WPD - June 2022 issue

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WORLD PORT DEVELOPMENT

International Journal for Port Management

JUNE 2022

WWW.WORLDPORTDEVELOPMENT.COM

Downturn? What downturn?

In this issue: OCR Systems TOS System

German Ports

Mobile Harbour Cranes Sheet Piling

Stacker/Reclaimers Lithium batteries

Port Construction Shore Power

Digital Twin

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contents

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German Ports

Claire Instone reports on the performances at German ports which all seem to be crisis-proof and fit for the future...

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Viewpoint

News from around the globe

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Ukraine war: trade impact

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The pitfalls of going electric...

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Digital twins to boost efficiency in container terminals

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RBS outline top trends to hit the headlines in 2022

World Port Development reports on how the conflict in Ukraine is impacting trade and development...

We look at recent developments in the use and possible pitfalls of lithium batteries...

Holger Schuett, Managing Director at akquinet port consulting GmbH, Germany reports...

World Port Development reports...

Matarbari Port

It all started as a new coal terminal but soon an additional container and multi-purpose terminal were added to the list.

Thomas Francis reports...

24 Downturn? What downturn?

Thomas Francis reports on the latest in the Mobile Harbour Crane market...

visit our website -- www.worldportdevelopment.com

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OCR Update

The latest in the use of artificial intelligence and automated control systems for OCR systems. Thomas Francis reports...

40 Diversification + Innovation Bedeschi shares its view on the current stacker/reclaimer market...

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Shore Power

Damien Feger, CEO at NG3, looks at PLUG, a game changing cable management system...

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Published by: Consulting Editor: Sheila Moloney

sheila@worldportdevelopment.com

Editor: Claire Instone

claire@worldportdevelopment.com

Editorial Consultants: Gordon Feller

gordon@worldportdevelopment.com

Eugene Gerden

info@worldportdevelopment.com

Commercial Director: Peter van Schie

peter@worldportdevelopment.com

Business Development: Selina Palmer

info@worldportdevelopment.com

Production Manager: Helen White

info@worldportdevelopment.com

Volume 22 Number 5/6 Claims for non receipt of issues must be made within 4 months of publication of the issue or they will not be honoured without charge.

WORLD PORT DEVELOPMENT

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World Port Development is published 6 times per year at an annual subscription rate of UK£175.00 by MCI Media Limited. Registered address: “Chantry House”, 156 Bath Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 4LB, England.

Every care is taken in compiling the contents of the magazine, but the publishers assume no responsibility in the effect arising therefrom.

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Light among the doom and gloom

Last month’s foreword highlighted an industry in turmoil - whether that be the on-going effects of the pandemic, trade wars or the impact of the war in Ukraine.

Despite a large majority of the industry’s current efforts and focus being poured into crisis management, we are pleased to bring readers an issue full to the brim with editorial on progress in port performance, terminal development and construction, technological ability, and the market’s commitment to playing its part in solving climate change.

With all the recent doom and gloom it is nice to shine a light on the sector’s robust optimism for the rest of 2022 and beyond and the steps - if not leaps and bounds - it is taking to strive for excellence.

Proffering up the latest on how existing ports are working to offer more flexibility, capacity and speed in order to serve demand, as well as details on the progress of new facilities across the globe, is WPD’s regular port construction round-up on page 47. Moreover, Thomas Francis gives readers a detailed update on the new Matarbari Port project and I report on the seaports of Germany which are crisis-proof and fit for the future.

As for our offering on up-to-the-minute information with regards digital and IT advancements, we are pleased to furnish our June issue with a review by RBS outlining the top technology trends to hit the headlines so far in 2022. In addition, turn to page 32 for the latest on OCR systems.

Furthermore, WPD is pleased to present a contributed article from Holger Schuett, MD at akquinet port consulting, exploring digital twins to boost efficiency in container terminals.

The bulk sector is also in focus on page 40 with commentary and case studies from Bedeschi on the stacker/reclaimer market and WPD’s annual report on mobile harbour cranes.

As for how the industry is making headway in terms of environmental initiatives, Damian Féger shares an essay on how NG3 is making shore power even greener, while ArcelorMittal discusses greener steel solutions for port infrastructures. For the flip side to all the positives of ‘going green’ turn to page 29 to peruse Thomas Francis’s piece on the possible pitfalls of lithium batteries.

Enjoy reading this issue of World Port Development!

Claire Instone Editor

World Port Development is a commercial (associate) member of the following associations:

Italgru is reporting that it has seen more and more customers opt for environmental friendly mobile harbour cranes. Turn to page 24 for the full story.

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Gothenburg freight volumes increasing Despite various global disruptions, Port of Gothenburg volumes continue to increase, shown in the port’s volume summary for the first quarter of 2022. In terms of container handling, volumes at the facility increased for the sixth quarter in a row. 212,000 containers (TEUs) were handled during the first quarter of 2022, an increase of 4%. It is also the highest total figure for the period January-March since 2014.

Fifty years of Mazda at NWSA

For more than five decades, Mazda vehicles have been imported through the Seattle and Tacoma gateway.The Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA) recognises Mazda’s distinct history in the Pacific Northwest dating back to April 14, 1970, when the first Mazda vehicle was imported into the Pacific Northwest through Seattle. Nearly a decade later Mazda vehicles started being imported through Tacoma making Mazda the longest standing automobile customer in the city in Washington state.

Mazda’s commitment to moving vehicles through Seattle and Tacoma has benefitted the entire region. To date, 1.9 million Mazda’s have been imported through the NWSA gateway making them not only a key customer, but an honored partner in the automobile business that strategically diversifies cargo movement at the NWSA.

Hyster to provide HHLA with hydrogen fuel cell-powered empty container handler and terminal tractor Hyster has announced a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding to provide Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) with two Hyster® electric container handling vehicles, including the first-ever empty container handler powered by fuel cell technology in a real-world application.

In addition, this will be the first Hyster terminal tractor supplied in Europe. Both units will be powered by Nuvera® fuel cells and run on hydrogen fuel produced locally at the HHLA Hamburg Green Hydrogen Hub. Fuel cell-powered clean port equipment from Hyster is a key component of the “Clean Port and Logistic” programme and subsequently HHLA’s H2LOAD project aiming to achieve climate neutrality across the HHLA group by 2040. The initial agreement is for two hydrogen-powered vehicles. The delivery of the terminal tractor is planned for late 2022, with the empty container handler to follow in early 2023. The hydrogen fuel cell-powered equipment from Hyster will be deployed at HHLA Container Terminal Tollerort (CTT). It is planned to equip CTT with a refuelling infrastructure and connect the terminal to the future Hamburg hydrogen grid. A possible phase two of the project includes rollout of hydrogen fuel cell equipment and infrastructure to several HHLA locations in Central and Eastern Europe.

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Onshore power milestone reached at Port of Kapellskär

A milestone has been reached at Port of Kapellskär for connection of Finnlines services to onshore power.

In 2023, Finnlines will introduce two new Superstar-class vessels on the Kapellskär-Långnäs-Naantali route.

These vessels will connect to onshore power at the quay and will also use automooring, resulting in reduced emissions when vessels are in port. Now the station at the heart of the onshore power connections for Finnlines new vessels is in place, all that remains is to lay the power lines, install the cranes that will carry the power lines to the vessels, and test the facility. “Having the possibility to invest, together with our customers, in modern technology that reduces emissions is extremely rewarding. It is very positive that our long-term loyal customer, Finnlines, has chosen to invest in sustainable development at Port of Kapellskär,” says Bino Drummond, Deputy Chairman of Port of Kapellskär. “Our two new vessels are an investment in more sustainable shipping and increased volumes. The vessels are 235 meters long and the total linear meter-length for trucks, haulage vehicles and cars onboard is more than five kilometers per vessel. In practical terms this means a capacity for around 200 cars and almost 300 haulage vehicles on the car deck,” explains Antonio Raimo, Line Manager at Finnlines.

Sierra Leone safeguards shipping with AI-powered platform The Sierra Leone Maritime Administration (SLMARAD) has partnered with Windward to integrate its AI-powered platform for existing and incoming vessel screening to detect illicit behaviour.

According to SLMARAD, the platform will optimise the registration process with enhanced due-diligence procedures, ensuring incoming vessels are safe to conduct business with.

It will also be used to streamline the yearly re-application process for existing vessels and ensure those sailing under the Sierra Leone flag do not conduct any deceptive shipping practices.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Windward,” said Marianna Fournari, General Manager of SLMARAD.

Rotterdam hydrogen supply for Europe

In collaboration with exporting countries, the port of Rotterdam and the cluster of companies operating there can supply Northwestern Europe with 4.6 million tonnes of hydrogen annually by 2030. This is considerably more than expected. The consumption of this amount of hydrogen yields 46 million tonnes of CO2 reduction, and increases Europe’s energy independence. This hydrogen amount is the total the Port of Rotterdam has come up with on the basis of specific projects and realistic plans, which companies and exporting countries are now working on. On behalf of some 70 companies and exporting countries, the port has made European commissioner Frans Timmermans this offer of getting off to a flying start with the hydrogen economy.

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Market Intelligence Australasia

* The Port of Melbourne experienced a 5% drop in its container volumes in April 2022 handling just 255,193 TEUs. The facility also reported a 6.9% year-on-year decline in containers in March. Year-to-date volumes are currently 1.6% below the same period in 2021.

Overall April 2022 container trade results reflected full overseas container imports at 2.5% below April 2021 with year-to-date volumes down 2.3%, while full overseas container exports were 9.8% below April 2021 with year-to-date volumes down 6.2%.

Full container trans-shipments were 14.2% lower than April 2021 with year-to-date volumes down 7.7%. Total empty container movements were 3.9% below April 2021 totalling 68,830 TEUs with year-to-date volumes up 3.3%.

Europe

* Over 300 guests gathered in London recently for the British Ports Association's Annual Lunch, at which a new agenda for ports was launched. In his address to industry, BPA Chairman and Chief Executive of Harwich Haven Authority, Neil Glendinning OBE, praised the resilience of the sector during the pandemic. Glendinning warned that crises and the accompanying volatility are now a feature of life that ports must adapt to permanently - from climate change to global conflicts. The BPA Chairman criticised the creeping trend of Government using ports as an instrument of government without careful consideration, calling on Ministers to work more closely with industry. Current Government proposals to improve the pay and conditions for seafarers include co-opting ports as enforcement bodies despite having no competency in this area. Enforcement of this type is usually carried out by the MCA.

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This year's annual lunch saw the publication of a new agenda for ports, setting out the BPA's vision of an expanded freeports policy that offers many of the benefits to more harbours. This would include business rates relief and enhanced capital allowances to all ports around the UK as well as prioritised funding for port connectivity. * Israeli carrier ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. (ZIM) has expanded in Trieste, Italy with two of its Ro-Ro and container services. The Hamburger Hafen und Logistik (HHLA) Italian multi-purpose terminal Piattaforma Logistica Trieste (HHLA PLT Italy) welcomed ZIM’s Ro-Ro service Vehicle Carrier Service 1 (VE1) on 13 May. The Viking Sea vessel was the first to make the call carrying emission-free cars to be imported from China to Europe. On 19 May, ZIM also started a new container service at HHLA PLT Italy. The Adriatic Express Service (ADX) will now connect Trieste with Ashdod (Israel) and Aliaga (Turkey) on a weekly basis.The service focuses on fresh goods in refeer containers. * Associated British Ports (ABP) has invested in a fleet of electric cars to transport Humber Marine Pilots around the region.

The five VW ID.3 electric cars with a range of 300 miles have been chosen to ensure the Pilots can travel around the 145 square miles covered by them. Stretching from Goole to Grimsby, the Pilots cover a million miles a year on the road as they travel from port to port. Simon Bird, Regional Director of ABP Humber, said: “The Humber Marine Pilots are undertaking a lot of travel around our ports, and they needed a dependable electric vehicle and VW was our first choice. It’s a popular car with a strong performance record and excellent environmental credentials. Our ambition long term is to ensure we reduce emissions, and the Humber ports are leading the way in

supporting sustainability and investing in green equipment.” The all-electric ID.3 is the first Volkswagen produced and delivered with a carbon neutral balance. It has lightning-fast recharging and can recharge a range of up to approximately 180 miles in 30 minutes. * The first quarter of the year brought very different trends for cargo handling, and traffic, for the Port of Hamburg. At 2.2 million TEUs, throughput was up 1.8 percent. Down by 2.8 percent, total seaborne cargo handling at 31.2 million tonnes was slightly lower than the same quarter the previous year. The repercussions of the sanctions against Russia only effective from March were not yet apparent in all the handling segments for Germany’s largest universal port in the first quarter.

North America

* The Port of Virginia will be fulfilling all of its operational electricity needs from renewable sources by 2024 and in doing so move forward on its goal to becoming completely carbonneutral by 2040. “We are taking this world-class operation and coupling it with a twenty-first century approach to sustainability,” said Stephen Edwards, CEO and Executive Director of the Virginia Port Authority (VPA).

“This decision helps reduce our contribution to global climate change, protects our ocean and marine resources and become a better neighbour, six years ahead of schedule. Our commitment to becoming a completely carbon-neutral operation by 2040 aligns us with some of the world’s leading shipping lines, retailers, manufacturers, suppliers and multinational corporations. It is also a strategic business decision. Consumers worldwide are demanding clean - green - supply chains and our work will put us at the forefront of this change.”

The port is already sourcing some of its electricity for its cargo operations from

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port & terminal renewable sources and a power purchase agreement approved May 9 by the Virginia Port Authority Board of Commissioners expands access to clean energy. * The Port of Long Beach has announced that Amazon Web Services, Inc., an Amazon.com company, will be used to power the Port’s Supply Chain Information Highway, a cutting-edge new digital infrastructure project created to aggregate data for companies across industries and sectors to track cargo in real time from origin to destination. The port’s Supply Chain Information Highway aspires to maximise visibility and efficiency of cargo movement at the port and throughout the supply chain.

The new system will allow supply chain stakeholders to obtain actionable insights to help with planning, scheduling, and improving their systems. Registered users will access the data for free.The solution is in the process of being finalised. “The Supply Chain Information Highway is transformative, with a goal of enabling users to make scheduling, planning and payment decisions prior to cargo arrival, reducing delays during each handoff on the way to customers,” said Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero. “We’re very excited to collaborate with AWS, one of the most innovative companies in the world, to supercharge this endeavor.” * The Port of New York and New Jersey recorded its second-busiest month yet in April 2022 - up almost 33% from April 2019.

The Port of New York and New Jersey also experienced its best February on record earlier this year, processing almost 760,000 TEUs. Cargo volumes were almost unchanged compared to January 2022, when the port handled 765,050 TEUs. * Port Everglades has installed 24/7 live cameras to allow traffic monitoring for truck drivers coming into the port.The cameras observe the traffic flow on McIntosh Road, the main thoroughfare in the port’s Southport containerised cargo area. Two different views are available, one showing entrances for the Crowley Terminal, Port Everglades Terminal and Florida International Terminal, and the other looking south from the McIntosh Road security checkpoint. Port Everglades Chief Executive and Port Director, Jonathan Daniels, said the new webcams give truckers the ability to monitor traffic to detect the busiest times of the day and plan their journey accordingly. * Port of Oakland cargo volume is down so far in 2022, with the hub citing China’s COVID crackdown and its ripple effect on ocean carrier scheduling as a principle reason behind the drop. Volume through April dipped 7%

from the same period a year ago. Oakland attributed much of the decline to factory and port shutdowns in China, the port’s largest trade partner. The facility also stated that disruption at Shanghai is delaying US-bound import shipments and that wreaks havoc on ocean carrier scheduling. “US exports have been hampered by vessel schedules thrown into disarray in China,” said Port of Oakland Maritime Director Bryan Brandes. “Most of Oakland’s business depends on the Asia-US trade route.” The port also said Oakland cargo flow has been affected by additional factors, including a dive in the number of ships stopping in Oakland; importers that are slow to retrieve shipments, thereby crowding container yards and slowing cargo discharge from ships; and a container shortage making it harder to load export shipments.

