Ultra large containerships and unreliable schedules play havoc with terminal operations, says Dynamar
Northern Europe’s ports are suffering from underutilisation and congestion at the same time, as ultra large containerships and unreliable schedules play havoc with port operations, according to a new report from Dynamar.
A survey of 17 ports, comprising 55 container terminals, found throughput rose 5% in 2014 to 53m teu. At the end of 2014, however, combined container handling capacity stood at 86m teu, resulting in an occupancy rate of 62%.
While the underutilisation of the facilities runs counter to claims of congestion, Dynmar points out that demand for terminals does not come in regular patterns.
“Even the largest ships remain prone to the elements, which are sometimes causing havoc to schedule integrity,” Dynamar said. “Early in the year, nearly a third of more than 9,900 vessel arrivals were off schedule. Delayed ships may bunch up in their next northern European port, which will work through further in their schedule.”
A certain amount of overcapacity may be considered a requirement to prevent congestion, Dynamar said. The general consensus was that congestion would kick in when utilisation reached 75%.
The problem is exacerbated by the increasing size of containerships calling at northern European ports. Few ports were built with ULCs in mind. The first 18,000 teu ships were delivered only two years ago, but the number of this size of ship will reach over 100 by the end of the decade.
Moreover, all of these vessels will be operating on the Asia-Europe trade lane. This is putting pressure on terminal operators to invest substantially in the cranes and equipment needed to handle ULCs.
“The consensus among big ship carriers nowadays is that terminals should handle 6,000 moves a day on a ULC,” Dynamar said. “The universal consent among stevedores is that a production of 3,500 moves is a more realistic maximum.”
Dynamar points out that vessels such as UASC’s Barzan, with its two-island configuration, can only be offloaded by two more cranes than can be used on an 8,000 teu ship. Larger cranes with longer outreach weigh more, and therefore need stronger quaysides to support their weight.
Terminals
In 2014 only three of the 31 northern European ports serving vessels on Asia-Europe trades were purpose-built for handling ULCs: Eurogate Container Termninal in Welhelmshaven; Hutchison’s Berths 8/9 at Felixstowe; and ECT’s Euromax at Maasvlakte I in Rotterdam.
DP World’s London Gateway has been developed for ULCs from scratch, but is not yet handling any ULCs. Southampton Container Terminal has been expanded with a custom-built ULC berth. In Hamburg part of the quays of Eurogate’s Container Terminal Hamburg and HHLA Container Terminal Burchardkai have been retrofitted, as has APM Terminal Gothenburg. ECT has re-equipped its Delta Terminal at Rotterdam’s Maasvlakte I to accommodate ULCs. At Bremerhaven’s Stromkaje, accommodating three terminals, 29 ship-to-shore gantries have been upgraded to a 23 boxes wide outreach.
At other terminals, the economies of scale carriers aim to achieve by operating increasingly larger ships mean that mainline terminals have no choice but to invest substantial sums in their facilities.
These investments should, but do not necessarily translate into higher stevedoring prices; shipping lines rather pass their economy of scale savings on to shippers in the form of lower freight rates instead, Dynamar said.
Europe’s capacity for ultra large tonnage is set to expand massively during 2015 with the opening of three new terminals purpose-built for these ships.
APM Terminal Maasvlakte II opened in April and DP World’s Rotterdam World Gateway will be formally opened next week. The Liverpool2 Container terminal is also due to open by year-end.
Between them the three terminals alone will increase northern Europe’s container capacity by 6m teu, or 7%.
Moreover, the new facilities all feature high degrees of automation, which is seen as the only way of meeting carriers’ requirements of 6,000 moves per day.
“With remotely-controlled crane automation, APM Terminals expects to make up to 50% more moves per hour, while DP World/RWG anticipates 40 moves an hour,” Dynamar said. “In both cases, it comes down to some 6,000 moves per day working the ULCs with six automated quay cranes.”
However, simple container handling is not the whole picture. Terminals must also expand yard space and equipment. “It will increasingly be required to start the delivery of inbound containers while the vessel is still discharging,” Dynamar said. “A fast quay crane production puts tremendous pressure on the terminal’s storage capacity.”
To prevent capacity constraints, ports and terminal operators have to try to stay ahead of demand. If all intended expansions and new terminals are commissioned as planned, the 2014 overall capacity of 86m teu may increase by 5.2% to 143m teu by 2024.
First published on www.lloydslist.com
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