Most of the deliveries were stock built vessels, a number of which were being built on speculation when an order was placed for them prior to completion. A feature of standardised Damen vessels is that, though built in series, they can be customised with standard options to meet individual client requirements. This practice of stock building, a key feature of Damen’s philosophy, ensures that clients receive the swiftest possible turnaround of their order.

The CSDs have a broad range of application, including dredging approach and navigation channels, sand mining for construction projects and irrigation channels, work on hydropower dams and irrigating reservoirs to prevent silting. As such, they are operated by a wide variety of clients, including port authorities, coast guards and a wide range of dredging contractors.

Product Director Olivier Marcus of the product group Dredging says: “The 2015 results show the success of Damen Dredging Equipment since it became part of the Damen Shipyards Group. We have many years of experience in building dredgers before that, though each one was a custom special. After 2005 our range became standardised and available on stock, with all the benefits that go with this. Since then we have delivered almost 100 standard CSDs.”

Mr Marcus lists the advantages of this as fast delivery and proven technology, resulting in guaranteed performance, the best possible price-quality ratio – largely due to development costs being spread over many dredgers – and readily available spare parts. Though the designs are  standard, the CSDs are available with a range of options to ensure the versatility required to meet bespoke client needs. Besides the CSDs, Damen can also deliver all the auxiliary equipment, such as Booster Stations, Multicats, Shoalbusters and survey vessels, required to guarantee a successful dredging project.

The shipping community must prepare for a significant challenge to meet its requirements. Damen’s unique InvaSave is an innovative solution that will help pave the way for compliance in ports. This mobile ballast water discharge technology is on track to obtain IMO type approval as it enters into the last phase of certification by the Dutch flagstate.The InvaSave technology has been successfully tested in various representative challenging water conditions and the official land-based testing was completed at the MEA test institute in the Netherlands in 2015. Damen is proud to announce that final shipboard tests have commenced this week on board of the 800TEU container vessel Henrike Schepers.

Test protocols are in line with IMO BWMC test guidelines and additional requirements of the Dutch flagstate. Unlike conventional on board ballast water treatment systems, InvaSave is a mobile discharge technology for port services. Therefore, during the shipboard tests ballast water will be taken in untreated and the efficacy of the technology will be validated upon discharge only. IMO type approval is expected to be obtained Q3 2016 and a patent is pending.

Damen’s Manager Ballast Water Treatment, Gert-Jan Oude Egberink says, “InvaSave is the world’s first and only technology on the market today to treat ballast water at discharge in only one step. It can therefore serve as a port-based alternative for those ship owners that may not want to retrofit an on board treatment system, perhaps because their ships operate on non-exempted fixed routes or their ships are so old as to make any investment in such a system prohibitively expensive. Alternatives like InvaSave are also required for ports that need to provide backup in the case of emergencies when ships’ on board treatment systems fail.”

Damen can deliver the InvaSave technology in a self-sufficient mobile container, which can be put onboard a service barge or moved around the port on a trailer or a pontoon.

A vessel needing to discharge its ballast water can connect to the InvaSave unit, which then processes the water and discharges it in the port in compliance with the IMO D2 standard. For vessels with much larger ballast water capacities, it is possible to interconnect several systems. If mobility is not required, the InvaSave containers can also be stacked and interconnected on shore.

The first InvaSave systems will be operational at Groningen Seaports located in the Dutch Waddensea, a protected Unesco world heritage site, after the IMO BWMC enters into force. This project is developed with the aid of a subsidy from Waddenfonds, a Dutch foundation that aims to protect and develop the ecology and economy of the region. The port service shall be provided by the Dutch waste company Van Gansewinkel.

Mr Oude Egberink: “Port-based ballast water treatment has added value for ports clients as it increases the support services offered to customers, it will prevent expensive delays in ports caused by failing onboard systems. And some types of vessels don’t need to invest in an onboard BWT system at all.”

Damen Shipyards Group operates 32 shipbuilding and repair yards, employing 9,000 people worldwide. Damen has delivered more than 5,000 vessels in more than 100 countries and delivers some 160 vessels annually to customers worldwide. Based on its unique, standardised ship-design concept Damen is able to guarantee consistent quality. Damen’s focus on standardisation,modular construction and keeping vessels in stock leads to short delivery times, low ‘total cost of ownership’, high resale values and reliable performance. Furthermore, Damen vessels are based on thorough R&D and proven technology.