Asia

* A container barge nearly sank recently in Indonesia waters. The Marcopolo 188 barge got into trouble in the waters of Karimun Regency, Riau Islands (Indonesia) leaving 12 containers floating in the sea. The incident happened in the early hours of 26 May. The barge was heading to Singapore from the Perawang Siak Container Terminal in Pekanbaru, pulled by Indonesian-flagged Tug Boat Mega Daya 43. According to reports, the barge was hit by strong wind and tilted 60 degrees as a result. A dozen or so containers fell into the sea. The barge has since been moved and anchored in the waters of Karimun Anak. No casualties were reported with all eight crew members brought to safety.

South America

* DP World has won an important award from the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH), recognising its work to plant new mangrove forests around the Guayaquil port in Ecuador. DP World Posorja, which operates the port, earned first place in the Climate and Energy category for its ‘Sembrando Vida’ mangrove project, competing alongside 237 schemes across 26 countries.

The project, which means Sowing Life in Spanish, involved planting 65 hectares of mangrove forests around Puna Island as part of a long-term plan to capture and store carbon.

It will also create new ecosystems and protect existing habitats, which are vital for fishing and crabbing. Starting in late-2020, more than 150,000 red mangrove seedlings were planted in Puna Island by DP World staff and volunteers from the local communities around the port.

The project is being extended and aims to

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reach 100 hectares of forest by 2024. DP World Posorja has a 50-year concession in Ecuador and has invested USD1.2 billion, one of the most significant private sector investments in the country’s history.

Middle East

* Ashdod Port has taken delivery of five semi-automatic ship-to-shore (STS) cranes.

Shipped from China in early February, they are cited to be fully operational by next September. The new additions - worth USD62 million - will reduce congestion and increase the port’s competitiveness in the supply chain. Produced by ZPMC, they are able to assist with mega ships of up to 24,000 TEUs capacity and equipped with advanced technology to assist in unloading and loading process. The cranes are 140.6 meters high with a marine arm length of 71 meters and will be located in the new container terminal as part of the port’s investment in the renovation of pier 21. The new STS equipment can lift loads with a total weight of up to 95 tonnes using a dedicated hook. Each includes a TANDEM lifting device that allows for the removal of two full 40-foot containers with a total weight of 80 tonnes. Camera and laser systems installed on the cranes allow for remote control, while a TOS system enables semi-automatic operations as well. * Ports across the Middle East took four of the top five spots in the second edition of the Global Container Port Performance Index (CCPI). Developed by World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence, CPPI looks into global container port performance and acts a reference point for key stakeholders.

Topping the rankings in 2021 was Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Port. Moreover, regional competitors Port Salalah in Oman, Hamad Port in Qatar, and Khalifa Port in Abu Dhabi completed the top five listing. Jeddah Islamic Port also featured high in the rankings securing eighth place. The rankings were based on time vessels needed to spend in port to complete workloads over the course of 2021.

The report also highlighted the resilience of East Asian ports and the capacity of Chinese ports to effectively handles challenges brought on by the pandemic. According to recent data, the Ports of Ningbo, and Guangzhou both featured in the top 10 most efficient ports in the world. Turloch Mooney, Associate Director, Maritime and Trade at S&P Global Market Intelligence, added: “The pandemic highlighted in stark terms the pivotal role port performance plays in the timely supply of goods to countries and their populations.

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1. Over 300 delegates met at Portsmouth International Port at the end of May to celebrate success of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition. The £23m initiative has so far funded 55 companies to develop innovative technologies to support a cleaner future.

2. A multimillion-dollar California Energy Commission Grant will help Port of Long Beach transition to zeroemissions operations by developing infrastructure plans to support electric vehicles. 3. Teams from Montreal Port Authority were elated to welcome the first call of CMA-CGM Montreal on May 25. 4. Port of Virginia and USACE have signed an agreement committing the federal government to begin its investment in the

construction effort to widen and deepen the shipping channels and Norfolk Harbour. 5. The UK Chamber of Shipping is calling on the British government to institute mandatory requirements for installing shore power at the nation’s ports. “The UK is 20 years behind. Catching up requires a clear and targeted regulatory framework to drive adoption across our ports,” said UK Chamber CEO Sarah Treseder. 6. Port of Barcelona’s Innovation Plan was unveiled by Damià Calvet, President, Port of Barcelona, and Emma Cobos, Director, Innovation and Business Strategy. The Plan’s main objectives are to strengthen the port’s role as a driver of economic growth and recovery & drive digitisation of the logistics ecosystem.

SPOTTED SOMETHING OF INTEREST?

If you have seen something unusual or something of interest for inclusion in this column make a photograph of it and send it by email to: yourpicture@worldportdevelopment.com

Port of Hamburg and the Port of Klaipeda sign a MoU to build on exisiting cooperation Dr. Marius Skuodis, Lithuanian Minister of Transport and Communications, Algis Latakas, Director of Klaipeda State Seaport Authority, and Axel Mattern, CEO of HHM - Port of Hamburg Marketing, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding strengthening the cooperation between these two universal ports.

In future, the Port of Hamburg and the Port of Klaiped in Lithuania, as well as the transport industry based there, will aim to cooperate by exchanging transport market-related data, to promote the transport corridors between their markets with joint marketing activities, and in implementing logistics projects. “Lithuania is a significant partner for the Port of Hamburg’s seaborne cargo throughput and important to sea and land transport services.

The entire Baltic region is of immense importance for the Port of Hamburg. We are delighted by the Lithuanian side’s interest in stepping up our exchange and cooperation between the two ports,” said Mattern.

Port of Long Beach has record April The Port of Long Beach achieved its most active April, continuing a streak of single-month records set in 2022.The facility moved 820,718 TEUs during the month, up 10% from the previous record set in April 2021. Imports rose 9.2% to 400,803 TEUs, while exports were down 1.8% to 121,876 TEUs. Moreover, empty containers moved increased 16.9% to 298,039 TEUs. So far, the port has moved 3,281,377 TEUs during the first four months of 2022, a 5.1% increase from the same period in 2021. “Cargo continues to move at a record-setting pace and may not slow down anytime soon,” said Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero.

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Savannah has record April The Port of Savannah handled 495,782 twenty-foot equivalent container units in April, a record for the month of April and Georgia Ports Authority’s (GPA) third busiest month ever.

GPA’s Garden City Terminal now handles nearly one out of every nine loaded containers crossing America’s docks.

GPA’s containerised trade increased 6.2%, or 29,150 TEUs in April, compared to the same month a year ago. The growth is related in part to retailers replenishing depleted inventories and making early orders to ensure product availability. For the fiscal year-to-date, GPA has handled 4.75 million TEUs, an improvement of 8% or 344,260 TEUs year-over-year.

International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI) has invested over PhP900 million (USD20m) in IT for its flagship Manila terminal (MICT) in the last ten years.

“The hefty investments are meant to crisis-proof the terminal, safeguard shipments and system processes, maximise the efficiency of its operations,” says ICTSI’s Executive VP. Setting the stage for the future, ICTSI rolled out 5G, launched the Terminal Appointment Booking System (TABS) to facilitate the seamless flow of cargo, and is currently developing a new app to give users access to services like Track & Trace across multiple ICTSI terminals, online payment and eventually TABS booking.

“ICTSI will continue to take advantage of new technologies to push efficiencies for the benefit of customers,” says Gonzalez.

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“Our long-running programme of infrastructure expansion, coupled with the Authority’s ability as an owner-operator to speed up the schedule of development, has allowed the Port of Savannah to adapt to heightened container volumes,” said GPA Board Chairman Joel Wooten. “On-terminal and inland capacity improvements enable cargo to flow across our docks without congestion.”

Savannah was recently ranked the top US container port by loaded export volume, handling 1.38 million TEUs in CY 2021.

In other news, the Peak Capacity Project has added 900,000 TEUs of annual container yard capacity to Garden City Terminal as of April 13.

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European ports and Interferry agree priorities for sustainable future A meeting between the European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) and global trade association Interferry has agreed a common work programme to promote an environmentally sustainable future for the European ferry business through the provision and use of onshore power supply (OPS). Interferry CEO Mike Corrigan comments: “Electrification of ship propulsion is key to meeting massive regulatory challenges for reducing maritime greenhouse gas emissions - interim cuts of some 50% are due by 2030, leading to ‘net zero’ status by 2050.

Ferries are already leading the shipping industry’s transition to hybrid and fully electric systems, but major expansion of the electricity grid network is absolutely crucial to supporting the ultimate objectives. To this end, Interferry has embarked on a schedule of meetings with senior decision makers from governments, ports and energy companies to urge investment in OPS infrastructure. I very much value our collaboration with ESPO to work on mutual sustainability ambitions”. ESPO Secretary-General Isabelle Ryckbost concludes: “Ports in Europe are very eager to move forward in achieving the decarbonisation goals and progressing their green priorities. The greening of shipping is a priority for ports. The best way to go forward is to engage in dialogue with the different stakeholders. Each segment has its own priorities and solutions. I am very happy we started this dialogue a few months ago with Interferry and can now engage together on an efficient way to reduce emissions at berth. Moreover, the role ferry transport can play in greening passenger transport in Europe is severely underestimated. Ferries are connecting people, regions and economies. I’m happy to continue the discussions with Interferry”.

Financial year 2022 starts successfully for HHLA in challenging times The revenue and earnings of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) recorded a strong performance in the first three months of this year. Revenue in the HHLA Group rose by 10.7% to €386.2 million (previous year: € 348.7 million). Angela Titzrath, Chairwoman of HHLA’s Executive Board states: “The existing uncertainty on the global markets created by the coronavirus pandemic has been further amplified by the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. For several months, we have been dealing with massive ship delays as a result of supply chain disruptions, and this has led to a backlog of containers at the Port of Hamburg. However, irrespective of the difficult, unsettling times, HHLA got off to a good start in the 2022 financial year. Through prudent and disciplined action, HHLA is maintaining the stability of its operations and thus fulfilling its supply mandate for businesses and consumers. In order to reliably meet the needs of its customers, HHLA’s employees and equipment are currently operating at full capacity and HHLA has implemented additional operational measures.

Despite the challenges, we will decisively and consistently seize the opportunities of the digital transformation and the drive towards climate-neutrality so that we can continue to strengthen HHLA’s future viability.”

In the container segment, throughput increased by 3.7% to 1,740 thousand TEUs. This positive development was essentially driven by an increase in the Far East shipping region - China in particular.

Port of Koper orders more electric Konecranes RTGs

The operator of the Port of Koper in Slovenia, Luka Koper d.d., has ordered three electric Konecranes RTG cranes. The order was booked in Q1 2022 and the cranes will be delivered in February 2023. When the cranes are handed-over, Koper will operate a fleet of 30 Konecranes RTGs. Luka Koper has been operating Konecranes RTG and RMG cranes for almost 20 years.

“Koper is a forward-looking container terminal operator with ambitious environmental goals, a quality that is strongly supported by our ecolifting approach,” said Adel Issa, Sales Manager EMEA, Konecranes, Port Solutions. The low-noise electric RTGs are similar to the ones already at Koper. They will be equipped with cable reel systems and an auto plug-in feature.

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port & terminal

CMA CGM and PSA to expand collaboration with new digital solutions to reduce carbon footprint The CMA CGM Group and PSA Corporation Ltd (PSA), a subsidiary of PSA International, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to jointly create and implement sustainable solutions relating to CMA CGM’s port and terminal handling activities in Singapore, through the joint venture partnership in CMA CGM-PSA Lion Terminal (CPLT).

One of the focus areas is to adopt PSA’s Opt-E-Arrive digital solution to reduce carbon emission through optimisation of bunker consumption.

Opt-E-Arrive is programmed to enable CMA CGM vessels to skip the anchorage stop and arrive just-in-time at berth at CPLT. The solution synchronises transparent real time activities and automates data exchange between the systems of the carrier and port operator. The dynamic intelligence therefore enables CMA CGM vessels to optimise vessel speed to be timely for berth. This innovative solution is set to reduce greenhouse gas emission through further optimisation of bunker consumption.

An annualised bunker savings of 4% to 7% for CMA CGM vessels arriving in Singapore is expected to be achieved with the new digital solution.

Opt-E-Arrive will be complementary to CMA CGM’s existing Fleet Centers, which can be described as vessel control towers with smart decision support tools for the Group's 566 vessels and their crews. Backed by 26 team members in Marseille, Miami and Singapore, the Fleet Centers provide round the clock support to ensure the safety of the Group’s crew, vessels and cargoes, and also offer real time data to adapt vessels’ routes and speed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.The extended collaborations demonstrate the shared commitment between the CMA CGM Group and PSA to drive excellence and decarbonise shipping through the joint venture partnership in CPLT.

DB Schenker plans to run zero-emission autonomous coastal container feeder for Ekornes ASA in Norway

DB Schenker has revealed its plans to run an innovative, zero-emission coastal container feeder between Ikornnes quay and the Port of Ålesund in Norway. The fully electric vessel includes a unique design, making the vessel first of its kind in the world. Having signed the prestudy agreement, DB Schenker, and its cooperation partners - the furniture giant Ekornes and vessel designers Naval Dynamics, in addition to KONGSBERG and Massterly - have taken the first steps in an ambitious collective aim to replace the traditional feeder vessels utilised along this stretch of the Norwegian coastline. The new autonomous and electric, short-sea container feeder leverages the Naval Dynamics’ NDS AutoBarge 250 concept developed in partnership with KONGSBERG and Massterly. The vessel will operate between Ekornes’ own port, at Ikornnes, to the port of Ålesund which serves the main ocean freight ports in Europe, completing the 43km (23NM) voyage within three hours, at a speed of 7.7 knots. The vessel is 50 meters long and can carry 300 deadweight tonnes cargo and is designed from keel up to be fit for purpose with respect to autonomous and zero emission operation.

The vessel aims to run un-crewed but supervised from Massterly’s Remote Operation Center (ROC) which is staffed with certified navigators and naval engineers. The planned two-way data communication solution between the vessel and the ROC is destined to be another game-changer in the sea freight sector.

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World Port Development June 2022

NWSA YTD TEU volumes down 2.7% Northwest Seaport Alliance April volumes were impacted by ongoing COVID-related lockdowns at key origin ports in China.

April 2021 was also a near-record volume month for imports, which artificially amplifies year-over-year comparisons. April volumes dropped 12.2% to 266,635 TEUs, with full imports declining 18.1% and full exports declining 22% year-over-year. Year-to-date import volumes are tracking pre-COVID levels, while laden exports continue to struggle from reduced service capacity.

Year-to-date volumes declined 2.7% to 1,167,869 TEUs, with full imports and exports declining 3.6% and 26.6%, respectively.

Domestic volumes decreased 0.2% compared to year-to-date April 2021. Alaska volumes decreased 0.5% while Hawaii volumes grew 0.8%. Year-to-date April breakbulk cargo volumes grew 32.2% for 142,174 metric tonnes. Moreover, auto volumes were 51,534 units, down 10.3% over year-to-date April 2021.

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port & terminal

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2022

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THE event for the container, port and terminal industry!

