The logistic chain is the single most important service function that any business continuously strives to improve. Controlling logistic costs allows companies [and countries] to maintain a competitive edge and to benefit from trade growth, since any savings that can be made on freight costs reflects on the competitiveness of the supplier and consequently the final product price. When Italy-based Logmarin Advisors was formally launched in Genoa, (under the aegis of the Banchero Costa and Rina Groups), its aim was to address this vital element. Having made its name in the floating terminal market thanks to its versatility in waterborne logistics, Logmarin also provides comprehensive consultancy services in the field of landside port facilities and coastal engineering.
Project management
The company’s service offering starts from the project outset, with a comprehensive feasibility study and examination of the realities of the requirements in order to find a solution to suit the specific needs of clients. This approach provides suitable tools to enable a smooth decision process for the client. During the Project Implementation stage, Logmarin can provide overall advisory services on behalf of the client, including basic design, project management and monitoring, assistance in shipping, shipyard and logistics contracts negotiations, thus coordinating and facilitating the project implementation process.
At the terminal operational stage Logmarin can supervise commissioning, transfer knowledge by training counterpart staff and monitor performance. “We do not sell standard logistics solutions, because there are no standard clients,” says Mario Terenzio, Technical Manager at Logmarin. Traditionally, the stevedoring service consists of supplying equipment, infrastructure and labour for cargo handling operations while the vessel is in port, berthed alongside a quay with basic infrastructure. The main criteria which make a port project economically viable are the availability of large amount of commodity to handle, water depth at the site and large flat areas for commodity handling and storage, i.e. as it is the case of Richards Bay. However, open land next to deep water is not easily available and dredging, by its very nature, is an environmentally sensitive issue that usually causes concerns within the local community, therefore, building new deepwater ports is expensive and time-consuming. Many ports are attempting to improve their existing approach channels and berthing facilities to enable them to handle the modern fleet of vessels. However, the cost of such adaptations to suit the increasing dimension of the vessels is not always economically justifiable for port authorities. As the result, raw material producers and end-users are penalised compared with some of their competitors, who can rely on the necessary infrastructure to accommodate larger vessels.
A viable alternative
When trade volume is not large enough, and/or environmental restrictions are hard to crack, the floating terminal can provide a commercially viable alternative. Despite the global economic downturn, coal demand for coal-fired power stations in the Far East (Indonesia, Vietnam, India, China, Philippines, etc) is growing steadily. As a result power projects in the Asian region continue to expand and an increasing number will come on line within 2015 (a large number of coal fire projects will open in Indian, Indonesian and Vietnam). A dominant factor in logistics costs for most of the new coal fired power stations is the cost of ocean freight, mainly due to limited accessibility of larger bulk carriers to both suppliers (Indonesia, Vietnam) and end-users (located in India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, etc.), because a large number of the new power stations are affected by shallow water draught, thus preventing end-users to benefit from the utilisation of the larger size of modern vessels. As a consequence of this growing trend, the producers and the receivers would need to increase infrastructure capacity considerably, to cope with the volume surge and to propose alternative cost-effective means of sea logistics solution to feed the power stations smoothly and efficiently. Logmarin Advisors are currently working on some Floating Terminal projects worldwide, out of which the Coal Floating terminal Princesse Chloe (see table with main features, table 1), and Mara (figure 1) are in the advanced stage of implementation and will start operation in Indonesia in the last quarter of this year. There are many cases in coal, iron ore, copper and aggregates markets where commodities are moved solely due to the introduction of the floating terminals. Nowadays, Floating Terminal facility technology has matured and there is a wealth of knowledge arising from many examples of floating terminals in operation all over the world, and the trend toward the utilisation of this alternative is still growing. Indonesia is home for the largest population of floating cranes. As many as 50 trans-shipper units are supporting the Indonesia coal industry (we estimate that over 120 millions tonnes is loaded by means of floating facilities on an annual basis)
