalmar to DP WorldLondon Gateway (phase 1) arealso being furnished withRIMA rail brakes. �

RIMA rail clamp on STS container crane in the Far East

RIMA storms forward

Braking cranes on the runIn an effort to prevent cranerunaways, dynamic rail clamps arenow recommended in Japan

when two cranes are working veryclosely together, and extend againwhen the cranes move apart. This

will be particularly useful on retro-fit applications where space is of-ten constrained. �

Römer’s Turbo brake lifting system actuates in just 150 millisecs

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71_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 18:59:02

May 201372

WorldCargonews CARGO HANDLING

Pintsch Bubenzer GmbH (PB) re-cently held a 10th anniversary cel-ebration for its Malaysian subsidi-ary PB MyPort Sdn Bhd (PBMY).In its short history MyPort hasgrown from a strategic Singaporebranch office to what PB describesas a “global centre for crane brak-ing systems.”

PBMY now has 32 employ-ees, including eight service engi-neers and eight mechanical andelectrical engineers - more serv-ice personnel than PB has in Ger-many - and is extending its op-

erations well beyond brakes. Itoperates from two facilities, atraining centre at Tanjung Pelepasand a new building at nearbyGelang Patah.

This requires considerable in-vestment, and raises the question

whether the Schaltbau Group,which owns PB through PintschBamag, has a wider strategy thatmay eventually lead to startingbrakes production in Malaysia.

PB’s managing directorMarkus Topp said, however, that

the company is committed tomaintaining manufacturing inGermany. The company wants tobe at the forefront of developingnew braking technology, and Toppdoes not believe this is possible ifmanufacturing is sent offshore.

Cost is of course important,but PB has addressed it by invest-ing in capital equipment to makemanufacturing less labour-inten-sive, including machinery thatperforms multiple processes, andreconfiguring its factory so oneoperator controls two machines.

This strategy requires capitaland commitment, not just to in-vest in new equipment, but todevelop the supporting labourforce. PB needs workers with dif-ferent skills than previously, andhas actively engaged local univer-sities and polytechnics to ensureit positions itself as an attractiveoption for young people.

New centrePB has just opened a new researchand development centre near itsmanufacturing facility in Kirchen-Wehbach. It will be able to meetincreasing demand for docu-mented tests as well as producingnew products. It is equipped withdyno stands for high speed brakesand test benches for storm andemergency brakes.

For the container crane mar-ket, the first new product will bean electro mechanical wheel brake,scheduled for release later this year.Current wheel brakes are hydrau-lically released and terminal op-erators would like to eliminatehydraulics as far as possible. PB hasdeveloped several prototypes andis now finalising a design to launchon the market later this year.

Go with the cranesPB’s strategy with MyPort, saidTopp, is driven by the need to takesales and service directly to theAsian market, which is now toobig to be handled effectively outof Germany. In 2011 the companyacquired 95% of PBMY and lastyear opened an office in Shang-hai. It also has a US service andtraining centre (PBUS) inFlemington, New Jersey.

Topp explains that PB has de-veloped a policy of “know-howtransfer” so local companies canprovide a full service offering.Dealing with brake issues requiresa wide range of skills. Brake wearis frequently caused by alignment

issues in rope drum drive systemsand, on some cranes, structuraldeflection in the machinery housefloor. PBMY has built up consid-erable expertise, including a laseralignment system, to troubleshootand fix braking problems. This in-cludes selecting couplings andother components that match thewear characteristics of the craneas well as the technical specifica-tions of the drive system.

In the frameAt a component level PBMY andPBUS are equipped and certificatedto rebuild brakes and thrusters, socomponents no longer have to be re-turned to Germany for this service.

This has enabled them to en-ter service contracts and “frameagreements” covering servicingand rebuilding of older brakes.PBUS has a frame agreement withthe Port of Houston Authorityand PBMY has a five-year agree-ment with Northport and a 2-yearagreement covering PSA Singa-pore’s huge crane fleet. Brakes thatare 15 years old, including brakesfrom other suppliers, are removedfrom service and rebuilt, tested andcertified locally.

PBMY is now moving beyondbrakes and evolving into a widerservice company. It is a partnerwith Siemens in the Siemens-Myport Regional Crane TrainingCentre at Tanjung Pelepas, whichcan train and certify a technicianin Siemens drives and PLCs. It alsooffers gearbox rebuilds on Stiebelgearboxes, which are used in theSiemens ECO RTG system.

PBMY’s managing directorSuzannah E Jamain said drive re-furbishment has huge potential.There are many old GE drives inMalaysia on cranes from Impsa,Doosan, Favelle Favco and Muhi-baha. PBMY has worked with ter-minals to keep these up and run-ning, but many are now at thepoint where they need replacing.

PBMY is also working furtherafield, and recently completed aproject to retrofit two MitsubishiSTS cranes in Dubai, replacing GEDC drives with a Siemens system.In Malaysia, PBMY is moving intothe container yard, where it offersinstallation and commissioning forthe Stemmann Technik E-RTGconductor bar system, and it isdeveloping a DGPS-based con-tainer position system and wire-less LAN installation and support.

SOS messageThe first two cranes with the SOSelectro mechanical snag and over-

Pintsch Bubenzer charting a new pathPintsch Bubenzer is investing in anew generation of brakes whiledeveloping MYPort into a craneand terminal service company

Northport Klang is fitting its new STS cranes with the Pintsch BubenzerMalmedie SOS snag load protection system

load prevention system in Asia arenow undergoing commissioningat Northport in Port Klang, Ma-laysia. The cranes are the first offive Northport has ordered fromHyundai Samho. Northport’s as-sistant general manager, equip-ment and maintenance, GSundaraja Perumal believes thatthere are two main benefits fromthe SOS system: a reduction incrane weight by eliminating hy-draulic snag cylinders at the boomtip; and reduced maintenance.

The first two cranes will op-erate on a quay with a wheel limitof 40t per metre. Northportwanted twin lift capability and itsconsultant, Casper Phillips & As-sociates, designed a crane with a55t SWL over the 40m outreachweighing just 1250t (with 10wheels per corner to spread theload). Every opportunity to saveweight was important.

Most snag events at Northportactually happen on smaller, oldervessels with damaged cell guides.Northport has hydraulic anti snagsystems on other cranes andSundaraja said they require regu-lar maintenance, particularly asthey age and start to leak. Hewould like to eliminate hydrau-lics wherever possible and, as wellas the SOS system, the new craneswill have a mechanical screw type,trim, list and skew system.

Brake monitoringAnother area where Sundarajaexpects significant benefits is hav-ing the brake monitoring systemintegrated with the main cranemonitoring system (CMS). PB’slatest computer brake monitoringsystem, called CMB2, connects tothe crane PLC via Profibus and ispre-integrated with the CMS be-fore the crane is delivered.

Sundaraja said Northport haschanged its approach to buyingcranes. It the past it relied on theOEM to engineer the drive, butnow it requires the drive supplierto engineer, install and commis-sion the drive itself. It is taking asimilar approach with brakes andPB is designing the whole brak-ing system and maintaining it un-der its existing 5-year agreement.

Northport previously tried tooutsource maintenance to a gen-eral service company, but has notbeen happy with some of the re-sults. “What we are doing now, saidSundaraja, “is identifying the criti-cal components where we wantthe component suppliers to beinvolved in regular inspections andmaintenance.” �

Pintsch Bubenzer is developing an electro mechanical wheel brake for longtravel applications

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72_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 19:03:36

CARGO HANDLING

May 2013 73

WorldCargonews

How 3D-laser technology sup-ports automated container han-dling and supplies exact positiondata for the crane control, is shownby the example of automaticstacking cranes (ASCs) fromKalmar at HHLA’s Buchardkaiterminal (CTB) in Hamburg.