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05-06. MayJun 2022 issue-v2.qxp_Pages-12-40-JanFeb WPD 01/06/2022 12:39 Page 3

port survey

germany

German Ports: crisis-proof and fit for the future Claire Instone reports…

I

n 2021, the Coronavirus pandemic posed great challenges for the port’s industry, and German ports were no exception. Although world trade began to recover in 2021, the catch-up effects of various national economies and the Chinese “zero-COVID policy” continued to disrupt global supply chains which had previously run so smoothly. Goods either did not arrive at all or arrived too late and containers piled up at terminals because they could no longer immediately be forwarded to their final destination.

Despite the challenges, German ports performed successfully. “As logistics specialists, we are used to dealing with unusual challenges.

Over the past two years, it was the pandemic that demanded much of us; now it is the war in Ukraine, which violates international law,” states Angela Titzrath, Chairwoman of HHLA’s Executive Board.

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Regardless of the crisis, the Port of Hamburg achieved impressive results for 2021 and is optimistic about the coming year as stated by Titzrath: “HHLA is robust and stable enough and in a sufficiently solid financial position to continue to reliably fulfil its supply mandate in difficult times.”

Markus Bangen, CEO, duisport Group is also looking to the future with confidence: “At the moment, it’s almost impossible to make any reliable forecasts about the rest of the 2022 financial year. The Ukraine war and the enormous hike in energy prices have severely clouded the mood in the German economy as a whole. Nevertheless, I’m convinced that the duisport Group will emerge from this crisis in a strong position and that we’ve already taken the right steps in many areas to position ourselves as modern and fit for the future.” duisport also saw a rise in throughput and a hike across many cargo sectors last year, as did the ports of Bremen, Bremerhaven and Rostock.

Herein, I am delighted to bring readers an overview of the achievements and progress at Germany’s major ports across 2021. As for what 2022 will have in store remains to be seen. The existing uncertainty on the global markets has been amplified by the escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Such activity will have unforeseeable consequences for the economy in Europe and beyond. Whatever happens, German ports have proved they are crisis-proof and fit for the future.

Hamburg Despite the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, Hamburger Hafen and Logistik AG (HHLA) performed successfully in the 2021 financial year. “Our results in the last financial year are an impressive demonstration. These results will strengthen us as we continue to implement our strategy, which is geared towards growth and sustainability. In order to meet the challenges of our customers, and of the future, we will position HHLA to become even more innovative, digital and sustainable,” says Titzrath.

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germany In the 2021 reporting year, there was a slight year-on-year increase in total container throughput at HHLA’s container terminals of 2.5% to 6.943 million TEUs (the previous year garnered 6.776 million TEUs). At 6.328 million, throughput volume at the three Hamburg container terminals was up 2.2% on the previous year.The positive development of cargo volumes was largely due to the Far East and North and South America shipping regions. Throughput volumes at the three international container terminals in Odessa, Tallinn and Trieste rose 5.3% to 615,000 TEUs. Container throughput at the international terminals therefore exceeded the pre-pandemic level of 2019 by 0.4%.

Meanwhile, rail continued to benefit more than road from the recovery in freight volume.

Rail transport rose 12.8% year-on-year to 1.379 million TEUs. In a persistently challenging market environment, road transport volumes of 312,000 TEUs were on a par with the previous year. Reflecting on more recent figures from Germany’s largest seaport by volume, we see that the first quarter of 2022 brought very different trends for cargo handling, and traffic. At 2.2 million TEUs, throughput was up 1.8%. Totalling 22.5 million tonnes, general cargo throughput in the first three months of the year rose by 0.6%.

Photo credit: HHM - Michael Lindner

port survey

Down by 2.8%, total seaborne cargo handling at 31.2 million tonnes was slightly lower than in the same quarter of the previous year.

The repercussions of the sanctions against Russia, only effective from March, were not yet apparent in all the handling segments for Germany’s biggest universal port in the first quarter.

“After a very good start in January, the start of the war in Ukraine led to an extension of EU sanctions in trade with Russia during the course of February. In the Port of Hamburg we then rapidly noticed a downturn in container traffic with Russian ports. That was caused primarily by the reactions of many shipping companies in ceasing to call at Russian ports.

Imports from Russian ports of coal, along with other bulk cargoes such as oil products, continued without being affected,” states Axel Mattern, CEO of Hamburg Marketing.

Mattern pointed out that in the first quarter, repercussions were already apparent in the general cargo sector, but that is meanwhile more obviously true in virtually all handling and industry segments. Railborne freight traffic again developed very well. During the first quarter, at 12 million tonnes the Port of Hamburg Railway handled 1.6% greater volume.

At 0.7 million TEUs, 1.4% more containers were transported.

“The Port of Hamburg once again confirmed its capability as leading rail port. That was impressively underlined in January with record figures of 60,000 TEUs per week and 231 train moves per day. Against a background of especially high peak load at container terminals, and limitations in the rail network caused by storms, these records are noteworthy,” explained Mattern. Going forward, in order to further increase productivity and expand capacity in the container and intermodal segments, investments at Group level are expected to be between EUR 300 million and EUR 350 million across this year. The Port Logistics subgroup will account for EUR 270 million to EUR 320 million of this amount.

Bremen/Bremerhaven In 2021, the quays and terminals in Bremen and Bremerhaven handled 69.7 million tonnes of seaborne freight (up 4.8%). This marked a recovery from the downturn in seaborne freight throughput the previous year due to the pandemic, when the figure was 66.5 million tonnes. “The ports of Bremen were affected by the supply chain disruptions.

Nevertheless, the ports of Bremen remained

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germany fully functioning during the second year of the pandemic and despite the resulting difficult health and hygiene regulations. The port employees, the ships’ crews and the port and logistics industry succeeded in upholding supplies to the German and European economies even during these difficult times.

And despite Corona, we can actually report an improvement in throughput figures for the ports of Bremen,” states Dr Claudia Schilling, Senator for Science and Ports.

Total throughput was slightly higher than the figure for 2019 (69.4 million tonnes).

The provisional throughput figure for 2021 breaks down into 12.9 million tonnes of freight handled at the port facilities in Bremen-City (up 23.6%) and 56.8 million tonnes in Bremerhaven (a rise of 1.3%).

Both port locations were back up to the throughput figures for the year 2019 again, with Bremen-City even reporting a slight increase. There was a significant year-on-year increase in the volume of freight handled at the ports of Bremen in 2021, with total throughput of 9.7 million tonnes (growth of 12.5%).

The positive trend for bulk freight (9.1 million tonnes, up 14.6%) and general cargo (3.7 million tonnes, up 52.9%) in 2021 meant a significant increase in total throughput, which amounted to 12.9 million tonnes at the port facilities in Bremen-City (plus 23.6%). General cargo throughput rose by 3.7% to just under 60 million tonnes. This growth in the figures for general cargo can be attributed to the sharp increase in the non-containerised segment, where throughput was up by 23.2% to almost 8.4 million tonnes.

However, there was also a slight jump of 1.1% in container throughput, which rose to 51.6 million tonnes. Expressed in standard containers, growth was far higher and rose by 5.2% to more than 5 million TEUs. This also meant slight growth compared with the figure for 2019 (just under 4.9 million TEUs).

duisport Group duisport Group overcame challenging times reporting strong annual figures for 2021.

The Group continued to perform successfully in the second year of the Covid pandemic.

Although the 2021 financial year was strongly shaped by the effects and restrictions surrounding the third and fourth waves of the pandemic as well as globally disrupted logistics chains and a massive shortage of raw

materials and preliminary products, duisport’s broadly positioned business model delivered a convincing performance with clearly noticeable resilience. Against this background, the increase in earnings of more than 33% with an increase in sales of almost 19% is all the more impressive. “We’ve held our course in stormy times,” says Chief Executive Officer Markus Bangen, who took office back on August 1, 2021, and has since provided a great deal of internal and external impetus for the further development and modernisation of the Port of Duisburg.

In the 2021 financial year, container turnover rose by 2% to around 4.3 million TEUs, (up from 2020’s total of 4.2 million). Last year, the duisport Group handled a total of 58.2 million tonnes of goods by ship, rail and truck.

All the ports of Duisburg together handled a total of 111.1 million tonnes (previous year: 110.4 million tonnes). In the second year of the pandemic, duisport again increased its spending on property, plant and equipment and financial investments, investing a solid EUR 42 million (2020: EUR 38.6 million).

On top of this, EUR 14.1 million was invested in maintenance work on the infra- and superstructure of the Port of Duisburg. A total of EUR 56.6 million was thus invested in increasing performance at duisport in 2021.

In 2021, Duisburger Hafen AG acquired a shareholding in the Port of Trieste. This way, the duisport Group will strengthen its presence there and will benefit in future from the flow of goods from the Mediterranean region to Europe. “Our geographical location and connection in the middle of Europe is a unique selling point that we will continue to reinforce,” confirms Dr. Carsten Hinne, primarily responsible for the expansion of the international network.

“Shareholdings such as the one in Trieste strengthen the Port of Duisburg’s function as a logistics hub.” In recent months the port’s focus has been on modernising infrastructure, investing massively in the renewal and new construction of roads, rails and bridges to make internal traffic and handling processes faster and more efficient. This applies not least to the connection of the future Duisburg Gateway Terminal (DGT) - the largest container terminal in the European hinterland, which will be operated on a completely climate-neutral basis.

port survey

In more recent news, the port authorities of Duisburg and Rotterdam confirmed they have jointly signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to renew and expand their cooperation agreements that date back to 2020. Besides existing agreements relating to the optimisation of logistical connections, the cooperation will be expanded to include initiatives in the area of digitisation and the energy transition. duisport and Rotterdam have been trading partners for a long time. This LOI is aimed at creating the most digital and most sustainable port-inland hub connection in the world by linking Duisburg’s ‘Rail Freight Data Hub’ initiative with Rotterdam’s ‘Rail Connected’. The LOI also includes agreements on looking into the possibility of linking the port community systems Portbase (Rotterdam) to the RheinPorts Information System (Duisburg) and to learn from each other’s initiatives in the area of digital twin projects.

Rostock Last year, 28.68 million tonnes were handled at the Port of Rostock which scored an increase of 14% - or 3.58 million tonnes - compared to 2020, notching up another record. The port state this result is remarkable due to the fact that all four handling divisions contributed to it and because it shows a considerable increase above the level of activity in 2019 a respectable 11.7% jump. The strongest growth was achieved in the handling of wheeled cargo in ferry and ro-ro traffic represented by a result of 18 million tonnes (+2.7 million tonnes or +18%).The steady development of the ferry and railway network over the last few years, by strengthening the existing ferry services and establishing a new ferry destination as well as several new railway destinations, is clearly paying off.

Gratifying growth rates were also achieved in intermodal transport and in container traffic which runs by rail between China and Europe and by ship between Kaliningrad and Rostock.

The ferry terminal and ro-ro terminal contain eleven berths. Berth 64 is equipped for the clearance of railway carriages. The number of railway wagons ferried to and from Trelleborg continued to show a gratifying increase from 19,205 to 27,100 units (+41%) in 2021.

Rostock port is a major railway port on the German Baltic Sea coast and continues to grow in importance as a traditional railway port. Around 20% of all hinterland traffic to and from the port is carried by rail in the modal split.

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bangladesh

Update: Matarbari Port

It all started as a new coal terminal project but soon an additional container and multi-purpose terminal were added to the list. Thomas Francis reports…

T

he Matarbari Port is a new deep-sea port under development in the Bangladeshi city of Chittagong. The 283acre port is being constructed on land which was intended for salt flats on Maheshkhai island in Cox’s Bazar District, Chittagong.

The construction of the deep-sea port was first proposed in August 2014, in order to receive imported coal for the planned 1,200 MW Matarbari power station, funded by the Japanese Government’s Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), with the Bangladesh government also receiving funds from JICA for construction for the new port. The Japanese prime minister offered USD4.8 billion in loans for the project, which would include the 1,200 MW Matarbari power station.

JICA imagined the port to be part of a broader project to turn the area into an industrial corridor, and an important trade gateway to the rest of Asia and beyond.

The new coal terminal would be a joint venture between Coal Power Generation Company of Bangladesh Limited (CPGCBL) and Shumitomo Corporation of Japan.The 1,200 MW power station, a joint venture of Japan’s Mitsui and Company Ltd and Malaysia’s IMDB Energy Group Berhad, would be using about 3.73 million tonnes of coal annually.

With designer plans changing all the time it soon became apparent that Matarbari Port would extend up to the port of Sonadia.

Here plans for a new port - the Sonadia Port - were on the table after a feasibility study was conducted in 2006 by Japan-based Pacific Consultant International (PCI). PCI found Sonadia Island suitable for the construction of the proposed port, but did not consider inclusion of coal, oil, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) jetties in the plan. In January 2015, it was reported that the proposed Sonadia Port, located approximately 25km away, would be abandoned and that Matarbari would be extended.

Five months later, in June 2015, JICA said that construction of the deep-sea port at Matarbari was set to start by January 2016.

In September 2015, Bangladesh central government approved Japan’s proposal to finance and build the seaport in Matarbari, with JICA offering USD3.7 billion to build the estimated USD4.6 billion port and power complex.

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bangladesh In September 2017, local media reported that a Japanese consortium (comprising Sumitomo Corporation, Toshiba Corporation, and IHI Corporation) signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract for the new coal-fired power plant and the deep-sea port at Matarbari.

In January 2018, it was reported that 18 percent of the project work had been completed and that Matarbari Port was planned for completion in July 2024. As part of its 39th Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan package, JICA approved another loan of USD24 million for the project in June 2018.

Fast forward to December 2020, and the first commercial ship - a foreign vessel named the MV Venus Triumph - came alongside the first jetty at the deep-sea port, with the assistance of a tugboat, as part of an operations trial.

Construction of the first jetty, meant for unloading liquid fuel, was completed in 2020, and although the port is reportedly scheduled to be fully open by December 2026, ships were temporarily anchoring at the port to take part in the trials.

In July 2021, a bulk cargo vessel became the first to berth at the second jetty being constructed for unloading coal at the new power plant, with an annual capacity of 3.73 million tonnes (Mt) of coal, which will be imported from Indonesia, Australia, and South Africa. This latest arrival increased the total number of vessels that have been berthed at the two jetties since December 2020 to 18. Nearly 75% of the construction work for the 300m long second jetty has been completed. The jetty is expected to be fully constructed by the end of 2022.

Container terminal plans As construction for the new coal terminal developed and the new deep-sea port was taking shape, another decision was made by Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) regarding the port’s proposed capacity.

In January 2018, in the first phase of construction, a new container terminal - the Patenga Container Terminal - would be built on 18 hectares with a 460m berth able to accommodate 8,000 TEUs vessels. The terminal would have an annual capacity of 600,000 TEUs up to 1.1 million TEUs. The container terminal would then be expanded, comprising of 70 hectares, have a 1.85km berth, and have a 2.8 million tonnes capacity. In addition, a 17 hectares multi-purpose terminal - the Bay Terminal - was to be constructed with a 300m long berth, able to accommodate vessels up to 70,000 deadweight tonnage (dwt). Annual capacity of the terminal would be 2.25 million tonnes.

Earlier this year, Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) Chairman, Rear Admiral M Shahjahan, said that in comparison to 2020, the new deep-sea port of Matarbari attained a 13.19% growth in container handling, 14.06% in cargo handling, and 12.63% growth in ship handling in 2021. “The port became one of the key institutions not only for the people of Chattogram, but also for the whole nation.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the port handled the unloading of goods from 12 ships every day,” said Shahjahan. “The port remained open 24 hours, seven days a week, at a time when the whole world remained stuck due

port survey

to the pandemic. To ensure uninterrupted export-import activities, the port took timely measures for off-docking, shipping agents, feeder services and road cargo transportation.”

