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JUNE 2017

ONE target is missed

Terberg launched its AutoTUG at TOC Europe in Amsterdam

NEWS11t ECH from Hyster 2Heavy-duty cable carrier 3Noatum sale confirmed 4NWSA scanning solution 6Adani on target in Kerala 7C$5.2B for Canada ports? 8Zeeland/Ghent merger? 9Maersk offers Nepal link 11Iran plans inland network 12Big ships call at NY/NJ 13

PORT DEVELOPMENTMiddle East uncertainty 15Heavyweights home in 16North Africa to scale up 17Gulf of Aden moves 18

CARGO HANDLINGHead for the next stage 19Hybrid for Duisport 20

REEFER INDUSTRYProduction stays weak 22Samskip loses weight 23Leveraging reefer data 26

IN THIS ISSUE

Terminal automation takes a turn

The TOC Europe conference and exhibition, held in Amsterdam this month, highlighted that port automation could be about to embark on a new route. Terberg unveiled its new AutoTUG driv-erless terminal tractor concept, while Gaussin and DigiRobotics displayed their new Autonomous Prime Mover (APM), which they claimed is the industry’s first fully automated electric prime mover (see back page for further details).

On the second day of TOC Europe, Konecranes pulled off, arguably, the biggest surprise when it announced it was part-

nering with Terberg to make AutoTUG available as an “Auto-mated Terminal Tractor” (ATT) through the Konecranes network.

The announcement was made by Konecranes’ marketing direc-tor Thomas Gylling and Terberg’s managing director Rob van Hove.

The ATT will be combined with the TEAMS equipment control system (ECS) from Konecranes group company TBA, and other automation soft-ware from Konecranes, in a com-plete hardware/software offering.

Speaking at the announce-ment of the partnership, Gylling

said it was important to partner with Terberg because the market wants automated tractors now, and Terberg has been working on the technology for some time. It transpires that a tender is ex-pected to be issued later this year for more than 200 machines for Dubai, and other terminal opera-tors are also interested.

It must be stressed that Auto-TUG remains a Terberg product, and, as an independent company, Terberg remains free to market and sell AutoTUG independent-ly to customers who do not want to use Konecranes equipment or the TEAMS ECS. Brownfield terminals, for example, may well want to try automating their relatively labour-intensive trac-tor/trailer fleets, before they look at stack automation. At TOC Europe, opinions differed as to whether or not automated ter-minal tractors would mean the death of AGVs. Experts from the Konecranes Terex AGV pro-gramme noted that a tractor with a trailer is longer and more dif-ficult to steer and reverse than an AGV, while others thought these challenges would be overcome, and, within 10 years, automated tractors would have completely replaced AGVs.

A key marker will be whether PSA Singapore continues with

As this edition of WorldCargo News was going to press, it was announced that K Line, Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), and NYK Line had missed their deadline for establishing their new joint-venture company, Ocean Net-work Express (ONE), as they move to merge their container shipping operations.

Despite this and other set-backs, officials at the carriers are insisting that the merger remains on target. In a joint statement, the three firms said: “The new com-pany has received all necessary approvals for compliance with local competition laws in regions and countries where compliance is required, and progress is being made towards completing the es-tablishment of the new integrat-ed container shipping business.”

The missed deadline comes less than two weeks after South Africa’s Competition Commis-sion ruled against the merger. It said such a deal “increased the scope of coordination in the container market and in the adja-cent car carrying sector, and was not in the public interest of cargo owners in the country”.

A spokesman added: “Our en-quiry into the planned merger

and creation of ONE revealed that any efficiencies and pub-lic interest aspects from the deal failed to outweigh the anti-com-petitive issues associated with it, and there are no remedies suffi-cient to address these effects.

“In addition, we found that the proposed transaction creates a platform for coordination in the car carrier market, which has a history of collusion involving the merging parties. These parties have been prosecuted in some jurisdictions, while investiga-tions are underway in others, and it is the Commission’s view that the merging parties may require a formal mechanism for further collusive conduct in the car car-riers market. The joint venture provides such a mechanism.”

K Line, MOL and NYK ap-pear unfazed by the decision, stressing that “ONE expects to complete the approval process for compliance with the coun-try’s competition law before the service commences”. In terms of the three carriers’ networks, South Africa accounts for only a very small part of their business.

ONE is scheduled to officially commence operations on 1 April next year.

Sri Lanka’s ports and shipping minister, Mahinda Samarasinghe, is now pushing to “fast track” the long-delayed Colombo Port East Container Terminal (CPECT) project. As previously reported (WorldCargo News, January 2017, p9), the concession process had ground to a halt as factions within the government pushed to keep the new development at Colom-bo under Sri Lanka Ports Author-ity (SLPA) control.

It was thought that the seven bids to operate CPECT had been disqualified, but, speaking at a con-ference in Colombo this month, minister Samarasinghe said the process was actually “on hold”.

The plan for CPECT is for a

terminal with a 1,200m quay and an annual handling capac-ity of 2.4M TEU. The first berth of 440m was completed in May 2015, but the SLPA has been un-able to push on with the project. Minister Samarasinghe revealed that the organisation is cash-strapped due to having to service loans on the Hambantota port project, which includes a con-tainer terminal that is not han-dling any container traffic. SLPA lost SLR18B (US$117M) on Hambantota in 2015, and another SLR10B last year, over which time it spent almost US$175M servicing loans on the port.

The minister said the delay in getting CPECT up and running

has cost the SLPA around SLR4B, while Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT) has increased its market share. Ac-knowledging that the govern-ment must take the final decision, minister Samarasinghe said he has, nevertheless, instructed new SLPA chairman, Dr Parakrama Dissanay-ake, to work out a strategy to pri-oritise moving CPECT forward.

Indian companies, including Shapoorji Pallonji and the Con-tainer Corporation of India, were among the bidders for CPECT that have been frustrated by the delays. One of India’s most active port developers, the Adani Group, is now developing a rival tranship-ment hub at Kerala (see p7).

‘Fast track’ for Colombo East

‘conventional’ AGVs, or moves in the direction of the AutoTUG/ATT for its new Tuas Mega Port. PSA has, or will, test AGVs from VDL, Gaussin, ZPMC, Toyota and Kalmar/ST Kinetics, and has separately contracted a navi-gation system from Kalmar that must be “compatible with any brand” of AGV.

Gaussin expects PSA to issue a tender in early 2018 for the first tranche of 200 machines for Tuas, but it might now look to auto-mated terminal tractors. As far as is known, PSA is not in favour of the lift AGV concept, hence an automated tractor could likely do the job required. Furthermore, with Terberg claiming its Au-toTUG is around 40% cheaper, the savings would be significant on a fleet in the range of 2,000 to 3,000 machines, as envisaged for Tuas.

Meanwhile, existing AGV ter-minals continue to add additional machines. Gaussin has reported that it is participating in a ten-der for 30 AGVs for Phase 2 of the Yangshan Deepwater Port automated terminal project, for which it is bidding its new AGV Performance fully electric design.

A-STRADs launchedWith its eye firmly on “brown, green and future fields”, Konec-ranes has joined Kalmar in officially offering automated straddle carri-ers as a series product. The com-pany is offering the A-STRAD for conventional straddle direct terminals, and the A-SPRINTER1-over-1 machine for horizontal transport applications.

Konecranes said both of its automated designs leverage “the industry’s leading diesel-electric drive system, which gives ma-noeuvring precision. This makes a difference when it comes to ve-hicle navigation and positioning – in both manual and automated machines”.

Konecranes is offering a com-plete hardware/software pack-age (minus a TOS) for straddle automation, with the machines, the Navimatic navigation system and the TEAMS ECS. Retrofit brownfield projects are an option, said Konecranes, as “existing man-driven, diesel-electric Konecranes Noell straddle carriers can easily be converted to automated opera-tion, as their control systems are automation-ready”.

Konecranes is also offering flexibility in the type of position detection technology, offering “Local GPS” utilising terrestrial radio and the transponder sys-tem used with many Konecranes Gottwald AGVs.

continued on p2

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June 20172

CARGO HANDLING NEWS

The latest (fifth) series of ECH mast trucks from Hyster Europe provides double handling capa-bilities for any EC type, even for two reefers with the refrig-eration units on the same side. This means that reefers can be conveniently stacked to allow for easy inspection.

“These days, it is not uncom-mon for ECs to exceed a tare weight of 5t, particularly reefers used for fruit and the like, with wet floors after emptying,” said Elmer Dammers, global product manager for Hyster Big Trucks. Hyster’s customers have also reported that snow loads can add considerably to container weight, so, again, the extra ca-pacity provides an extra margin of safety when handling reefers.

There are nine models in the new E214 series, including four single handlers up to 8 x 8ft 6in high, and five double handlers up to 2-over-7 x 8ft 6in. Capac-ity of the H11XM-ECD9 is 11t up to seven-high, with 9t SWL available for 2-over-7.

The design comes with a re-inforced mast with even better visibility, said Hyster, and a new double handling attachment from Elme. This has CAN bus controls and “reefer correction” sideshift as standard, as well as a choice of several container engagement systems. Lost load centre has been reduced, ena-bling virtually the same coun-terweight to be fitted, thus en-suring there are no steer tyre overloads.

The cabin includes a digital operator display that logs, inter alia, fuel use per container(s) moved. Optionally, the rear-mounted cabin can be raised by 1m to provide an opera-tor eye level of 4.37m above the ground, and/or tilted back by up to 10 degrees to reduce neck strain when lift height ex-ceeds three-high. An automatic extend-retract feature allows the driver to adjust the spreader to 20ft or 40ft at the touch of a button. Camera systems can also be fitted.

11t ECH from Hyster

Kalmar has upgraded its K-Motion power-split drivetrain system for Gloria reach stack-ers to version 2.0. This features new load-sensing functionalities for the hydraulics and upgraded software so that the drive adapts quickly to different driving styles and applications. K-Motion 2.0 is available not only with Stage IV container handlers, but also with Tier 3 intermodal and in-dustrial reach stackers.

As previously reported, K-Motion uses the Bosch Rexroth HVT (hydro-mechanical vari-able transmission) that splits the power sources according to where the machine is in the duty cycle. Hydrostatic drive is used at slow speed, while the mechanical high-speed drive activates auto-matically when additional power is needed. Similarly, more power is transferred to the lift as the ma-chine approaches the stack and slows down.

This drive split enabled Kalmar

to fit an untypically small engine for a laden container handler, the Volvo D8. Peak torque is 1,230 N/m on a flat line between 1,200 and 1,600 rpm, with maxi-mum 1,700 rpm.

So far, over 70 K-Motion reach stackers have been deliv-ered. Based on these, Kalmar is claiming fuel savings of up to 20% compared with other modern reach stackers, and up to 40% in comparison to older machines. Additional fuel-savings can be achieved through options such as automatic stop/start, au-tomatic engine shutdown (after a given idling time), drive speed limitation, eco-drive modes and Kalmar SmartFleet monitoring.

The first K-Motion 2.0 reach stackers are being delivered now, including to C.RO Ports, which placed an order for 34 reach stackers last year, including 19 with K-Motion. Since then, C.RO Ports has placed orders for a number of mast trucks.

Kalmar K-Motion 2.0

K-Motion 2.0 is available with Tier 3 intermodal and industrial machines

continued from p1With its automated straddle offer-ings, Konecranes is emphasising that it can put an entire automat-ed terminal into operation from a single source. “With A-STRAD and A-SPRINTER, Konecranes is again leading the way in ter-minal automation,” said Tuomas Saastamoinen, senior vice presi-dent, sales and marketing, Port Solutions, Konecranes. “Whether the field is brown, green, or a future vision, container terminal operators can realise a step-by-step conversion in the most flex-ible way, according to their long-term strategies, with the help of our standardised automation modules. Our automated strad-dle carrier solution paves the way for container terminal operators to set the pace in automation for

their business, while investing in a sustainable future.”

The first terminal to receive A-STRADs will be Ports of Auck-land in New Zealand. Konecranes is supplying 27 A-STRAD units for its automation project, which will see manual straddle carriers serving the STS cranes interface, with A-STRADs handling the yard stacking and serving road trucks. Konecranes will also up-grade 21 existing manual straddle carriers and supply the TEAMS equipment control systems, which will be integrated with the termi-nal’s Navis N4 TOS.

WorldCargo News understands other straddle carrier terminals in the Australasian market are look-ing closely at what Auckland is doing, and considering their own automation projects.

Within the past 5-6 weeks (at the time of writing), some big deals in the handling equipment sector have been announced by suppliers and/or their customers. All have been reported by World-Cargo News Online, but this arti-cle provides a summary.

Kalmar reported a deal worth around €13M from the Port of Virginia for 16 hybrid shuttle carriers, for operation at Virginia International Gateway (VIG) container terminal, with an op-tion for up to 40 additional units. VIG has been operating three Kalmar hybrid shuttle carriers since August 2015. According to Kalmar, testing by it and VIG on those machines demonstrated a significantly improved RoI com-pared with conventional diesel-electric machines. The hybrid shuttle carriers have consumed almost 40% less fuel than com-parable diesel-electric machines, and have cut CO

2E by around

50t per year per machine.Meanwhile, Konecranes re-

ported the biggest ever single or-

der for Gottwald mobile harbour cranes in the Asia-Pacific region. Over the next few months and into early 2018, Java-based port operator PT Berlian Jasa Termi-nal Indonesia (PT BJTI) will add eight more MHCs to its existing fleet of eight Gottwald MHCs, from the medium capacity Mod-el 4 and Model 5 “G5” range. For eco-efficient operation, the new cranes will be equipped with an external power supply to hook up to the terminal’s mains elec-tricity, thus helping PT BJTI to meet its sustainability objectives.

Konecranes is also supply-ing French and Italian-built lift trucks to Napier Port in New Zealand. Following the recent delivery of two Liftace FDC 480 G4 LCH mast trucks, the port has ordered two more of those machines, along with two Liftace R6-41 reach stackers and two Liftace FDC 25 K7 DB ECH mast trucks.

In the US, meanwhile, the North West Seaport Alliance (NWSA) – comprising the Pa-

cific Northwest ports of Seattle and Tacoma – approved a sole sourcing agreement for four new cranes from ZPMC, at an estimated cost of US$52M. The cranes are for NWSA’s Husky Terminal in its “South Harbour”, previously known as the Port of Tacoma. The order was placed on the basis of a “sole sourcing au-thorisation”.

Also in the US, Broward County Board of County Com-missioners approved an order worth US$41.4M for three low-profile shuttle boom cranes from ZPMC with a 22-wide outreach and a lift height sufficient for an eight-high deck stow, for Port Everglades. These will be the biggest shuttle boom low-profile cranes ever built, and, moreover, are designed for hurricane force winds, although the port declined an invitation to comment in de-tail on the design. The order in-cludes an option for three similar cranes that can be exercised up to 2022. There was one other bidder (Europe-based) for this project.

Major equipment deals revealedTMT Trieste now has more op-tions for handling bigger con-tainer vessels at its Molo VII fa-cility. Last month, upgrading and revamping work on the second of two 1994-built STS gantry cranes was completed, and out-reach has been extended from 18 to 21 rows across.

As previously reported (World-Cargo News, January 2016, p3), the project to upgrade the Reggiane cranes built by Fantuzzi Group was award-ed to an ad hoc joint venture (ATI) of Cimolai Technol-ogy SpA and Port Cranes Srl.

In addition to structural work, new electrical drives from Sie-mens have been installed, includ-ing “smart landing” software to improve container handling and to cut spreader impact noise.

Port Cranes, based in Reggio Emilia, was established by former Reggiane/Fantuzzi engineers with wide-ranging experience of this crane marque.

Revamp in Trieste

Energy chain specialist Tsubaki Kabels-chlepp has introduced a new heavy-duty carrier series for demanding crane and bulk industry applications with long travel lengths, designated the TKHD se-ries.

To ensure the highest robustness and solidity, the design incorporates an en-capsulated stroke system, a dirt-resistant outer contour and a reinforced bolthole connection, along with a special double-fork and tab design for the sidebands.

Quiet running is ensured by an inte-grated brake and integrated noise damp-ing, whereby the latter works continu-ously in the chain radius, as well as in the straight length. The pitch of 90mm and the polygon-optimised outer con-tour support the quiet running of the cable carrier. “Plastic cable carriers of this size with a smaller pitch were pre-viously not available, so we are filling a gap in the market,” said Peter Sebastian Pütz, head of Crane Business at Tsubaki Kabelschlepp.

With an inner height of 87mm, the width of the TKHD series can be pre-cisely adapted to the available space, thanks to aluminium stays in 1mm incre-

June 2017 3

CARGO HANDLING NEWS

TKHD heavy-duty cable carrier

To compensate for inaccuracies or wear on par-ticularly long travel lengths, Tsubaki Kabels-chlepp offers the Floating Moving Device as a flexible driver connection

Vortex simulators ordered by DP World

that creates a flexible connection be-tween the cable carrier and the driver arm of a system. “For long travel lengths which are not absolutely straight, the connection has to ensure a relative mo-tion between the connection of the cable carrier and the system driver, to compensate for any inaccuracies and to minimise wear on the cable carrier guid-ing,” said Pütz. “This also compensates for the concurrent error between system and cable carrier.”

Montreal-based CM Labs has won contracts to supply its Vortex port equipment simulators to DP World in Dubai and Melbourne.

