It’s been a big year for news at PTI, from big terminal projects, to major shipping mergers which have been the talk of top industry executives.
Below are the top 10 news articles of 2015 that featured on the PTI website:
A video by Maersk which articulates the amazing story of containerisation. The story saw astonishing growth since being published in mid-November.
This first piece gave an insight into the 30 largest ports globally in 2014, measured by TEU volumes. China’s ports maintained the top five positions in the charts, with the world’s largest port, the Port of Shanghai, handling 1.5 million more containers in 2015 compared with 2014. In terms of percentage growth, Ningbo saw the biggest increase in growth of more than 14% compared to 2014.
As the third largest shipping line globally, CMA CGM is a giant in the rankings of the world’s largest shipping companies. This article confirmed the acquisition of Neptune Orient Lines for price of around US$2.4 billion in a bid to remain competitive in a market which has been strained by low freight rates and overcapacity.
This article presented a ranking of 10 ports in terms of berth productivity, measured by crane moves per hour. Shanghai is shown as the leader with more than 160 crane moves per hour. The article revealed that the workload for terminals servicing mega-ships has risen by more than 700% since 1975, with terminals around the world still feeling the pressures of mega-ship size increases.
A popular story with PTI readers, this story reported on DP World’s five point plan for improving Africa’s infrastructure. The report, entitled ‘Africa At The Crossroads: Bridging The Infrastructure Gap’ discusses public-private partnerships and bond financing as some of the methods involved for developing ‘soft infrastructure’. Around US$93 billion is required annually to address infrastructure issues on the continent.
This article was a massive story upon release due to the ship order being the biggest ever placed by a global shipping company. Hong Kong based Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) ordered six containerships up to 21,100 TEU in a bid to compete with various shipping lines, who are opting into alliances and ordering larger vessels in a bid to gain economies of scale in the industry.
In January, 2015, PTI reported on a futuristic shipping concept, which has been released by Norwegian company Lade AS entitled the ‘Vindskip’ cargo ship. The ship’s design aims to significantly cut pollution levels by using its sides to push itself through the water and thereby cut emissions by around 80%. Software also plays a big part in reducing fuel-usage by helping the ship find the best possible route.
APM Terminals, one of the largest terminal operators globally, recently set a loading record at its Maasvlakte II container terminal in Rotterdam after loading more than 17,150 TEU on the Madison Maersk containership. The terminal operator was able to achieve 1,000 container moves in a 15-hour period.
PTI covered a story in September, 2015 which reported on the Port of Long Beach’s new ‘Middle Harbor Terminal’, which is a new container handling facility that will be able to handle 18,000 TEU ships and will also be emissions free. This will be achieved by using battery-powered equipment, with the terminal having additional capabilities in the future to handle ships even larger than 18,000 TEU.
As one of the biggest stories of the year, the proposed shipping merger between CSCL and Cosco has been given clearance, which paves the way for the alliance to go ahead as planned in the coming months. This is a huge story because of the potential ramifications of the prospective alliances that each company currently belongs to, as well as the pressures that this will put on ports globally.
Videos attract a lot of engagement for PTI, with visual content ranging from general interest to important port projects all around the world and offering a new medium to our audience to receive news.
PTI has compiled a list of the top 10 videos that have received the highest engagement levels in 2015. To view the videos, click on the headline links.
The top 10 videos are:
A video published by automation and power technology provider ABB shows the remote STS operations at Maasvlakte II – the most technologically advanced terminal in the world.
Opened in April, 2015, STS crane cabins at Maasvlakte II are driverless and are operated remotely from a central control room on a 24-hour 7-days-a-week basis.
(Source: ABB Marine / YouTube)
This video reported on a huge crack that was spotted in the sill of the Cocoli Locks on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal, located just above one of the rolling gates.
It was thought that the crack would significantly delay the April, 2016 completion date for the expansion project. However, officials have assured that the project will open as planned, with repair works anticipated to be completed by mid-January, 2016.
A video showing the Connectainer solution for ensuring that no more empty containers are left on containerships taking up unnecessary space. The solution looks at taking two normal-sized TEU containers and connecting them into a 40-foot equivalent unit.
The idea behind this concept is to allow ports, terminals and freight forwarders to make better use of space inside the container and potentially eliminate congestion.
Leading container shipping line Maersk recently published a video showing the development of the shipping container and the key role it played in transforming the way in which goods are transported around the world.
With the availability of shipping lanes and the larger size of containerships, goods can be packed into a container and sent to various countries in a much timelier manner.
Khalifa Port is one of the top port projects currently taking place in the Middle East and this video shows the initial plan for transforming Khalifa Port into a top hub for containerised trade. IT plays a key role in Khalifa Port’s operations and is essential for preventing downtime at the port.
This video was among the highest shared videos on PTI’s website in 2015. The video shows the ‘Sustainable Integrated Next Generation Advanced Port (Singa), a futuristic port concept which entails using two floors within a port to transport containers, which would have a total capacity of 20 million TEU. The containers would move through a hole in the top floor.
PTI recently released one of its own videos shortly after TOC Europe in Rotterdam during mid-2015, in which Laura Rodriguez Romo, Engineer of Business Development and Francisco Grau Cavanillas, Managing Director of Orbita explained how terminals can optimise their terminals, as well as the innovative initiatives they have introduced in the last year.
Few events have captured an audience’s imagination in 2015 like the grand opening of the fully-automated Maasvlakte II (MVII) container terminal in the Port of Rotterdam. The zero-emissions terminal was opened in the presence of King Willem-Alexander of Holland along with top port and shipping professionals. The MVII terminal is the most advanced container terminal in the world.
This video entailed an interview between Dr Mathias Dobner, Engineering Vice President of Systems and Automation at Terex Port Solutions and PTI, where he articulates seven of the key trends that are popular in today’s port industry, including automation, and using software packages to optimise terminal operations.
A visually attractive video showing the volume of shipping traffic using satellite footage from space. Various types of ships have been tracked, including tugs, cargo ships, tankers and cruise ships. FleetMon and its partner Luxspace used the newest terrestrial and pace-borne AIS technology to track ships in real time.
Sourced from http://www.porttechnology.org/news/list/
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