The CPA chairman also said that he was hopeful about opening the Patenga Container Terminal within two or three months. If this would be correct, the opening of the new container terminal is expected in June or July 2022 with the Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) in charge of running the Patenga container terminal, until a (foreign) terminal operator is appointed to operate the terminal. Five international operators have expressed interest in running the terminal under an “equip, operate and maintain” model, including Denmark’s AP Moller-Maersk, Saudi Arabia-based Red Sea Gateway Terminal, Dubai-based DP World, India’s Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited, and Singapore’s PSA International.

Progress on Bay Terminal There is no doubt that the Matarbari Deep Sea Port, the Bay Terminal, and the Patenga Container Terminal have attracted the attention of many foreign companies all keen to invest, with some potential investors already submitting proposals for the Bay terminal, which will be operational between 2024 and 2025. The CPA chairman did point out that some weakness remained in land acquisition for the terminal and that the port authority has talked to the district administration regarding this issue.

“It will be settled soon. A consultancy firm has already been finalised,” Rear Admiral M Shahjahan added.

According to a report published in November 2021, the port’s new structure was finalised on the basis of conclusions obtained from a set of studies which were carried out by the Japan-based Koei Corp., Germany-based Pichner Corp., Japan-based TEPSCO Corp., Australia-based SMEC Corp., and a few other companies.

The original length of the Matarbari sea port was set at 3km. It was increased to 14.3km when the decision was made to build the deep-sea port, thus abandoning plans for the proposed Sonadia Port. Similarly, the breadth of the channel was increased by 100m (from 250m to 350m) with the depth also increasing from 15m to 18.5m. In addition to the two jetties nearing construction completion, another six jetties are now expected to be built.

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Ukraine war: trade impact WPD reports on how the conflict in Ukraine is impacting trade and development…

I

n recent months, both the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and BIMCO have proffered up assessment of the war in Ukraine’s impact on trade and development.

Their analysis shows a rapidly worsening outlook for the world economy with the situation especially alarming for least developed countries, a slowing of Russian exports as well as rising food, fuel and fertilser prices.

UNCTAD’s report published in March also showed heightened financial volatility, sustainable development divestment, complex global supply chain reconfigurations and mounting trade costs. “The war in Ukraine has a huge cost in human suffering and is sending shocks through the world economy,” UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan said.

“All these shocks threaten the gains made towards recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and block the path towards sustainable development.”

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trade & development

The two fundamental ‘Fs’ Concern abounds over the two fundamental ‘Fs’ of commodity markets - food and fuels.

Ukraine and Russia are global players in agrifood markets, representing 53% of global trade of sunflower oil and seeds and 27% of global trade of wheat. This rapidly evolving situation is especially alarming for developing nations.

As many as 26 African countries, including some least developed countries, import more than one third of their wheat from the two countries at war. For 17, the share is over half.

“Soaring food and fuel prices will affect the most vulnerable in developing countries, putting pressure on the poorest households which spend the highest share of their income on food, resulting in hardship and hunger,” confirms Grynspan. According to UNCTAD calculations, on average, more than 5% of the poorest countries’ import basket is composed of the products that are likely to face a price hike due to the war. The share is below 1% for richer countries.

Risk of civil unrest The risk of civil unrest, food shortages and inflation-induced recessions cannot be discounted, the report says, particularly given the fragile state of the global economy and the developing world due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Long-standing effects of rising food prices are hard to predict,” the report says, “but an UNCTAD analysis of historical data sheds light on some troubling possible trends.”

Agri-food commodity cycles, for example, have coincided with major political events, such as the 2007-2008 food riots and the 2011 Arab Spring.

Freight rate hikes Restrictive measures on airspace, contractor uncertainty and security concerns are complicating all trade routes going through Russia and Ukraine. The two countries are a key geographical component of the Eurasian Land Bridge. In 2021, 1.5 million containers were shipped by rail west from China to Europe.

If the volumes currently going by container rail were added to the Asia-Europe ocean freight demand, this would mean a 5% to 8% increase in an already congested trade route.

“Due to higher fuel costs, rerouting efforts and zero capacity in maritime logistics, the impact of the war in Ukraine can be expected to lead to even higher freight rates,” the report says.

Such increases would have a significant impact on economies and households. In 2021, UNCTAD simulated that the freight rate increase during the pandemic raised global consumer prices by 1.5%, “with particularly oversized effects in vulnerable economies such as small island developing states, landlocked developing states and least developed countries”.

Global economic growth In a more recent market analysis, BIMCO’s Chief Shipping Analyst Niels Rasmussen echoed UNCTAD’s fears of a food shortage and negative fallout for the world’s poorest countries.

His report acknowledges that the war’s full impact on the global economy naturally remains unknown, however, prices for energy and agricultural commodities remain elevated and a global food crisis appears unavoidable.

“Hunger must be expected to increase in fragile developing economies that have yet to recover from the impacts of COVID,” he states.

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Rasmussen goes on to say that we will see discretionary spending reduce across the world as businesses and consumers attempt to cope with increasing food and energy prices stating: “Global economic growth must be expected to be significantly lower than the 4.0-4.5% forecast before the war. Especially Europe is expected to see lower growth than previously forecast.”

Bulk freight rates BIMCO’s analysis confirmed that immediately following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Baltic Exchange indices for bulk vessels moved lower but two weeks into the war the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) had recouped losses and moved higher as had the size specific indices. Since, there’s been a downward correction as the Capesize index (BCI) has moved to a level lower than pre-war.

Not included in the BDI calculation, the Handysize index (BHSI) has seen the sharpest rise of all at some 400 points above pre-war level. Volume wise, Russia’s exports have, unsurprisingly, moved lower week by week since the invasion in week eight, and were in week 11 about 25% lower than the 2022 pre-war average. The reductions appear equally spread across ports, vessel sizes, and commodities although coal out of the Russian Far East appear to be mostly unaffected.

“Ukraine’s exports remain at a standstill whereas global volumes have increased only marginally compared to the early 2022 average.

The increase is approximately 5 percentage points lower than what we have seen during the same period in previous years. Particularly iron ore and grain shipments are unseasonably low whereas coal shipments so far seem unimpacted by the higher commodity prices.”

Russian crude oil and exports down Volumes of crude oil and products export from Russia are sharply down since the beginning of the war. Compared to the three weeks before the war, volumes are down 30%.

Still, Baltic Exchange rate indices for most vessel types and sizes are up due to rocketing rates out of Russia. Though not involved in Russia trade, VLCC’s initially also saw some much-needed improvement, however, earnings have since slipped back towards pre-war levels.

The mainstay of the Russia trade, Aframaxes, have naturally been the main beneficiary of events and earnings are, according to Clarkson, now five times higher than earlier in the year.

“The fundamentals of the crude tanker market have, however, not changed. In fact, the current high prices are discouraging buyers and unless prices move lower, and global production increases, we do not see much change in the supply/demand situation in the short-term,” says Rasmussen. OPEC, however, is sticking to earlier laid plans for ramping up production but has so far not even met those targets. If successful, ongoing negotiations with Venezuela and Iran may deliver some new barrels to the market but this remains uncertain. On the other hand, there is a continued risk that Russia’s export to Europe may also be sanctioned.

The container market According to Rasmussen’s report, so far the biggest direct consequence of the war on the container market has been the sanctioning of Russian Railways and past China-Europe rail volumes turning to liner operators for transport.

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Separately, factory closures during China’s recent COVID lockdowns will reduce Chinese exports in the short term and have again wreaked havoc on liner operators’ sailing schedules. In the short term this has helped reduce the number of vessels waiting off the Southern Californian coast, however, this may quickly be reversed when full vessels again start sailing from China.

China export container rate indices, as measured by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, have recently shown some level of weakness, particularly for shipments to Europe.

“The main concern for the container market, however, remains slower economic growth and in particular lower goods trade as consumer uncertainty increases and discretionary spending decreases,” confirms Rasmussen.

He goes on to add that “fleet growth, however, will be low during 2022, which more than likely will ensure that container rates in any case remain at very profitable levels.” WPD will continue to give readers further updates as the siutation unfolds.

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mobile harbour crane

Downturn? What downturn?

If you thought the market for Mobile Harbour Cranes slowed down for the last couple of years just read the annual report published in April 2022 by Austria-based Liebherr Group. Thomas Francis reports...

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oing through the annual report of Liebherr Group the company achieved a turnover of EUR 11.6 billion in 2021 - an increase of 12.6% (almost EUR 1.3 billion) compared to 2020. As a result, the Liebherr Group was almost able to match its previous record year in 2019 in terms of annual turnover.

In the product segments, including maritime cranes, aerospace and transportation systems, gear technology and automation systems, refrigerators and freezers, as well as components and hotels (yes, they also own several hotels), Liebherr achieved total revenues of EUR 3.63 billion - up 3.9 % compared to 2020.

What is interesting is that the order intake for Mobile Harbour Cranes (MHC) in 2021 was higher than ever before. In total, more than 80 new units and also various used units were sold to customers worldwide.

Liebherr mobile harbour cranes were ordered from 31 different countries with all continents being represented.

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There was strong growth in the Middle East and West Africa regions and stable core markets in Europe as well as North and South America. As in previous years, the LHM 550 is the most popular crane, closely followed by the LHM 420. A strong increase in sales of the LHM 800 was recorded, which more than tripled compared to 2020.

However, just like other MHC manufacturers there are still uncertainties with regard to pandemic-related restrictions, the effects of steep price increases for many goods and services, shortages of certain raw materials and the lack of skilled workers, as well as bottlenecks across different supply chains.

But the company reported to have started 2022 with a very good order book, although the negative effects on the activities of the Liebherr Group due to the war in Ukraine can already be seen.

Liebherr is monitoring and assessing the situation in Ukraine and Russia on a daily basis and is currently in the process of adjusting its Russian activities to the extensive sanctions imposed on the country. In March 2022, one of the leading port operators in Poland, Port Gda sk Eksploatacja SA, took delivery of a new Liebherr LHM 550 mobile harbour crane - the 300th order of this crane type.

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A Liebherr LHM 550.

As the most popular crane type in the Liebherr mobile harbour crane portfolio, the LHM 550 has contributed significantly to Liebherr’s market leadership in the MHC market, according to the company. Since its market launch, with the delivery of the first LHM 550 to Kuwait in 2010, a double-digit number of this crane type alone has been delivered worldwide every year. In terms of sales per country, India leads the ranking with 23 units sold, closely followed by Italy and the USA. In 2021 alone, 26 LHM 550s were sold worldwide. The crane supplied to Port Gdansk Eksploatacja SA has a boom length of 48m and a lifting capacity of up to 104 tonnes, and will primarily be used for bulk handling of coke, coal and scrap metal. Statistics provided by Liebherr shows that a large number of their customers use the LHM 550 for several applications including container handling and even heavy-duty lifts of up to 154 tonnes. In addition to a hybrid drive concept consisting of diesel and electric motors, the cranes can also be used exclusively in electric only operation, thus making an important contribution to emission-free cargo handling.

Over 30% of the LHM 550s sold in 2021 were equipped with an electric main drive.

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Volos Port they were equipped with a cable reel to draw electricity from berth. In addition, two MHCs had a maximum capacity of 140 tonnes under hook. Currently, Italgru are working on a diesel-hydraulic IHMC 1580 (maximum 80 tonnes capacity) for Azov port in Russia and one diesel-hydraulic IMHC 2120 (125 tonnes capacity) for Barletta port in Italy.

Italgru is reporting to operate at full capacity and an impressive order book.

Italgru is also completing work on three diesel-hydraulic IMHC 1580 units (with a maximum capacity of 63 tonnes) for the ports of Ravenna and Oristano with expectations that they will be handed over to the customers in August 2022.

In early 2022 the company also started commissioning one IMHC 2120 for Durres port in Albania and one IMHC 1580 (with a maximum capacity of 63 tonnes) to the port of Rijeka in Croatia. It is anticipated that both MHCs will be handed over to their respective customers in both June and August respectively.

Italgru Similar stories are coming from Italy-based Italgru when it comes down to the effects of steep price increases, shortages of certain raw materials and bottlenecks in different supply chains. But despite all these issues, Italgru is reporting to operate at full capacity and an impressive order book.

The main drive can be a diesel engine or an electric motor. All energy-consuming movements are connected to a closed hydraulic circuit and are fed by it when required. Closed hydraulic loops are used for all main functions such as hoisting, slewing and luffing.The benefits of all this are extremely precise control, a minimum number and size of components and reduced fuel consumption thanks to the standard use of reverse power. Such innovative drive systems generally saves diesel or energy during crane operation and enables sustainable and efficient operation.

The company does report that it has seen more and more customers opt for environmental machinery. Hence it decided to offer both diesel-hydraulic and diesel-electric cranes in order to meet customer expectations.

In addition, Italgru has opted for sub-vendors that can supply low-emission engine motors and eco-friendly components, in order to offer energy saving features on their MHCs, such as an accumulator that stores energy during the lowering phase to be redistributed to other movements available.

According to Mauro Cacciatore at the Commercial Department at Italgru, by introducing a new design for all models, with electric drives on both hoisting and slewing movements, the company is dedicated to those customers focusing on eco-friendly solutions.

Such accumulators can be installed on the diesel-hydraulic configuration of an MHC, whilst on the diesel-electric configuration, a series of regenerative inverters can be installed, which are able to redistribute the energy stored during the lowering phase to the electrical grid of the berth. The principle (of the accumulator and hydrostatic drive) is based on a main drive that supplies power to pumps and a hydraulic transfer gearbox.

Last year, Italgru delivered one diesel-electric IMHC 2120 E to Volos Port in Greece.

The MHC is a single winch with a maximum capacity of 125 tonnes and is equipped with a cable reel in order to plug-in to the electricity supply on the berth. A total of six MHCs were heading towards India - four of these were diesel-hydraulic and electric IMHC 2120 with a maximum of 100 tonnes capacity under hook. Just like the unit for

The lastest order came from Sicily for one IMHC 2120 E with an electric drive and equipped with a cable reel to draw electricity from berth.

Perhaps one positive thing that has come out of the global pandemic is the use of the internet for remote maintenance as well as for collaboration with local technicians. Now standard practice for all manufacturers this can be a new norm as cranes can be monitored through tele-maintenance.

“This is an effective tool that allowed us to oversee operations from our HQ,” said Cacciatore. “The crane is connected, through the internet, to our offices in Italy or a local maintenance station, for a real time monitoring and troubleshooting of the crane.”

Cacciatore also told us that remote support has always been a tool used by Italgru to help their customers. “The global pandemic and the restriction imposed to travelling has certainly increased the number of requests to operate directly from our headquarters.”

Apart from keeping an eye on the crane in operations it also serves as an excellent tool to keep in contact with existing customers and with potential ones, providing the opportunity to connect from your home or office thus avoiding a slowdown in negotiations or project management.

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container Konecranes In April 2022, Konecranes put out a press release about Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine and decided already in the early days of the invasion to not take any new business from Russia. Konecranes operates a crane and component factory in Zaporizhzhia, in the south-eastern part of Ukraine. The factory is one of the Industrial Equipment supply factories for crane components and a crane manufacturing unit for Eastern Europe deliveries.

It also offers extra capacity for Konecranes’ western crane deliveries specialised in large steel structures. In addition, Konecranes has employees working in crane service, port service, spare parts and industrial crane sales operations mainly in Odesa, Mariupol and Zaporizhzhia.

The production at the Ukrainian factory was stopped after the war started with planned production redirected to other Konecranes manufacturing sites. The company also started downscaling their Russian business although in 2021, Konecranes’ sales to Russia totalled EUR 55 million. As a result of this decision, in the first quarter 2022, Konecranes has written off EUR 79 million of orders from Russia and cancelled EUR 32 million of sales to Russia.