For Dubai, Vortex will supply two simulators to train drivers for termi-nal tractors, forklifts and ships’ ped-estal cranes.

“The Vortex simulators will in-clude customised modules for ter-minal yard tractor, empty container handler and forklift driver training,” stated CM Labs. “Thanks to their swappable controls, these same simu-lators will also include ships’ pedestal crane operator training. It includes the complete modelling of two ter-minals at Jebel Ali, as well as termi-nal operations for an ultra-realistic busy virtual port environment.”

In Melbourne, DP World Australia has given its new Vortex simulators a ringing endorsement. The simu-lators include customised training modules for STS cranes and straddle carriers, offering unique capabilities for joint and standalone training ex-ercises. The simulators are installed in a shipping container, which also incorporates an instructor operating station.

Michael Firmin, national man-ager, operations efficiency at DP World Australia, said the CM Labs team was a “standout” at the tender and design stages, and the simulators were now delivering a measurable improvement in the training process.

“The simulator has reduced our previous training programs for ship-to-shore cranes from an average of five months to six weeks, with pro-ductivity increases that previously wouldn’t be achieved within a 12 to 18-month period,” said Firmin.

“These gains give our customer the advantages in an ever-challeng-ing market. Now, having the simula-tor, we can train in a safe environ-ment that promotes zero damage and develops not only a competent but more efficient operator, prior to going into the live environment.”

Arnold Free, CM Labs’ chief commercial officer, added: “CM Labs’ Vortex port equipment simu-lators have a proven track record of enhancing safety and productivity. We are delighted to collaborate with DP World across three continents.”

ments, the company added. The vertical inner distribution can also be changed flexibly, thanks to fixable dividers.

Users benefit from fast installation, as the cable carriers can be quickly opened inwards and outwards for the installation of cables and hoses. The TKHD series is designed so that it can be used in gliding, rolling and unsupported configurations. If the cable carriers are used in gliding configuration, the glide shoes can easily be replaced to ensure extended service life of the system.

Similarly aimed at port cranes, bulk handling equipment and other rugged applications, Tsubaki Kabelschlepp has introduced a Floating Moving Device

June 20174

PORT NEWS

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Noatum Ports Valencia (shown) and Bilbao container terminals are the key maritime assets changing hands

Confirming ever louder mar-ket rumours fuelled by well in-formed press reports in Spain (WorldCargo News Online, 6 June 2017), JP Morgan and co-inves-tors have said that a 51% stake in Noatum Ports has been sold to Cosco Shipping Ports Ltd (CSP).

The Sale and Purchase Agree-ment includes the container ter-minals in Valencia and Bilbao, as well as the dry ports of Ma-drid (Conterail) and Zaragoza. According to CSP, the price is €203.49M. JP Morgan acquired Noatum (then Dragados SPL) in 2010 for €720M. The vehicle for the sale is Turia Ports Investments Holdings (TPIH), owned by J P

Morgan Asset Management and Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP of the Netherlands.

Cosco has been in a position to pick and choose, as Noatum Ports’ 45% shareholding in OPCSA Las Palmas will con-tinue to be held by the current shareholders. The transaction also excludes Noatum Maritime, whose core activities are auto-motive and multipurpose port operations and terminals in San-tander, Sagunto, Málaga and Bar-celona (Autoterminal).

The completion of the trans-action is subject to shareholder approval, certain conditions prec-edent and relevant regulatory ap-

provals being achieved. Noatum Ports stressed that all the assets being sold will continue to op-erate under conditions of strict neutrality, and in accordance with concession terms and con-tract commitments.

Douglas Schultz, CEO of Noatum Ports and Maritime, stated: “With this agreement, Noatum Ports commences a new phase of development with Cosco Shipping Ports Limited, a strategic partner, which is a ref-erence in port operations and an important investor in port termi-nals worldwide. The new part-nership enhances our capacity to increase cargo volumes, and

Confirmation of Noatum sale

Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has fined several domestic port operators for al-legedly violating the country’s antitrust legislation.

Container Terminal Saint Pe-tersburg (CTSP), part of UCL Holding, has been charged with “fixing and maintaining monopo-listically high prices” for contain-er handling since 1 January 2015.

This seems counterintuitive, since CTSP has rapidly gained market share in the past two years, suggesting, if anything, highly competitive pricing. Fur-thermore, capacity utilisation has decreased, due to a sluggish mar-ket and new capacity (especially Fenix’s Port Bronka) coming on stream.

However, FAS has claimed that handling rates of CTSP and Global Ports (FCT, PLP and Moby Dik) “exceed the rate level for similar services in comparable foreign ports”. The rates are set in

US dollars, “and have increased significantly since 2014 in both dollar and rouble equivalent”. Alexander Redko, deputy head of FAS, said that the stevedores’ actions “could have neutralised the government’s efforts to at-tract cargo to Russian ports, and develop the competitive ability of Russian transportation-and-logistics routes”.

Allegedly, the rates also under-mine Russian Railways’ attempts to attract cargoes and to develop transits, due to discounts, and government measures to “sup-port Russian exports, particularly products of Russian machine-building and other products with high added-value, transported in containers”.

In addition, FAS stated that customers often have access to cargo handling services only when concluding contracts with particular shipping lines. Fur-thermore, FAS argued that the

low lease rates at which pub-lic port infrastructure has been transferred for use by the private sector “may be contrary to the interests of the state, and reduce the income to the budget from using such property”.

It is not just St Petersburg that is in the firing line. Last Novem-ber, FAS accused Primorsk Com-mercial Seaport of “fixing and maintaining monopolistically high prices” for oil handling, and requested both a reduction in prices and fixing tariffs in roubles. In March this year, FAS accused NMTP Novorossiysk and VSC Vostochny of “violating the anti-monopoly law by abusing domi-nance [and] fixing and maintain-ing monopolistically high prices.”

As things stand, FAS has obliged the port operators “to return the unlawfully gained in-come” to federal budgets. How-ever, the amount comes to just RUB17M (US$295,000).

FAS imposes antitrust fines

reinforces the ports of Valencia and Bilbao, as well as improving service levels to customers.”

The partnership seeks to max-imise the capacity of the contain-er terminals, by implementing the group’s long-term strategic plans to optimise the structure and effi-ciency of the group’s business, and

to promote synergies and quality in the services provided to cus-tomers. In addition, the partner-ship will support improvements in the railway terminals of Zarago-za and Conterail in Madrid.

In an unusual twist, Jose Llor-ca, president of Spain’s national ports agency, Puertos del Es-

tado, has categorically denied re-ports that he had anything to do with lobbying JP Morgan to sell Noatum. Naucher, the Barcelona-based maritime information ser-vice, which originally suggested this, published a letter from Llor-ca denying the report, and noted that it “welcomed observations on its stories”, but did not con-cede that it had got it wrong.

The deal is strategic for CSP, which hereby broadens its exten-sive Mediterranean interests into the Western Med for the first time. It owns the Port of Piraeus outright, has a 40% stake in (the coming) APM Terminals Vado fa-cility, a 40% stake in Suez Canal Container Terminal, and a 20% stake in Kumport’s Liman facility in Turkey.

Transnet’s digitisation strategy is beginning to take shape (World-Cargo News, January 2017, p24 for background). Deutsche Tel-ekom offshoot T-Systems is im-plementing the first phase of a smart technology package at the Port of Durban, including using tracking, sensors, video cameras and drones to tackle congestion, which has become an increasing

problem at the South African port. The contract was awarded in March, following a proof of concept process to demonstrate the system’s effectiveness to Transnet National Port Author-ity (TNPA) over a three-month period.

The system uses LTE wireless high-speed telecommunications to provide real-time monitor-

Durban gets smart ing of vehicle, cargo and crane movements. The SAP HANA database server and storage sys-tem will enable data modelling. The aerial and aquatic drones will be used to monitor the port area, improve communication between vessels and the port, assist in bringing ships into the harbour, and checking the posi-tion of buoys.

Transnet ICT manager, Ristha Joga, said: “We were looking for an automated overview on all operations in the port. T-Sys-tems and its partners were offer-ing a solution that would bring all data into one single control centre.” Mmutle Lentle, CEO of TNPA, added: “We’re able to be much smarter with capacity planning, giving everyone the same information, and allowing us to predict and create alerts whenever there are any disrup-tions in the value chain.”

While T-Systems is the main contractor, China’s Huawei is providing the wireless commu-nication network infrastructure, and LOTS Projects is supply-ing the drones and telematics technology. T-Systems’ manag-ing director, Gert Schoonbee, commented: “Numerous tech-nologies are combined, creat-ing a tailor-made solution that dramatically enhances the op-erations at South Africa’s busiest port.” Phase 1 will be imple-mented between now and the end of the year. T-Systems said it hopes that this implementation will act as a blueprint for other ports and the wider logistics sec-tor.

The Ukrainian Sea Ports Au-thority (USPA) and Container Terminal Odessa (CTO) have signed an additional agreement over the so-called Karantinny Mole (Quarantine Pier) project. The document envisages a new breakwater and deepening of the water area.

The works are costed at €40M, and USPA has solicited

support from Germany’s federal Transport Ministry to facilitate a loan from KfW Bank. Until February this year, CTO was known as HPC Ukraina and, as the local affiliate of Hamburg Port Consulting, is HHLA’s only port operation outside Hamburg.

Karantinny Mole has been developed in stages, and now

has one 350m berth and another of 300m, with a depth of 16m alongside, while the backland includes an 11.2-ha CY, and installed capacity is put at 0.6M TEU/year. Under the new plan, capacity would be increased to almost 1M TEU. CTO’s customers include Hapag-Lloyd, Yang Ming and Maersk Line.

CTO/USPA ink Odessa deal

March 2017 5

CARGO HANDLING/PORT NEWS

June 20176

PORT NEWS

The North West Seaport Alliance (NWSA) has come up with a way to increase the speed of container scanning with the straddle carrier system used at the Pierce County Terminal (PCT) intermodal yard in Tacoma.

PCT was never designed with the requirement for radiation portal scanning of import con-tainers in mind. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) uses a mobile scanner, and PCT had to dedicate 15 acres of land and half its current rail tracks to create an area where containers could be grounded to allow the mobile scanner to pass over containers.

Grounding containers for the mobile scanner, and then mov-ing them again to be loaded onto trains, resulted in double handling, increasing PCT’s op-erational costs significantly. Ac-cording to the NWSA, it has also been a handicap for termi-nal operator Everport, “causing

them to re-evaluate and change their cargo mix moving through PCT”.

The new scanning equipment will allow rail containers to be scanned efficiently while un-der a straddle carrier, improving efficiency and freeing up several acres of terminal land. Designed by CBP, the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the system uses seven 40ft containers, with scanning equipment built into two of the top containers in two three-high stacks, and with one container placed on a slightly raised frame between the two stacks.

When the straddle carrier drives over the middle container, the subject container is scanned from both sides and below. The scanning system costs over US$20M, and is being purchased by DNDO and CBP.

To complete the project, the NWSA is spending US$550,000 on a new CBP booth at PCT and the relocation of the existing booth at Washington United Terminals. The booths have some very specific design requirements, including bullet-proof windows.

North West Seaport Alliancespeeds up scanning process…

…double speed for Smiths DetectionSmiths Detection is working on a new product that can more than double the rate at which containers are scanned. The new scanner is being developed for the CORE (Consistently Op-timized Resilient Secure Global Supply-Chains) European Re-search Project.

“Smiths Detection is design-ing both hardware and software for the next generation of con-tainer scanners, which will speed up throughput and improve de-tection. The aim is to verify, as quickly and accurately as pos-sible, whether a container holds only its declared legal cargo, and is not harbouring contraband, weapons, explosives, drugs, or

toxic materials,” stated Smiths.The company claims the pro-

ject could more than double the hourly scanning rate from 100-150 containers per hour to between 300 and 500, with new software that lets operators perform faster, more accurate analysis of images to prevent bottlenecks. The system will in-clude “operator-assist features” including automatic detection of certain substances, and the highlighting of suspicious areas within a container.

Towards the end of this year, Smiths will be demonstrating the new system in the field, in collaboration with Dutch Cus-toms.

With the new scanner, a container can be scanned underneath a strad-dle carrier, thus eliminating double handling

DP World has announced that it is in talks with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) over the construction of new container and bulk terminals near Lagos, although the exact location does not yet seem to have been cho-sen. Statements from officials in Nigeria indicate that the project would involve the expansion of existing facilities, apparently the bulk terminal, as well as con-struction on a greenfield site, which appears to refer to the container terminal.

Last October, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, chairman and CEO of DP World Group, held talks with the governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode. He said at the time that his com-pany was keen to expand its African operations. DP World may have the resources to fund a Nigerian project – it generated a profit of more than US$1B for the first time last year. In a state-ment, the NPA said: “The plan is to develop a DP World terminal in the Lagos area, and a suitable site is currently being sought.”

The announcement was one of three that appear designed to counter criticism of the NPA over its failure to attract new investors into the port sector. It has also revealed that it is in talks

with Morocco’s Tanger Med over the development of a new port terminal and wider logistics operations in Nigeria.

It had been hoped that the new port of Lekki, which lies about 60 km east of Lagos, would provide the additional ca-pacity so badly needed in Lagos State and in Nigeria as a whole. However, as previously reported, ICTSI pulled out of the project after years of delay. The NPA has now revealed that China Har-bour Engineering Company has bought an unspecified stake in Lekki for US$86M.

DP World and Nigerian Ports Authority in talks

The Ports and Maritime Organ-isation of Iran (PMO) will be-gin collecting terminal handling charges (THCs) directly from shippers this month, in a bid to lower port costs. Currently, THCs are collected through the shipping lines, and are subject to various taxes before they are paid to the PMO.

The PMO believes that, by collecting THCs directly from shippers in local currency, it can reduce the differential between port costs in Iran and other ju-risdictions, including Jebel Ali (Dubai).

Following an agreement be-tween the Shipping Association of Iran and the PMO, a new system is slated to begin on 22 June, with terminal handling charges to be paid directly in Iranian rials.

THCs direct inIran

The new terminals would supplement facilities at Lagos

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June 2017 7

PORT NEWS

nal will have 800m of berth in the first phase, with a draught of 20.5m. “The project is moving as per schedule, reach-ing the half-way milestone post, the successful land reclamation stage, and is well on course to be completed within the stipulated time period of four years,” stated Adani.

Karan Adani, CEO of APSEZ, believes the project could be transformational for India. “We are happy with the progress made so far in developing India’s first ever transhipment port at Vizhinjam,” he said. “We are overwhelmed with the support bestowed on us by the people of Kerala and the Government of Kerala to develop this deepwater multi-cargo port

in the country. The port is very strate-gically located for access to prominent international waterways, and this project will enable India to be strategically po-sitioned as a global transhipment hub. It will also help us in accelerating our journey towards achieving our vision.”

At Kerala, Adani is going after the more than 1M TEU of Indian cargo that is transhipped annually through foreign ports, including at Colombo in Sri Lan-ka. The company emphasised that the new terminal is “on the international shipping route connecting Europe, the Persian Gulf and the Far East, [and is] very close to the east-west shipping axis, within 10 nautical miles”.

Adani on target in Kerala

Adani is moving ahead with its plans for a transhipment facility (artist’s impression)

This month Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd, (APSEZ), India’s largest port developer and part of the Adani Group, announced it had begun construction of the first berth at India’s first transhipment project in Vizhinjam, Kerala.

The plan for a transhipment hub in Kerala has been around for a long time, and APSEZ laid the foundation stone for a terminal in December 2015. However, at that stage, the Indian Government had not gone ahead with reforms to India’s cabotage system, which carriers have long said were needed to make tranship-ment viable in the Indian market.

Last year, India’s Ministry of Shipping announced that international liner ship-ping companies would be able to offer feeder coastal services between Indian ports with foreign-flagged ships, provid-ed that over 50% of the cargo processed at the main port in a yearly period com-prises transhipment cargo. The Indian Private Ports and Terminals Association (IPPTA) has claimed that the reforms do not go far enough to make tranship-ment viable, and it has been lobbying the Shipping Ministry to drop the quantum requirement on transhipment volume. Meanwhile, APSEZ has been moving ahead at Kerala.

This month’s ceremony marked the start of berth construction. The termi-

A consortium led by Mediterra-nean Shipping Company (MSC) has signed a 35-year concession to expand and operate the container terminal at the Port of San Pe-dro in Côte d’Ivoire. San Pedro is the second most important port in the country, but is currently much smaller than Abidjan. However, it handles most of the exports for the world’s biggest producer of cocoa. Total investment is put at CFA300B (US$500M), of which MSC will in-vest CFA130B.

MSC’s partners on the concession are the Bilal Group and the Port of San Pedro. The terminal will have the capacity to handle vessels up to 14,000 TEU, making it the latest port in West Africa to be greatly ex-panded. As with other upgrades in the region, San Pedro is to be devel-oped to handle transhipment trade. MSC Ivory Coast has operated in the country for 15 years.

The port was closed for two days in May during an army mutiny. De-spite recent unrest, Côte d’Ivoire is one of the fastest growing econo-mies in the world, with GDP in-creasing by an average of 8% a year over the past five years.

