Port of Tauranga
· dredging to begin to accommodate larger vessels
· purchase of new handling equipment announced
· 11.9% increase in container throughput in first half 2015
New Zealand’s largest container gateway – the Port of Tauranga – is to commence dredging work that will allow it to accommodate larger ships with capacities of up to 6,000 TEU. According to Mark Cairns, Chief Executive at port of Tauranga, over the past 23 years Tauranga has been a consistent best-performer returning excellent results for shareholders, but before the port’s board of directors would approve the USD46.3 million for the dredging, it wanted surety. The board was looking for a commitment from a container shipping company or large shipper to warrant the costs associated with the dredging works. The approval came in June 2014, when Cairns signed a contract with Kotahi – a freight management
company owned by major New Zealand dairy exporter Fonterra and meat exporter Silver Fern Farms – committing to 1.8 million in export TEU to Tauranga. In addition, Kotahi signed a 10-year agreement with Maersk Line for 2.5 million TEU of export cargo with the global shipping line. In return, the liner agreed to introduce a new service and add capacity. With his 10-year agreement Cairns fulfilled the board’s request for commitment of the dredging works. The signed agreement is worth an estimated USD3.3 to USD3.9 million, with the port gaining certainty of container volumes, an additional 30,000 TEU from the start of the 2015 financial year, and additional empties. It is also the port’s first 10-year collaboration with Maersk. Maersk on the other hand hopes to lift Kotahi’s committed 2.5 million TEU of export cargo over 10 years and to introduce more cost-effective, 6,500 TEU container vessels at the end of 2016, when dredging in the port will be completed. The tender to deepen and widen the shipping channels from 12.9m to 14.5m depth inside the harbour and 15.8m outside the harbour was awarded to Danish dredging company Rohde Nielsen. Rohde Nielsen will use a combination of a trailer hopper suction dredge and backhoe dredge to tackle the world which is
scheduled to commence in October 2015. The project will be completed by August 2016. The dredging project is the final element in a USD228 million capital expenditure programme over the last five years to facilitate New Zealand’s exporters and importers being able to access larger ships calling at the port. The huge investments made at Tauranga are simply aimed at taking containerised cargo away from the Port of Auckland. According to Cairns, the Port has recently taken possession of two new tug boats and announced the purchase of a further two super post-panamax gantry cranes and straddle carriers in order to cope with the anticipated increase in container volumes. It is also currently extending its Sulphur Point container berth. Once the dredging works and the extension to the container berth are completed expectations are that as of early 2017 the port will see container volumes increase. “That’s when Maersk brings in the bigger ships, at which time all the containers will come around the coast to our Tauranga container terminal and out of here on to the big ships,” said Cairns. In the first half of this year the port has already seen an 11.9% increase in container throughput compared to the same period in 2014 by handling 426,512 TEU. Unfortunately, the port of
Auckland will fiercely defend its container business and has already stepped up its actions by constructing an intermodal freight hub only 3km away from the port of Tauranga. This new 1.4 hectare hub will give exporters another choice as it features a direct rail connection to Auckland, container handling facilities and value-added logistics services. This move of establishing an intermodal hub so close to the port of Tauranga to protect its container business is a similar move we have seen 16 years ago when the port of Tauranga pioneered an inland port close to the port of Auckland.
Ports of Auckland
· container volumes up 3% in first half of 2015
· break-bulk volumes up 7.7%:
· automation plans being considered
Statistics compiled on the performance of all New Zealand container ports show Ports of Auckland is now unequivocally the best performing container port in the country. Back in April this year Ports of Auckland CEO Tony Gibson said: “We have been the fastest port at loading and unloading ships for three years now, but our crane rate (how fast an individual crane works) has lagged behind. This quarter we’ve caught up with Tauranga on that measure.” This result demonstrates the effectiveness of the approach taken by the port since 2011 to improve performance. Better still, we have plans in place to lift our game even further,” he added. Part of those plans include automation being seriously considered – if it goes ahead Auckland would be first automated container port in New Zealand. According to Gibson: “Auckland freight growth is relentless. To handle it we’ve pushed our performance to world class levels but we’re reaching the limit of what we can do with our current technology. We need more room. We can’t go out so we need to go up, and for that automation looks the best bet.” The proposal would involve the use of
15m tall automated straddle carriers (3m higher than the port’s existing machines) which would carry out the less complex tasks in the container yard. The more complex operations under the crane would continue to be performed by manual straddles. “Automation has the potential to deliver capacity, cost and environmental benefits,” said Gibson, “but it would have an impact on jobs. Up to 50 jobs could be lost, although we would work hard to reduce this number. Staff turnover, growth in the business and some changes to the way we work would help us keep this number as low as possible. My priority is to ensure our people are looked after and helped through any change that may occur,” he said. Preliminary work carried out by Ports of Auckland has shown that the idea has merit. Unions were previously advised that automation was being investigated and staff are now being consulted. Consultation will take around six weeks. A scoping study to produce a detailed proposal for partial automation will be carried out and will take about three months. The results of consultation and the scoping study will be taken into account when making a decision on whether or not to proceed further with automation. Subject to gathering all the information needed during the scoping study, a decision will be made in early 2016, following a second round of consultation.
The results for the first half of 2015 show container volumes rose 3% against an expectation that volumes would fall as a result of the loss of a significant service and given the impact from congestion at overseas ports. Freight volumes in all other areas increased, with the largest rise being in imported car units which were up 19%. “The company’s high productivity and proximity to market had been key factors in retaining existing business and attracting new customers”, said Gibson. Looking forward, freight volumes are expected to continue to rise as Auckland’s economy and population grow. To meet this demand Ports of Auckland is embarking on a strategic capital investment programme. Fergusson container wharf is being extended to cater for longer ships. A new truck facility has been built to speed up container handling and rail services to the inland port at Wiri have been quadrupled, resulting in 3000 fewer truck movements a month to and from the terminal. The port is making significant investments in rail and the off-port supply chain – at Wiri and Longburn intermodal freight hubs. The multi-cargo business has grown rapidly, particularly car imports which are up 19% from the previous year and cement imports which will roughly double in 2016. More freight and longer ships are putting pressure on the berths in this part of the port, so Ports of Auckland will extend two be
rths on Bledisloe Multi-Purpose Terminal to provide sufficient
capacity for future growth. Construction was scheduled to start in April and is expected to be completed by late 2016. Later this year work will start on a new tug berth to the west of Jellicoe wharf. The existing berth will be vacated which will create the potential to open the area up for public access once it is no longer needed for tugs and freight. “The work we have done to improve productivity will be complemented by these new
investments,” said Gibson. “They will enhance our capacity and enable us to cater for increased demand as it eventuates.”