Container terminal operatorsare deploying more and more im-proved automation solutions toenhance productivity. This is par-ticularly important when handlingcapacity is limited by non-extend-able stacking areas and absence ofexpansion possibilities, such as atCTB Hamburg, where the remitwas to double capacity within thesame “footprint.”

CTB converted from straddlecarriers to dense ASC blocks. Theconversion entails a total of 29300m blocks, 5-high and 10-wide.There are three ASCs per block,with a bigger crane able to passtwo smaller ones.

Kalmar (Cargotec) was com-missioned with the ASC projectand, as supplier for laser measur-ing technology, LASE IndustrielleLasertechnik was elected as sub-contractor. The deployed lasermeasuring system fulfils the fol-lowing tasks:� Measurement of the containerposition inside the stack� Measurement of neighbouringstacks to determine the open spacefor lowering the spreader� Measurement of position refer-ence marks (PRM) on the termi-nal floor for a longstanding stableand exact stacking� Height measurement of the con-tainer stacks� Measurement of road trucks� Stack collision prevention

The components of the lasermeasurement system are two 3D-laser scanners and an industrial-PC. The 3D-laser scanner consistsof a 2D-laser scanner, a servo driveand a platform (Figure 1). The plat-form is turned through the servodrive and on this rotating platforma 2D-laser scanner is mounted.

A high resolution encoder,which is mounted on the servodrive, measures the rotation angleof the platform. By connecting thedata from the 2D-laser scannersand the encoder, a 3D-image ofthe measurement data is generated.

Measuring principleThe 3D-laser scanners aremounted opposite each other oneach side of the ASC trolley. Ac-cording to the measuring task, the

laser scanners are swivelled intothe area(s) required. By way ofexample, container pick-up is de-picted in Figure 2 and Figure 3.

Both 3D-laser scanners can beseen at the top of the trolley. Eachscan area is marked in pink. Oneof the scan areas overlaps the po-sition reference mark (PRM). Fig-ure 2 shows the position of thespreader (yellow) and the positionof the container (red), wherebyboth positions have to correlate.

The laser measuring systemmeasures the position of the con-tainer relative to the spreader po-sition and the difference is trans-ferred to the crane control system.Now the crane control can trackthe spreader accordingly bymicromotion and the containercan be precisely picked or landed.

Raw dataThe 3D-laser scanners deliver a3D-measurement data image(point cloud) for scene editing.The application program imple-ments the following tasks with theraw data:� Extraction - data filtering� Algorithms for position deter-mination of “remarkable points”(container edges, position refer-ence marks, etc)� Conjunction of measurementdata from both 3D-laser scanners� Generation of output data (?X,?Y, ?Z) for crane control system.

Figure 4 illustrates the positionreference marks on the groundand also the upper edge of a 40ftcontainer at the highest stackingheight. The other containers in theunderlying levels are visible as well(these data will not be used). The“box” depicted is the outlinedmeasurement result of the lasermeasurement system.

Position referencesThe position reference marks areresponsible for the following tasks:� Verification of the crane and trol-ley position after reaching the cal-culated position� Long-term stable and exact con-

tainer stacking even after subsid-ence of the terrain� Container position on the truck

Pick and landing of contain-ers from/to road trucks is sup-ported by the laser measurementsystem. Due to this, a semi-auto-mated operation is possiblewhereby the spreader is alreadypre-positioned above the truck/container or the container above

Look into the eyes of the crane3D-laser technology and positiondata for container handling** This article is adapted from a paperby Dipl.Ing. Lars Ambrosy, jointmanaging director of LASEIndustrielle Lasertechnik GmbH andLASE PeCo Systemtechnik GmbH.For further information contactChristian Janusch, LASE’s marketingmanager. (c.jagusch@lase.de)

Fig 1: 3D-scanner measuring principle

Fig 2: Depiction of the relativecontainer/spreader positions

Fig 3: Container pick-up, scanner positions, reference marks and scan planes

Figure 4: Measuring points of a laser scanner (40ft container in tier 5)

Fig 5: Point cloud with detected container position on road truck

the trailer. The last work stages areperformed by remote craneoperators.Figure 5 illustrates apoint cloud with the detectedcontainer position on the truck.

Closing the gapThe latest developments fromLASE will close the logistical gapby using further lasers to deter-mine the twistlock positions of theroad trailer. For a fully automatictakeover of the container to/fromthe trailer, Kalmar has orderedthese systems for its projects atLondon Gateway, Trapac Los An-geles and Brisbane. With the 3D-image of the stacks an optimised

Fig 6: 3D view of block and landsidetransfer area

drive of the load through the stackis possible (see Figure 6).

The 3D-laser scanners - theeyes of the crane - are a core partof container handling with ASCs.The measurement system distin-guishes itself through omni-func-

tionality, high accuracy and bysimple commissioning and main-tenance. This type of system canalso be used on STS cranes andRTGs, if higher capacity, person-nel reduction and faster handlingare deemed as crucial. �

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73_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 19:14:46

May 201374

WorldCargonews CARGO HANDLING

There are two vision systems thathave been implemented at MSCHome Terminal. One is a safetysystem that has been installed on23 STS cranes to give drivers aview of the crane portal area asthe trolley is travelling backwardstowards the shore. The second is apositioning system that has nowbeen installed on 102 straddle car-riers, to line up containers under-neath them with the trolley posi-tion of the STS cranes.

Safety in viewLike many terminal operatorsMSC Home Terminal, located atthe Delwaidedock in Antwerp,wanted to improve its safety per-formance by addressing areaswhere people and equipmentwork in close proximity.

The work zone in the craneportal and backreach was a zoneof particular concern. Workerswould draw chalk lines on theground to indicate where strad-dle carrier drivers should placecontainers. STS drivers travellingbackwards relied on a mirror un-

derneath the crane cab to seewhether the area was clear whentrolleying back from a vessel.

Orlaco has developed a modu-

lar range of camera systems thatcan be used for applications rang-ing from improving visibility insafety black spots right up to sup-

porting full remote controlledoperations. MSC Home Terminalhad seen the straddle carrier posi-tioning system at APM TerminalsZeebrugge and decided to imple-ment something similar at its ownoperation, which is the largest ter-minal in Antwerp.

In line, in positionThe straddle carrier system usescameras that are mounted onthe spreader to show the driverwhen the centre of his spreaderis lined up with the centre ofthe crane portal. Grounding thecontainers in the r ight placemeans the STS crane driver canland his spreader without hav-ing to use side shift on thespreader or, even worse from aproductivity and power usestandpoint, use gantry longtravel to move the crane.

Orlaco’s business developmentmanager Twan Pelders explains thatthe system works using compactcameras mounted in the exact mid-dle of the spreader on vibration-resistant mountings. The camera

More than 100 straddle carriers of different makes and age had to be kitted out

detects reflective strips stuck to thesides of the sill beam on the cranesin different positions for 20ft, 40ftand twin 20ft containers.

In the cab, the driver looks ata screen that shows a softwareimage of the centre line of thespreader. When the container is inthe right place the line on thescreen overlays the line on thecrane sill beam. MSC Home Ter-minal chose to use two cameras,one either side of the spreader, thatfeed separate displays on eitherside of the driver.

Only one view is needed toposition a container correctly, buthaving two cameras means a strad-dle carrier can enter the backreachtravelling in forward or reverse andeither camera will be able to seethe line on the sill beam.

Going wellMSC Home Terminal’s assistantmanager, rolling equipment,Jurgen De Breuck, said the sys-tem performs very well. Somestraddle carrier drivers did notwant to use it initially, but MSCHome Terminal made a decisionthat having people in the trafficflow drawing chalk lines on theground was an unacceptable haz-ard and drivers have now adapted.