Diego Aponte president and CEO of MSC, said: “This agreement will further strengthen the strong links between MSC and the Government of Côte d’Ivoire. It also confirms our long-term engagement to contrib-ute to national efforts in supporting the country’s growing position on the international scene.

“Our structural investment and operations will allow San Pedro to become a state-of-the-art terminal, increase trade relationships with new and traditional business part-ners, as well as enhancing its com-petitiveness at both the national and global levels. We are also extremely proud to generate inclusive growth through job creation and vocational training, as the terminal is expected to employ hundreds of people di-rectly and a larger number of peo-ple indirectly.” The agreement was signed just weeks after MSC cel-ebrated its 15th anniversary in Côte d’Ivoire.

Ivory Coast concession for MSC

June 20178

PORT NEWS

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A new report from Canada’s C.D. Howe Institute recommends that the fed-eral government “harvest some of the value of its equity stake” in Canada’s main ports, which it said would likely be worth C$2.6B to C$3.4B, but could generate as much as C$5.2B, depending on the value of leases with terminal op-erators.

Canada’s main ports include Vancou-ver, Montreal, Halifax and Prince Ru-pert, which collectively handle 98% of the country’s container traffic (5.5M TEU in 2015) and 38% of its total ton-nage. While growth has slowed consider-ably at Halifax and Montreal, Vancouver and Prince Rupert have been stead-

ily increasing their share of the Pacific North West market for some years now.

Shippers, of course, are concerned about the potential for the government’s plan for “involving” private capital at the Canada Port Authorities (CPA) level to push up costs. In the report, Casting off: How Ottawa Can Maximize the Value of Canada’s Major Ports and Benefit Taxpay-ers, author Steven Robins calculated that CPA costs make up just 2% of the cost of shipping in Canada (assuming an inter-modal rail journey), and terminal opera-tors charges 11%. Furthermore, he noted that competition is such that opportuni-ties to raise prices significantly are very limited, and he cited Prince Rupert’s

rise as evidence that shippers are willing to change ports.

The competition that exists, said Robins, “reduces the need for public ownership of the ports to ensure fair pricing”. At the same time, the federal government receives very little in the way of a return from its port assets, with the revenue paid to Ottawa in 2014 amounting to just C$19.4M – 25% of gross profits, and less than 5% of overall CPA revenues.

Under the system, set up in 1998, CPAs retain most of their profits for investing in their respective ports. The C.D. Howe Institute takes the view that “rents” on port lands are a federal asset,

Canada ports could fetch C$5.2B

Source: C.D. Howe Institute, “Casting off: How Ottawa Can Maximize the Value of Canada’s Major Ports and Benefit Taxpayers”, Steven Robins

Equity value of Canada’s four largest ports

2015 Adjusted EBITDAC$152MC$46MC$30MC$16M

C$244M

Estimated equity value

C$1.6B - C$2.2BC$500M - C$700MC$300M - C$400MC$150M - C$200MC$2.6B - C$3.4B

Net debt at market value

-C$40M-C$30MC$43MC$29MC$1M

Port

VancouverMontrealPrince RupertHalifaxTotal

and “should be returned to the federal government’s consolidated revenue fund and then allocated to our most pressing needs”.

This risks starving ports of capital for future development, but port authorities do not always make the best decisions in this regard. Robins noted that, at the end of 2016, Vancouver had committed

C$863M towards its Terminal 2 expan-sion (estimated to cost C$2B) but the existing terminal operators argue that a new terminal is not required in the medium term. The Institute believes the ability of a project to attract private capi-tal should be “the litmus test” of whether a project is viable, rather than relying on a CPA decision.

A partial or full privatisation of the CPAs will require transferring their per-mitting powers to a government agency. The value of the four container ports de-pends on how risk is shared between the terminals and the CPAs in lease agree-ments, which is not known. The C$2.6B to C$3.4B range is quite conservative, but, if rents are mostly fixed, an investor may be willing to pay up to 22 x EBIT-DA, adding C$1.8B and pushing the ports’ value to C$5.2B, noted Robins.

Rumours have resurfaced that Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) is to buy APM Terminals’ 43% shareholding in Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd (GPPL) in northwest India.

Both companies refused to make any detailed comment on the situation, despite reports that HSBC Holdings has been hired by APMT to advise on a deal, and a bidding process having been instigated.

A transaction between these two companies would make sense. While Adani is expanding its transport portfo-lio, and is known to be actively pursu-ing several projects, both in India and overseas, APMT is focusing its attention on those assets that help sister company Maersk Line save costs and improve op-erating efficiency.

“We continuously review and opti-mise our global portfolio, as well as ex-plore new investment opportunities,” ex-plained an APMT spokesman. “But you can appreciate that we do not comment on market rumours and speculation.”

If a deal is agreed with APMT, World-Cargo News understands that Adani will then discuss it with other stakeholders, which include other foreign entities (37.2%), Indian institutions (13.3%) and other private investors (6.5%), to secure a majority shareholding in GPPL.

In addition to managing the port and its cargo handling operations, GPPL is involved in intermodal and inland trans-port activities, through a venture with Pipavav Railways Corporation Ltd.

In its latest fiscal year, which ended on 31 March, GPPL saw decreases in all of its main cargo sectors, with container volumes down 4% to 663,000 TEU, dry bulk tonnage 14% lower at 2.47 Mt, and liquid bulks down by 3% at 685,000t. The port’s new ro-ro terminal handled an estimated 83,000 vehicles.

But, fiscally, it proved a much better year for the group, as operating profit (EBITDA) and net profit both improved, rising to INR4.2B (US$65.1M) (+11%) and INR2.5B (+31%), respectively.

APSEZ owns and operates eight ports and terminals in India, including Mundra, Dahej, Kandla and Hazira in the state of Gujarat, Dhamra in Odi-sha, Mormugao in Goa, Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, and Kattupalli in Chennai. In terms of future projects, APSEZ is developing terminals at En-nore in Tamil Nadu, Vizhinjam in Kerala, and (in conjunction with local partners) Carey Island near Port Klang, Malaysia.

Adani Group chasing APM Terminal’s Pipavav shareholding

June 2017 9

PORT NEWS

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After lengthy talks, Zeeland Seaports (ZSP - Vlissingen and Terneuzen) and the Port of Ghent have told their own-ers (Zeeland Province and local Dutch municipalities, on the one hand, and the City of Ghent, East Flanders Province and two municipalities on the Belgian side) that a merger on an equal basis (50/50%) is possible, and that solutions are available for all merger issues (strate-gy, governance, legal and fiscal). It is now up to the shareholders and the employee representatives of both port authorities to get to work with the results.

Previous talks about a possible merger failed, but recent research by McKinsey, the management consultants, showed that a merger could be advantageous to all parties, and the financial valuation has indicated that a 50/50 merger is possi-ble, an important principle for both port authorities.

The cross-border merged port would take the form of a European company as a holding company for the two ex-isting port authorities. These three enti-

ties would have unitary governance and management responsibilities. A new su-pervisory body of limited size, and with four Dutch and four Flemish representa-tives, would replace the existing super-visory board of ZSP and the executive board of the Port of Ghent. The struc-ture presented to the shareholders would be led jointly by the two existing CEOs. With a ‘fair wind’, it is estimated that the merger process could be completed by the end of this year.

However, this could be overly opti-mistic. As reported by WorldCargo News Online, the whole process could be de-railed by the cost of cleaning up the former Thermphos estate in the port of Vlissingen, estimated at between €125M and €175M.

The phosphorus production business went bankrupt in 2012, leaving Zeeland Province with the legal responsibility to clean up the site. Just managing the reconstruction process and guarding the site is costing the province €700,000 a month.

Zeeland/Ghent merger?

The Port of Vlissingen, part of Zeeland Seaports

SAAM Group is investing US$60M in its Ecuadorian concession, Terminal Portu-ario Guayaquil (TPG), to double capac-ity. The berth is being extended to 480m, and two STS cranes (60m outreach, 46m lift height) from ZPMC are being added. The footprint has been expanded contiguously by 4.5-ha with the addi-tion of the former Trinipuerto facility.

“We are concluding an important pro-cess for our terminal and for Guayaquil,” said TPG’s president, Enrique Brito. “We can double our container handling ca-pacity, and enter the bulk cargo market, positioning us as one of the country’s main ports.”

In Chile, meanwhile, through its sub-sidiaries SAAM Puertos and SAAM Inversiones, SAAM has acquired the 15% stake held by the Urenda family’s Grupo de Empresas Navieras (GEN) in Iquique Terminal Internacional (ITI) for US$11.05M, so ITI is now a wholly owned group company.

ITI holds the concession at the Port of Iquique until the year 2030. In 2016, it handled 2.3 Mt of general cargo and 272,000 TEU of containers. Demand is generated by the Free Trade Zone, in-cluding shipments of copper, fishmeal, mining project equipment, automobiles, household goods and soya beans.

Expansion at Guayaquil

An aerial view of Guayaquil showing the arrival of two ZPMC STS cranes

Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya are to re-build their ports on Lake Victoria, to take advantage of the construction of the new standard gauge railway (SGR) from Mombasa. Tanzania and Uganda alone have pledged US$30M to date. Trade on the lake has been depressed since the BUKOBA ferry disaster in 1996, which re-sulted in the loss of more than 700 lives, as well as all the cargo on board. The main lake ports are Mwanza, Bukoba and Musoma in Tanzania, Port Bell in Uganda, and Kisumu in Kenya.

As previously reported, the SGR has already opened between Mombasa and Nairobi, but the route onwards from the Kenyan capital has not yet been deter-mined. It is expected to go to Kampala, which would allow it to pass through Kisumu. Within the region, it has been suggested that Kisumu could be the ter-minus of the SGR.

James Macharia, Kenya’s transport secretary, commented: “The decision has not been reached, but we have a number of options at our disposal. We can decide to end the SGR at Naivasha or Kisumu, but it will still be a viable venture due to the presence of Lake Victoria.” However, that seems a less likely option given the Ugandan government’s enthusiasm for extending the railway on to its territory.

Moves on Lake Victoria

The Port of Hamburg has stated that both the Hamburg and Federal au-thorities have found, on investigation, that Billwerder Island is a suitable site to protect a rare plant, hemlock water dropwort, which is threatened by the Elbe deepening programme. Earlier this year, the Administrative Court in Leip-zig ruled that protecting this plant was a necessary condition to allow the dredg-ing to proceed (WorldCargo News, Feb-ruary 2017, p1).

Last month, the court delivered its written judgement to its decision of 9 February. The written judgement con-tains some clarifications, making the work of meeting its requirements easier.

In its judgement, the court rejected the compensation area originally fore-seen for the dropwort, since it was legal-ly seen as a question of area management that had to be dealt with, in any event. This was the Kreetsand cohesion-pro-tection measure, in line with European

conservation law for the loss of the hem-lock water dropwort caused by dredging.

Instead, the Billwerder Island area has proved to be especially well-suited. There, a number of old, disused sedi-mentation tanks belonging to Hamburg waterworks should be opened to the ef-fects of the tide. The old storage tanks will be designed with tideways, mudflats and islands, providing the hemlock wa-ter dropwort with a good habitat for the future.

Development in the Elbe dredging saga

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PORT/INTERMODAL NEWS

Canada launches corridor initiative Canada’s minister of transport, Marc Garneau, has announced C$2.1B in funding for the government’s Trade and Transportation Corridors Initiative (TTCI), which aims to build more effi-cient routes to international markets for Canadian products.

Most of the funds will be allocat-ed over 11 years through the merit-based National Trade Corridors Fund (NTCF), to ports, waterways, airport, roads, bridges, border crossings, rail net-works and “the interconnectivity be-tween them”. Proponents have been invited to submit expressions of interest for funding to support projects that ad-dress “urgent capacity constraints”.

The ports of Montreal and Vancouver

are leaders in North America, in terms of the percentage of their gateway traffic that is handled by intermodal rail, and both ports would be expected to apply for funding to support improvements in road and rail connections.

The two proposed new container terminals in Nova Scotia – Melford International Terminals and Novaporte – could also apply for funding. Nova-porte, in particular, has identified that the 30 km short line to the port, which is owned by Genesee & Wyoming, but is no longer in use, needs at least C$30M to bring it up to double stack standards.

As well as infrastructure, the Cana-dian government has recognised that the country’s very long supply chains need

to be planned with better data. It has set aside C$50M over 11 years to launch a Trade and Transport Information Sys-tem, managed by a new Canadian Cen-tre on Transportation Data, which will be a partnership between Transport Canada and Statistics Canada.

“It will make high quality, timely and accessible data and analysis avail-able to users,” the Ministry of Transport announced. “This will enable private stakeholders in the transportation sector, for example, to support innovations that will move goods more efficiently across supply and distribution chains, getting them from the manufacturer and into the hands of consumers more quickly, affordably and sustainably.”

Trier, Germany-based Steil has used its Terex CC 3800-1 crawler-mounted lattice boom crane (formerly branded Superlift 3800) to ship a barge-to-shore crane girder on behalf of Kranwerke Mannheim from Speyer Port to the des-tination port, the Port of Mannheim. Kranwerke Mannheim had subcontract-ed the boom girder of one of two cranes it was supplying to the Port of Mannhe-im to Tobies, which is based in Speyer.

Steil used the CC 3800-1 to load the 78m long crane girder weighing 105 tonnes onto a pontoon at Speyer Port, as the required radius could increase by up to 3m if the load were lifted from the low loader and onto the pontoon at low tide. In contrast to a mobile crane with its full counterweight, increasing the CC 3800-1 counterweight and radius would enable it to take care of the lift.

“We planned with a variable Superlift counterweight of 65t to 125t,” said Steil’s project manager Sebastian Sehl. “This al-lowed the crane to work flexibly with a radius of 28m to 30m and made sure that the job would still be feasible even at low tide.”

In Mannheim, the Steil team was also responsible for erecting two Kranwerke Mannheim barge-to-shore cranes at the shipyard and for this purpose the company deployed another of its CC 3800-1 cranes.

Crane movewith Terex

Pictured are the two new Künz RMGs recently delivered to Austrian Railways (ÖBB) terminal at Wolfurt. The cranes are among the first from Künz to utilize the new aerodynamic circular girders. Round and oval shaped girders can be more difficult to fabricate, but Künz says it has overcome this challenge and is promoting them for both single and double girder RMGs, including large widespan versions for the US market. A rounded profile creates a lighter, more aerodynamic crane design lowering weight and wind loads.

For the first time ever, the British gov-ernment is to hypothecate road vehicle tax (VED) to a highways improvement budget from 2020-21, as part of a £1B/year plan for local councils to improve roads and cut road congestion. VED is currently worth £5.8B/year, forecast to rise to £6.8B/year by 2020-21 based on forecast new vehicle registrations. The government plans to allocate £1B/year of VED to “secondary” A-roads outside the strategic motorway and major A-road network, and this idea is of direct interest to the country’s scattered ports.

Commenting on the plan, Richard Ballantyne, CEO of the British Ports As-sociation (BPA), called for ports to be pri-oritised in regional and national projects.

The focus on easing congestion is very welcome, argues the BPA, but this must ensure freight is able to compete and flourish across the UK. “The Strat-egy mentions the UK’s key national cor-ridors and investments must be inclusive of freight concerns,” said Ballantyne. “Focus needs to be on delivery.”

The government’s current Port Con-nectivity Study in England is being led by an independent chairman, Sir John Randall. “This is a welcome initiative,” said Ballantyne. “We hope it will help to ensure that ports are on the radar and feature in future national transport strat-egies. Moving forward, we would like to see local authorities formally recognis-ing this and other freight priorities in their own strategies.”

BPA calls for port focus in road plans

June 2017 11

INTERMODAL/LOGISTICS NEWS

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Maersk offers Nepal routeFurther to our story last month (World-Cargo News, May 2017, p8) on Visakhapa-tnam Port Trust (VPT) and the Nepalese consul in Visakhapatnam working togeth-er to set up customs clearance for Nepa-lese cargo at VPT, Maersk Line has started offering its customers a new rail option between Visakhapatnam and Nepal. It is focused on Asian exporters trading with the landlocked country, and is scheduled so that it connects seamlessly with the carrier’s Chennai Express service (CES).

This offers weekly calls at Qingdao, Xingang, Busan, Shanghai, Nansha, Tan-jung Pelepas (PTP), Chennai, Krishna-patnam, Visakhapatnam, and returns to Qingdao via PTP.

The new rail operation, which is run in conjunction with Concor, an affiliate of Indian Railways, links Visakhapatnam with the Birgunj inland container depot in Nepal. This facility is the only rail-linked cargo terminal in the country.

According to Maersk, the intermodal

rail service offers clients a more secure, cost-competitive transport option, with journeys completed in just seven days. This compares with previous routings that were centred on the heavily con-gested port of Kolkata, involved truck transfers, and could take 14 days.

Moreover, with Maersk acting as the single point of contact for the new ser-vice, it means documentation, transport, billing and customs clearance also run more smoothly and more efficiently.

In addition, there is more scope for expansion, as DP World and the JM Baxi Group, which operate Visakhapatnam’s box terminal, are investing US$100M to almost double its handling capacity to 1M TEU a year.

Lineage acquires Partner Logistics

Partner Logistics offers automated warehous-ing and frozen storage solutions

Irvine (California)-headquartered Lin-eage Logistics, which is a specialist reef-er logistics and temperature-controlled warehousing company, has acquired Partner Logistics (PL). PL is based in the Netherlands, and offers the mar-ket automated warehousing and frozen storage solutions.