Environmental Impact assessment and obtaining the related permits is getting more and more complicated, expensive and restricted because almost in every part of the world there is a strong environmental lobby amongst local communities against shore facilities and political pressure is brought to bear in many cases. For this reason a shore terminal implementation schedule can often exceed a five year period. With a floating terminal the environmental impact is very limited and in most cases it is hardly noticeable from the shore. A fixed shore infrastructure is un-movable, i.e. you must use it only where built, whereas a floating terminal can, by its own definition and nature, be moved elsewhere should demand call for it. The ability to relocate the facility and secure alternative employment limit the operations exposure to unforeseen business disruption in the case of a floating terminal. Solutions for logistics supply chain are almost infinite. High versatility, a solid knowledge of the markets, knowledge of the material and how it handles, the technical and operative know-how are all necessary to produce a solution which delivers value to the client in any market condition. Part of Logmarin’s role is to make the customer more aware of the advantages arising from a global view of the supply chain. Rather than deploying new technology, the emphasis is placed on a combination of the most proven technologies to ensure they are reliable, flexible and as efficient as possible. The concept of ‘value-added’ is always uppermost when designing solutions. Logmarin has been deeply involved in supporting activities for both the logistics chain ends, worldwide, both on shore and “floating”. Logmarin’s growth is the result of many factors among which the most important is a great management team with multidiscipline backgrounds. Their clients include world class commodities suppliers such as, Anglo, Marubeni, VALE; end-users including Japan Power, ENEL and Kepco; logistics services providers such as Dreyfuss, Mitra Swire CTM and Scorpio. All of these companies have opted for Logmarin’s services to improve their seaborne supply chain.
New strategic alliance
To better serve its customers with a wider offering, Logmarin has, together with Bedeschi and Liebherr, founded a new strategic business alliance, launched under the name of BulkLogisticLandmark(BLL). A recent project developed by BLL is the upgrading of the Toros Ceyhan shore terminal, located in the Bay of Iskenderun in Turkey. Two new travelling cranes, hoppers and feeder conveyor system have been successfully commissioned. With the new unloading facility the terminal has the capability to unload coal, phosphates and other dry bulk materials from the largest post panamax vessel at an average daily rate exceeding 25.000 tonnes. At the delivery test the unloading system has achieved an hourly unloading rate of ab
out 1700 tonnes of coal per hour. By means of travelling hoppers, the commodities can be conveyed either to the silos warehouse or onto trucks for direct distribution to inland network. A second project undertaken by BLL involves the floating terminal Princesse Chloe, owned and operated by PT Mitra SwireCTM, which is under construction at Keppel Subic Shipyard under Registro Italiano Navale (RINA) and Logmarin surveillance/supervision. She will be delivered from the yard in December this year. With a daily designed loading rate of 50,000 tonnes Princesse Chloe is capable to load over 800,000 tonnes of coal monthly. The environmentally friendly coal transfer operation will be carried out at a daily average rate exceeding 40,000 tonnes and, thanks to the innovative telescopic shiploader which is equipped with a distribution chute, loading operations are carried out smoothly and efficiently even in cases of high coal stowage. The efficiency of this coal handling facility will enable PT Berau Coal, one of the larger Indonesian coal producers, to maximise the vessel’s cargo carrying capacity (avoiding broken space in the vessel’s hold) and minimise the vessel loading time thus reducing transportation costs significantly. ‘Motions damping device’ bilge keels are fitted on each side extending to about 3/4 length of the pontoon; structural anti-rolling fins are also fitted. Therefore the Logmarin’ floating crane concept is less sensitive to the adverse weather conditions as compared with the standard floating cranes. Consequently, Princesse Chloe has significant competitive advantages over existing trans-shipper units. The coal handling equipment designed by Liebherr and Bedeschi with the support of Logmarin, are manufactured in compliance with the highest classifications for heavy-duty work in open water conditions.
Customised solution is key
In conclusion, in today’s market, in order to remain competitive it is not only essential to focus on one’s own line of business, it is vital to employ creativity and innovation just as much as knowledge and experience, to ensure sound results suiting the specific client’s situation to eliminate bottlenecks in the supply chain.