Installation was relativelystraight forward. The cameras areconnected to the cab monitors bycable running through the strad-dle carrier’s umbilical or cablechain to the spreader (fibre opticcable is not required).

The main challenge was in-stalling the system on such alarge fleet of straddle carriers(mainly Terex and Cargotecmachines) with a mixed ageprofile, within three months.

Finding the absolute centreof the spreader is important andOrlaco found that there weremany var iations in spreadersover different generation ma-chines, said Pelders.

Rear view cameraThe system on the STS cranesis designed to give the driver abetter view of the operation asthe crane travels backwards fromthe vessel. Most STS crane cabsare positioned behind the trol-ley, so the driver faces out overthe vessel. When the trolley istravelling backwards the drivercan see the headblock, but notany obstacles such as pedestri-ans or straddle carr iers thatmight be in the load path.

Each STS crane has been fit-ted with five compact colour cam-

MSC goes on camera in AntwerpMSC Home Terminal has installedtwo new camera systems fromvision specialist Orlaco

Orlaco provided this graphic to illustrate the set-up on the STS cranes

eras that give the operator an over-view of the work zone betweenthe crane legs and the backreach.The cameras are connected to amonitor in the cabin by a fibreoptic cable that runs through thefestoon system. The operator canswitch between different imageson demand or let the views cycleautomatically.

Think it throughAdding monitors to a crane cabhas to be done carefully. Driversgenerally do not want to obstructthe forward and downwards views,but the monitor needs to be bigenough and close enough to beclearly visible. Orlaco and MSCHome Terminal tried differentcombinations before they settledon a 12-in monitor that ismounted some 50-60 cms abovethe safety bar in the cab floor.

Michel Van Ginneken, cranedepartment manager at MSCHome Terminal, said the cranedrivers did not embrace the sys-tem initially and there were dif-ferent opinions on the best placeto put the monitor. He is confi-dent, however, that the camerasystem has helped improve safetyand is a vast improvement over therearview mirror it replaced.

Van Ginneken said MSCHome Terminal has put a consid-erable effort into improving safety,but cautions against relying toomuch on hardware alone to elimi-nate risk. A camera system such asthis, he added, is a “safety assist”feature, which means it does notof itself prevent an accident in thesame way as an anti-collision sen-sor connected to the crane con-trol, but rather assists the driver tomake the operation safer.

To get maximum benefit froma safety assist system, Van Ginnekenbelieves, technology must bematched by good operationalpractice that keeps the operationsimple and the risks predictable.

Exception notingMSC Home Terminal has focusedon reducing the number of peo-ple and activity under the craneportal and controlling the trafficflow so straddle carriers enter fromone side of the STS crane only.Limiting the activity means thatwhen the STS crane driver seessomething, he takes it seriously.

Orlaco sees a growing interestin using cameras to improve safetyand has installed a similar systemon the STS cranes at DP World’sAntwerp Gateway terminal in theDeurganckdok. �

Orlaco STS crane cab monitor. At MSC Home Terminal it was found that thebest size is 12ins and the best location is 50-60 cms above the floor safety bar

74_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 19:17:12

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76_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 19:19:33

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FTG reusable oil filter shown here in a marine engine application

US-based Filtration TechnologyGroup (FTG) is supplying con-tainer terminals in Los Angeles andLong Beach with reusable oil fil-ters for diesel engines fitted tocontainer handling equipment.

FTG’s “full-flow” filters are de-signed to last as long as or longerthan a diesel engine, using a clean-able stainless steel wire cloth filtersystem that was initially developed,tested and manufactured by ParkerHannifin’s Racor Division. Thetechnology is now independentlymanufactured by FTG.

FTG originally found a mar-ket for replaceable filters in ma-rine applications, where reusablefilters eliminate all the logistics ofgetting new filters to vessels andthen removing and correctly dis-posing of used filters. It is nowtargeting port applications and hashad some success in LA/LB wherea local service dealer, HD Indus-tries (a division of Harbor Diesel

and Equipment, Inc) has begunfitting the filters in container han-dling equipment.

FTG was able to manufacturereusable filters that matched all thespecifications and passed all testsfor use in mobile equipment, saidPat Vuoso, VP, parts and logistics atHD Industries. The filters are inuse on equipment (includingRTG gensets) at the ITS and Ev-ergreen terminals. “My port con-tacts are quite happy with the re-sult,” said Vuoso. “As word hasgotten out that there’s a cost-ef-fective alternative to disposable airfilters, other port terminals are ask-ing about cleanable, reusable fil-ters, and the technology is spread-ing to other terminals.”

Reusable filters do not affectoil replacement intervals and canbe used for any liquid filtrationapplication. The filters are cleanedwith a brush and solvent, or withan ultrasonic cleaning system. �

The greening of oil filters

The two short wheelbase Konecranes 10-tonners at the Port of Poole

Cooper SH has supplied PooleHarbour Commissioners in Eng-land with two 10t KonecranesFLTs that have the same wheel-base as a traditional 8-tonner, thusincreasing lift capacity, but not atthe expense of turning radii. Themachines have a 2800mm wheel-base - 200mm shorter than a con-ventional 10 tonner. Stability is notcompromised as additional ballastis used to compensate for length.

While a previous short-wheelbased version utilised thestandard chassis for smaller ma-chines, the new version, saysCooper SH, has a unique chassislength and also sits comfortablywithin the 8t-10t range. ChrisBarnes, general manager, South forCooper SH said: “The 8-tonnemark is generally a watershedwhere many suppliers completetheir range, while others, such asSMV [Konecranes], start theirrange at 10 tonnes. Until now, itwas believed that the two-tonnejump in capacity was also a deter-mining factor in physical size.

“Whilst this remains true in re-spect of height and wheel size, wecan reduce the length yet retain ca-pacity to 10 tonnes at 600mm loadcentre or even, if required, 12tonnes at 600mm centre.”

Konecranes last year supplied

18 short-wheelbase machines toSapa Aluminium in Sweden ratedat 10t-1200mm LC, but compro-mises need to be made. Typically,continues Barnes, SMV machinesof this size have a Volvo 6-cylin-der, 7 litre engine developing 185kW with a corresponding trans-mission. This is too long for a shortwheelbase configuration, so it isreplaced with a Volvo 561-VE, a 5litre, 4-cylinder engine delivering155 kW. Stage IIIb compliance isthrough a Volvo SCR system.

Paul Gillingham, engineeringmanager of the Port of Poole,commented: “The short wheel-base machines have provided uswith a new storage dimension thatwas not there previously. Otherthan the size, the machines shareall the other characteristics of therest of our fleet.” The two latestmachines are part of a three-trucksupply that brings the KonecranesFLT fleet at Poole to five, includ-ing 33t and 16t machines. �� The Linde-HTD plant in Waleswill close in October. Konecranesin Sweden will take over produc-tion of container handlers forKion Group, while other products(sideloaders, clamp trucks, etc) willbe built under contract in theCzech Republic. Kion Group isplanning an IPO. �

Bespoke from Cooper SH

Last year, Hyster’s Nijmegenbig trucks plant recorded itshighest output since being

established in 1953, with 1927mast trucks and reach stackers of

between 6t and 54t manufactured- beating the previous record setin 2008 prior to the global eco-nomic financial crisis. Such isHyster’s confidence, it is taking on

50 production line workers, whowill undertake a 2-week pre-train-ing course, off the main assemblyareas and using technical Lego toillustrate the work process.

New mid-rangeThe company has introduced anew 8-16t range, which serves assomething of a launch pad forvarious technologies, while alsoincorporating several applicationsalready found in its larger trucks.Hyster has focused on overall costof ownership, with particular regardto fuel consumption. The companyclaim savings of up to 17% can beachieved on the 8t-12t machines,mainly due to “rightsizing” theengine and the ECO-eLo con-trol systems, already available onall Stage IIIb configurations.