The deal gives Lineage an additional 101M ft3 (about 0.5M pallet places) of temperature-controlled warehousing space, as well as an operating presence in Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK for the first time. It also gives the group access to PL’s automated solu-tions, which will be invaluable to its future plans in this area. Lineage is, for instance, planning to build an automat-

ed cold storage facility in Fort Worth/Dallas.

“Our acquisition of Partner Logistics represents Lineage’s ongoing commit-ment to serving our customers’ global supply chains by delivering dynamic, sophisticated cold chain logistics solu-tions,” said Greg Lehmkuhl, Lineage’s president and CEO.

“We are thrilled to welcome the Partner team, and we are confident that their incredible industry expertise, particularly in automation, will acceler-ate our position as a thought leader in this area with existing and new custom-ers.”

Currently, Lineage operates facilities in 100 locations in the US, and has a

total warehouse storage capacity of approximately 610M ft3. Financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

Blockchain partnershipLogistics system specialist 1-Stop Con-nections has teamed with blockchain start-up TBSx3 on a supply chain secu-rity initiative. The firms have announced a new alliance to develop a blockchain-based security architecture to combat the movement of fake products.

TSBx3 has developed security archi-tecture for verifying the authenticity of goods in transit, and recently com-pleted a global road and sea supply chain trial, tracking the movement of bottled wine from the wine-growing region of Coonawarra in rural South Australia to the Port of Qingdao, China.

“Partners in the successful trial in-cluded DP World Australia, DB Schen-ker, Hamburg Süd, and Australian wine producer IUS,” stated 1-Stop. “KPMG verified the custodial handovers for the integrity of the product in the 8,100 km chain, validated the product at the end of the chain, and confirmed that the system could potentially detect fake or dupli-cated product.”

From its origins as a vehicle booking system supplier, 1-Stop Connections has grown into a bigger player in the broad-er logistics market. The 1-Stop/TBSx3 tie-up is “an important step in building a global consortium to ensure the integ-rity of product at every step of a supply chain, from the farm and factory gate to the consumer”, according to TBSx3 co-founder and director, Mark Toohey.

In particular, the companies are tar-geting the movement of fake medicines, noting that the World Health Organi-sation estimates that 200,000 people a year die from taking fake anti-malarial medicines alone. “Malaria kills one child every 30 seconds,” they stated.

According to Michael Bouari, CEO of 1-Stop Connections, leveraging soft-ware from both companies can help secure supply chains. “A new security benchmark for global supply chains is created when we combine TBSx3’s cryptography and blockchain security with our highly secure port community system – 1-Stop’s flagship product – Ve-hicle Booking System (VBS),” he said.

“We are keen to see how TBSx3’s dynamic distributed ledger can help our industry monitor the vital parts of the supply chain. We all need even bet-ter data on the what, where, when and who. Security will be strengthened if we have a deeper and more transparent un-derstanding of what is being delivered, where it is, when it began the journey, when it was handed over along the chain, when it will arrive, and who is, at any time, responsible for it, from begin-ning to end.

“The technology being developed by TBSx3 is of great interest because it combines the data currently held in silos by the various supply chain participants. Now, we will all be able to have a new level of trusted transparency across the entire supply chain.”

June 201712

INTERMODAL/LOGISTICS/SHIPPING NEWS

Iran is planning to develop as many as six inland ports by the end of 2022, as the country forges ahead with its international growth strategies of han-dling more transit cargo for Central Asia, leveraging opportunities from China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ projects and expanding its own role as a trading nation.

A mix of public and private funds will be used for the facilities, each of which is expected to need between US$10M and US$27M in investment, depending on size and equipment.

“Comprehensive studies are already underway, with several locations hav-ing been identified for the ports,” said

Iran’s deputy minister for roads and ur-ban development, Amir Amini. These are thought to include cities such as Mashhad, Tabriz and, of course, Teh-ran. In the latter city, sites near Imam Khomeini International Airport and the Aprin train station – located about 20 km from the city, and a key inter-change between north/south and east/west train routes – are being carefully evaluated.

In fact, developments have already started at Aprin following the con-clusion of a US$25M deal between Islamic Republic of Iran Railways and Switzerland-based TransInvest Group. Over the next two years, warehousing

and logistics infrastructure will be de-veloped, along with customs inspection facilities and equipment.

Iran is keen to sign traffic agreements with landlocked nations in Central Asia, such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and for the network of inland ports to act as freight clear-ing, processing and cargo consolidation centres.

Meanwhile, modernisation pro-grammes are either underway or planned at the nation’s main seaports, including Shahid Rajaee, Chabahar and Imam Khomeini, with the creation of rail corridors a key component of sev-eral projects.

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Iran plans inland port network Philly Shipyard (formerly Aker Philadel-phia Shipyard) is in negotiations with an unidentified Jones Act ship operator re-garding four new container ships for use in the USWC-Hawaii trade, for delivery in 2020 and 2021. Currently, this trade is operated by two shipping lines, Mat-son and Pasha, but the yard is promoting the formation of a new freight carrier to compete in the trade. Terms for a bare-boat charter through a maritime leasing company have been indicated to finance the vessels.

“We are excited to get started on building a new fleet of container ships for a new carrier in the Hawaii trade, and are pleased to have received such positive feedback from well-known US marine

New Jones Act carrier?players and financing sources,” remarked Steinar Nerbøvik, Philly Shipyard’s pres-ident and CEO.

“Philly Shipyard has a strong record of building quality vessels for this trade, and we believe local communities can ben-efit greatly from the safe and reliable ser-vice provided by our modern, efficient and environment-friendly ships.”

The new vessels will be the direct continuation of the series of two similar 3,600 TEU Aloha class container ships on which Philly Shipyard has begun work for Matson, for deployment in the USWC-Hawaii trade.

The yard believes that the operational benefits offered by series production of similar ships, coupled with its historical access to vessel financing, places it in a good position to build vessels for a new cargo liner service.

In an interview with WorldCargo News, Steve McMichael, VP, Global Freight Forwarding, Global Ocean Product at UPS in the US, gave the new shipping line alliances a cautious vote of confidence, but called for carriers to address underlying issues that are still playing havoc with rate stability.

UPS ships more than 0.5M TEU/year in total, and, while its custom-ers would like to see improvements in the shipping process, by far their bigger concern is rate volatility, said McMichael. Both forwarders and lines are focusing on putting value in front of customers, rather than price, but for shippers, large rate swings “make P&L management too hard”, especially when another mode is an option.

Overall, however, “the alliances have not changed what we have seen” with regard to the fundamen-tal supply and demand balance in the US market, continued McMichael. Carriers went into this year’s contract negotiations determined to get rates on the Asia/US transpacific lanes up, “and, by and large, they have suc-ceeded without changing capacity”.

At the same time, the shipping in-dustry is rushing to go digital, and there is a lot of talk about online booking extending to end-to-end services, but McMichael does not see a massive threat from internet-based click-and-book services. UPS, he said, is doing so much more than just moving goods for its customers from port to port – there are decisions across modes, gateways and inland journeys to consider. What is referred to as the “last mile” in shipping can often be a 300-mile truck trip in the US, and, while there are companies trying to commoditise that last mile to a click-and-book service, the re-ality is that there are big differences in the quality of the providers that ultimately move the goods. Expertise in supply chain “execution” stressed McMichael, remains a valuable ser-vice.

What could cause a bigger prob-lem in North America is any move by the Trump administration in response to lobbying from US ports to address the current opportunity for US ship-pers to route cargo through Cana-dian ports and avoid the ad valorem harbour maintenance tax in the US.

The issue has been bubbling away for years, but the Canadian dollar has fallen significantly against the US dollar in recent months, making both Vancouver and Prince Rupert more attractive. UPS has been promoting both Prince Rupert and Vancou-ver, but trade protection is “on our radar”, said McMichael, and, in the current political environment, UPS is being vigilant to keep allocations open through other gateways.

UPS looks for stability

June 2017 13

SHIPPING NEWS

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The Port of New York and New Jersey is realising immediate benefits from the raising of the Bayonne Bridge to provide vessels with an air draught clearance of 215ft. This month, the 10,062 TEU ZIM ANTWERP passed under the raised Bay-onne Bridge on its way to Maher Ter-minals in Port Elizabeth.

The ZIM ANTWERP arrived in New York after an all-water routing through the Panama Canal from China, calling at Savannah, Charleston, Norfolk, New York/New Jersey and Halifax, before turning back for Asia.

Zim Line is battling to stay in the market as an independent carrier, focus-ing on trade routes where it has com-petitive advantages. George Goldman, president of Zim USA, said: “Zim is a significant player in this trade, and one of the leading carriers serving the Asia-East Coast trade, which is expected to con-tinue to grow following the expansion of the Panama Canal. The trade is also served by another major Zim service, the Zim Seven Star Express (Z7S), along with additional complementary lines.”

Maher Terminals’ president and CEO, Gary Cross, said: “Zim Integrated Ship-ping Services has been a loyal container customer of Maher Terminals dating back to the opening of our first termi-nal in the early 1970s. Now, nearly 50 years later, we are privileged to share in this momentous occasion of the 10,062 TEU ZIM ANTWERP calling in the Port of NY/NJ at our facility under the newly raised roadway of the Bayonne Bridge. This event adds to the list of important milestones we share together in our long relationship. We applaud Zim for their continued success, and look forward to

Big ships come a-calling at NY/NJ handling many more of their mega ves-sels at Maher Terminals for many more years to come.”

Also celebrating this month were APM Terminals and CMA CGM. APMT Port Elizabeth welcomed the 8,700 TEU CMA CGM BIANCA, marking the first call of the weekly Ocean Al-liance US East Coast Loop 3 Service, which provides a direct service to the US East Coast from ports in China and Southeast Asia.

“The CMA CGM BIANCA arrived and departed on schedule with a berth productivity of 129.2 moves per hour (MPH) for the 4,393 container moves at the terminal, for 30.1 gross MPH, and

average dwell for rail-destined contain-ers of less than one day,” APMT said in a statement.

The CMA CGM BIANCA is not particu-larly big by today’s standards, but APMT noted that, until recently, most ves-sels calling the Port of New York/New Jersey were mainly in the 5,000-8,000 TEU range – and the current record for the largest vessel call at APMT Port Elizabeth is 9,600 TEU.

That record is not expected to last. Vessels of up to 14,000 TEU capacity can now transit the widened Panama Canal locks and APMT is spending US$200M upgrading its Port Elizabeth terminal, including raising cranes and purchasing

The 10,000 TEU ZIM ANTWERP sailing under the newly raised Bayonne Bridge

new ones. Now that bigger vessels can sail under the Bayonne Bridge, APMT expects an increase in overall size, and

noted that with a 215ft air draught and 50ft channel, ships of up to 18,000 TEU can now enter Newark Bay.

There has been a succession of colli-sions between vessels and cranes at Af-rican ports, including two at Durban, causing vast amounts of damage. The incidents took place on 30 April and 22 May in Durban, and on 18 May in Abidjan. The Ivorian accident occurred when the Cosco bulker DA ZHI struck a container gantry crane, which then collapsed. As it fell, it severely damaged a number of containers. It is not clear whether the crane involved was one of the four new gantry cranes commis-sioned at Abidjan in April.

In the first Durban incident, a ves-sel named JULIAN hit the port’s dry bulk cargo terminal, Bulk Connections, striking a giant shiploader. The loader was knocked over onto a conveyor gallery, inflicting an estimated R100M (US$7.8M) worth of damage on both pieces of equipment. A Transnet National Ports Authority pilot is re-ported to have been on the vessel at the time. Durban port manager Moshe Motlohi said that an investigation into the incident was underway. Then, on 23 May, the bridge wing of the 13,000 TEU-capacity MSC BENEDETTA hit an STS gantry crane at Durban Container Terminal.

It is possible that these particular accidents have come to light because of greater interest in such collisions fol-lowing the high-profile incident on 4 May, when the bow of the CMA CGM container ship CENTAURUS struck two STS cranes at DP World’s Jebel Ali Ter-minal 1, causing one crane to collapse. Ten people were injured.

The aftermath of the crane collapse in May at Jebel Ali, caused when the bow of a vessel struck two STS cranes

Crane/vessel collisions

May 201714

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PORT DEVELOPMENT

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Recent announcements by US President Donald Trump to backtrack on the easing sanc-

tions with Iran, and the decision by Bah-rain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt to sever diplomatic and trading ties with Qatar are already affecting trade in the Middle East.

Effectively, Qatar has been isolated be-cause of its government’s alleged support of terrorist groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaeda and ISIS/Daesh, and its close links with Iran. For a coun-try that relies on Saudi Arabia and Bah-rain for an estimated 40% of its food imports, and those countries’ ports, such as Jebel Ali and Dammam, as maritime gateways for most of its containerised imports and exports, an immediate crisis developed.

Qatari Government figures demon-strate the seriousness of the situation, as, out of the nation’s US$29B of imports in 2016, just over 17% came from the blockading countries, with over 9% from the UAE alone.

Qatari authorities and those compa-nies engaged in trade with the world’s richest country (on a per capita basis) have responded quickly to the difficul-ties. Increasing volumes of food are now being imported from Turkey and Iran, while cargo not moving direct into Qa-tari ports is being transferred over coun-tries not party to the blockade. In terms of containers and general cargo, this is mainly ports in Oman.

Re-routing Domestically controlled Milaha trans-port group and Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar) have been in-strumental in starting several new shuttle links that avoid calls at ports in countries supporting the embargo. New services linking Hamad with Sohar and Salalah in Oman and with the Indian ports of Mundra and Nhava Sheva are already in place, or have been announced, with sailings starting at the end of June/early July.

While the India Qatar Express service will mainly carry import/export cargo between the countries, it also intends us-ing Mundra as a relay point for Omani cargo moving to/from South East Asia, China, South Korea and other nations in the Far East. Two ships, HANSA MAGDE-BURG and HANSA DUBURG, are being de-ployed in the weekly operation.

Of the global shipping lines, Mae-rsk has started a new shuttle connect-ing Salalah and Hamad. It offers sailings every 10 days.

Nonetheless, there has been consid-erable disruption. At the time of writ-ing, ocean carriers, such as China Cosco Shipping Corp, Evergreen Line and OOCL, were still working on plans to serve Qatar, while several common car-rier feeder companies, including X-Press Feeders, had cancelled calls at Hamad Port.

In addition, tonnes of general cargo scheduled to move from Fujairah (UAE) had been suspended, and vessel time charters cancelled as a consequence.

Capt. Abdul Aziz al-Yafei, director of Hamad Port, explained: “In light of the recent developments in the region, we and our partners are ensuring the busi-ness continuity of our ports and shipping operation, and mitigating the impact that any action will have on imports and exports to and from Qatar.

“Mwani Qatar assures that business is progressing at all of our ports as before, and that, with our partners’ new services, our regional and global trade will be boosted.”

Silver liningsIronically, the embargo could be good news for the new port of Hamad. In particular, significantly more cargo is likely to be moved through the port on direct call mainline and feeder services from Oman than over Dam-mam. From Dammam, for instance, cargo was trucked over the Saudi border, which is now closed. In the case of feeder/intra-regional services, Hamad will now handle 12 services

a month to/from the port of Sohar. Meanwhile, in a clear sign of re-

silience and determination, Qatar’s Ministry of Transport and Commu-nications has announced that con-tracts have been awarded for the start of the second stage of Hamad Port’s phase one expansion programme. The various deals are believed to be

worth about QAR2B (US$550M).Air freight operators have benefited

from the situation, as importers of food have used this mode to cover immediate shortfalls, and this in a period of high demand, given the Ramadan religious festival.

Omani ports and global terminal op-erating companies, such as APM Termi-

As several of Qatar’s neighbours sever diplomatic and trading ties, the country has announced that contracts have been awarded for the start of the second stage of Hamad Port’s phase one expansion programme (artist’s impression)

June 201716

PORT DEVELOPMENT

nals, which manages Salalah, and Hutchison Port Holdings, which operates Oman International Container Terminal in Sohar, will see the greatest benefits from the action, although Shahid Rajaee and other ports in Iran, as well as Shuwaikh/Shuaiba in Kuwait, are open for business with Qatar.

The dispute will further delay the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) integrated rail plan, with one analyst stating that this “is the final nail in the coffin” for the project.

The bigger pictureWhile the dispute between Qatar and several of its neighbours cre-ates further uncertainty in a re-gion that up until 18 months ago had consistently posted above av-erage rates of growth in the gen-eral cargo/box trades, it needs to be kept in perspective.

While Qatar is a rich country, it is also a small country with a population of less than 3M peo-ple. Therefore, the traffic volumes involved in this dispute are very modest.

Indeed, recent events in Qatar are unlikely to have a major im-

pact on the Middle East region’s container trades. Of far greater significance is the continuing low price for oil and gas, with US$50 a barrel and lower appearing to be the new benchmark. It means slower rates of growth in trade and further cut-backs in major infrastructure projects by GCC members’ governments.

In 2016, for instance, DP World’s UAE operations en-countered what the company referred to as “challenging mar-ket conditions” and it led to box volumes at its flagship Jebel Ali facilities declining by more than 5% to 14.8M TEU. Although Q1 2017 proved better, with cargo volumes increasing by 1.8% to 3.7M TEU, this was well below Jebel Ali’s historic growth rates.