Despite all this, Konecranes has been busy with their Mobile Harbour Crane offerings.

At the end of 2021, long-standing customer Tincan Island Container Terminal Limited (TICT) ordered two eco-efficient Konecranes Gottwald ESP.8 MHCs for their container operations in Lagos, Nigeria. The cranes will be operated by TICT alongside a large fleet of Model 4, Model 6 and Model 7 Konecranes Gottwald MHCs already on site. TICT is a a consortium made up of Bolloré Ports and a Chinese partnership formed by China Merchants Holding International (CMHI) and China Africa Development Fund (CADF).

The cranes on order have a working radius of 54m and a capacity of 150 tonnes.

Compared to the Generation 5 cranes already on-site, they feature strong lifting capacity curves for improved performance and a higher classification, which doubles their service life in container handling operations.

The cranes have a customised propping base adapted to local conditions, as well as a tower extension to reach higher container

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mobile harbour crane stacks and a better view of the vessel for improved precision and safety. Built-in readiness for an external power supply will make conversion to electric operation easy when resources allow. The cranes are scheduled to be delivered in June 2022.

In November 2021, Turkish terminal operator Celebi Bandirma Uluslararasi Limani Isletmeciligi AS (Celebi Port of Bandırma) ordered two eco-efficient Generation 6 Konecranes Gottwald MHCs for their terminal on the coast of the Sea of Marmara, Turkey. The two new MHCs will serve the port’s upcoming expansion plans, helping the port to increase their bulk handling and improve their management of general cargo and containers.

They will have a working radius of up to 51m and a lifting capacity of 125 tonnes.They feature a high tower cab for an excellent view over the working environment and strong lifting capacity curves for high handling performance.

Both cranes are equipped with a fuel-optimised diesel engine and an external power supply.

The cranes will be handed over in July 2022.

In January 2022, the Port of San Diego ordered two eco-efficient Generation 6 Konecranes Gottwald MHCs for their Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal (TAMT) in Southern California, USA to help reach their ambitious clean air goals. These MHCs are equipped with an external power supply. Thanks to their electrical design concept, efficiency increases when they are connected to the harbour mains. Instead of onboard diesel engines, the cranes are equipped with battery packs. They allow extensive travelling time when unplugged from the harbour mains.

In April 2022, Konecranes delivered an eco-efficient Generation 6 Konecranes Gottwald MHC to Mexican terminal operator Grupo CICE (Corporación Integral de Comercio Exterior SA de CV). CICE provides port and logistics services since 1991 at several locations in Mexico from their head office in Veracruz.

The Port of Veracruz is the oldest and largest port in the country and includes CICE’s largest facility. With a continuing expansion of terminal capacity, CICE was looking to upgrade its equipment with a high-capacity crane that can handle both containers and general and project cargo.

The new MHC will have a working radius of up to 61m and a lifting capacity of 125 tonnes.

It features a tower extension for reaching higher container stacks on deck and a better view of the vessels and working environment.

It provides a strong lifting capacity curve for high handling performance and an A7 classification in container handling for a long service life.

It is obvious that the MHC market is undeterred by pandemic-related restrictions, steep price increases, shortages of certain raw materials and the lack of skilled workers, or even bottlenecks in different supply chains.

There might be one negative effect that could affect the market as a whole. As the war in Ukraine continues, and MHC manufacturers start pulling out of Russia and cancelling orders from Russian customers, their actions will affect their turnover for 2022.

In addition, short-term load handling is possible with the battery drive in case of an emergency, such as an unexpected power loss. The battery takes its charge from the mains but also collects energy from braking and lowering movements for later use.

The two new all-electric cranes will have a working radius of up to 59m each and a lifting capacity of 200 tonnes. The cranes can be used together, doubling capacity to 400 tonnes thanks to the innovative Tandem Lift Assistant, a Smart Feature which helps synchronise the cranes during dual lifting controlled by just one operator, making the most of the full capacity of both cranes.

The cranes are anticipated to be in operation in mid-2023.

Konecranes has been busy with their Mobile Harbour Crane offerings.

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lithium batteries

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Total loss - numerous luxury German cars including electric vehicles were on board MV Felicity Ace when a fire broke out.

The pitfalls of going electric...

Our article on electric reachstackers in our last issue generated some interesting feedback from our readers. In this article we look at recent developments in the use and possible pitfalls of lithium batteries.

Thomas Francis reports…

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he market for electric equipment is exponentially increasing through demand from terminal operators around the world, but whilst equipment manufacturers put such machinery in their offering, there are rumours of pitfalls ahead.

Elon Musk once made a prediction that every form of transport (with the exception of space-faring rockets) will become electric.

This prediction is starting to materialise as markets for electric cars, trucks, buses, boats, two-wheelers and air taxis reached new heights in 2021.

As we have seen in our previous issue, such a statement, undoubtly, is also applicable for electric container and bulk handling equipment.

Over the years, numerous manufacturers have taken the huge step of putting their R&D departments to some good use by developing electric machinery.

One of these companies is Big Truck container handling manufacturer Hyster, based in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Here, innovative applications of lithium-ion batteries and hydrogen fuel cells are enabling the company to develop zero emission container handlers

and reachstackers for the first time. Plus, Stage V engines that comply with EU emission regulations are introduced for Hyster Big Trucks, with capacities of 8 tonnes or more, helping businesses comply with emissions legislation, while also heightening productivity, and reducing the cost of ownership for the customer.

“As well as implementing sustainable manufacturing processes, we are also evolving the complete range of Hyster products towards low or zero emissions with key advances in technology and truck design,” explains Conal McNally, Environmental Engineer for Hyster Europe. “From Big Trucks used in ports and terminals, right down to low-capacity lift trucks in busy logistics operations.”

To further support the reduction in its carbon footprint, Hyster also employs low emission methods to deliver finished trucks to customers, wherever possible. Reachstackers, constructed in Nijmegen, can be transported by barge from their facility to the main port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, thus reducing the number of trucks on the road, and saving on fuel consumption.

“A big part of our green approach is supporting customers across multiple industry sectors in their own sustainability objectives with the right products, and the right aftermarket solutions, such as carbon-neutral lubricants,” said McNally. “Some Hyster Big Trucks for the European market are prefilled with Shell’s carbon neutral engine oil.”

At the beginning of May 2022, Hyster announced it had signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) for two electric container handling vehicles, including the first-ever empty container handler powered by fuel cell technology in a real-world application.

In addition, the company would also supply the first Hyster terminal tractor in Europe.

Both units will be powered by Nuvera fuel cells and run on hydrogen fuel produced locally at the HHLA Hamburg Green Hydrogen Hub. The hydrogen fuel cell-powered empty container handler will be powered by a single, 60-kilowatt Nuvera fuel cell, while the terminal tractor will be powered by a 45-kilowatt Nuvera fuel cell. Both trucks will share many of the same components such as drive motor, battery modules, converters, hydrogen tanks and controls.

The equipment will be deployed at the HHLA Container Terminal Tollerort (CTT) in Hamburg, Germany. It is planned to equip CTT with a refuelling infrastructure and connect the terminal to the future Hamburg hydrogen grid. The delivery of the terminal tractor is planned for late 2022, with the empty container handler to follow in early 2023.

There is no doubt that lift trucks are a vital part of cargo handling operations, and expectations are that the ports industry will

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lithium batteries provide a fantastic place for many to begin the transition to clean power, as there is a growing interest from ports and terminals alike to electrify operations and ‘go green’.

Pitfalls Despite record growth in the sector of alternative fuel including electric cargo handling equipment, the tragic war in Ukraine is creating new challenges for manufacturers on top of two highly challenging and unpredictable years caused by the global COVID pandemic.

As economies have opened up after the COVID-19 restrictions, and sanctions against Russia have constrained oil and gas supply, electricity prices and fuel prices have climbed.

This brings electric vehicle markets to the forefront, but at a time when equipment manufacturers grapple with a lingering chip shortage, new COVID lockdowns in China, increased raw material prices, and shortages of parts produced in Ukraine.

As a result, it is to be expected that many equipment manufacturers will be forced to react, increase prices or delay and limit production. Expect that these price increases will not be trivial. When comparing port equipment manufacturers with car manufacturers for example, and looking at the electric car - the Tesla’s base Model 3 - we can see a staggering 20% increase from around USD39,990 in 2020 to USD46,990 in 2022.

In addition, some car manufacturers have limited their production with the latest news coming from automotive giant Volkswagen (VW) announcing earlier this year that it has effectively sold out of electric vehicles in the US and Europe for 2022.

When we turn to electric container handling equipment there is just one main component of concern - the battery. The battery remains the largest cost component of the equipment, and climbing costs of battery raw materials, particularly lithium and nickel, are a factor behind the huge increases.

This is driven by shortages and new lockdowns in China as well as the Russia-Ukraine war with China processing most of the world’s lithium, whilst Russia accounts for around a fifth of global class 1 nickel supplies. As shortages continue, this will have a huge impact on non-automotive sectors including cargo handling equipment which use similar technologies.

With more and more terminal operators opting for ‘greener’ cargo handling machinery the use of lithium-ion batteries, used to power the equipment, has seen a sharp rise.

These lithium batteries are required to be certified to an international standard involving a rigorous series of tests performed by an approved independent testing laboratory, to ensure they can both withstand everyday use through their expected lifetime and the rigours of transport.

Unfortunately, the huge demand has been accompanied by supply of cheaper, poorer quality and untested batteries, including refurbished and even homemade power banks.

“E-commerce platforms have facilitated a global trade in potentially lethal products, often circumventing global standards and regulations,” said Peregrine Storrs-Fox, Risk Management Director at TT Club - a market-leading independent provider of mutual insurance and related risk management services to the international transport and logistics industry.

Revised regulatory restrictions regarding the carriage by air of lithium batteries, may result in greater volumes being transported by surface modes. Recently recorded incidents of container fires caused by, or suspected to involve lithium batteries, as well as conflagrations of significant proportions on car carriers and ro-pax ships mean that safety concerns rightly continue to grow amongst the maritime community.

Fires caused by lithium-ion batteries are ferocious and extremely difficult to control.

Terminal personnel and ships’ crew can face serious injury or worse when these batteries overheat (thermal runway) and ignite.

Another problem is that often people don’t know how to quell the flames.

In the shipping sector we have seen quite a few blazes on ships in recent years caused by vehicle batteries. And with more and more electric driven equipment on container yards, fire caused by electric vehicle batteries will become commonplace.

“Make sure the fire never reaches the lithium-ion batteries and in case it does make sure the deployment time of your fire suppression system gives you enough time to evacuate,” warns Fredrik Rönnqvist, Key Account Manager at Sweden-based Fogmaker.

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Fogmaker focuses on fire initiators, which are external to the battery, to prevent a fire from spreading to a battery, as well as delaying the spread of fire from a battery to adjacent materials. “There are several fire initiators in an electric vehicle such as heaters, A/C-compressors, hydraulic fluids, 12/24 volt systems, flammable materials and interior textiles etc.,” explains Rönnqvist.

By installing Fogmaker’s high performance water mist system it will protect these common fire initiators, for example by thermal shielding and cooling the exterior of a battery in an (electric) vehicle.

Although some terminal operators might be reluctant to use water on ’electric’ fires, reports and research have shown water mist as the premier choice of fire suppression and cooling for vehicles, Lithium-ion batteries and hot surfaces. The reason for this is that water mist cannot conduct electricity in the range of voltage found in automotive applications. This is assured by the micro-sized water mist droplets - water and insulating air in between those droplets. “Fogmaker’s water mist will not penetrate IP classification IP66 or higher either,” says Rönnqvist.

“Understanding the risks is crucial,” comments Storrs-Fox. “The majority of shippers will take all practicable steps to ensure that their lithium batteries achieve certification and are classified, packaged, packed, labelled and also declared correctly.

A small - frankly criminal - minority are motivated to avoid compliance, entering cargo into the supply chain that presents great risk to all,” said Storrs-Fox. “Once lithium batteries are placed into the intermodal supply chain, there is little opportunity for the cargo to be checked, visually or otherwise to verify compliance.

For all who are contracted to transport, handle or store lithium batteries therefore, developing a thorough understanding of this particular cargo is a prudent step. Moreover, due diligence into the origin of manufacture and integrity of the shipper instigating the move of these potentially lethal power sources is critical.”

It is clear that with these last remarks from Storrs-Fox the shipping industry needs to look much closer at how to procure lithium batterires and consider safety before price.

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OCR latest and a first….

In the quest to increase efficiency, productivity and safety, terminal operators are opting for the use of artificial intelligence technologies and modern automated control systems for their OCR Systems.

Thomas Francis reports…

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he capturing and processing of key data detected by Optical Character Recognition (OCR) systems has been in place now for many years. The data of containers and vehicles enhance the container handling process through shorter lead-time and higher data quality. It enables the automatic release and confirmation of work order from the terminal operating system to the container handling truck in real-time.

Those operators who have deployed OCR systems in their terminals have quickly realised the savings and benefits of such a system, including reduced data entry errors, reduced operating costs and increased crane productivity. Over the last couple of years, we have also seen the introduction of artificial intelligence technology for OCR systems.

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As containers are being handled, at speed, across multiple layers of container handling equipment, key data is being captured. This innovative method of acquiring OCR data in motion allows users to automate container identification both on the landside and quayside.

Spain-based Orbita Ingenieria SL, Ports and Terminals Division, has been delivering solutions for many years by providing automation services and engineering aimed to enhance the processes of its ports and terminals customers, including through its gate, crane, and rail suite offerings as well as expertise in the ocular character recognition space (OCR).

For example, one of their innovative solutions is the CraneCCR system which consists of a vision hardware controlled by an embedded software application. The CraneCCR controls the crane, ensuring a continuous monitoring of the spreader, as well as the identification of different type of movements (loading, unloading, removals, lane changes, gantry movements, etc.).

In addition, the CraneCCR hardware has been adapted to optimise image capture conditions. The cameras provide PTZ technology, combining the latest pan, tilt and zoom camera technology with state-of-the-art control algorithms. The system captures container ID numbers, container ISO code, container IMO placards presence, images of all visible container sides, internal terminal truck number (ITTI) and seal presence.

It was no secret that the services offered by Orbita Ingeniera drew the attention of US-based TMEIC Corporation Americas, a subsidiary of Toshiba Mitsubishi-Electric Industrial Systems Corporation (TMEIC), and specialising in crane controls and automation including their MaxView range of advanced crane systems.At the beginning of April, TMEIC announced it completed the acquisition of the Ports and Terminals Division of Orbita Ingenieria SL (Orbita) through its wholly owned subsidiary, TMEIC Port Technologies SL. “Orbita’s expertise and experience enhances our Port Automation offering,” said Declan Daly, Vice President of Industrial Systems at TMEIC Corp Americas.

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Adding QuayPro to ABB’s Crane Optical Character Recognition increases productivity by streamlining the cargo-handling process, with stowage confirmation of containers loaded onto and discharged from a vessel, and the delivery of visual and audio work instructions to the crane operator. By reducing the risk of human error, stow plans are tracked and checked in real time and can be adjusted on the fly.

“Whereas in a traditional set-up, dock clerks move around the terminal and ship to record information manually and prepare a list of instructions for the crane operator, ABB automates the entire process for efficiency, flexibility and reduced risk,” said Micheli.

“QuayPro also provides instructions for the crane operator on where to place the containers, using business logic to adapt to changing conditions, and record the container’s location to facilitate tracking, allowing key tasks to be executed remotely minimises the risk of accidents at the terminal.”

This certainly would be the case, as the acquisition of Orbita’s Ports and Terminals Division will allow TMEIC to expand its offerings to new and existing ports and terminals customers in the form of both automated gate and yard systems as well as enhanced automated crane solutions, bringing TMEIC even closer to providing an integrated solution of IT and OT systems for container terminal automation.