Fuel savings of 10% have beenrecorded with the H13-16XM-6and H10-12XM-12EC series. TheH8-12XM-6 and H13-16XM-6diesel FLTs all feature load sens-ing hydraulics, which combinedwith the Cummins diesel engines,can achieve a 20% higher ladenlifting speed. Even higher liftingspeeds can be achieved with lowerrpm. The main advantage is anadditional 5% fuel saving.

Further fuel saving optionsinclude a travel speed limiter cov-ering top speed and variable setspeed, and an empty seat shut-down feature with variable timedelay. These are incorporated inthe ECO-eLo package.

A new light heavyA new 16t range will be launchedin the autumn. While Hyster inNijmegen is reluctant to discussthis design until then, the US vari-ant was shown in early May at theAISTech 2013 Exposition in Pitts-burgh (Pa). The machine displayedwas a H360-36/48HD. This has a36,000lb (16.33t) lift capacity at36in (914mm) load centre. In theH360-48HD variant, the rating isat a 48in load centre.

The machines feature loadsensing hydraulics, which has al-lowed the Tier 4i CumminsQSB6.7 litre 6-cylinder engine tobe downrated to 164hp (122kW),although advertised output for thisengine is 300hp (220kW).

The 13t-16t machines havethe 6.7 litre engine and the Euro-pean version of the new truck willalso use it. This “rightsizing” fitsHyster’s philosophy of reducing

fuel consumption and with it CO2

emissions, which are not part ofthe EPA/EU off-highway emis-sion regulations.

Getting a boostPart of Hyster’s remarkable out-put last year could be due to thephasing in of Stage IIIB/Tier 4iregulations for smaller machines.The regulations were applied tooff-road engines in the 130kW-560kW range in January 2011, butfor engines in the 56kW-129kWrange the regulations did notcome into force until January2012. Even so, emissions require-ments are less severe for this power

The H360-36/48HD series has already been shown in the USA

category at Stage IIIb/T4i levelsthan for larger engines, enablingmore simplified aftertreatment.

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77_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 19:24:33

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compliant engines to the US, or vice versa,unless dual certification is obtained.Hyster says it is the only lift truck builderthat has certified all its products underboth EU and EPA regimes, so trucks canbe freely shipped both ways.

The division into emission zones raisesother interesting points. Cummins, for in-stance, states that Stage IIIb/T4i enginesoperated outside their intended emissionregion “will not carry a warranty.” Thisreticence is based on the availability ofultra-low sulphur diesel fuel (ULSD).Stage IIIb/Tier 4i engines must operateon fuel with a sulphur content no greaterthan 15ppm and preferably ≤ 10ppm. Thisis readily available in Europe and the US,but can be scarce in some other regions.

Two Stage IIIb Hyster H52.00XMLCH container handlers were recently

supplied to Port Nelson in New Zealandas replacements for earlier Hyster modelssupplied in 1995 and 1998. This countryhas not yet adopted Stage IIIb/Tier 4i orequivalent. However, it has wide sourcesof ULSD and accordingly the Cumminswarranty holds.

Final stageThe next and final emission regulations,due in January 2014, do not represent sucha major engineering challenge as did theswitch from Stage IIIa/T3, in Hyster’sview, as much of the work has alreadybeen done, particularly the incorporationof greater cooling capacity.

Hyster has been working in conjunc-

tion with Cummins for two years on theStage IV/Tier 4 final project, with twomachines currently on field tests. Insteadof Cummins developing a solution thatis then tested in a truck, both engine andmachine tests are being carried out in par-allel under all load conditions.

Hyster is not yet in a position to re-lease details of what the final configura-tion will be, but it is interesting to notethat at this year’s Bauma, Cummins un-veiled a Stage IV/T4f solution incorpo-rating an ultra-clean aftertreatment sys-tem, combining the Cummins CompactCatalyst with Selective Catalytic Reduc-tion (CCC-SCR). This will be employedin the QSL9, QSB6.7, QSB4.5 andQSB3.3 engines to offer a commonaftertreatment solution from 75hp to400hp. Operators can also expect a 2-3%fuel efficiency gain from T4i to T4f.

The SCR system developed byCummins for Stage IV/T4f is describedas a “next-generation design that movesbeyond SCR technology currently in usefor T4i.” The system incorporates a cop-per zeolite-based catalyst capable of upto 95% absorption. Through passivelyoxidising PM from the exhaust stream,the CCC is a maintenance-free “fit andforget” device. It involves dosing the en-gine, albeit in smaller quantities than forT4i/Stage IIIb SCR, with Adblue/DEF- something that Hyster has avoided upto now by staying with Cummins cooledEGR and a diesel particulate filter.

The real touchesWhile a lift truck manufacturer is an as-sembler of other suppliers for its key com-ponents - engines, gearboxes, axles, attach-ments, hydraulics - the strength of thebrand is how these can be put togetherto gain the greatest advantage, while atthe same time developing specific sub-systems to lower the cost of ownership.

One feature Hyster is set to introduceacross it full range fitted with CanBussystems is a performance data trackingsystem. This comprises three modular lev-els, with the basic level being a passivereporting system covering hour meter,cost of operation, periodic maintenance,fault code tracking, impact sensing andoperator training. The Hyster Trackermonitors the materials handling fleet,controls operator access and helps toverify that the operator completes his pre-shift checklist before starting.

Accessing the cabThe second level, wireless access, includesoperator access restrictions and driveridentification using a swipe card, whichcould also be used for checking onto theshift. This feature is also useful for rentaltrucks, where the swipe card can be pre-loaded with the rental period. When thisis exceeded, the truck is immobilised. Ifan impact occurs, emails are sent out au-tomatically, making it easier to reviewincidents and related product damage.

The wireless access offering enablesremote monitoring, and idle shutdown.To prevent operators leaving runningequipment unattended, an idle shutdownfeature powers off the truck following apre-set amount of time if the equipmentis tracked as idling or unattended. Thisalso helps to reduce excess fuel costs.

The Hyster Tracker Wireless AccessManagment System will be available laterin the year in EMEA based on either WiFior GPRS communications over local mo-bile phone coverage, and will be accessedthrough the HysterTracker.com portal. �

Mast trucks headed for the US

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78_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 19:27:32

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In recent years tyres used in heavy mo-bile plant applications in ports have in-creasingly moved away from bias ply (orcross ply) to radial construction, eventhough radials covers are more expensive.

Although several factors are involvedin the switch, from an operator’s perspec-tive the main one is that radial tyres havelower rolling resistance and run cooler sothey save on fuel costs and are less proneto overheating and hence last longer. Thistranslates into lower costs per runninghour, - the main criterion.

Despite sidewall reinforcements,radials still lag behind bias tyres in punc-ture resistance, but provided the terminalsurface is reasonably clean, this should notbe too much of a drawback. On the otherhand, notwithstanding various improve-ments over the years, radial tyres still in-herently flexes more than the equivalentbias tyre and this can cause stability prob-lems at high stacking heights.

To overcome this problem, equipmentoperators often inflate the front (or for-ward travel) tyres above the 10 bar norm.This increases tyre “stiffness,” but it alsoreduces the tyre contact area, which inturn causes accelerated wear, thus negat-ing the reason for fitting radial covers inthe first place.

New departureAfter several years of R & D in Germanyand extensive factory testing and opera-tor trials, Continental Tyres Group haschosen TOC CSC Europe in Rotterdamin June to launch a brand new range ofport tyres. TOC CSC attendees will beinvited to witness the new tyres in useon heavy equipment with a Rotterdamterminal operator.