In addition, increasing un-certainty prevails over Iran and, specifically, whether President Trump will re-impose sanctions on the country, and what the re-action will be elsewhere in the world.

Uncertainty over Iran Since the ending of nuclear-re-lated sanctions on Iran by the US,

the European Union, Japan and various other nations in January 2016, liner shipping companies have relaunched services to/from the country. These have included Maersk Line, MSC, CMA CGM, Evergreen Line, Wan Hai Lines and Hyundai Merchant Marine. Meanwhile, several port man-agement companies have signed Memoranda of Understanding with various agencies and gov-ernment authorities for invest-ment opportunities. Cargo vol-umes have picked up strongly.

In 2016, the number of con-tainers handled at Iranian ports rose by 12.7% to 2.46M TEU, with Shahid Rajaee’s volumes up by more than 23% to 2.1M TEU. It is no surprise, therefore, that Iran is viewed by many compa-nies and investment entities as having the greatest growth and trading potential in the region.

Consequently, recent com-ments associated with the Trump administration are hugely sig-nificant, and the reintroduction of sanctions would have a major impact on investor sentiment. Moreover, many international banks and fiscal entities that have

relationships/business in the US are not prepared to fund projects in Iran, for fear of repercussions, being issued with penalties and/or blocked from other projects.

Several planned port projects aimed at foreign investors, of which there are many, would struggle, and Iran’s trading po-tential and that of the whole re-gion would be held back.

These projects include: Construction of the port of

Makran - it includes develop-ment of a bunkering facility and industrial park.

Expansion of the port of Chabahar, on the border with India and viewed as an important gateway for Afghanistan - to date, India Ports Global Private Ltd (IPGPL), which is backed by the Indian Government, has com-mitted over US$500M in fund-ing for a project expected to cost close to US$600M.

Modernisation of the port of Amirabad, which is located on the Caspian Sea and is the coun-try’s largest port in the north - the plan is to upgrade the rail ferry terminal, expand the port’s grain handling facilities to a

throughput capacity of 0.5 Mtpa, and develop a new ro-ro termi-nal. Overall, the port’s annual handling capacity would increase from 7.5 Mt to 18 Mt by 2030.

The Chabahar project is al-ready encountering problems, as tenders issued by IPGPL have en-listed little response from inter-national companies, as a conse-quence of the uncertain situation relating to sanctions. WorldCargo News understands, for instance, that suppliers of cargo handling equipment, including Liebherr, Cargotec and Konecranes, have not participated in any tenders issued to date – though this could be for other reasons.

Thinking bigIn Saudi Arabia, the biggest port development projects are on the country’s Red Sea coast. Both King Abdullah Port (KAP) and Jeddah’s Red Sea Gateway Ter-minal are in the midst of signifi-cant expansion programmes with the former’s “Vision 2030” plan geared to having a cargo han-dling complex capable of pro-cessing 20M TEU, 1.5M CEU (vehicles) and 15 Mt of clean dry bulk cargo each year.

KAP’s plan is hugely ambi-tious, given that in 2016 the pri-vately owned and operated port’s total throughput totalled just 1.4M TEU.

To date, well over SAR10B (US$2.67B) has been invested by Ports Development Company in KAP’s facilities and infrastruc-ture. Its current handling capac-ity stands at over 1 Mtpa of bulk cargo and close to 4M TEU/year of container traffic. By the end of 2017, a 300,000 CEU/year ro-ro terminal, operated by Japan’s NYK Group, will have been constructed, and the bulk

handling capacity will have been raised to 3 Mtpa.

On the western side of the country, the government, along with that of Bahrain, is planning to build a new causeway. It will feature road and rail connections, and is likely to be partly (or pos-sibly fully) funded by the private sector. A 20 to 30-year build op-erate and transfer arrangement is thought to be under discussion for the US$4B-5B project.

Dubbed the King Hamad Causeway, it will comprise a four-lane highway and a 70 km rail line that will directly con-nect the Bahraini port of Khalifa bin Salman to the Saudi railway system. Estimates suggest that, by 2050, 0.6M containers and in ex-cess of 13 Mt of bulk cargo could be using the new link.

The existing 25 km King Fahd Causeway was opened in 1986, and, at certain times, bouts of congestion are experienced. With this corridor likely to see a doubling in its use within the next 15 years, it is important to plan for the future.

Elsewhere, Abu Dhabi Ports is continuing to expand the port of Khalifa and its adja-cent industrial enterprise zone. The US$730M-plus invest-ment by China Shipping Ports in a second container terminal at the port could prove trans-formational, as, in addition to more than doubling Khalifa’s total throughput capacity to 6M TEU/year, it will mean China Cosco Shipping Co switching its main hub in the region from Jebel Ali to Abu Dhabi port. Moreover, it could lead to the carrier’s Ocean Alliance partners (CMA CGM, OOCL and Ev-ergreen Line) making a similar move.

The Middle East is home to several ambitiously minded in-ternational terminal operating companies (ITOs), including DP World, Abu Dhabi Ports Co (ADP) and Gulftainer. While these ITOs continue to invest in their flagship operations – Jebel Ali, Khalifa and Sharjah/Khorfakkan, respectively – they are also building a greater re-gional presence.

Branding itself as an “enabler of trade”, DP World is particu-larly keen on exploiting oppor-tunities associated with China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative and in Central Asia. Recently, the group signed two Memo-randa of Understanding (MoU) to develop a Port Community System (PCS) in Kazakhstan.

The MoU are with: Kazakhstan Temir Zholy

(KTZ), the national rail com-pany. This involves setting up a joint-venture company to im-plement and manage the PCS and create a Eurasian Transcon-tinental Corridor.

KTZ and the Committee of State Revenues of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan (customs) to ensure the integration of customs pro-cesses into the online portal.

“We have experience of delivering this at our flagship operation in Jebel Ali, where the Dubai Logistics Corridor connects road, rail, air and sea transport, and provides seamless cargo movements through the Dubai Trade Portal, with more than 50,000 transactions con-ducted each day,” said Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, chairman and CEO of DP World.

Meanwhile, ADP has signed

a 35-year concession agree-ment with the Port of Fujairah, and will develop an additional 1 km of deep-draught (16.5m) quay line and build 250,000 m2 of extra storage area. New handling equipment, terminal management systems and IT networks will be introduced, based largely on ADP’s experi-ence at Khalifa.

A new entity called Fujairah Terminals has been established as a wholly owned subsidiary of ADP to manage the new op-eration.

The deal gives ADP exclu-sive rights to develop facilities for handling a range of cargo streams and passengers for the sustainable growth of the port. With containers likely to figure heavily in the plans, it is highly significant that ADP has secured exclusivity in handling this cargo across the whole emirate.

“Signing with the Port of Fujairah marks a major mile-stone for Abu Dhabi Ports, and, for our clients on the east coast, it means more shipping options,” said Capt. Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, CEO of ADP. “It will also allow the re-export of goods that arrive at Khalifa Port to India, Pakistan and East Africa, in addition to receiving general cargo for clients in the northern emirates.”

ADP will start develop-ment work on the new berths and yard areas in 2018, with new generation cargo han-dling equipment becoming operational in 2021. By 2030, ADP hopes to have increased Fujairah’s handling capacity to 1M TEU of containers and 700,000t of general cargo a year.

Local heavyweights home in near home

June 2017 17

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North Africa looks to scale up

over Tanger Med, as the highway from Algeria through Niger to Nigeria is being upgraded. While the Algerian port could attract feeder services supplying West Af-rica, containers could also be transported by road. If and when further road con-nections are added, this could allow El Hamdania to compete with Abidjan and Tema in servicing the landlocked coun-tries of the West African Sahel.

The government’s enthusiasm for eco-

nomic reform tends to fluctuate in line with oil and gas prices. When prices are low and government finances are under strain, Algiers begins to countenance loos-ening its grip over the economy, but plans are usually shelved when prices recover. Hydrocarbon prices, though, have now been low for three years, and the market is showing no sign of a genuine recovery.

However, Jean-François Dauphin, the head of the IMF team that visited the

In Morocco, Tanger Med, which is set to have four container terminals, han-dled 2.96M TEU last year. The two

existing terminals are operated by APM Terminals and Eurogate, while Marsa Maroc has won the concession for one of the two new facilities. However, it is AP-MT’s automated MedPort Tangier tran-shipment terminal that will turn Tanger Med into by far the biggest container port on the African continent.

The terminal will have the capacity to handle 5M TEU/year, taking total port capacity up to 8M TEU/year, with an option to add another 1M TEU/year at a later date. Total development costs are put at €758M, including the supply of 12 STS cranes from ZPMC and 32 ASCs from Künz.

Tanger Med Special Agency (TMSA), which is the port’s landlord, awarded APMT its 30-year concession in March last year. In December, the latter awarded Hill International the contract to manage and supervise the construction of Med-Port Tangier, with the task of ensuring that the terminal is operational by the end of 2019.

Morocco has traditionally focused its economic policy on trade with Europe, but persistently low levels of economic growth in Europe have persuaded the government to turn towards sub-Saharan Africa. It has joined the African Union, 33 years after it withdrew from its prede-cessor, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), over the OAU’s support for West-ern Saharan independence. Morocco still trades more with the European Union than with the rest of the world put to-gether, although Tanger Med could act as a transhipment port for the whole of West Africa.

Algerian rivalThe government of Algeria has agreed to develop a new port at El Hamdania, apparently in response to the success of Tanger Med. Plans for the project were completed in December, and construc-tion work began in March. The port, which is located 65 km west of Algiers, is to be built in stages, with the first phase scheduled for completion in 2021. A to-tal of 23 container berths are envisaged, collectively providing 6.3M TEU/year in handling capacity. The African Devel-opment Bank has provided a US$900M loan, which is to be repaid over 20 years, starting in 2022.

Morocco and Algeria are great rivals, and they also follow broadly different economic models. While Morocco has developed a broad-based economy cen-tred on foreign investment and manufac-turing exports, Algeria is the archetypal oil and gas producer. The country relies on hydrocarbon exports to generate 93% of its export revenues, and many sections of the economy are heavily state con-trolled. There are also strong limitations on foreign investment.

All this poses challenges for El Ham-dania. The government hopes to attract billions of dollars of investment in the 2,000-ha of industrial zones associated with the port. It is banking on the provi-sion of a modern port and other infra-structure to attract tenants, but this is only one half of the equation. It also needs to improve the terms of investment and re-duce red tape, including the requirement that foreign investors can only hold mi-nority stakes in Algerian projects.

The port is to be developed by Chi-na Harbour Engineering Company and China State Construction Engineering Corporation, which have a joint 49% stake in the venture, with the Algerian Port Authority holding the remaining 51% equity. If it proves difficult to attract export-orientated businesses, the project will rely on transhipment business.

While Tanger Med has managed to win transhipment business from Algeciras and other Southern European ports, there is only so much trade to go around. An-other project on this scale may struggle to compete, although China Cosco Ship-ping has already suggested that it could make El Hamdania its hub in the Western Mediterranean.

El Hamdania will have one advantage

While ports in Morocco and Egypt continue to plan expansions, a rival in Algeria also has designs on the transhipment market

Maersk Line’s 18,300 TEU Triple E-Class MAREN MAERSK on a trial visit to Suez Canal Container Terminal earlier this year

country in March, seems to believe that change is on the way. “Efforts to adjust to the oil price shock are underway,” he said. “The authorities made progress

improving the business environment, and are working on a long-term strat-egy to reshape the country’s growth model to foster greater private-sector

June 201718

PORT DEVELOPMENT

Experience the progress.

reachstacker@liebherr.comfacebook.com/LiebherrMaritimewww.liebherr.com

activity and economic diversification.”At the opposite end of North Africa,

Egypt’s role in international shipping can be summed up as one of historical im-portance, future potential but contempo-rary problems. Investors are likely to be attracted to develop new terminals at the heart of sea lanes connecting Europe and Asia, while trade between Europe and East Africa is also growing. However, the investment regime and local security situ-ation need to be improved, and overca-pacity is already a problem.

The Egyptian government is currently finalising legislative changes to improve its terms of foreign investment. President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has made attracting foreign investment a central plank of both his economic and political policy. He views it as the best means of promoting economic growth and job creation, which in turn will help to calm political tensions in a country that is still shaky after the events of the Arab Spring. The govern-ment envisages that there will be six ports in the Suez Canal Economic Zone by 2045, serving a wide range of manufactur-ing, processing and industrial enterprises.

Port investment could increase now that Cairo has finally allowed the national currency to float, under pressure from the IMF. The value of the Egyptian pound has fallen from roughly EG£9 to the US dollar in June 2016 to about EG£18 currently. Given that a large proportion of construction materials and workers on any port project will come from within Egypt, this dramatic depreciation should greatly reduce the cost of any projects.

Sokhna expanding DP World is in talks with Egypt’s Gen-eral Authority for Investment and Free Zones over expanding the Port of Sokh-na, which lies on the Red Sea, near the entrance to the Suez Canal. The port, which handled 14 Mt of cargo last year, is located closer to Cairo than any other Egyptian port. The company plans to de-velop a second basin at the port, although the timing of its construction has not yet been set by the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCEZ). A new logistics centre and

general cargo terminal are also planned, as well as the launch of ro-ro services.

The construction of the second basin has been held up by an unspecified disa-greement over the development of the third basin, which will serve a planned bulk liquids terminal. However, Mohab Mamish, who is both head of the SCEZ and chairman of the Suez Canal Author-ity (SCA), announced in early June that the problem had been resolved and both projects should now be free to proceed. DP World says that it has invested US$1B in Sokhna over the past decade.

OvercapacityThe Egyptian port sector as a whole handled just 6.5M TEU in 2016 out of installed capacity of 11M TEU. This is partly because of weakness in the do-mestic economy, but much more because of lower than anticipated transhipment turnover. The country has not developed as much transhipment business as quick-ly as the government had hoped. While Sokhna focuses on handling Egyptian trade, East Port Said at the southern end of the Suez Canal generates more of its business from transhipment.

Operated by Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT), it handled just 1.9M TEU last year out of total handling ca-pacity of 5.5M TEU. While Tanger Med is now the biggest container port in Af-rica in terms of turnover, East Port Said is still ahead in installed capacity. Having dredged its side channel and port basin to 18.5m, SCCT is ‘big ship ready’, but faces stiff competition from Piraeus in Greece.

The government wants to see the con-struction of a new container terminal at Port Said with a 20m draught, and has been in talks for at least 20 months with Singapore’s PSA International over devel-oping the project. In the most recent of-ficial statement on the project, in March, Mamish said: “We are awaiting a final master plan of a new pier at East Port Said port from Singapore’s PSA.” PSA is cur-rently undertaking technical and com-mercial feasibility studies. The company already operates the Port of Dammam on

Saudi Arabia’s east coast, as well as Mer-sin in Turkey, but nothing in between.

Suez transits Shipping is more intimately connected with the Egyptian economy than with almost any other country because the Suez Canal is one of the country’s main sources of foreign income. The number of vessels transiting the Canal fell from 17,500 in 2015 to 16,800 in 2016, due to a combination of political instability, fall-ing oil prices and low economic growth.

The SCA has offered a number of dis-counts to container vessels and bulkers, and numbers have rebounded to some extent. According to the latest available figures, 2,973 vessels passed through the Canal in March and April, with annual turnover for the year to the end of April 4% up on the figure at the end of March. It is interesting that container tonnage was 9% higher in April than in the same month last year, reflecting the growing size of vessels.

East-West railThere is relatively little trade between North African states at present, but Egypt and Morocco are keen to oversee the construction of a railway line between their respective ports. Egypt’s economic difficulties actually make such a venture more rather than less likely, as its govern-ment is driving a number of mega pro-jects, in order to create employment and boost growth. Apart from the railway and the expansion of the Suez Canal, it is also embarking on the construction of a new capital city to the east of Cairo.

Progress on the railway is unlikely until the security situation improves in Libya and a single unitary Libyan government is in place. It has been suggested in the Egyptian press that Saudi Arabia could help finance the scheme if the railway were extended into its territory, as it could be used to carry pilgrims during the Hajj. There have even been sugges-tions that the line could connect with the new Chinese-Iranian rail services, to carry cargo from China to Moroccan ports for onwards transport to North America.

DP World has strengthened its position at Egypt’s Sokhna through the acqui-sition of concessions in Djibouti and breakaway Somali states, where the Red Sea meets the Gulf of Aden.

The Dubai-based operator started its 30-year concession to develop and operate the port of Berbera in Somali-land in March. It has pledged to build a 400m quay and invest US$442m in the port and associated free zone. The UAE firm is expected to take a 51% stake in the venture, and the Somali-land government 30%, while the gov-ernment has agreed “in principle” to allocate the government of landlocked Ethiopia the remaining 19%, suggest-ing that Addis Ababa sees Berbera as an alternative to Djibouti.

In April, P&O Ports – part of Dubai Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corpo-ration (PCFC), and a sister company to DP World – announced that it had signed a 30-year contract to operate the Port of Bosaso in the Puntland State of Somalia. It will build a 450m quay, provide cargo handling equip-ment, and dredge the harbour and berths to a depth of 12m.The P&O Ports brand was resurrected by PCFC

in 2015 in order to chase opportuni-ties in the bulk and breakbulk/general cargo sector that are not considered the right fit for DP World.