Another company that provides OCR Systems is Sweden-based ABB. Deployed globally since 2002, their Crane OCR system provides near 100% accuracy and unequalled reliability. It automates the process of recording container information of containers loaded and discharged from ship-to-shore (STS) gantry cranes.

More recently, ABB completed a project at the Exolgan container terminal in Argentina and introduced a new module - the QuayPro. ABB installed their Crane OCR with the QuayPro module on all seven Ship-to-Shore (STS) container cranes at the Exolgan

Container Terminal, which handles over 40 percent of the total container volume at the Port of Buenos Aires. The new module automatically tracks the location of containers discharged from and loaded to a vessel, significantly increasing the accuracy of BAPLIE (bayplan/stowage plan occupied and empty locations message) files.

According to Richard Micheli, Product Line Manager, OCR, ABB Marine & Ports, this is the first solution of its kind to go live in the industry and the QuayPro application has already improved the container terminal’s cargo-handling processes since its implementation.

“As we look to respond to increasing container volumes and minimise physical risks to our personnel, we are enhancing our processes to boost productivity and improve safety. ABB’s OCR technology with QuayPro on our ship-to-shore cranes has proven pivotal in this regard and represents a major milestone on our roadmap to the future,” said Duncan Glass, Terminal Manager, Exolgan Container Terminal.

ABB’s full scope of supply for the seven ship-to-shore cranes comprises Optical Character Recognition hardware and software enabling complete traceability of damaged containers and seal presence images of the load/discharge of containers; the QuayPro module including the ‘CabView’ features for accurate, real-time overviews of the bay as well as queued work instructions; and an Exception Management software application, which notifies the exception handler of any critical variations from the stowage plan.

“The solution is completing the process of automated container handling meeting the demands to manage bigger vessels and container volumes more efficiently. It will be a vital component in our objective to help make global container terminals become safer, greener and more productive,” Micheli added.

With computer technology evolving rapidly, and the implementation of artificial intelligence, the latest generation of Optical Character Recognition systems and the implementation of such a system will bring a significant impact on efficiency, productivity and safety for terminal operators and ports around the globe.

(Photo credit: ABB - OCR at Exolgan).

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Digital Twins to boost efficiency in container terminals Holger Schuett, MD at akquinet port consulting GmbH, Germany reports...

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ontainer terminals are under pressure, forced to serve bigger and bigger vessels with more cargo per arrival in shorter times. Digitisation is key in any industry and is also taking place in the port and terminal industry. But what do buzz words like visualisation, data mining or cloud application really mean when it comes to harsh day-to-day business, and how can this information be used to support the day-to-day operation at the terminal?

This digital information may be used as a base for optimisation algorithms and for forecasting the up-coming operation. This second step, using the digitised information is called digitalisation. Furthermore, by using AI (artificial intelligence) topics like predictive maintenance may be set into place.

Global Terminal Operator groups (GTOs) can offer a support service to each particular terminal manager by using a well-organised data warehouse combined with a state-of-the-art simulation system. This is exceeding the ordinary dashboard-technology whilst reaching far more towards depicting future opportunities in gaining better utilisation of machinery or inventory, which will lead to higher efficiency of the processes. Once evaluated by a simulation or even an emulation system, and based on

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continuous data pooling and mining, the results and solutions can be used to improve the inventory-setting, general layout and even strategies in operation.

The Digital Twin Digitalisation has taken big steps in the industry in previous years. More and more sensors are plugged into machines to provide data of the current state of each single component of the system. Collecting all this data leads to big amounts of information, which has to be handled with special data storage systems.

But collecting information should not be the end of the story. New technologies have been developed to analyse this big amount of data to provide algorithms to optimise the operation. One such technology is called the Digital Twin, which has become a buzz-word within the ports and terminal industry.

In 2003 Michael Grieves and John Vickers developed this definition: “The Digital Twin concept model …contains three main parts: a) physical products in Real Space, b) virtual products in Virtual Space, and c) the connections of data and information that ties the virtual and real products together” Source: A Whitepaper by Dr. Michael Grieves, “Digital Twin: Manufacturing Excellence through Virtual Factory Replication.” Available from: https://www.researchgate.net [accessed Apr 06 2022].

Besides the real world and the virtual model there has to be a connection, which secures that the model at each moment has the same state as the real object. Based on this interpretation the digital twin supports various functionalities to different user groups of the Twin.

Container terminals are quite complex systems, which have to be controlled by IT systems. To secure the required productivity of the whole process, all sub-processes have to be synchronised in the best way.

The logistic flow of goods in a terminal is most typically controlled by the Terminal Operating System (TOS) and the planning staff in the control room.

With upcoming (process as well as equipment) automation, the algorithms in these systems have to be improved. The base for this improvement is digitalisation, which provides more and more detailed information about the state of the terminal (i.e. PDSystems providing the current position of each object in short periods to name just one example of many).

Enhancing existing simulation and emulation models to be connected to the real terminal states provides a digital twin of the whole terminal. This will allow the planner, as well as the algorithms, to find the best decision at any point of time.

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tos Functionality within the Digital Twin To provide the adequate view on the data collected, the digital twin will use various functionalities. For example: Visualisation Most people think in pictures instead of bits and bytes or tables. Thus, for humans, providing a view based on pictures will be the perfect view of the current operation at the terminal. 3D-Animations - known from the gaming industry - have made enormous developments in recent years, which allows the use of this technology for real-time visualisation of all processes at the terminal as a “Live-View”.

The point of view as well as the angle may be varied by the single user. Thus, in the first idea the visualisation shows the same view as looking out of the window from the control room.

But, the use of Augmented Reality (AR) functions will allow the highlighting of specific activities and states additional to the real world view, for example: - colour all equipment working for a specific work area (e.g. one vessel, gate traffic, etc.) with the same colour - colour the equipment according to the current productivity (green if best, yellow if medium, red if too low) - show only boxes planned for the next vessel departure - show IMDG cargo coloured by IMDG codes - colour code equipment by the fuel or battery state

Other Views for terminal staff may be dashboards, showing on one view the current state of all machines of a specific equipment type (again coloured by the state). Selecting a specific piece of equipment in the 3D or in the dashboard is showing its attributes, which may be different for e.g. yard-planners or maintenance staff.

Furthermore, the 3D-visualisation may not only be provided at the terminal site but may also be shown at the headquarters. * By providing these views of the current operation all decisions may be supported for the whole terminal staff in real time.

Thus, they are able to make the best decisions at any time, especially increasing efficiency at the terminal based on the information.

Monitoring Whilst in the Visualisation mainly the current state of the terminal with all its objects is shown, the Monitoring is analysing the recent past and shows the results in a dashboard with pre-defined KPIs. In this case the Digital Twin is representing the information as numbers and timelines (instead of 3D).

The results support the planner again in taking the right decisions at any time based on the recent past. Furthermore, the monitoring acts as a base for more sophisticated algorithms in the TOS. For example, selecting the right transport equipment for the next job depends not only on the current position, but also on the lowest utilisation to provide a more balanced usage of the whole fleet.

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* In this way the decision support of human planners or of algorithms out of the TOS will be optimised, as they are based on current states and time lines instead of fixed rules defined in advance only.

Simulation Simulation technology has successfully taken its place in the port and terminal industry mainly for planning, testing and training tasks.

Based on a digital twin it currently supports day-to-day operations at the terminal.

There are mainly two fields of applications: • Based on the whole information saved in the recent past, “re-plays” of historical scenarios are possible. The control staff may rerun the scenario from a recent shift and replay the operation to analyse occurred bottle-necks or in-efficiencies. Furthermore, the planners may run exactly the same scenario with another set of planning parameters to understand and learn how to act better next time.

• Terminal operators may also use simulation technology to forecast the upcoming operation.

Based on the current state of the terminal and all its components, the scenario for a simulation run is more or less fully defined.

Additional to the states of the yard and all pieces of equipment, the current state of the planning parameters out of the TOS has to be provided to the simulation. Planning parameters include the berth plan, crane split, work queues as well as allocation information of the yard (decking strategies) and the equipment (e.g. pooling).

3D-Animations have made enormous developments in recent years.

Use of this technology for real-time visualisation of all processes at the terminal as a “Live-View”.

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tos

Based on all this information out of the (enhanced) digital twin, the simulation may start a “preview” of the future operation.

This preview functionality can be be started by the terminal staff, but it may also run in a scheduled way. In this case warnings will automatically be generated, if pre-defined milestones (e.g. vessel service finished) will not be achieved. Thus, either the control staff or - in a more automated way - the TOS may rethink the current planning and adapt it to the results of the preview. * Both applications of the simulation technology, the “re-play” of historic scenarios as well as the “preview” of the upcoming operation, support the terminal operator and the algorithms in the TOS to find the best decisions and improve the planning of the operation, which will lead to more productive and more efficient processes.

Predictive analysis based on AI Another upcoming technology in the port and terminal industry is the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Again, the data collected within the digital twin are used as a base for AI methods. These methods analyse the big amount of data available and detect correlations between various parameters as well as patterns of data, which will lead to specific situations.

In current projects these results are often used to predict parameters, e.g. eta/etd of vessel arrivals, as well as planning decisions, e.g. number of cranes allocated to the vessels regarding the owner and route.

Another field is predictive maintenance.

In this case patterns of sensor data are detected which lets terminal staff know to expect a break down of the device within the next hours/days. * AI methods based on the current state of the terminal support the predictive maintenance, which allows the terminal to maintain the equipment on a case base instead of fixed time intervals only.

Standardisation Currently, various standardisation initiatives have been founded to guarantee the interoperability and compatibility of systems in the port and terminal industry.

Two of them have a big impact to digital twin development:

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PortML stands for Port Markup Language.

It is a descriptive language or document which describes container port assets, such as yard sets, quay cranes, wharves, and AGVs, as a markup code for modelling and simulation.

The Centre of Excellence in Modelling and Simulation for Next Generation Ports (C4NGP, Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore) is initiating the creation of PortML for the building of future smart ports digital twins.

A universal PortML enables collaboration, interoperation, communication and formalisation of port designs, configurations and information into structured formats that are compatible with all stakeholders, within the global maritime and port industries.

PortML also supports the fast building of reconfigurable digital twins, information sharing and coordination between international ports and port operators, thus bringing about improved labour efficiencies and cost savings for competitive business environments of the future.

TIC4.0 is an initiative which plans to standardise the communication between equipment, systems and subsystems at a container terminal.

The main objectives are: - Define and agree on a common language and definitions among the companies involved in the cargo handling industry.

- Develop communication protocols and frameworks that will be adopted by industry players for seamless data communication.

- Facilitate the inter-operability of different information sub-systems of a cargo handling facility.

- Promote the deployment and adoption of selected existing standards and those developed by TIC 4.0 by the sector.

Based on these initiatives the digital twin should be built in a semi-automated manner (see picture above).

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tos

Currently, various standardisation initiatives have been founded to guarantee the interoperability and compatibility of systems in the port and terminal industry. Two of them have a big impact to digital twin development PortML and TIC4.0

TwinSim At the end of 2021 Germany-based Eurogate Group initiated the ‘TwinSim’ project and invited University Hamburg and akquinet port consulting to join with the aim of developing a digital twin of virtual models of processes and equipment on container terminals. This will result in analysis and situation-based optimisations, improving the processes with regard to efficiency, productivity, resilience, and minimisation of the environmental impact of container terminals.

container About the author Holger Schuett combines academics, research and professional services in the field of port and terminal processes and IT. He grew up in Germany and received his Diploma in Applied Mathematics at the University of Hamburg. After he obtained his PhD in Automations Technology in the Technical University in Hamburg-Harburg he joined HHLA, the biggest terminal operator in Germany. In HHLA’s IT department he was responsible for the field of simulation and emulation for container terminal’s processes. The major project was the simulation based support for the fully automated terminal in HamburgAltenwerder (CTA). The emulation systems developed in 1999-2002 are still used for software releases as well as optimising terminal’s strategies. After CTA’s going live he joined 2003 the worldwide recognised Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (ISL).

In 2010 he founded the commercial subsidiary ISL Applications GmbH, today known as akquinet port consulting GmbH. Also in 2010 he joined the University of Applied Science Bremerhaven as a professor for the mastercourse “Integrated Safety and Security Management”. In this position his main areas are the maritime logistics including port and terminal operation- and mathematical methods. In 2022 he retired from the university and the institute but is still working for akquinet port consulting. * The TwinSim project is funded by the BMDV (Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport) in Germany within the IHATEC programme.

Eurogate will implement the required technology to some equipment at the Container Terminal Hamburg and will build a data-lake to collect all information. Based on this data-lake the functionalities discussed in this article will be implemented. University Hamburg will analyse the data with the means of AI to optimise the planning and processes.

As well as the operational handling processes, the maintenance of the equipment will be a main focus of this analysis. Breakdowns of equipment will be reduced by forecasting them and providing maintenance before it occurs.

Visualisation and Monitoring will be based on AKQUINET’s 3D-Visualisation “Live-View”, which is part of the CHESSON family. Within a 4-level architecture a 3D Live Visualisation will be provided, showing the whole terminal with all its objects and processes. In parallel, dashboards for all types of objects will be provided, showing an overview of all devices of this type. By either clicking on the object in the 3D or selecting a special device in the dashboard, detailed information of the piece of equipment will be shown. Beyond this overview, monitoring data and time-lines may be selected and shown. Based on the CHESSCON Sim- and Emulation family, simulation applications - as described above will be implemented.

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tos

RBS outline top trends to hit the headlines in 2022 World Port Development presents...

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ew arising challenges are advancing the frontiers of technology capacity.

Transforming current infrastructures to accommodate mass data has forced a significant push for innovation. Over the past year, we have seen real-life applications of machine learning in terminal planning and decision-making, as well as automation operating on a cloud TOS. This year, the port industry can expect to see changes in existing IT infrastructures to sustain this technology.

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Optimisation It’s quite difficult to top technology with an endless scope of limitless capabilities.

Although we are still in the early stages of true AI / Optimisation, its intelligence of forecasting potential bottlenecks, determining optimal resource allocation, and calculating the most efficient berthing times unbound from inefficiencies, have emerged as a top function within any state-of-the-art TOS. In 2021, the port and terminal sector will strive to scale AI to boost performance while also differentiating their business value.

Augmenting container information complicating both internal and external communication, along with economic pressures to optimise resources, will gauge AI popularity amongst terminals. Recent global events have also driven a downturn in the economy, reinforcing AI as a viable solution to remedy their slump in operations and terminal activity. As AI arrives at its next stage of a broader integration in the industry, we will witness a shift from input to outcome and quality focus. The sector can also expect to see new legislative reforms regarding the framework for the ethical use of AI.

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2. 5G Data facilities are expanding to house the massive data growth while current network capabilities are striving to omit latency in transferring information. Subsequently, network providers have instituted plans of reconstructing network infrastructures to support this enormous demand. Another current practice of 5G in terminals involve regulating traffic light signals to facilitate consistent and safe transport flow. 5G is likely to be a strategy strengthening communication between terminal equipment and devices, TOS, and external staff such as customs and port authorities.

With the pool of network providers deploying 5G network becoming more widespread in 2021, the industry can expect an inter-relationship between 5G and IoT devices. Faster network speeds and enabling more concurrent connections will exercise the full potential of IoT in a terminal.

Collecting and consolidating data will depict precision, inherently driving better decisionmaking from planning to forecasting.Therefore, terminals turning to 5G will transpire if their main goal is to improve on data transparency and becoming a smart port where every service is delivered on-time.

3. Cloud and Edge Computing Cloud computing has gained traction in the industry over the years for its power to run a full TOS entirely on the web at lower costs.