No details of the tyres have been re-leased prior to launch, but it is knownthat the key innovation is that these arebias tyres, therefore with inherent excel-lent stability characteristics, but a com-pletely new tread pattern delivers coolerrunning and hence a tyre life that isclaimed to get closer to that of a radialtyre. If you then factor in the lower pricefor bias construction, the claimed resultis an even lower cost per running hourthan is possible with the best radial cov-ers. Braking distance is also said to beshorter in a like-for-like comparison.

Continental has tested the new tyresin different countries on various machinesand in widely varying climatic conditions,and is confident that it is “onto a win-ner.” As part of the launch, all the newport tyres will be branded to Continen-tal and the Simex brand will no longerbe used for port tyres.

EnhancementsContinental has also announced a numberof product enhancements to various smallerindustrial tyres. For example, the treaddepth of the RT20 radial tyre for FLTs hasbeen increased to the point where 30%greater service life can be achieved, thecompany claims. Laden travel speeds of upto 25 mph are possible, and a high-tractiontread pattern enables the FLTs to carryheavy loads on unsurfaced ground as wellas paved ground.

The CSEasy resilient tyre is fitted withan adapter between the tyre and the rim.This allows the tyre to be fitted directlyonto any Lemmerz-contoured rim sim-ply by using a torque wrench. There is noneed for a mounting press, so the time

taken to change a tyre is drastically re-duced. This means, for example, that FLTretailers and hire companies can easilychange between standard and non-mark-ing tyres depending on the customer’srequirements.

Continental was the first company todevelop a resilient tyre capable of beingmounted on a pneumatic tyre rim andsays that its range of superelastic tyres nowaccount for 40% of the world’s industrial

tyre market. To date over 8M superelastictyres have been produced.

RetreadsThe company has also introducedLifeCycle, a retreaded superelastic tyre.The worn tread is removed from the cas-

Radial tyres, such as these Nokian BAS tyres,dominate the straddle carrier market. CouldContinental change all that?

Could ports get cross about tyres again?A major product launch at TOC CSCEurope could change the thinking abouttyres on mobile container handling plant

Katoen Natie in the Port of Antwerp is a recentcustomer for Continental SC20 CSEasysuperelastic tyres. The tyres are fitted all-roundto its fleet of indoor- and outdoor-workingwarehouse FLTs

VCHR delivers exceptionally long tire life and superior driving comfort leading to cost effectiveness and operational safety. With their outstanding performance in the toughest conditions, VCHR tires can successfully tackle diverse tasks throughout your site to keep your operations in reliably on target.

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79_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 19:33:00

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ing and completely replaced, us-ing a rubber compound identicalto that used in Continental’s pre-mium new tyres. With thismethod, around 65% of the exist-ing tyres can be reused and only35% has to be new materials,which sends out a strong environ-mental message. LifeCycle sitsalongside the premiumsuperelastic tyres SC20, SH12 andCSEasy and is aimed at single shift,lighter use applications.

A recent customer for SC20CSEasy tyres is Belgian port and

logistic operator Katoen Natie,which has fitted the tyre to its en-tire fleet of indoor and outdooruse warehouse FLTs and reachtrucks in Antwerp and has re-ported good results with them.

New OEM dealIn April, Sweden-based TrelleborgWheel Systems (TWS) andNACCO Materials Handlinggroup (Hyster, Yale, Utilev) an-nounced a new partnership for thesupply and fitting of replacementtyres for the whole EMEA region.Under this aftermarket deal, TWShas become NACCO’s preferredand approved supplier to end us-

ers and dealers and will work withdealers across the region.

In some countries, said ElioBartoli, TWS’s director, Europe,replacement services will be car-ried out by Interfit, TWS’s servicebrand. “We built Interfit to offerlift truck OEMs and their dealersa service designed around theirneeds and to deliver value,” saidBartoli. TWS and NACCO willwork together to provide techni-cal and commercial support to thedealer network. TWS is a majorsupplier to NACCO at OEMlevel globally and already operatesan aftermarket tyre programme forNACCO in the US.

TWS is one of five businessareas in the Trelleborg Group, theothers being Trelleborg CoatedSystems, Trelleborg Industrial So-lutions, Trelleborg Offshore &Construction and Trelleborg Seal-ing Solutions. This structure wasset up in January this year.

Acquisition trailEarlier this year (February), TWSannounced that it had acquiredthe industrial tyre business ofDutch company IndustriebandenBeheer BV, for an undisclosedsum. “The acquisition gives us theopportunity to expand our suc-cessful industrial tyre service con-cept, while also allowing us togrow in the areas of service anddistr ibution in Europe,” saidMaurizio Vischi, TWS businessarea president.

“Industriebanden commands astrong position in the market andhas a favourable profitabilityrecord.” Industriebanden loggedsales of around €6M in 2012,mainly in the Dutch market.

Consolidation is the name ofthe game in the industrial tyremarket. TWS finalised the pur-chase of UK-based Watts Indus-trial Tyres for around SEK300M(£21.6M) in February 2011, justa few months after Canada’sCamoplast acquired Solideal andall its R & D and manufacturingfacilities in Asia, Europe andNorth America, including theSolideal share in the Loadstar jointventure with the Jinasena groupin Sri Lanka. Last year the renamedCamoplast Solideal group ac-quired a regional US aftermarketspecialist and dealer, Forklift Tiresof Florida, based in Jaxport.

QM awardAnother Netherlands-based com-pany, Magna Tyres, was awardedISO 90001:2008 for its qualitymanagement system, following a

successful audit of its headquar-ters in Waalwijk by TÜVNederland (TÜV Nord) com-pleted in March. Magna sees thecertification as key to its expan-sion in international markets as acompany committed to the high-est quality standards.

New tyresAn independent company withmore than 30 years experience ofOTR, industrial and truck tyremanufacturing, Magna started ra-dial OTR production in 2006 andhas gradually been extending itsrange. Last November it launchedthe M-Straddle, a 16.00R-25 tyrewith heavy duty sidewalls and adeep, double rib tread pattern, ofthe type that is now widelyadopted by straddle carrier opera-tors. Terex Port Solutions (for-merly Noell Mobile Systems)confirmed that it would be car-rying out OEM trials.

This followed the launch ofthe Magna MB01 CM ContainerMaster, an 18.00-25 bias tyre in40 PR rating for reach stacker andheavy mast truck applications. Thishas an E4 tread pattern and anextra wide shoulder design. Thishas been tested by another TPSarm (Terex PPM) on a reachstacker at the River Rhône portof Lyon. (Magna has had an OEMagreement with Terex inZweibrücken for truck-mountedmobile cranes since 2010). Thetyre has also been fitted to Kalmarreach stackers at Barge TerminalTilburg, in the Port of Rotterdamand in Nuuk in Greenland.

As part of its OTR tyre inter-national expansion drive, in Feb-ruary Magna appointed Construc-tion and Mining Solutions Ltd inRangiora (Canterbury) as its ex-clusive dealer for New Zealand.In March it announced a strategicagreement covering its OTR tyreswith leading German tyre whole-saler Interpneu. This puts Magnain touch with German equipmentoperators through Interpneu’s na-tionwide service network,Pneuhage Riefendienste.

X marks the spotMichelin launched its X-Sraddlededicated straddle carrier tyre in2003-4 and came up with a (then)novel size for this application, 480/95R 25, between a 16.00R-25and 18.00R-25 cover, aimed at the(then) emerging market for 50tSWL machines with twin 20spreaders. Originally it was thoughtthat the trend towards 4-high stack-ing and heavier SWLs would callfor a full 18.00R-25 size, but thisproved not to be the case.