In Djibouti, DP World operates Doraleh Container Terminal (DCT), which was developed in partnership with the government, and opened in 2008. Relations between DP World and the government of Djibouti have been strained by a legal dispute be-tween the two, involving accusations of bribery. DP World was cleared by both the London Commercial Court and the Court of Arbitration, also in London.

The Port of Djibouti SA is now embarking on a new venture that will provide competition to DP World’s fa-cilities in both the container and gen-eral cargo sectors. Doraleh Multipur-pose Port (DMP) opened at the end of May, following a US$590M investment by China Merchants Group (CMG) and the Port of Djibouti SA. The Chi-nese firm also bought a 23.5% stake in the Port of Djibouti and 67% in DCT from Port Autonome International de Djibouti, with DP World still holding the remaining 33%.

Moves in the Gulf of Aden

Doraleh Multipurpose Port opened in May

June 2017 19

CARGO HANDLING

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105-565 kW

Heading for the next stageDemand for lower emissions is stimulating development of new power systems for mobile plant

EU Stage V emission limits for non-road mobile ma-chinery (NRMM) come

into force in 2019 and 2020, ac-cording to engine size. The NOx limit for engines between 56 kW and 560 kW are unchanged from Stage IV, but the mass-based PM limit is being cut from 0.025 to 0.015 g/kWh, and, for the first time, there will be a limit for particle number (PN) emis-sions, obliging the use of a diesel particulate filter (DPF). Stage V brings NRMM to within a hair’s breadth of Euro VI for highway trucks. In addition, emissions from very large diesel engines P >560 kW are being caught by the EU for the first time (see ac-companying table for details).

Machines from 56 to 560 kW cover most NRMM in the ports sector (tractors, lift trucks, straddle carriers, etc). In hardware terms, the biggest change will be the need for a DPF, which most port OEMs have avoided up to and including Stage IV/Tier 4 Final.

Leading NRMM engine mak-ers such as Volvo Penta, Scania, Cummins, MTU, etc announced their Stage V line-ups some time ago, but most port OEMs are still evaluating their options. To the knowledge of WorldCargo News, only Kalmar, among the leading OEMs, has indicated its Stage V preferences, so it is ap-propriate here to focus on what Kalmar and its selected partner for a range of its machines, Volvo Penta, are doing. Kalmar has been one of Volvo Penta’s biggest cus-tomers for many years, and the company is now testing Stage V engines in reach stackers, ECHs, FLTs and terminal tractors.

“We’ve had a close collabora-tion for many years, with good support in the development of our powertrains, from Volvo Pen-ta,” said Drew Heisel, Kalmar’s director, Global Powertrains. “We’ve had discussions on what we require and what could be achieved, and both our and their engineering teams have worked in parallel to reach decisions. Kalmar requires reliable high-performance engines and solu-tions that produce peak torque at low rpm, immediate load accept-ance, excellent uptime, good fuel economy and low noise.”

Volvo Penta’s line-up for Stage V includes all five engines – D5, D8, D11, D13, and D16 – offer-ing the same power range from 105 kW to 565 kW (143 hp-770 hp) as its existing offer for industrial NRMM. For Stage V, the engine is matched with a new exhaust after-treatment sys-tem (EATS) that includes a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC), a DPF, AdBlue injection, selective cata-lytic reduction (SCR) and am-monia slip catalyst (ASC).

“In leveraging a commonality of engine architecture, with the addition of the new EATS for Stage V, we are able to provide consistency of high quality and performance,” said Johan Carls-son, CTO at Volvo Penta. “Cus-tomers can be assured of ease of installation and the same support

from us, in any market, through-out the emissions levels.”

Staying coolThe DPF adds “back-pressure”, but Volvo Penta says it is still able to improve fuel-efficiency, even compared to Stage IV in like-for-like operations. Product manager Erik Lundberg adds that Volvo Penta has switched from cooled exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) in Stage IV to uncooled EGR for Stage V. It has also mod-ified the inlet throttle, and intro-duced a new air pressure gov-ernor. “This heat management system is aimed at optimising the after-treatment and ensur-ing a very high share of passive regeneration, even for machines that are operated at low tempera-tures and engine loads,” he said.

This is a key point for end-users and hence their OEM suppliers. If active regeneration is required to remove soot from the DPF, machines have to be run for extra hours, and fuel is wasted. Every 5,000 hours or so, the DPF has to be removed for professional cleaning, but Volvo Penta’s global service network (for trucks, buses and highway trucks, as well as NRMM) will ensure there is proper back-up.

Volvo Penta’s business devel-opment manager, Mauricio Her-nander, adds that there is no need for high temperature sulphur regeneration in the SCR cata-lyst, as it is Vanadium-based and does not absorb sulphur. This is the same technical solution as the company adopted for Stage IV/Tier 4 Final.

In contrast, says Volvo Penta, a copper zeolite-based SCR cata-lyst absorbs sulphur from the fuel and will lose its NOx conversion efficiency, so has to be regener-ated with high exhaust tempera-ture. This typically requires fuel to be injected, often via an extra (seventh) injector in the exhaust piping, into the EATS DOC, leading to a toxic chemical re-action. To minimise sulphuric acid release, light regeneration is required, but this means longer regeneration times and shorter intervals in between.

Branching outVolvo Cars has committed to building only electric and hybrid cars from 2019, marking the end of combustion-only engines, and, meanwhile, the writing is clearly on the wall for diesel cars in Eu-rope and the US. For highway trucks and NRMM, the transi-tion will take longer, but Volvo affiliate CPAC Systems is devel-oping alternative propulsion and control systems.

Hyster Europe has now re-vealed that it is already working on all-electric drive up to 48t SWL (and not 25t as WorldCargo News speculated in the May 2017 edition, p2). Such a machine

will shortly be entering the trial phase at the company’s test facil-ity in Weeze, Germany.

With an eye on “zero emis-sions” goals, as set out by the San Pedro Bay ports, Hyster argues that operators will be expected to be able to electrify their big truck fleets, but they will also want similar performance to their diesel-powered machines. This is an ambitious project, since a lift truck needs much more peak power than a transporter such as an AGV, even a Lift-AGV.

Hyster is taking a “stepped” approach to its proposed solu-tions, taking into account the customer’s duty cycle, in order to understand how much power is needed. As a first step, it will be testing a big truck with 250 kW of installed power from a large Lithium-ion battery pack.

Build it upJan-Willem van den Brand, Hyster-Yale’s director, Big Truck Strategy, argues that this could be suitable for low-intensity usage – for example, a barge terminal where the lift truck is needed for stack/truck (un)loading duties associated with a barge call, so it could work for 3 hours and then be recharged with a conventional charging station during the next 2 hours.

Under the second step, the au-tonomy of a truck with the same or smaller battery pack could be extended to 6-8 hours by equip-ping it for “opportunity charg-ing”, either inductively or with quick-charge (dis)connect plug-in. This requires more infrastruc-ture investment by the operator, such as primary induction coils at intervals on travel paths in the terminal, interfacing with sec-ondary coils on the underside of the truck.

In the third and final step, which Hyster wants to ap-ply up to H52XM-16CH (H1150HD CH in North America), the company aims to leverage the hydrogen fuel cell technology of Hyster-Yale affiliate Nuvera to develop a

Source: Euromot/Dieselnet

Stage V NRMM diesel emission limits (selected power classes)

Date202020192019

NOx0.40.43.45

HC0.190.190.19

PN 1/kWh1x 10^121x 10^12

n/a

CO g/kWh5

3.53.5

PM g/kWh0.0150.0150.045

Net power kW56≤ P <130130≤ P ≤560P>560

hybrid fuel cell-electric truck.Explaining this, van den Brand

said that it is not possible to pro-vide the same level of autonomy to a pure electric truck as with a diesel truck with an 800-litre fuel tank. At 9.7 kWh/litre, this totals 7,760 kWh, or up to 72 hours of

autonomy (the whole weekend), for which the equivalent Lithium-ion battery pack would occupy 57 m3 and weigh a massive 90t.

On top of this, pure electric drive is impractical for large fleet operators. Say, for example, 20 x 200 kW trucks need to be re-

charged at the same time, that’s 4 MW of power draw, enough for 3,000 homes in the US. Now imagine a large cruise ship – a floating hotel – has just berthed and has to ‘cold iron’, while a large container ship has just un-loaded 1,000 reefer containers

A Volvo Penta D11 Stage V engine and complete after-treatment system

June 201720

CARGO HANDLING

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Brand, “when the trucks are expected to be able to support continuous operation, delivered through our relationship with Nuvera Fuel Cells.” Hydrogen is abun-dant, clean, and provides the same con-venience as diesel. The fuel cell charges the batteries, and the software ensures they are at the optimum level of charge. “It should be thought of simply as port-able electricity,” said van den Brand. Pat-ents are pending for all the new tech-nologies being implemented by Hyster.

Avoid pitfallsNot everyone is convinced by this ap-proach. In developing the Hy-Lift hybrid diesel-supercaps/electric motor hybrid drive (WorldCargo News, May 2017, p62) BP Handling Technologies/CVS Ferrari considered that the price of Li-ion bat-teries will remain relatively high, while

container handling lift trucks, which in-volves a step-change from conventional FLT ‘thinking’. To summarise:

The mast is positioned in line with the fulcrum point that runs through the cen-treline of the front wheels, so the truck can be built lighter, saving materials.

The truck is driven electrically, and has an electric winch rope hoist. High pressure hydraulics are totally eliminated, saving 400-450 litres of hydraulic oil in the ECH thus far developed.

In investing €5M in R&D to develop Hy-Lift, BP/CVS clearly have an eye on the laden container handling market, and this will be the next step. Clearly the power pack will have to be bigger, but so will be the absolute fuel-savings.

CVS believes its approach will result in a lower overall environmental impact than a lift truck with ‘zero emissions’, especially as the latter still relies on hy-draulics for lifting. The Hy-Lift fuel-sav-ings are claimed to be around 45%, com-pared to an equivalent diesel truck, but the amount of ‘consumables’ and their associated environmental impact is also considerably reduced.

As noted, the design requires much less hydraulic oil and no maintenance-intensive high-pressure hydraulics, do-ing away with frequent oil changes, valves, seals, hose replacements, etc. This translates directly into higher up-times (so perhaps fewer machines are needed) and, in extremis, the risk of ‘hy-draulic fires’ is eliminated. Lifting chains are replaced by ropes that require less greasing, last longer, and are less ex-pensive to source. The weight-saving allows smaller tyres to be used within ERTRO speed/load tolerances, so, again, less material is being consumed.

Duisburg Port operator Duisburg In-termodal Terminal (DIT), an affiliate of Duisport Group and Contargo, re-cently took delivery of a hybrid Kone-cranes SMV 4531 TC5 reach stacker. This is believed to be the first Kone-cranes hybrid reach stacker to be sup-plied outside Sweden (Helsingborg).

Fuel-savings of up to 30% are claimed for the machine, with annual CO

2E savings of 20t (from 100t to

80t) based on 4,000 running hours. The hybrid design features a hybrid diesel/electric driveline, an electrified hydraulic lifting system, and super ca-pacitors for energy storage. Mainte-nance-intensive components such as transmission and variable displace-ment pumps have been eliminated. Controllers and inverters are placed in easily replaceable modular boxes, to simplify spare parts supply and in-crease uptime.

After two months of service, DIT’s managing director, Bernd Putens, said that even his high expectations have been exceeded, adding that, in some operations, fuel-savings of up to 50% have been observed, although no information is available about the comparator machine(s). All test results will be collected and will be used for DIT’s future procurement of han-dling equipment.

Hybrid for Duisport

A new Stage IV Hyster H40XM-16CH in operation with forwarding company Mönkemöller Speditionsgesellschaft mbH, part of Kuehne & Nagel, in Bielefeld, Ger-many. In future this could be an e-truck

Hy-Lift mast with electric rope winch drive for the mast raising and lowering. This is the only alternative fuel heavy lift truck that dis-penses completely with hydraulics for traction and lifting

that need to go into the reefer stack. The fuel cell-electric hybrid truck

again needs to be optimised to the cus-tomer’s duty cycles to achieve the lowest possible TCO, but, essentially, it is much more practical, since the hydrogen pack equivalent to 800 litres of diesel occu-pies 5.83 m3 with 233kg of onboard H2 stored in cylinders pressurised to 700 bar. This may alarm some operators, but Wil-lem Nieuwland, project leader at the Big Truck Development Centre in Nijmegen, makes the point that it is perfectly safe, provided all the standards are followed.

“Fuel cells come in,” explains van den

fuel cells will also remain prohibitively expensive for the foreseeable future, and the infrastructure lags behind as well.

For CVS, the most cost-effective solu-tion for the next 5-10 years, at least, is to minimise diesel fuel consumption by using a small diesel generator, while still providing the full convenience and flex-ibility of diesel. Meanwhile, the supercap cells are the same as those used in auto stop/start in the automobile industry, so the price has fallen sharply.

The BP/CVS drive concept has to be considered as part of a radical new architecture for the Hy-Lift dedicated

May 2017 21

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June 201722

REEFER INDUSTRY

Reefer box produc-tion fell sharply dur-ing 2016, resulting in

a delivery of just 160,000 TEU for the year as a whole. It was more than 40% down on the 275,000 TEU produced in 2015, and ended a run of several years when reefer output had been on the rise again.

The total for 2016 (see Table 1) was, in fact, lower than at any

time since 2009 (or, prior to that year, as far back as 2004), and was a reflection of weaker reefer demand and a much reduced ap-petite for investment. Although much of the reduction in 2016

was due to a cutback in shipping line expenditure, for want of ready capital, the leasing indus-try’s reefer purchasing was also at a five-year low.

Rental firms took delivery of

Reefer box production stays weakGlobal reefer production fell sharply last year, and has yet to show any real signs of picking up again

around 100,000 TEU as reefer containers in 2016, compared to 60,000 TEU purchased di-rectly by shipping lines and other transport operators. This marked a 30% reduction for the lessors, compared to 2015, but it repre-sented a much greater 55% drop for the lines.

Approaching 50:50The lessors’ intake may have slowed during 2016, but it still accounted for over 60% of the global figure. This fuelled yet another gain for the already fast-expanding reefer leasing sector, but more ground was lost by shipping lines, in terms of their share of ownership. By the end of 2016, leasing companies were in control of almost 50% of the en-tire global reefer fleet, which was proportionally higher than at any time in the past. Prior to 2009, the leased share had rarely strayed much above 30%.

Nevertheless, both the ship-ping and rental sides were to be impacted by the bankruptcy of Hanjin Shipping Company later in 2016, with shipping lines find-ing themselves even less able to secure funding in its aftermath. Their (already limited) reefer in-vestment was thus brought to a virtual halt, and the situation was not helped by the timing of the Korean company’s failure, which occurred right at the start of the ‘peak’ reefer season, when de-mand is usually at its strongest.

In Hanjin’s wakeBy contrast, the leasing industry has been more preoccupied with the practicalities of box recovery, although this, too, was to draw its focus away from newbuild pur-chasing. Most top leasing firms had some significant exposure to Hanjin, with many thousands of reefer containers (both leased and owned) being impounded in the aftermath of the company’s collapse. It took several months for the majority to be released, with the final units not being returned until well into 2017. Significantly though, the leasing industry was not only intent on recovering as much of its own equipment as possible, but has also benefitted from a sizeable intake of used reefer containers formerly owned by (or on fi-

nance to) Hanjin.This added to the lessors’ ear-

lier substantial purchase of used reefer equipment from other shipping companies, which had been traded through sale and leaseback, in order to raise fi-nance. It was to further cut new-build rental demand in 2016, as did the conclusion of two size-able fleet mergers earlier in the year. These have since yielded some further operating synergies, as well as removing two major competitors (TAL International and Dong Fang Leasing), and so resulted in a smaller net require-ment for extra equipment.

More consolidationSimilar transactions are also oc-curring within the container shipping sector, following the takeover of APL by CMA CGM earlier in 2016, and subsequent mergers involving Hapag-Lloyd/UASC and Maersk/Hamburg Süd (both of which are due for completion in 2017). These are, likewise, reducing the overall net requirement for all box equip-ment (and particularly reefers) as further efficiencies are being achieved.

As a result, the line-owned reefer fleet underwent no real change in size during 2016, whereas the global count man-aged a growth rate of just 2.2% to attain its present size of approxi-mately 2.7M TEU. In more re-cent months, reefer procurement has been pushed increasingly on to the backburner because of a strong recovery in the demand of standard containers, which has encouraged a proportionally greater dry freight investment.

Unsurprisingly, the fallout from these recent upheavals is continuing to be felt into 2017, as the outlook for reefer demand has, so far, again proved to be relatively downbeat for the year overall.

Although output is forecast to rise in 2017 (on 2016), it is not expected to go much above 200,000 TEU, and will remain below the annual average of re-cent years. Up to 80,000 TEU was due for delivery during the opening six months of 2017, which would compare with nearer 40,000 TEU produced during the same period in 2016, but 140,000 TEU one year be-fore that (through January-June 2015). The only buyer of recent significance is Maersk Line, with the Danish carrier accounting for 75% of all output, so far, in 2017.