However, due to the large magnitude of change required switching from an on-premise solution to a true cloud TOS, terminal operators veer from commitment. This year, it is about to change, as cloud server facilities are in the process of being built in the ASEAN region.

Cloud TOS accessibility heightens with localised server centres creating the opportunity for ports and terminals of any size to leverage autonomy in planning and processes. Therefore, cloud TOS will likely make a breakthrough in the Asian market in 2022.

Recent worldwide events have injected financial stress on the supply chain, straining the entire logistics chain and global economy.

Consequently, the deficit in consumer demand has driven the port sector into a state of idleness. Now, there is a significant emphasis on cost savings which will conclude cloud TOS as the most reliable solution. Edge computing, in conjunction with automation on the cloud, is projected to make a breakthrough for increasing computing power.

Acting as a node with its computing, storage, and networking system enables immediate information access for accurate gathering and cleansing of data. Positive sentiments of the cloud are estimated to rise in the industry from IT managers devising a feasible strategy in response to the downturn in the economy.

4. Greener Technologies Duties associated with exercising corporate social responsibility will no longer be optional.

The case is especially true, with many individuals finding it difficult to escape the wrath of climate change. As a result, terminals are transitioning towards carbon neutrality and renewable energy sources, while equipment providers are launching electric-powered container handling equipment. Environmental sustainability will take priority and be one of the key factors influencing decision-making within the port sector.

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tos emissions and wastage. Establishing environmental responsibility will, therefore, highlight resource optimisation as a critical module within a TOS, attributing to a decrease in carbon emissions as well as cutting costs.

New greener equipment product release will expect to hit the market this year, as the entire industry is taking conscious steps towards reducing their carbon footprint.

Numerous countries have entered the Paris Agreement, advocating positive change to avert stark temperature rises or have the economy implode into chaos. The industry can anticipate new government regulations enforcing strict protocol and guidelines which outline the threshold for carbon

“Over the past year, we have seen real-life applications of machine learning in terminal planning and decision-making, as well as automation operating on a cloud TOS. It’s quite difficult to top technology with an endless scope of limitless capabilities.”

5. Automation This trend has been around in the industry for a while now and is not a new concept, but still is a very popular topic of discussion.

A continuous increase in vessel sizes has engendered the realisation that operations can no longer be handled effectively and economically without incorporating any

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automation. This revolutionising technology has transformed conventional terminal operations and developed a large reception due to its ability to induce greater efficiencies in operations as a result of minimal to none human intervention.

Automation comes with many benefits for terminals, including – increases operation efficiency especially when paired with AI planning; reduces costs of planning and labour; increases environmental sustainability especially fuel consumption of CHEs; and enhances ROI with faster turnover rates.

Automation can provide all these added benefits especially with a real-time TOS that can optimise decisions and moves within a terminal.

Technological advancements are fuelled by initiatives to develop better and more efficient strategies which accommodate the entire spectrum from the most mundane to the most complex tasks. This year we can expect to see advancements in AI capabilities, Blockchain, 5G applications, cloud operating with the edge, and individuals becoming more actionable on mitigating their carbon footprint.

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bulk

stacker/reclaimer

Diversification + innovation:

winning combo for bulk solutions provider Bedeschi shares its view on the current stacker/reclaimer market, highlighting its achievements in the bulk sector with case studies of two recent bucket wheel projects. World Port Development reports...

The supply at Taman Coal Terminal includes four combined bucket wheel stacker-reclaimers, some 16 kilometers of belt conveyors with relevant ancillaries equipment, and four shiploaders.

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stacker/reclaimer

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ver the years, Bedeschi has been hard at work reinforcing its position across the globe in the bulk handling industry, offering a wide variety of tailor made solutions to transport and store any type of bulk material including coal, iron ore, limestone, fertiliser, clinker and many others, covering any capacity from 100 to 10.000 tph.

Besides delivering traditional stackers and reclaimers designed for sticky and difficult materials as well as the most complete range of equipment for power, cement chemical and mining plants, Bedeschi has also recently supplied over ten new bucket wheel stacker/ reclaimers, operating on coal and iron ore in Europe, Asia and South East Asia.

When asked for an example of their innovation, the Italian-headquartered firm explained: “We are using the most classic machine for cement factories (the belc system) to create a self-unloading vessel totally different from any other conventional self-unloading vessel presently on the market. We are also working to integrate data acquisition systems for remote monitoring and control and preventive/predictive maintenance into all our machines - in particular on stackers and reclaimers. Of course, in the R&D Department we are also focusing on environmental protection, energy efficiency and pollution prevention - issues that will become even more important in these industries. This is where Bedeschi is pushing the upcoming technology development efforts.”

“Diversification is our major asset which we nourish with a continuous innovative attitude in products and service to tailor fit customer needs.

Operating in different industries and with different materials we are able to think ‘out of the box’, using technically consolidated concepts, but in different contexts, for a totally customised solution capitalising on synergies and cross competence,” states a representative for the manufacturer which was established in 1908 and is one of the oldest European companies specialising in turn-key solutions for bulk handling, container logistics and bricks.

Commenting on the company’s outlook for the stacker/reclaimer market across 2022 the solutions provider highlighted trends in the cement, coal and food industries stating: “Following the trends of 2021, the cement industry is showing promising improvements worldwide for the coming year. Moreover, the aftermath of the situation in Ukraine will probably change the declining forecasts for coal power plants, at least in the short term, to cope with the exceptional price fluctuation relevant to energy production. In addition, the food handling business will also be influenced by the war: the forced change of cereals and oilseed supply routes will favour the refurbishment and construction of new terminals in alternative areas.”

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For more than a century Bedeschi has been providing effective and reliable solutions, taking care of each step of the project - from execution and engineering to assembly, installation and start up. Herein, the company presents two case studies from recent projects.

Taman Coal Terminal, Taman, Russia The first project highlighted is the supply of a fully automated coal export terminal at Taman with a total aggregated capacity of more than 48.000 tph on 6 loading lines. The facility will reduce handling time of Capesize ships at the port by half, from 48 to 24 hours.

The terminal in Taman in Russia is the most efficient coal loading line in the country thanks to its ability to reduce ship handling times and ensure stable operations all year round.

For the customer, that means reduction of seaborne freight expenses. The peak export capacity of the terminal, when fully operational, will be 55000 tph (including existing machines).

Moreover, with the introduction of advanced and green technological solutions it will meet the highest environmental standards.

The supply at Taman Coal Terminal includes four combined bucket wheel stacker-reclaimers, some 16 kilometers of belt conveyors with relevant ancillaries equipment, and four shiploaders, delivered fully erected to the terminal jetty. Overall, four combined stacker + reclaimer machines have been supplied. Their rated capacity is 8000 tph, both in stacking and reclaiming mode. With a total installed power of 1500 kW, fed through a medium voltage cable reel, each machine has a service weight of about 1700 tonnes. The length of the stockpiles the machines can build is over 1100m with a pile base of 56m. With all the stacker-reclaimers operational, the potential storage capacity reaches up to 3.9 million tonnes.

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stacker/reclaimer

All the machines are equipped with a bypass system to direct the material to the export lines, if needed, without being stockpiled first.

The automatic reclaiming mode takes the machines to their best efficiency, thanks to the continuous control loop which involves the reading of speeds, power and instant flowrate on the boom conveyor. The target is to have the highest possible output rate, regardless of the conditions of the stockpile, without overloading the downstream conveyors.

The erection took place in the stockyard but, to minimise structural welds done on site, a partial assembly of the machines was performed at the manufacturing area. The pre-assembled sections were then shipped by sea directly to the service dock of the terminal.

ILVA Steel Plant, Taranto, Italy The ILVA Taranto steel plant, which is currently owned by the Italian government but leased

by ArcelorMittal, is aiming to be one of the most advanced and environmentally-friendly facilities in Europe. The steel plant is, according to the European Commission, the largest in Italy and the EU. It has a capacity to produce 10 million tonnes of steel annually, which corresponds to 40% of Italian steel production.

As part of the environmental renovation work to be carried out at the facility, Italian company Cimolai was awarded the design, manufacture and assembly of the Mineral and Fossil Parks Safe Confinement.This is a double steel structure, 80m high, 254m wide, and 476m long. As part of the project, Bedeschi was awarded the supply of the stacking and reclaiming system inside the primary park (fossil).

The terminal in Taman in Russia is the most efficient coal loading line in the country.

Bedeschi’s circular storage solution.

Bedeschi supplied three bucket wheel stacker/reclaimers, all of which were identical except for their tripper/trailer. Each have a stacking capacity of 6.500 t/h and a reclaiming capacity of 1.600 t/h. The erection was done at site outside of the dome, then each machine was put in its final work position without interrupting activities.

The supply of the new machines will have a key role in reducing dust spillage towards the city, plus enable energy savings and improved efficiency in both the production and reliability of the plant. Thanks to Bedeschi’s commitment to producing eco-friendly equipment, the machines were equipped with systems to limit dust production via controlled flow spouts, filters and dry fog that uses microdrops of nebulised water to keep the surrounding environment clean.

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Bedeschi supplied three bucket wheel stacker/reclaimers for the plant in Taranto.

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shore power

engineering

With PLUG, game changing cable management system, NG3 is making shore power even greener

By Damien Féger , CEO at NG3

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LUG, an acronym for Power Generation during Loading and Unloading, is an innovative shore power cable management system which was introduced to the market as early as 2011, to provide a 4.5 MVA 11 kVolt shore power connection

for the Color Magic ROPAX in Oslo, which was followed by the whole Color Line RoPax fleet, as well as the Hurtigruten and Havila RoPax vessels providing the Kysruten route service along the west coast of Norway. Its main design feature is that it was the world’s first fully “hands off” connection solution of this type of vessel, providing a safe, efficient alternative to solutions based on manual connectors.

As soon as the vessel is at berth, the crew has simply to slide a beam out (above the quay) to which is attached the ship side power socket, and then lower a chain toward the quay side connector.

The chain is equipped with an automated hook at its end, which as soon as it is inserted and locked into the quay side connector, can hoist it, and the power cables attached to it, up towards the ship side socket. When it gets into the ship side socket, simple mechanical effects align the power exchanges contacts, so that when the chain is further hoisted up, the connection is established. With this self-mating/de-mating patented connector technology, direct handling of connector and cables is avoided, and operations can be performed by a single crew, within a few minutes. Beyond this obvious benefit in terms of safety and operational cost, in this period of resources scarcity and pressure to reduce emissions, it is worth pointing out the massive environmental gains brought by this technology.

SS2 in operation at Larvik.

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engineering

shore power

One such benefit is the speed and ease of operations enabling a quick connection to shore power during shorts stops and to do so, basically, from the first to the last minute of the call. This maximises the overall environmental (and economical!) return on investment of the whole shore power infrastructure, increasing drastically its rate of use, compared to solutions based on manual connectors. As an example, for the Color Line Superspeed 1 and 2 RoPax vessels, shore power was, initially, considered only for the 7 hours long night stay, but it was found quickly that these vessels could be “PLUGGED”, as well, during the one-hour afternoon call, increasing the return on investment of the whole shore power infrastructure by 15%... while the crew were enjoying an extra hour of noise free engine room.

Secondly, compared to manual connector solutions, PLUG connector and cable weight is not a design constraint, so sizing of the power contacts and cables can be tailored to the need of the project (for example up to 2000 Ampère under 1000 Volt), within a single connector and set of cables, whereas manual connectors solutions would require several units in parallel, or to raise the power exchange up to 11,000 Volt to reduce the sizing of the cable and connector - generating the need for an on-board step down transformer - whose cost and implementation is a challenge for small vessels and, is anyway, an additional useless dead weight when the vessel is at sea.

Thirdly, compared to manual connector solutions, PLUG offers with a single connection, the power exchange capability required not only to cover hotel loads, but also, the massive one required to charge in a short time, the batteries of hybrid or full electric vessels.

As an example, on board Color Hybrid, beyond slow charging during the night stop, a single 6,5 Mega Watt PLUG allows to boost charge the vessel’s battery bank within half an hour, during its one hour afternoon stop, allowing this vessel to be the world’s first to offer zero emission call capability, all operations being on battery as soon as it gets into the Sandefjord fjord.

Fourth, compared to other solutions, PLUG is characterised by an optimised use of resources: * such as steel, as by using the hull structure of the vessel itself to support the weight of the connector and cables, suppressing the need of a quay side crane;

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Power cables linked to shore power grid.

* such as copper, by avoiding the use of on-board cable reels and step-down transformer; * such as concrete, as PLUG quay side interface is lightweight and can be simply anchored on the existing quay structure; * such as electrical components such as breakers, pilot lines relays, sockets - by replacing several connections by a single one.

Fifth, by reducing drastically on-board weight, PLUG allows to reduce the deadweight to be carried by the vessel when at sea, reducing the relevant power consumption.

Sixth, by reducing drastically on-board footprint, PLUG which can be implemented within a single frame space, compared to other solutions, reduces, or even avoids, any loss of payload space on-board (for example, on Havila Capella RoPax, it was possible to implement the ship side interface between two passenger cabins, without reducing their size!), maximising, within the same environmental footprint, the vessel service capability.

Seventh, PLUG solution compactness and low weight reduce its environmental impact of delivery and installation: a 13 Mega Volt Ampère ship and quay side set, enough to feed a large cruise vessel, can be delivered with just a family car and a two axles trailer, instead of a truck, and a mere forklift is needed to install the quay side interface instead of a crane.

As shore power is more and more considered as a way to reduce emissions, typically from 3% for a standard propulsion RoPax, up to 10% for a hybrid propulsion vessel and even 100% for a full electric one, it is becoming a more mature industry, which although being green by itself, cannot avoid to improve its own environmental (and economical, matching the green of emission reduction with the green of the dollars!) performance by optimising all its components.

That is what NG3 is offering, based on more than a decade of PLUG operations on board numerous RoPax vessels with its PLUG cable Management System, not only for RoPax, but as well, for other types of vessels, such as cruise ship, container carriers or tankers.

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piling

engineering

Greener steel solutions for port infrastructures

By François Fohl, Environmental Specialist, ArcelorMittal Sheet Piling

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orts have been faced with many challenges in recent years. On the one hand, maritime traffic has steadily increased, and modern vessels keep getting bigger; on the other, our planet is struggling with greenhouse gas emissions. Ports need to expand, to build new berths, to transition their facilities to cleaner fuels and adapt their infrastructures to operate the numerous offshore wind park projects. How can they achieve these goals whilst also reducing their emissions?

Sustainable leadership Decarbonisation is the most important aspect of ArcelorMittal’s long-term strategy.

Leading the transition of the steel industry, the group aligns with the Paris Agreement’s goals and the European Green Deal by committing to reduce its European CO2 emissions by 35% by 2030 and to reach global carbon neutrality by 2050.

For several years already, ArcelorMittal’s EcoSheetPile™ range of steel sheet piles have been manufactured through the Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) route from 100 % steel scrap.

They are entirely recyclable and reusable up to ten times. It is a major contributor to the circular economy. Its production emits only 520 kg CO2-eq. per tonne of finished product,

Port of Egersund, Norway © Vestbetong AS

as certified by a specific Environmental Product declaration (EPD). For reference, the average value of the CO2 emissions for the global steel industry was around 1.85 tonnes of CO2-eq. per tonne of steel products in 2020.

the burdens or benefits of the end-of-life phase, which are dismantling and recycling of the building materials. Reuse of the materials at the end-of-life was not considered in the present scenario.

To demonstrate the environmental advantages of the EcoSheetPile™ products, ArcelorMittal appointed Tractebel, an independent Belgian consulting engineering firm, to analyse this quite multifaceted topic. The engineers proposed to focus on three key indicators: technical, financial and environmental criteria.