The X-Straddle has a doublerib pattern and is also available in16.00R-25 size. Original treaddepth is 61/32nds (49mm) withthe 16.00R-25 and 63/32nds(50mm) with the 480/95R 25.

Michelin has launched a newgeneration of X-Straddle tyre,called X-Straddle 2. This is de-signed with more protectivesidewalls, a new bead and a newtread for added stability, safety and

18.00R-25 wheel assembly for VDL AGV. Gottwald is fitting 21.00R-25wheels to its Battery Lift AGVs. It looks as though Kalmar will be fitting thisbigger size to its new AGV, although the drive is not thought to be all-electric

longer life. Faster laden travelspeeds are possible, so typical dis-tances per hour of operation areextended and this translates intohigher productivity. Michelin didnot respond to WorldCargo News’request for more information.

Turning the wheelsUK-based GKN Wheels, part ofGKN plc, chose BAUMA in Mu-nich in April to launch a new, cus-tomised 15.00-23/3.0 multi-piecewheel for container transporterAGVs in ports. “Heavy construc-tion and container equipmentwheels are subject to high stressesduring their service life,” saidGianpietro Bramé, R & D direc-tor, GKN Wheels Europe. “We havedeveloped a tough, hard-workingwheel for AGVs to suit the specificload and operating conditions.”

It is understood that GKN hasbeen working on this project withKalmar, which is developing pro-totype AGVs for testing by PSASingapore. The wheel was devel-oped and manufactured by GKNin Denmark. The developmentteam originally produced a rim/wheel that was then vehicle-mounted and field-tested usingfatigue analysis and strain gaugemeasuring equipment.

The prototype loads andsimulations were recorded usingspecial computer software andmodelling. This meant, continuedBramé, that GKN could predictthe real lifetime impact of thewheel with precision, and designa product to meet that specifica-tion accordingly.

Using new paint plant tech-nology, the wheel has been fin-ished to what is claimed to be thehighest finish available, known asC5 High, which offers long-termcorrosion resistance even in salineatmospheres such as seaports.

GKN has also introduced“Swift ID” as a wheel service tool.Data are transmitted from RF tagsattached to the wheel to handheldreaders used by the service/main-tenance team. The data from thehandheld devices can be trans-ferred to a central database andaccessed anywhere on-line. Thesystem is currently being tested onmining equipment in Australia.

Sizing upContainer transporter AGVs aregenerally fitted with 18.00-25 sizetyres mounted on multi-piecerims. Nearly all Gottwald AGVsin service are fitted with 18.00R-25 tyres, for example, and this isalso the case with the new hybridAGVs launched recently by VDL.

However, in a departure,Gottwald’s Lift-AGVs are fittedwith 21.00R-25 tyres. Due to thelift platforms and the additionaldeadweight of the battery array,the vehicle is heavier and requireslarger road contact. The biggertyres help spread the load moreevenly. The suspension system hasalso been reinforced. Judging bythe dimensions of the new GKNrim, Kalmar is also fitting its newAGV with 21.00-25 tyres. �

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80_WCN_May_2013.indd 1 11/06/2013 19:37:00

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TOC CSC Europe in Rotter-dam in June includes “roundtable” workshops on containerweighing and a closely alliedsafety issue, safe packing.

TT Club’s global risk directorLaurence Jones chairs the first,with support from Capt RichardBrough OBE, ICHCA’s techni-cal advisor. This is tagged “whobears responsibility for weight ac-curacy?,” to which the simple le-gal answer is the shipper or (last)container stuffer. The second ischaired by TT Club’s risk man-agement director Peregr ineStorrs-Fox, with support from BillBrassington of ETS Consulting. Itsfocus is the new Code of Practicefor [safe packing] of cargo trans-port units (CTU).

Compression, tensionThinking about weighing in termsof compressive or tensile forces isa good way of assessing where inthe supply chain container weightsshould be verified, in the run-upto DSC/18 this September.

Compression weighing meansweighbridges, portable weighingmats or load cells on the chassisor trailer. Ideally, containers shouldbe weighed at or near the ship-per’s or consolidator’s premises.This means both that the weightis verified for shipping purposesand the legality of the load for roadtransport in terms of gross massand axle loads can be determined.

This is a key safety issue. Incor-rectly loaded containers can giverise to dangerously ex-centric loadsand wide variations in axle loadsand tyre pressure that can turn roadtrucks into lethal weapons. Heavyaxle passes are the main cause ofaccelerated road fatigue.

Weighbridges are extremelyaccurate, but have limitationswhen it comes to two 20ft ship-ments, while portable mats have alimited life and can easily get lostor damaged. All the same, com-pression weighing is clearly theideal total supply chain solution.

There is a commercial oppor-tunity here for container roadhaulage companies to provide aweighing service to the shippingline, shipper or forwarder, which-ever is his contracting party for theroad haul to the port, by fittingload cells to the chassis. 3PL pro-viders are now fitting axle weightreaders to their road trailers.

CalculationOne total supply chain solutionwithin IMO’s competence isweighing-by-calculation (as pro-posed by Germany at DSC/17).This will likely be acceptable toshipping lines and national mari-time administrations for homog-enous or metered cargoes shippedin regular trades. The calculationmethodology will need to be ac-credited to the relevant interna-tional standard and/or QA audit.

Nobody knows what percent-age of the world’s container traf-fic will be covered by weighing-by-calculation: 10%? 50%? How-ever, individual shipping lines willhave a fair idea for their own tradesbased on their customer profiles.

Tension weighing meanshoisting equipment with a sus-pended container load using cali-brated and certified equipment -and this generally means ports(seaports, inland ports, containerbarge or rail terminals) where thevast majority of the world’s con-tainer lifting equipment is locatedand where the container is trans-ferred from the road truck.

This is the port solution. It isnot as comprehensive as the totalsupply chain solution, but it willprobably be the most commonway of ver ifying containerweights. When trucks are used for

local C & D, there is an opportu-nity for the inland intermodal rail-head or inland barge terminal op-erator to fit weighing equipmentto their lifting gear. This is, in ef-fect, a “tensile force supply chainsolution,” as it occurs early in themove to the seaport.

Not obligatoryClause 14 of the draft RevisedAnnex 2 of SOLAS VI/2 statesthat “all port terminal facilitieshandling containers should havea means of verifying the gross massof packed containers.”

However, port operators willnot be obliged to provide thisservice. Responsibility for ensur-ing that the “verified gross mass isstated in the shipping document”remains with the shipper. All thesame, many port operators will seea commercial opportunity to en-ter into a container weight verifi-cation (CWV) contract with theshipping lines.

Annex I of the draft Amend-ment to SOLAS VI/2 states: “If theshipping document with regard toa packed container does not pro-vide the verified gross mass and themaster or his representative and theterminal representative have notobtained the verified gross mass ofthe packed container, it shall notbe loaded on to the ship.”

PEMA guidelinesThe Port Equipment Manufactur-ers’ Association (PEMA) has beenworking on guidelines on CWVequipment (CWVE) for lo-lo portoperators. Based on a presentationby Beat Zwygart to the ICHCApre-DSC/18 workshop in Lon-don in April, these are believed toinclude the following information.It should be stressed that this is adraft and may be subject to change.� STS gantry cranes - load cellslocated in the boom tip accurateto ± 5% of full scale (FS); subjectto dynamic loads (4-5 secs to “fix”weight; twin 20 problem.� RTGs/RMGs - load cells on thetrolley accurate to ± 3-5% of FS;subject to dynamic loads (2 secsto fix weight); twin 20 problem� MHCs - load cells or hydraulicpressure measuring, mounted intothe boom head sheave pins or intothe rope anchors, accurate to ±3-5% of FS; twin 20 problem� Straddle carriers - load cells inthe rope anchors or hoist motorcurrent measuring, accurate to ±5% of FS; twin 20 problem� Reach stackers - load cells in ro-tator mounting pins or boom liftcylinder hydraulic pressure meas-ure, accurate to ± 5% of FS; twin20 problem (but RSCs not oftenfitted with twin 20 spreaders)� FLTs - load cells in the chainanchors or lift cylinder hydraulicpressure measure, accurate to ±5% of FS; twin 20 problem (butFLTs practically never fitted withtwin 20 spreaders)� Spreader twistlocks - load cellsunder the nut or sensors inside thetwistlock, accurate to ± 0.5-1% ofFS; no twin 20 problem as sensorsare fitted to all twistlocks.