The split for first half 2017 will likely comprise about 37,500 x 40ft high cube reefer containers, plus 2,500 x 20ft and 1,000 spe-

cials (mainly 45ft and 53ft). By comparison, production in the whole of 2016 featured 73,500 x 40ft (high cube), 8,000 x 20ft and roughly 2,500 as domestic or other special.

The global production rate has averaged 15,000 TEU/month since March, having earlier run at less than 10,000 TEU. It rare-ly topped 15,000 TEU/month during the whole of 2016, apart from in November/December when factories were kept slightly busier by the stronger demand of the peak season. The monthly average had fallen well short of 10,000 TEU/month for much of the opening half of that year.

This modest (and relatively un-changing) output is at odds with the present standing of the reefer box building industry, as it can currently lay claim to a theoreti-cal capacity of well above 30,000 TEU/month. This rate is equiva-lent to nearly 400,000 TEU per year, based on maximum twin-shift working. Around half of the total is controlled by the world’s top reefer building group, China International Marine Contain-ers (CIMC), leaving a mini-mum of 60,000 TEU/year in the hands of Singamas Holdings, and more than 125,000 TEU/year with Maersk Container In-dustry (MCI). Around 90% of all reefer capacity is located within the central/northern regions of China, where it has already been centred for many years.

FUWA underwayOn top of the figure of 400,000 TEU noted above, a further 5,000 TEU of annual capac-ity is now being offered by the industry’s newest participant, Guangdong FUWA Equipment Manufacturing Co, which only commenced reefer construction at a new purpose-built site at its Shunde plant last year.

FUWA delivered roughly 2,000 TEU (mostly 40ft) in 2016, all of which had been pro-duced in the second half of the year. Given the difficult state of the market, and the competi-tive pressure that this creates, this would have to be regarded as a good start by the company.

FUWA’s decision to enter the market is an interesting one, as Guangdong FUWA Engineer-ing Group Ltd was number four on the list of top five suppliers to CIMC in 2016. FUWA En-gineering is the world’s largest trailer and trailer axle manufac-turer. It is offering reefers in 20ft, 40ft, 45ft, 48ft and 53ft dimen-sions. The company lists its ca-pacity as 25,000 FEU of stand-ard reefer containers plus 10,000

MCI is focusing on the energy consumption of its reefers as it looks to grow market share

Table 1: Reefer container production by type (TEU)

*First half projection. **Specialised domestic. Source: Manufacturers’ own data

20155,000

265,0005,000

275,000140,000

H1 2017*2,50075,0002,50080,00041,000

20168,000

147,0005,000

160,00084,000

201421,000200,0004,000

225,000123,000

20ft40ft45ft/53ft**TotalTotal (units)

June 2017 23

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Samskip loses weightSamskip has announced that it has received another 51 of its new light-weight 45ft reefer containers.

The containers were built in China and delivered to Rotterdam Shortsea Terminals (RST). They feature the same innovative flat composite inner lining first used by Samskip in 2014. The enhanced design, said Samskip, “results in containers that are lighter, stronger and easier to clean than con-ventional reefer units, while allowing for a smoother (un)loading process”.

The containers’ tare weight has been reduced from 5,990 kg to 5,760 kg, in turn increasing payload capacity.

units of special containers per year. Looking at the more established play-

ers, MCI operates two factories – Qing-dao in China and San Antonio in Chile. Singamas has a single reefer plant at Qi-dong, plus another under construction at Qingdao. CIMC has two mainstream sites, at Qingdao and Taicang, as well as a subsidiary line devoted to production of specials (also in Qingdao). All these factories, with the exception of MCI-Qingdao, are relatively new, having been brought on stream within the past four years.

Underutilised capacityMuch of the present capacity has been operational since the production peak of 2015, which further implies that most (if not all) factories have been hard-pressed to maintain a single daily shift throughout the past 18 months. This is not viable for the longer term, given that reefer factories have traditionally been worked more intensively than their dry freight counterparts, in order to achieve a higher rate of productivity. Through-out the past five years, the majority of dry freight plants have been operated at single-shift, although most reefer fac-tories (prior to the downturn of 2016) were working closer to twin-shift. Little wonder, therefore, that some of the ear-lier – and more ambitious – expansion plans, which might have seen the global reefer capacity figure rise to more than 500,000 TEU/year, are now on hold for the time being.

The increasingly pressured box-build-ing sector has been aided, in part, by the relatively stable state of reefer pric-ing. The latter has yet to experience the same degree of volatility as that affecting the recent dry freight sector. Finished reefer prices are largely underpinned by the cost of stainless steel, as well as Chi-nese labour.

The fluctuation in Corten Steel price has less of an impact on reefer costs than for dry boxes, because of the proportion-ally smaller use of this material in reefer box construction. In addition, reefer machinery prices have been kept down – and relatively stable – by the intense competition that has long existed within this largely exclusive manufacturing sec-tor, whilst the burgeoning overcapacity of the reefer box-building side has, simi-larly, held down the price of container body construction.

The average price paid per ‘commis-sioned’ 40ft reefer has, consequently, held largely static for the past two years, at approximately US$15,000-16,000 de-

Samskip’s new 45ft reefers have a flat com-posite inner lining to reduce weight

“These new reefers are also 5 cm wider inside than a normal 45ft reefer, allowing wider pallets and packaging,” said Johan Vogelaar, Samskip manager, Multimodal Services, Reefer Trade. “This is an espe-cially significant advantage for fruit and vegetable shippers.”

Each unit includes a high-perfor-mance Thermo King Magnum Plus generator set, designed to hold frozen, chilled or heated cargo in a temperature range of -30 degC to +30 degC. The containers will be fitted with a tracking and monitoring system, enabling Sam-skip to manage remotely the containers on shortsea, rail, barge and road services

throughout Europe, as well as during terminal storage.

“The new reefers further enable an expanded network, while offering a more sustainable and cost-effective solu-tion, with enhanced quality assurance for the customers’ temperature-controlled goods and perishables,” said Vogelaar.

“What is more, the insulation material used is 100% non-CFC (Cyclopen-tane), in line with our environmentally friendly business standards.”

Samskip has used Mubea Tailor Rolled Blanks (specially rolled steel panels) to reduce the weight in some of its new dry containers, but the com-pany confirmed that it is not using this technology in reefer applications. Mubea displayed a 45ft dry container at the Intermodal Europe Exhibition held in Rotterdam in November last year, and it is also offering its Tailor Rolled Blanks for reefer containers.

Meanwhile, Samskip is adding 150 new CIMC 40ft reefers to its North Atlantic Services. The first 96 units ar-rived at RST in late May, with the re-mainder due in June.

It was fitting that it was a reefer con-tainer that had the honour of being the one millionth container loaded at the Port of Tauranga in New Zealand this month as the port celebrated be-coming the first in the country to handle 1M TEU in a financial (or calendar) year.

The container, carrying Zespri kiwifruit, was loaded to Hamburg Süd’s SANTA ISABEL, a 5,638 TEU ves-sel with 1,600 reefer plugs.

Tauranga’s container business is set to grow further as reefer containers increasingly displace reefer vessels in the New Zealand fruit trades. Earlier this year, Seatrade started deploying its new Colour Class vessels on a Me-ridian service linking the NZ fruit growing regions around the ports of Nelson, Napier and Tauranga with export markets through Philadelphia, Zeebrugge, Tilbury and Rotterdam.

Zeebrugge, in particular, is the European gateway for Zespri’s kiwi-fruit exports, which began arriving on Seatrade vessels in containers last month. The Meridian service is ex-pected to bring an additional 35 calls to Tauranga per year. The four vessels in the Colour Class have a capacity of 2,259 TEU (1,580 TEU loaded at 14t) and 674 reefer plugs.

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June 201724

REEFER INDUSTRY

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sizeable percentage of the total reefer manufacturing cost.

Concerns about future pricing and the ongoing uncertainty of reefer demand have already cur-tailed rental investment in 2017, with leasing firms committing to significantly lower purchas-ing, so far, this year. Their deliv-ery total is unlikely to be much more than 10,000 TEU for the opening half, which would mark a near 10-year low. Moreover, at least half of this much-reduced total is going to one buyer, Sea Cube Leasing, with almost all of the balance taken by Triton In-ternational Ltd (TIL - the newly merged Triton/TAL entity) and Seaco (which was to acquire the Cronos fleet in 2015).

In 2016, Seaco received more than 30% of production carried out for the leasing sector, fol-lowed by Textainer (20%) and TIL/Beacon (roughly 15% each). Much of the balance went to Sea Cube, Florens Group and CAI International.

The lessors’ latest abrupt switch away from reefer invest-ment contrasts sharply with their more expansionist stance of re-cent years. It has not only been prompted by poorer demand and fears of a greater price volatility (mirroring that already affecting the dry freight market), but is also a consequence of costlier credit, resulting from higher interest rates, and uncertainties about fu-ture refrigerant use.

Moreover, as already hinted, a greater level of funding is pres-ently being targeted at the stand-ard box sector, due to the global requirement being stronger. This equipment is presently in shorter supply, compared to reefer con-tainers, and the outlook for dry freight demand appears to be a little better defined. Even though the leasing industry is almost cer-tain to increase its reefer invest-ment during the second half of 2017, it is unlikely to dominate, as has occurred throughout the past five years.

Maersk in frontThe much reduced rental activ-ity has resulted in a significantly enhanced purchase by shipping companies, although here, too, the picture is far from clear cut. The vast majority of recent ship-ping line production has gone to the global market leader, Maersk Line, with this one company ac-quiring up to 25,000 x 40ft high

cubes through January to May 2017. It made up 75% of the global total, plus an even greater 85% of that going direct to trans-port operators.

Much of the remainder of equipment purchased by trans-port firms (as opposed to lessors) has gone to Evergreen Line and the fast-expanding Chinese ship-ping operator Antong (Quan-zhou An Sheng Shipping Co). Evergreen had taken delivery of 2,000 x 40ft high cube reefers by May, with 600 destined for An-tong. The balance, amounting to 5,000 TEU for the January-May period, went to smaller trans-port companies, the majority of which are buying in small batch-es (ranging from a few dozen to several hundred). One example is China-based SinoChem, which recently acquired several hun-dred 20ft reefers for internal lease to the Chinese operator SITC.

Maersk had earlier dominated in 2016 as well, when it account-ed for more than 35% of all reef-ers delivered to shipping compa-nies during that year, and 15% of the global total. However, several

other major lines had been ac-tive in 2016, including CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, Matson Navigation and Antong, which collectively received much the same total as Maersk did on its own. The tally of purchasers had been greater still in 2015, when the lines’ combined intake had topped 135,000 TEU, compared with almost 140,000 TEU going to leasing firms.

Slowing down2015 was the last time the three established reefer box building names were able to run a multi-shift operation. The (then) newly opened CIMC facilities had achieved close to double-shift working for much of that year, as they were to construct 180,000 TEU on their newly enhanced (twin-shift) capability of almost 200,000 TEU/year.

MCI-Qingdao had managed nearer 1.5 shifts per day, on av-erage, which was equivalent to 60,000 TEU built, on a stable (and longstanding) annual capacity of 85,000 TEU. The latter, too, was calculated on a twin-shift basis.

*High-grade SUS 304 (muffler grades are approximately half this price). **Excluding machinery. Source: MEPS and manufacturers’ own data

Table 3: Averaged quarterly steel and 40ft container price (US$)

40ft high cube reefer container**

price per unit9,5008,8008,5008,3008,3008,4008,5008,700

Hot-rolled stainless steel*

price per tonne2,2502,0251,8001,7001,8001,9252,0252,300

2015-Q22015-Q32015-Q42016-Q12016-Q22016-Q32016-Q42017-Q1

Table 2: Reefer container production as fleet addition and re-placement (TEU)

*First half projection. Source: Manufacturers’ and owners’ data

2015275,000175,000100,000

2,625,0007.1%

H1 2017*80,00025,00055,000

2,710,0001.9%

2016160,00060,000100,000

2,685,0002.3%

2014225,000145,00080,000

2,450,0006.3%

Global productionFleet additionFleet replacementFleet size (end-year)Annual fleet growth

pending on specification. Around 55% covered box construction, with the balance concerned with the machinery and its installa-tion. The underlying price of

muffler grade stainless steel – the principal reefer box component – has remained close to roughly US$1,000 per tonne.

However, there is an increased

likelihood that reefer production costs will rise in coming months, as the price of steel, aluminium and other construction materi-als are (albeit belatedly) increas-ing more in line with other steel prices.

The cost of R134a refrigerant is also shooting up rapidly, as the first steps are being taken towards its phased withdrawal from use and replacement with alterna-tives. Balanced against this is a smaller predicted change in the average cost of Chinese labour, which continues to make up a

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Singamas production was also to run at more than one-shift for the whole year, when 35,000 TEU had been built on an annualised rating of roughly 50,000 TEU.

Decline in 2016By contrast, output and productivity were to decline for all factories during 2016, and the situation had been further exacerbated by the opening of the MCI-San Antonio and FUWA sites, which brought yet more capacity on stream. CIMC plants built just 80,000 TEU on their largely unchanged capacity rating (of 200,000 TEU per year).

Singamas managed 20,000 TEU, de-spite having enlarged the capacity of its Qidong factory to its full twin-shift potential of 60,000 TEU per year. MCI achieved an output of close to 60,000 TEU. Even though the total was little different to that achieved in 2015, the start-up of manufacturing in Chile was to further expand the company’s overall capacity to more 100,000 TEU per year.

The situation is better in 2017, even if most factories are continuing to operate at well below their design capabilities. CIMC was on track to deliver 35,000 TEU during the opening six months, which is actually below its average for 2016 (calculated on a pro rata basis). Its capacity split remains the same, with more than 100,000 TEU per year of-fered by the Qingdao site, and the bal-ance (of close to 100,000 TEU per year) controlled at Taicang.

MCI is forecasting a production of at least 40,000 TEU during the first half of 2017, with a rising 20% coming from Chile. It is naturally benefiting from most (but not all) of the reefer business placed this year by Maersk Line, and the company’s annual capacity is currently estimated at close to 120,000 TEU over-all. Singamas, after a slow start, has sup-plied a few thousand reefers so far in 2017 – and only recently surpassed the total delivered by the far smaller FUWA plant.

CIMC’s involvement in reefer build-ing has declined in recent years, al-though it has suffered to a lesser extent than Singamas, whose decrease has been even more dramatic. The latter company has yet to announce any capacity de-tails, or even a likely opening date, for its planned site at Qingdao, although this facility is expected to focus heav-ily on more specialised work of the type carried out by CIMC at its dedicated Qingdao factory.

Mainstream plantsCIMC’s two mainstream reefer plants had constructed around 13,000 TEU apiece during the opening five months of 2017, from January-May 2017, with a further 2,500 TEU of specials coming from the more specialised line at Qing-dao. The Singamas Qidong plant had barely managed 1,000 TEU throughout the same five-month period, compared with 1,700 TEU from FUWA. The vast majority of all recent production was ‘standard’ 40ft high cube, with 20ft out-put amounting to just 1,800 units. The total for specials (consisting mainly of 45ft and 53ft units) numbered around 1,000 units.

By comparison, the two main CIMC reefer plants delivered 45,000 TEU (from Qingdao) and 30,000 TEU (Tai-cang) during the whole of 2016, with a balance of around 5,000 TEU com-prising specials. The ‘standard’ reefer production at CIMC factories featured around 5,000 x 20ft and 35,000 x 40ft high cube. The Singamas Qidong fac-tory, as mentioned, produced close to 20,000 TEU in 2016, dividing as 1,500 x 20ft and more than 9,000 x 40ft.

MCI-Qingdao, fuelled in large part by the continuing Maersk Line invest-ment, was to deliver more than 26,000 TEU through January-May 2017, just about all of which were 40ft high cube. This compared with a total of 48,000 TEU built by MCI-Qingdao during the whole of 2016, which was further aug-mented by 10,000 TEU from the newly started factory in Chile.

By May 2017, the MCI-San Antonio plant had already produced close to this figure, and the total MCI order book (covering both factories) amounted, at

*First half projection. **Annual average for current year (assuming continuous 40ft high cube production). Source: Manufacturers’ own data

Table 4: Reefer container production by manufacturer (TEU)

2015180,00060,00035,000

-275,000

H1 2017*35,00040,0003,0002,00080,000

201680,00058,00020,0002,000

160,000

Capacity**200,000125,00060,0005,000

390,000

2014134,00045,00046,000

-225,000

ManufacturerCIMC GroupMCI GroupSingamas HoldingsGuangdong FUWA Total

that time, to 24,000 containers, all of which were due for completion by early in the third quarter. MCI also had con-firmed orders for at least 21,500 of its Star Cool machines, under construction in both Qingdao and Chile, and simi-larly destined for delivery by June/July. It anticipates that sales will continue to be strong throughout the coming third quarter, thereby sustaining the compa-ny’s recently enhanced market share.

MCI, despite the all-important Mae-rsk Line connection, is very keen to highlight the way its third-party busi-ness is continuing to grow. In 2016, the company made its first reefer sales to Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC), whose name has been added to a grow-ing tally of shipping lines and leasing company customers, including CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd/UASC, NYK

Line, TAL and CAI International. MCI is also charting a steady rise in

the sale and use of its Star Cool CA (Controlled Atmosphere) system, which has now been available for more than eight years, and has already undergone many improvements and refinements along the way. Approximately 40,000 Star Cool machines have, so far, been supplied with in-built CA, and MCI has entered into dialogue with many of its customers, in order to obtain valuable operational feedback. This has, more re-cently, led to the launch of its CA+ ver-sion, which is targeted at low-respiring perishables, such as blueberries.