They compared three different technical solutions for the construction of a quay wall: a steel sheet pile wall, a diaphragm wall and a deck-on-piles. A realistic case study was carried out to provide a sound comparison between the three alternatives. The selected structure is a 200m long cruise ship terminal capable of accommodating the largest cruise ships. It would be built in a Belgian port, with a draught of 13m in typical soil and load conditions for a Belgian port.

The conclusion is that the EcoSheetPile™ steel sheet pile wall has the lowest carbon footprint, with a difference of 44 % compared to the diaphragm wall (see Figure 1). A sensitivity analysis showed that modifying some of the parameters did not significantly impact the above-mentioned difference, and in no case reversed the result. This study is described in detail in the “Sustainable ports” brochure available on https://sheetpiling.arcelormittal.com

Let’s focus here on the environmental impact of the two most cost-effective solutions, and mainly on the Global Warming Potential (GWP), using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).The LCA is based on the bill of quantities prepared by Tractebel and was performed by ArcelorMittal’s R&D department. It has been peer-reviewed by a panel of experts. The objective was to compare the Total Life Cycle Cost, including

Figure 1

Global Warming Potential - total impact for the quay wall

Steel sheet piles can now be produced with even less environmental impact. ArcelorMittal’s new brand, XCarb™ is designed to bring together all of ArcelorMittal’s reduced, low and zerocarbon products and steelmaking activities.

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engineering The EcoSheetPile™ Plus range, launched in 2021, is an essential part of the XCarb® recycled and renewably produced initiative. It is based on the EAF route (electric arc furnace) using 100% scrap as a raw material, and is additionally using 100% renewable electricity, from solar and wind sources connected to the same power grid as the steel mills.

This allows the production of the new range with 30% lower emissions than with the usual energy mix. The gap is even higher when compared with the predominant conventional steelmaking.

Certified by a specific Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), the production of the EcoSheetPile™ Plus range emits as low as 370kg CO2-eq./t of steel produced. It comes also with a ‘Guarantee of Origin’ certifying the renewable sources for the electricity, audited by an external third party. The lowemissions EcoSheetPile™ Plus range has already been selected for tens of projects in Europe.

Three prime examples are the works on quay walls in the port of Egersund in Norway, the port of Aalborg in Denmark, and the new Canal Seine-Nord Europe in France.

A new fishing terminal in Egersund, Norway A major fishing port expansion programme in Egersund, Norway will be built using 2,200 tonnes of ArcelorMittal’s unique straight web steel sheet piles, in a circular cell structure.

Pelagia AS is a leading producer of pelagic fish products for human consumption, and an important supplier of essential ingredients in all kinds of fish and animal feed. Located in one of Norway’s largest and most important fishing harbours, Pelagia Egersund Seafood has been a pioneer fish processing factory since 1993.

piling A key differentiator that convinced the client to choose an ArcelorMittal steel solution for this expansion project is the availability of the low carbon footprint EcoSheetPile™ Plus range, made from 100% scrap and with 100% renewable electricity from wind and solar sources. The new range will reduce the total carbon footprint of the project.

Quay wall extension at the port of Aalborg, Denmark Located in the North of Denmark, the port of Aalborg is a vital multimodal logistics hub, offering transport via sea, road and rail.The inland port is Denmark’s fifth largest port in terms of total volume of cargo and is fully owned by the Municipality of Aalborg. The rapidly increasing demand for storage capacity near the quay and the prospective growth in cargo compel the port authority to expand its quay capacity for the first time in more than 30 years.

The 100m quay extension will be built using 303t of ArcelorMittal’s AZ 28-700 sheet piles, establishing an additional terminal area of 27,800 sqm.

As sustainability is one of the most important pillars of the Port of Aalborg, efforts have been made to reduce, as much as possible, the carbon footprint of the project with existing technologies. Therefore, the choice of the right building material is crucial to reach the most environmentally-friendly solution for the quay extension. The port of Aalborg and their partners (Per Aarsleff and

A new fishing terminal is being built to expand their operation in Egersund, based on circular cell structure that will be filled up with sands dredged out from the seabed.

The main contractor for this project is Vestbetong AS, while Fundamentering AS is the sheet piles driving contractor.

The circular cell structure made from ArcelorMittal AS 500® straight web steel sheet piles was considered the most appropriate in this case, as it will collect the sand dredged from the seabed to cope with the increased traffic and larger vessels. It will store the dredged materials safely and prevent any pollution of the sea water.

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Quay wall in Ribécourt, France © NGE Fondations

COWI) chose a steel sheet piling solution using the new EcoSheetPile™ Plus range from ArcelorMittal, manufactured from 100% recycled steel and with 100% renewable electricity from solar and wind sources.

Together with additional measures to reduce the carbon footprint, it is possible to reduce the CO2 emissions of the project by approximately 30%, while increasing the carrying capacity of the port by over 50%.

A new 200m quay wall on the “Seine-Nord Europe” canal in France Located in the north of France, the “Seine-Nord Europe” canal will link the French waterways with the Northern Europe network. It will allow the development of water transport in France as an ecological alternative to road transport. Some barges can carry as much cargo as 220 trucks!

The new 200m quay at Ribécourt is one of the first essential stages in the whole project.

Once completed, it will allow the supply of the building materials for the construction of the canal by barge. Works on the new quay wall have already started, using ArcelorMittal’s unique HZ®-M/AZ® combined wall system.

All together 910t of HZ 880M A-12 king piles and AZ 13-770 intermediary sheet piles are used.

To reduce the total carbon footprint of the project, the structure is being assembled using ArcelorMittal’s new EcoSheetPile™ Plus range, made from 100% recycled steel and with 100% renewable electricity.

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port construction

Bigger, better, faster...

The proposed system will promise to keep pace with commercial growth at the port while reducing emissions and reducing truck miles on roadways shared by passenger vehicles.”

Implementation of the System is one way that Port Houston is planning to stay in front of the shipping needs of the Houston region.

Celebrations at JAXPORT.

Claire Instone delivers WPD’s regular port construction round-up…

S

upply chain, logistics and shipping leaders are looking to expand their routing options in 2022 and beyond.

Herein, I take a look at how ports and terminals are working to offer more flexibility, capacity and speed in order to serve demand.

Numerous projects are being considered, assessed, or are already underway and hitting milestones - all of which promise to deliver higher productivity, more space and more inland connectivity.

Weighing up the options * South Carolina Ports in the US has commissioned Hamburg Port Consulting (HPC) to assess the capacity expansion of the Inland Port Greer, one of its intermodal rail terminals located in the Northern part of the state. The assessment was used to validate HPC’s original capacity and review options for expanding total capacity, ensuring the rail-served inland port can handle growing cargo volumes for customers. Extending the range of the seaport's economic influence has been a driving factor for the development and construction of SC Ports’ inland port in Greer.

In light of the growing container volumes handled at the facility, SC Ports commissioned HPC to develop a capacity improvement plan for the terminal with the aim of evaluating the potential for expansion as a timely response to future volume developments.

After providing a development plan for the facility a few years ago, HPC has now prepared an update, taking into consideration

engineering

the impacts of ongoing supply chain disruptions in North America and the need for more capacity to handle customers’ growing supply chain needs. Amongst others, the layout concept and equipment procurement plan for long-term expansion have been generally validated within the framework of a sensitivity analysis. HPC has analysed the influencing factors under different dwell time scenarios to map the supply chain resilience. As a result, some adjustment measures have been suggested, making the facility capable of handling up to 300,000 rail units. * FSX (developer of the Freight Shuttle System) and Port Houston in North America have entered into an agreement to explore the steps required for deployment of Freight Shuttle’s Seaport System at the port’s growing container facilities. The Freight Shuttle is an elevated, zero emission system for moving shipping containers to and from the port’s busy terminals, making best use of available space and addressing the need to improve air quality in the region. “Considering the tsunami of freight on the horizon, solutions like the Freight Shuttle are needed now more than ever,” says Steve Roop, Founder and CEO of FSX. With immense commercial growth at Port Houston, creative solutions are needed as demand for port services continues to grow.

Recent and ongoing global supply chain disfunction has highlighted this necessity.

The System is a force multiplier for cargo space by accelerating the rate at which containers are moved from the port, transporting them via autonomous vehicles safely and efficiently to a facility closer to customer hubs and away from critical high-traffic choke points.

Making headway * The Contrecœur land reserve was acquired over 30 years ago by Montreal Port Authority (MPA) and been the focus of careful collaborative planning to support the development of the supply chain in Quebec and Eastern Canada.

With the support of Canada Infrastructure Bank and the Government of Quebec, the Port of Montreal and its partners plan to develop a new state-of-the-art container terminal able to handle up to 1.15 million containers (TEUs).

The MPA recently announced that a new phase is underway to complete the major expansion project in Contrecœur, as three bid respondents qualified. The selected bid files were from Axium Infrastructure Canada and Pomerleau Capital, Ports America Holdings, and Terminal Investment Limited.The international Request for Qualifications (RFQ) was issued in November 2021, using the Design-BuildFinance-Operate-Maintain (DBFOM) model.

Five compliant bid packages were evaluated.

The three qualified finalists will be invited to submit bids in the Request for Proposals (RFP) phase, which is underway and will last around 12 months. Announcement of the private partner is slated for the second quarter of 2023, with financial and commercial closing in the third quarter of 2023, for a start of construction within the year. The terminal is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2026. At a time when Montreal's facilities will soon reach maximum capacity, this expansion will result in increased efficiency and competitiveness for the businesses served by Montreal's port facilities. The investment is estimated at between $750 and $950 million. * In the US, federal, state, and local leaders joined JAXPORT and the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Jacksonville District to celebrate completion of the Jacksonville Harbour Deepening Project through JAXPORT’s Blount Island Marine Terminal.

The project deepened 11 miles of the federal shipping channel - from the sea buoy to Blount Island - to a depth of 47 feet from its previous depth of 40 feet. The 47-foot harbour provides the channel depth needed for larger ships to call Blount Island to and from destinations worldwide and allows existing

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engineering ships calling Jacksonville to carry more cargo on board. In addition, the project includes a new turning basin allowing larger vessels to turn around at Blount Island berths. In coordination with deepening, JAXPORT completed more than USD100 million in berth enhancements in the last few months to enable the SSA Jacksonville Container Terminal (JCT) at Blount Island to simultaneously accommodate two post-Panamax container ships. In early 2023, terminal operator SSA Atlantic will welcome three new eco-friendly 100-gauge container cranes, bringing the JCT’s total to six. * Lagos State government in southwestern Nigeria recently confirmed that plans to begin construction of Badagry Seaport have reached the advanced stage. The new facility – to be located in the Badagry area of the state of Lagos – is cited to reduce congestion at Apapa Seaport. It has been reported that the state government has secured land for the project but was waiting for the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC). The container terminal at Gangavaram Port, for which work has already started, will be ready for commissioning by the second quarter of the 2023 financial year. The new facility is expected to provide growth for the cargo business in the hinterland of Andhra Pradesh and surrounding industrial hubs. The terminal is also set to help increase efficiency, reduce turnaround time and logistics costs, and improve the supply chain for industries in the hinterland which include metal and minerals, agriculture products, chemical, and more.

Digging deep * Head of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) recently announced that the SCA’s dredger Tariq bin Ziyad has joined the fleet already operating in the canal expansion project.

He confirmed the project to develop the southern sector of the canal is proceeding according to the set timetable. The initiative is of great importance as it aims at increasing navigational safety at the southern entrance by 28% and enable the canal to receive an average of six additional ships. Egypt started work to expand the southern entrance of the Suez Canal back in May 2021, a few weeks after the Ever Given ship incident. * India is set to increase draught depth at Cochin Port in order to boost trans-shipment operations as the Sri Lankan crisis continues.

It was reported in May that the 300-crore dredging project will be done under the Sagarmala programme and hopefully be

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port construction completed in a year or so. Anticipating an increase in trans-shipment operations at Cochin, following the economic and political turmoil in Sri Lanka and reports of congestion at Colombo port, the Shipping, Ports and Waterways Ministry will take up the dredging works in order to increase the port’s draught depth to 18 meters to allow bigger vessels to visit. * The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has re-enforced its commitment to revamping ports in the Delta State by embarking on the dredging of channels and rivers in the State.

Work has already begun and is about halfway done. When complete, it will enable ports in Delta State to have a better draught, receive bigger vessels and record less incidences of vessels running aground. “We all know that the breakwaters collapsed about ten years ago, and there has been high siltation resulting in reduction of the draught from seven meters to three meters in some places,” confirmed a representative for the port. In addition to this work the Nigerian Ports Authority has also started the mapping and charting of the Escravos channel, starting from the fairway buoy down to Koko Port, which has not been done for well over a decade.

All systems go! * Chinese state-owned conglomerate COSCO Shipping Holdings is moving forward with its own solution to sorting the congestion problem at ports in the Americas by building a USD3 billion deep-water port linked to an industrial and logistics park.

Located in Chancay, 55km north along Peru’s Pacific coast from the capital Lima, development of the only new port in the Americas is underway. COSCO runs operations at around 35 ports globally, but Chancay will be the conglomerate’s first outpost in South America. “COSCO Shipping will jointly cooperate with Peru to develop Port of Chancay into an important hub port in Latin America,” Chairman Xu Lirong said back in 2019 when the company orginally closed the deal to buy 60% of the project from Glencore’s Volcan unit. Working with COSCO on the initiative is China Railway Group and China Communications Construction, especially its China Harbour Engineering unit. According to COSCO’s plan, the new port will be able to handle the world’s largest container ships and process up to 1 million standard shipping containers a year, with the first piers due to open in a year’s time.

* Construction has commenced on a new 42-acre industrial development in Ellesmere Port in the UK. Developer, Firethorn Trust, broke ground at Link Logistics Park - a former brownfield site which is set to be transformed into more than 760,000 sq. ft. of industrial space within which will stand a 655,000 sq. ft. warehouse. The site is to be delivered with net-zero carbon construction with help from partner Winvic. Immediately adjacent to Junction 7 of the M53 and within a 45-minute drive of Liverpool and Manchester airports, the multi-modal industrial development lies in close proximity to the Manchester shipping canal, just 22 miles from the Port of Liverpool, offering exceptional transport links to the UK logistics network. * The Cambodian Ministry of Public Works and Transport has held a ground-breaking ceremony to mark the start of construction at the new International Multi-Purpose Logistics and Port Centre in the southwestern province of Kampot. The seaport will have a total handling capacity of 300,000 TEUs in 2025 and up to 600,000 TEUs by 2030. The project - estimated at USD1.5 billion - includes a container terminal, special economic zone, free trade area, logistics hub, oil refinery, and a terminal for tourist vessels. Built on a total area of 600 hectares with a depth of 15 meters, the Centre aims to improve efficiency for traders and investors in exporting agricultural, industrial, and fishing products in local and global markets - and boost Cambodia’s economic growth in the process. The project will be implemented in three phases, the first of which is set to begin operations in 2025. * Over in the US, APM Terminals Mobile has signed an agreement with the Alabama State Port Authority to add 32 acres to the current 134-acre container terminal yard to keep up with future demand, creating one million TEU throughput capacity. This move represents the third expansion in the last six years. The USD104 million expansion will begin later this year. The first 19 acres are due to be completed next year, with the remaining 13 acres by early 2025. As part of the project, APM will purchase two super post-Panamax ship-to-shore gantry cranes and related support equipment for crane operations. The brand new additions will complement the four existing gantry cranes.

Moreover, the US Army Corps of Engineers is currently dredging the Mobile Harbour channel in order to reach 50 feet by the end of 2024.

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