Independently of PEMA, an-other load measurement special-ist, Strainstall, says that it is in theprocess of writing a paper that ithopes “will clarify load measure-ment methods within ports andterminals and displace any mythssurrounding the debate.”

In any event, unofficiallyPEMA estimates that the worldpopulation of container spreadersis around 35,000, of which those“eligible” for fitting with CWVEis around 12,000. In most cases,leaving CWV to the quay cranewould be too late, so generallyCWVE would be fitted to theyard equipment - usually RTGsor straddle carriers, but sometimes

reach stackers. This is what ismeant by “eligibility.”

Retrofitting spreaders on sucha scale is unlikely. Many port op-erators may opt out of weighing,and simply not accept bookingsof containers whose weight hasnot been verified somewhere else.However, port operators willingto supply a CWV service to theirshipping line customers havestarted to specify CWVE spread-ers on new yard handling equip-

Weighing up all the box weighing options

Work on safe packing and containerweighing are inter-related. (Photo:Richard Brough, ICHCA workshop)

Misdeclared container weights, or cargo shifting inside containers due to incorrectpacking, or both? (Source: ibid)

ment in increasing numbers.CWVE is already being used tocollect data on longitudinal or lat-eral load ex-centricity. This can befed back via carriers to shippersand encourage them to load con-tainers more evenly, which wouldalso greatly enhance road safety.

Richard Marks, the chairmanof ICHCA’s Expert Panel, is onewho believes that shippers “willsoon get the message” if their con-tainers “miss the ship” because ofa weight discrepancy and therewas no time to adjust the stowageplan. The ICHCA pre-DSC/18workshop in London in Aprilmoved the discussion a deal for-ward. The industry knows wherethe legal responsibility lies andwhat choices there are for weigh-ing, in terms of how and where.

True cost of serviceWhat port operators need is anhonest debate about the true costof providing a CWV service.Equipment vendors focus on thecost per lift, which is a smallamount per se, but this is only partof the story. If a major discrepancy

is discovered, the container has tobe rehandled and transported to a“pending stack,” which meansextra handling costs and loss ofregular space in the terminal. Theline has to tell the shipper, whomay “demand a recount.” Dwelltimes will be long, so yet morespace may be needed; and whatabout “problem” reefers?

Anyone in the supply chainproviding a CWV service mustmeet whatever accuracy limits areset down by the jurisdiction wherethe container is weighed. This isnot just about ± percentages, butabout periodic testing and mayberecalibration. That is a cost.

And what happens if, on in-

vestigation after a container missesa sailing, it turns out that the de-clared weight was right after alland the CWVE was faulty; or acontainer is “passed” by theCWVE for loading on board, butis actually dangerously overweightand a stow collapses? Such poten-tial litigation questions have to becovered by insurance policies.

Within jurisdictional toler-ances, should allowance be madefor cargo type and moisturechanges according to temperatureor humidity? And does the ship’smaster vary the tolerances accord-ing to whether it is a big or smallone? Clearly, there are many prac-tical questions to resolve. �

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May 201382

WorldCargonews INSURANCE

Last year, worldwide merchantship losses were down by 27% onthe 10-year average, according toa report from Germany-headquartered insurance industrygiant Allianz. In the 12 months toNovember 2012, 91 ships werelost, compared to 106 in the sameperiod a year earlier, while the 10-year average was 146 ship lossesper annum.

In its annual review of mari-time losses, Allianz Global Cor-porate & Specialty attributedthe long-term downward trendin ship losses to improvementsin technology, training andregulation, and a proactive re-sponse from the shipping indus-try to safety improvement.

The report warned, however,that human error remains thegreatest risk, being the root causeof most incidents. The insurer listsfatigue, economic pressures andinadequate training as the maincauses for concern. Other insur-ance sources indicate thatcontainership casualties are stillconsidered to be too high, despitethe fact that 300-plus such vesselsare currently inactive.

Raised eyebrowsMarine underwriters raised aneyebrow at the recent news thatChina Shipping Container Lines(CSCL) had taken advantage ofwhat were termed “very attrac-tive” prices and followed Maerskinto the jumbo-sized boxshipmarket by ordering five 18,400TEU vessels in South Korea.

It was not only insurers whodid a double-take at this move byCSCL. Quick off the mark wasno less than the China Shipown-ers’ Association, whose executivevice president, Zhang Shouguo,criticised owners who placed

speculative orders, enticed by ship-yards’ rock-bottom prices.

Such deals, Zhang said, wouldprolong overcapacity. “Even ifthere are no more new orders inthe next several years, the over-supply will still be there,” he added.While stopping short of criticis-ing CSCL directly, the timing ofthe association’s intervention sentan inherent message.

According to Alphaliner, al-though the scrapping ofcontainerships is likely to reach arecord level this year, newbuildingdeliveries will still outstrip thecapacity removed due to demoli-tion by a ratio of one to three.

It is not the size of vessel thatworries insurers but the accumula-tion of risk, particularly when theseleviathans are moving in and out ofports in emerging markets, and even

Cargill recently made its firstgrain shipment using an elec-tronic freight document in anendeavour to cut paper docu-mentation and speed up theprocessing of deals.

The US agribusiness groupcompleted its first trade using anelectronic bill of lading, dubbedCargoDocs, developed byMalta-based Electronic Ship-ping Solutions.

The importation of a singlecargo by sea requires an averageof 36 original paper documentsand 240 copies from 27 separateparties, and amendments to bills

the adequacy of the infrastructure andstability of labour relations in theworld’s major container hubs such asRotterdam or Hong Kong (whichhas just suffered a five-week dockworkers’ strike).

Pushing the envelopeFurther, industry observers areasking whether naval architectsand operators are pushing the en-velope too fast. They point, for in-stance, to the recent withdrawalof the mega boxship EMMA

MAERSK after its engine room be-came flooded due to a technicalfailure in the propulsion system.The 2006-built, 15,500 TEU ca-pacity vessel has been towed to theFincantieri repair yard in Palermo,Sicily, where it is undergoinglengthy repairs.

Safety onboard and in port is a

vital issue for the container indus-try. As ship sizes increase, so do theproblems and the cost of claims. Aseminar arranged by the LondonShipping Law Centre’s MaritimeBusiness Forum heard how boxshipaccidents in recent years haveproved extremely difficult to man-age and have been followed byhuge claims on underwriters. Thewarning was clear: these develop-ments are placing increasing em-phasis on ship safety for owners andmanagers – encompassing the de-velopment of systems beyond statu-tory requirements and the promo-tion of strict safety cultures ‘boughtinto’ by all seafarers.

Peregrine Storrs-Fox, risk man-agement director of the TT Club,said that with 18,000 TEU vesselsentering service, a full load, posi-tioned end to end, would stretchfor about 70 miles. Assuming 85%capacity for commercial viability,each voyage would place greaterdemands on port and terminal fa-cilities, particularly in relation topilotage, tug services and loading/discharging. This in turn would stepup the extent of insurance require-ments and add complexity to theassociated contracts and assessingappropriate premiums.