Refrigerant test runIn a separate venture, MCI has also been test-running a batch of 80 Star Cool reefers charged with R513A (the R134a

alternative) since the start of 2017. They have been deployed by Maersk Line and Hapag-Lloyd, and MCI reports that the entire batch has, to date, operated with-out problems. Also known as XP10, this ‘interim’ refrigerant has a close compat-ibility with existing R134a machines, but only 56% of the Global Warming Potential (GWP). Crucially, it is also non-flammable and approved by major

equipment and component manufactur-ers. MCI plans, from the start of the third quarter of 2017, to offer its customers “R513A optimised” Star Cool machin-ery. This renders it suitable for substi-tute R513A operation in later life, and thereby provides some insurance as the global deployment of R134a is cut-back, and the refrigerant becomes dearer and increasingly scarce.

June 201726

REEFER INDUSTRY

Leveraging data in reefer transport The reefer container market is currently the sweet spot for IoT technology in the container supply chain

The use of data from con-tainer-based sensors, and now power metering

equipment, in the reefer industry is growing quickly. High-value cargo and the need to maintain temperature and atmospheric conditions mean systems that capture sensor data on reefer con-tainers can deliver both a return on investment and commercial advantage.

Another factor that is driv-ing the use of Internet of Things (IoT) technology in reefer trans-port is the use of data to meet the new requirements of cold chain regulatory schemes, such as the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) in the US, Chinese regulations regarding the cold chain for fresh meat imports, and the Good Distribution Practice (GDP) guidelines for pharmaceu-tical products transport.

Eye on pharmaShipping lines see taking mar-ket share from air freight as a big

opportunity, and have their eyes firmly on the pharmaceutical transport sector. In a recent inter-view with Reuters, Maersk’s head of reefer, Anne Sophie Zerlang, said the sector had the potential to reach 100,000 containers a year. “We’re definitely looking to make the container market bigger by RCM,” said Zerlang, referring to Maersk’s plan to use its Remote Container Monitoring system to meet the market’s data require-ments.

Data seems to be part of the package that shippers want. In its new Cold Chain Logistics 2017 report (available via www.ti-insight.com), UK-based research institute Transport Intelligence (Ti) concluded that improving reefer container technology is

helping shipping lines win mar-ket share from air freight. “There are numerous anecdotal reports of cargo switching to ocean freight from air cargo, including certain pharmaceutical products, flowers and fruit,” stated Ti.

The report noted that carrier executives are still cautious about some very high-value cargo, such as pharmaceuticals, but technol-ogy is helping reefer containers in other markets. “Meanwhile, the recent improvements to reefer container technology, and particu-larly controlled-atmosphere and tracking technology, is prompting increasing volumes – and more varieties – of perishable foods to be transported via ocean freight, and at greater distances than ever before,” noted Ti.

Speaking with WorldCargo News, report author and Ti quan-titative analyst, Andrew Ralls, said it is “possibly too early to tell whether remote monitoring sys-tems are encouraging this switch, but it certainly seems to be some-thing that shippers would like to see”. Furthermore, he added: “The investments being made by larger carriers into new tech-nologies suggests they are excited about the new innovations, and are confident that it will pay in the long run.”

The ability to monitor the car-go right throughout the journey does seem to be resonating with shippers, but visibility can be a double-edged sword. “One cau-tionary note to consider is that the new technology will bring high expectations and so those producing it really need to nail it,” said Ralls. “The technology may need to be near perfect to work. Giving shippers the visibility they seem to desire may make them slightly neurotic. You could worry

about a small dip in temperature, which wouldn’t actually make a difference to the shelf-life of the product. There’s certainly a real risk of dissatisfied customers.”

Getting dataShipping lines that are still on the fence, pondering whether reefer monitoring delivers a return on investment, now also need to consider that their customers have more options for getting their own data. Costs for remote moni-toring hardware and data services have fallen to the point where one-trip temperature loggers that can send data over cellular services are now viable.

US-based DeltaTrak recently introduced a new FlashLink Real-Time Monitoring Solution that combines a data logger with a 24/7 cloud service. “The log-ger records temperature, humid-ity, shock, light and location, and sends data via GSM cellular net-work to a web account,” the com-pany said. “Reliable up-to-the-minute information is accessed with a standard web browser us-ing a PC or any internet-ready device.”

DeltaTrak offers two logger configurations: a domestic model with a 25-day logging duration and data uploaded every 15 min-utes, and an export model with a 100-day logging duration and data uploaded every hour. “Ship-pers can customise high/low alarm settings, and alerts are au-tomatically sent when out-of-range conditions occur,” said Del-taTrak. “The logger also measures shock, which indicates rough handling of a load, and a light sensor indicates door openings, which either means a shipment arrived and is being received, or it can reveal security issues if this occurs while the shipment is still in transit.” Speaking with World-Cargo News, DeltaTrak’s market-ing program manager, Michelle Alvino, said the data loggers have been designed as single use, and have a list price of US$55, with no extra charges for data. Rebates are also available for returned units.

For a reefer container, Del-taTrak recommends two loggers be used, either two of its Flash-Link Real-Time Loggers, or one Real-Time logger and a less ex-pensive secondary unit, such as the company’s FlashLink USB PDF In-Transit Logger, which only monitors temperature, and has to be downloaded to a PC or tablet.

The company is planning to launch a reusable version of the FlashLink Real-Time Logger later this year for closed loop ap-plications, where the owner of the logger is able to re-use the device.

Another independent moni-toring option is the Babbler from Dutch company Itude Mobile BV, developed for the EU CORE (Consistently Optimised Resilient Secure Global Supply-Chains) project. The Babbler sends data on temperature, status (detect-ing door openings) and shock to an app via Bluetooth or over the LoRa network in Europe. The device is magnetically attached to the inside of the container door. Babbler was initially tested for CORE by flower company Flo-raHolland, which imports flowers from Kenya. Roel Huiden, sup-ply chain consultant at FloraHol-land commented: “Flowers must be kept at 0.5 degC to maintain quality, but, when a container is opened, the temperature inside rises. Avoiding unnecessary in-spections preserves freshness, as well as speeding up delivery. But the price of protection is critical in this market. Costly security devices available to shippers of high-value cargoes are simply not an option. For low-value goods, especially those that spoil easily, Babbler offers protection at an af-fordable price.”

Babbler recently exposed a die-sel theft during one test in Kenya. Huiden explained: “A refrigerated container of flowers was sealed in Nairobi before making the long road journey to Mombasa, dur-ing which thieves disconnected the generator for half an hour so they could safely siphon off fuel. But Babbler sang. It recorded the unexpected spike in temperature, revealing the time of the theft and helping pinpoint those responsi-ble.”

The system has now been adopted by CORE partner Sea-con Logistics, in a bid to estab-lish trusted trade lanes around the world. “That is, trade lanes where inspections are less likely because customs can rely on our data pipeline for smart data shar-ing and the Babbler logs to reveal if a container has been opened in transit,” explained Joris Tenhagen, CORE project manager at Sea-con. Seacon also plans to expand the use of Babbler into other trade lanes, including the US.

In another development this month, Maersk Container In-dustry (MCI) announced that

Hamburg Süd has announced that it has worked with Car-rier Transicold to make sure its reefer equipment meets GDP requirements for pharmaceu-tical cargo. These include the need to make sure the climate conditions inside the reefer are “checked, monitored and recorded”, and that the equip-ment used to monitor condi-tions is “calibrated at regular intervals”.

With a software upgrade from Carrier, Hamburg Süd “is able to upgrade its reefer con-tainer fleet accordingly, at short notice and on demand, as part of the customary pre-trip in-

spection (PTI),” the company stated. Effectively, the upgrade enables the line to ‘calibrate’ the reefer equipment as part of the PTI.

“Hamburg Süd is one of the leading reefer container carriers worldwide,” said Frank Smet, a member of the Executive Board of the German shipping line. “With our new offering, we can respond even better to the complex requirements of our customers, and provide a high-grade and significantly cheaper alternative to air freight. At the same time, we are positioning ourselves in a strategically im-portant growth market.”

Pharma solution from Carrier Transicold

Hamburg Süd is also targeting the pharmaceutical market

June 2017 27

REEFER INDUSTRY

The Cold Chain Specialist – Fuwa Reefer Containers

THE POWER OF THE WORLD

its Star Cool refrigerated containers are now fitted with a new embedded digital feature that offers “visibility and precise knowledge of actual energy consump-tion”.

In a statement, MCI said: “To provide transparency into actual energy con-sumption throughout the transporta-tion window, over land and sea, Maersk Container Industry is introducing an energy meter feature integrated into all new Star Cool refrigerated containers. Maersk Line, the world’s largest container shipping company and part of Maersk’s Transport & Logistics division, became the first of MCI’s customers to take de-livery of the new Star Cool reefers at the start of the year.”

There are different ways to ‘meas-ure’ power consumption, and there is some debate about just how accurate some methods are. MCI has confirmed to WorldCargo News that it is taking the power consumption from a meter device that measures power draw across all three phases of the reefer container, and not extrapolating power consumption from other parameters. It declined to give an accuracy figure, but noted that the meter is as accurate as a household meter used for billing.

Valuable dataPower consumption data has a lot of value. For some time now, container lines have been frustrated that investments in new reefers with much lower energy consumption have not, by and large, been recognised by marine container terminals with lower charges for energy.

In fact, for shipping lines in particular, power consumption data is as useful as temperature data, and, therefore, it is a logical next step for Maersk Line’s Re-mote Container Management (RCM) system to include power consumption.

“Taking our 270,000 reefer con-tainers online has provided significant operational cost-savings, and will give our customers unprecedented visibility into their cargo during transport, ena-bling better planning across their sup-ply chains,” said Catja Hjorth Rasmus-sen, head of Equipment Excellence at Maersk Line. “Being able to accurately track the energy consumption of indi-vidual Star Cool reefer containers is a valuable add-on for us. It means that we can monitor actual energy consumption from point-to-point for different com-modities, which supports not only cost-optimisation, but also our sustainability goals.”

Metering is available across the whole Star Cool range, including controlled atmosphere containers. Retrofitting to pre-Q1 2017 containers will be possible, but this option is not available yet. Pow-er consumption is reported by adding a kWh counter at each data line in the data log. In the normal case the reefer would record kWh count once an hour (with the time and date). “The operator can then evaluate the power consump-tion at the different stages of the supply chain, or the full average, etc,” explained MCI. Consumption data can be broken down and tailored, depending on indi-vidual requirements.

The data can be used in sustainability reporting, reefer management and main-tenance, and getting transparency into costs, among other purposes. MCI noted that the amount of power used to trans-port a particular commodity, and how those costs vary by reefer box is “some-what a black box now”. Without remote monitoring, getting power data requires a cumbersome set up of separate energy meters that must be manually checked and read, which is why it is very seldom performed.

As with temperature data, data own-ership will be an issue. MCI stated that

displayed its power monitoring solution, which it is developing to measure con-sumption across all the main brands of reefer container.

New York-based RTE is further ahead, and has its power metering sys-tem in use at terminals today, although details of the installations are not avail-

able at this stage. The company offers its RRCE-PM Power Monitoring Plat-form, which features a revenue-grade three-phase power meter permanently installed at the reefer rack.

RTE president Donald Vinson said the system has been designed so that each meter is individual and addressable. When used with RTE’s GRASP soft-ware, RRCE-PM can provide full vis-ibility of power consumption and tem-perature data at the individual container level from the moment the container is connected.

RRCE-PM measures the main elec-trical parameters, including voltage, line voltage, amps, watts, power factor, total connection time, power usage and aver-age peak and off-peak costs. The system is configurable, and users can set parameters, such as over-current limits, if required.

Vinson said interest in power metering at container terminals continues to grow, for a variety of reasons. Pressure from lines to lower power costs and provide transparency is undoubtedly one factor, but terminals can also use the data to bet-ter manage their own operation. With real data on power consumption, termi-nals can identify which containers and cargoes draw the most power, and when, for example. It is well known that some shippers bring ‘hot’ product to a terminal and use its power to draw down a reefer to temperature, which has a big impact on the terminal’s overall power consump-tion.

In other cases, terminals have issues managing their overall power demand at peak periods, and reefer containers can, in some cases, be the single biggest power draw at a terminal.

the data is part of the data log, and MCI itself does not have access to the data log without the agreement of the customer.

RTE Logs onOther suppliers are also getting on-board. At TOC Europe in Amsterdam this month, IDENTEC SOLUTIONS

With a power meter on the reefer container, an MCI Star Cool unit can give accurate data for sustainability calculations

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Gaussin and DIDRIVERS, a subsidiary of the DigiRobotics group, launched the first model in a new range of autonomous vehicles at TOC Europe this month. The Autonomous Prime Mover (APM) dis-played at TOC (pictured) is based on Gaussin’s Automated Trailer Mover de-sign, with four wheels with solid tyres, and a fully electric drive system.

Like Terberg and Konecranes, Gaussin and DIDRIVERS are targeting the esti-mated 70% of the world’s terminals that use RTGs and tractor/trailer sets, as well as greenfield opportunities. Both compa-nies are claiming that the “natural naviga-tion” system developed by DigiRobot-ics (which uses LIDAR, radar, cameras

and GPS technologies, and requires no ground-based fixed infrastructure) can be retrofitted to existing tractors, “convert-ing existing vehicles into autonomous vehicles”. As previously reported, Digi-Robotics has already demonstrated this on a Terberg machine in Dubai.

However, the APM is Gaussin’s own machine. The version displayed at TOC was powered by 2 x 60 kWh motors, had a speed of 20 km/h, and had a maximum payload of 38t. These figures are well be-low the standard requirements for a ter-minal tractor. Gaussin displayed images of models with a more conventional tractor chassis with a dual-tyre rear axle, pneu-matic tyres and a larger fifth wheel, in-

Gaussin/DIDRIVERS launch APM

company, which will shortly be delivered to PSA Singapore. In June 2016, World-Cargo News reported that PSA’s order for 22 AGVs included two machines from Gaussin. Gaussin itself said these were its AIV design (with interchangeable power pack), but PSA advised WorldCargo News that it had ordered Gaussin “AGVs”, which Gaussin at that point did not offer.

The picture has now been clarified with Gaussin’s announcement that it will be delivering two “AGV Performance” vehicles to PSA Singapore.

The machines will be a fully electric design with a new Lithium Titanate bat-tery pack. Gaussin said these have a power of 160 kW, a run time of 5.65 hours, and can be charged in just 12 minutes. This enables dynamic charging on the termi-nal, and eliminates the need for a battery exchange station and associated extra power packs.

Further to the story on page 1, automa-tion is a new direction for Terberg, and, speaking with WorldCargo News, MD Rob van Hove said there is enormous potential for AutoTUG, as around 700 terminals globally use an RTG system.

Terberg has a road map for developing the AutoTUG, whereby the system is de-veloped first for operations in “isolation” in automated terminals, and then, towards the end of 2018, for a “managed opera-tion” at brownfield terminals. Finally, at the beginning of 2020, it plans for Au-toTUG to be available for “mixed mode driving” at brownfield terminals, where the AutoTUG could run in manual or automated mode, and operate around other manned vehicles.

Based on the news that DP World is to tender for automated tractors for Jebel Ali this year, plus confirmation from an executive at another global terminal op-erator that it, too, has been asking for an automated terminal tractor, the immedi-ate market requirement seems to be for a cheaper alternative to AGVs. AutoTUG certainly fits the bill – it has a much lower price point, and other advantages includ-ing using smaller standard size tyres, and lower operating wheel loads.

The AutoTUG also has the huge ad-vantage of familiarity and scale, being based on Terberg’s YT manned machines. Service and maintenance requirements are well-known, and Terberg has included the Groeneveld OnePlus automatic lu-brication system on the AutoTUG to minimise a key service point.

For Konecranes, the partnership gives it access to a relatively low-cost auto-mated quay-stack transfer vehicle, based on the ubiquitous terminal tractor/trail-er system. However, it is also likely that Konecranes will work with Terberg to develop an electric ATT option. At the partnership announcement, Konecranes displayed a graphic of a battery ATT. Ter-berg does not (at this stage) offer a battery AutoTUG, but it is believed that this is a requirement for some upcoming auto-mation projects. Konecranes is now of-fering its AGVs with Li-ion batteries, and this system could be applied to ATTs.

Enter AutoTUG and ATT

dicating a higher capacity machine, both with and without a cab.

With regard to the software and sys-tems necessary to control a fleet of APMs at a terminal, DigiRobotics founder and “Believer” Dr Rafiq Swash said ports are a similar logistics challenge to airports and other industries where it is developing autonomous vehicles. The work to undertake is known in advance, and what is required is a fleet manage-ment system. Scheduling software can be incorporated through a standard API, and business intelligence applications can optimise the whole system. As well as full automation, DigiRobotics has de-veloped remote control that can be used

The new Autonomous Prime Moverwhen manual intervention is required.Separately, Gaussin unveiled its “AGV

Performance”, a new AGV design for the