Precious cargoesAnother speaker, Steve Cameron,maritime director of RTI Foren-sics, explained that the total cargovalue of a well-laden 18,000-20,000 TEU vessel could exceedUS$900M. Assuming individualcontainer contents averagingUS$50,000 and an 80% overallload, cargo worth US$750Mcould be six times the value ofthe carrying vessel.

Insurance broker AndrewWebster, a partner at JLT Speci-ality, said that the insurance riskin new terminal projects couldcrop up in a very wide range offields. While a project wasunderway, these could range from

Of losses and leviathansShip losses are down, but there arefears over the accumulation of riskwith growing numbers of larger ships

After its engine room flooded the 2006-built EMMA MAERSK was towed to theFincantieri yard in Palermo, where it is undergoing lengthy repairs

Following losses such as the MSC FLAMINIA, ravaged by a fire last year, theIUMI will review an initiative on new fire-fighting facilities for boxships

of lading at ports and customsposts, which are common, mak-ing the process even more cum-bersome.

The transfer of bills of lad-ing took 19 minutes for Cargill’sgrain shipment from Houston toVeracruz in Mexico on the drybulk carrier UBC BREMEN. Cargillis working to expand the use ofCargoDocs across various tankerroutes and petroleum bargetrades in Europe.

“After nearly 150 years of pa-per bills of lading, the first elec-tronic BL represents an historicalmilestone for us,” said Cargill. �

the construction process and costoverruns to protest actions andarchaeological finds. Post-com-pletion, they included risks fromoperations and maintenance, aswell as technology performanceand environmental questions.

Recently, the International Un-ion of Marine Insurance (IUMI) re-ported that it was reviewing a signifi-cant initiative on new fire-fightingfacilities for containerships in the wakeof major losses such as the MSC

FLAMINIA, ravaged by a fire at sea inJuly 2012. This will be launched atIUMI’s annual conference in Londonnext September, and then discussedwith the IMO’s maritime safety com-mittee and with flag states.

In the meantime, all eyes willbe on what further regulatorychanges may be in the offing un-der the IMO’s Convention forSafe Containers when the agen-cy’s maritime safety committeenext meets. �

Electronic grain gain

www.sicom-containers.com

Since 1975 your container manufacturer in Europe

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INSURANCE

May 2013 83

WorldCargonews

Norway’s Gard P&I Club has introducedthe latest product to its range, a propertypolicy to cover damage to or loss of con-tainers – on and off the ship. Launched inMarch, the Container and EquipmentCover (CEC) was developed to meet theneeds of container owners, operators orlessees, typically liner vessel operators.

CEC will respond to theft, loss of ordamage to containers, flatracks, roll trail-ers and similar equipment used for car-rying goods. In addition, it covers a con-tainer’s contribution to general average.

CEC complements liability insuranceslike P&I and the Comprehensive Carri-

ers Cover. But while marine liability in-surance is normally closely linked to theinsured ship, the main focus of CEC isthe cargo carrying equipment.

CEC is not restricted to sea transport.For example, if a box sustains damagewhilst being stored at a shoreside termi-nal or during inland transport by truck,the cover may still respond.

The limit of cover is tailored accord-ing to the insured’s needs, with a maxi-mum limit of US$50M for all claims aris-ing out of one and the same incident.Where replacement and insured values aredifferent, CEC covers the lesser value.

Gard’s CEO Claes Isacson said that

since the company provided P&I and/ormarine insurance to more than half of theworld’s container fleet, extending theproduct portfolio to cover the containersthemselves was a natural next step.

ExposureHe added: “Liner operators take respon-sibility for the overall transport cost, time,delivery detail and quality of their clients’transport chains. Thus, they are increas-ingly exposed to a wide range of risks intheir daily operations relating to the trans-portation, storage and handling of cargo.Our ability to offer seamless coverage is astrong proposition.”

The new CEC cover is basically aproperty insurance. What happens insidethe container while it is on the move re-mains of pressing concern to all P&I clubs.

Bad stowageMeanwhile, the UK Club has reiteratedthat one of the main contributory causesof container cargo damage is bad stowage.“It would seem we have merely shifted thecargo problem further back up the transitchain,” was its caustic remark.

A considerable proportion of the UKclub’s time is taken up handling containercargo claims where 25% of the damage isphysical, 14% temperature-related, 11%boxes lost overboard, 9% theft and 8%shortage.

The club reckons that shore error nowaccounts for around 27% of large con-

tainer claims, compared to 19% for alltypes of cargo claims. Tie this in with badstowage statistics and it seems to point toproblems originating at stuffing.

However, although it is a majorcause of container cargo damage, saidthe club, it would be wrong to lay theorigin of all container cargo claims onbad stowage alone, and it lists no fewerthan 25 other reasons for damage. Itsstatistics show that container cargoclaims it handles by vessel type nowoccupy the No. 3 slot (15%), afterbulkers (28%) and dry cargo (25%).

As a postscript, the TT Club estimatesthere are 95M loaded container move-ments a year. Because of the woes cur-rently besetting the container trades, thisnumber must be suspect, but in the longterm it will rise exponentially. �

Club launches container cover

The hijacking of the German fully cel-lular, 2008-built containership CITY OF

XIAMEN in late April served to illustratethat the piracy flashpoint has moved fromSomalia, where incidents have shown abig reduction, to West Africa. The grow-ing number of attacks and successfulhijackings in the Gulf of Guinea are push-ing up insurance costs and damaging anddisrupting trade, and “insider complicity”is suspected. A report was published byworldcargonews.com on 12 April 2012 (“Pi-rates step up West African attacks”).

According to a new Reuters report,the International Maritime Bureau, theindustry watchdog, said that 14 heavilyarmed pirates attacked the vessel andbreached its citadel. The pirates took fiveofficers and crew captive, including themaster, before escaping with cash and thecrew. The whole incident remainedsomething of a mystery at the time ofwriting, with the ship still anchored offEquatorial Guinea and relatives of thecrew unable to obtain any information.

Ransom demandsBut it can be said that the pirates operat-ing in this area are increasingly focusingon taking hostages in order to extract ran-som payments. In a region where politi-cal uncertainty and military actions aredocumented in the media almost daily,there is a grey area between the motivesof pirates and terrorists on land pullingthe strings, some observers assert.

It is interesting to note that at the endof 2012 the first boxship with a built-incitadel was delivered to its owners, East-ern Mediterranean Maritime in Greece.Two sister ships will follow the1,700TEU TZINI. As an anti-piracy meas-ure, a citadel was incorporated in thevessel’s design, and was fitted in the steer-ing gear room. Inside, the crew have con-trol capability of the vessel, emergencyrations, safe air supply, CCTV control,and good external communications.Could this be the way ahead forcontainerships, at least for smaller types?

Released hostagesMeanwhile, some of the seafarers whowere held hostage for almost three yearsafter the general cargo ship ICEBERG washijacked by Somali pirates were picturedin Mumbai at a meeting of the Interna-tional Transport Workers’ Federation’smaritime safety committee. Those presentheard of the appalling treatment sufferedby the 23 crew members during their longordeal, including beatings and torture.

One crewman died as a result of mal-nutrition, and the seamen had to watchtheir officers being hung upside downand tortured, and the ears of a senior of-ficer being chopped off for failing tomove the ship.

From mid-May, a new motion picture,A Hijacking, is on general release, inspiredby real events. The film has been widelypraised with one critic telling audiences toprepare for nerve-shredding tension.

The ROZEN, seen on screen, was actu-ally hijacked by Somali pirates in 2007, andsome of its crew are also in the film, whichwas shot on the cramped interior of thevessel off the Somali coast. �

Piracy movesto menaceWest Africa

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RA

BYBY GGGAUAUSSSSS ININ

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