Damen offers a wide range of products, including tugs, workboats, naval and patrol vessels, high speed craft, cargo vessels, dredgers, vessels for the offshore industry, ferries, pontoons and superyachts. For nearly all vessel types Damen offers a broad range of services, including maintenance, spare parts delivery, training and the transfer of (shipbuilding) know-how. Damen also offers a variety of marine components, such as nozzles, rudders, anchors, anchor chains and steel works. In addition to ship design and shipbuilding, Damen Shiprepair & Conversion has a worldwide network of 15 repair and conversion yards with dry docks ranging up to 420 x 80 metres. Conversion projects range from adapting vessels to today’s requirements and regulations to the complete conversion of large offshore structures. DSC completes around 1,500 repair and maintenance jobs annually.

SCPA handled 144,718 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in December, pushing total container volume to 1.97 million in 2015. As measured in pier containers, or total boxes handled, SCPA’s two container terminals moved 1.12 million boxes in 2015, an increase of 9.54 percent over 1.02 million containers handled last year.

“Our 10 percent TEU volume growth for the 2015 calendar year is outstanding,” said Jim Newsome, SCPA president and CEO. “Successful recruitment of discretionary cargo has been an important driver of volumes, as well as continued strength of the automotive sector. However, looking ahead to the second half of our 2016 fiscal year, we expect flat to very modest growth due largely to weakness in overseas markets. Because of the Panama Canal expansion delay, we will not see new ship deployments of significance until FY2017.”

Non-containerized cargo business volume was strong in 2015, with 1.34 million pier tons handled during the year.Finished vehicle volume grew 13 percent year over year, with 268,964 vehicles crossing SCPA docks in 2015.

The Inland Port handled 7,824 rail moves in December, more than double the facility’s December volume last year. The facility’s rail volumes grew 76.5 percent during its second full calendar year of operation, with 75,111 total rail moves completed in 2015.

In addition to strong volume growth during the year, Newsome also highlighted the successful progress of the Charleston Harbor Deepening Project. With the issuance of the Chief’s Report in September and signing of the PreConstruction Engineering and Design Agreement in December, the project continued to move forward with historic momentum through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers planning process. Last week the project cleared another milestone with the Record of Decision, the formal recommendation of the project to Congress for authorization.

New Multi-Purpose Carrier Service
SCPA recently added a new regular shipping service, Atlantic Ro-Ro Carriers (ARRC), to its vessel calls at Columbus Street Terminal. The first ARRC vessel arrived on January 8, handling approximately 6,000 tons of import cargo.

ARRC specializes in handling freight for multiple business segments, including container, breakbulk, rolling stock and project cargo. Charleston is an addition to ARRC’s Balt-Atlantic service, which utilizes multiple vessels to connect St. Petersburg, Russia and other North Europe ports with the U.S. East Coast.

“ARRC’s multi-purpose capabilities are an exciting addition to SCPA’s breakbulk opportunities that further enhance our connection with North Europe,” said Paul McClintock, SCPA Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “We’re pleased to welcome their regular calls.”

Board Action
The Board approved two contracts related to the development of the Hugh K. Leatherman, Sr. Terminal, including consultancy services for the concept design phase and a change order for additional construction activities pertaining to the containment wall. The facility will increase SCPA’s current container capacity by 50 percent, with the first phase expected to open for operations by 2020.

To accommodate rapid growth within SCPA’s refrigerated cargo market, the Board also approved a construction contract for the installation of additional refrigerated container infrastructure at the Wando Welch Terminal.

Main Office Sale
The Board authorized SCPA to sell the Main Office at 176 Concord Street in Charleston and directed the Real Estate Development Committee to finalize the offering and process by February 1.

“The need for our administrative and corporate office to be closer to our port operations is the primary driver of our decision to sell our current office,” Newsome said.

Resolution Honoring Former Charleston Mayor
The Board also adopted a resolution honoring the former Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. and declaring January 20, 2016, as Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Day at the Port of Charleston.

“Mayor Riley’s father served on the SCPA Board from 1969 to 1977, and he continued that legacy as a tireless supporter of the growth and development of our Port,” said SCPA Board Chair Pat McKinney. “Especially with regard to the harbor deepening project, Mayor Riley has worked in partnership with our Board and staff to ensure the economic well-being of the Port, and in turn the entire City of Charleston.”

Riley utilized his relationships with the Obama Administration to elevate the importance of harbor deepening and to garner support and timely forward progress of the project on the federal level. He has also supported SCPA’s cruise business and plans for the non-maritime redevelopment of Union Pier for the benefit of the Port and the City.

APM Terminals will hold a 51% majority share in the operation, which includes annual throughput capacities of 250,000 TEUs and 1.5 million tons of general cargo.

“We are proud to expand the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network into this important South American market in partnership with such a highly respected business as Compas SA, and we look forward to building upon their achievements in the port of Cartagena” said APM Terminals CEO Kim Fejfer.

CCTO and Compas S.A. will jointly invest over USD200 million in upgrading and expanding the facility to triple the annual throughput capacity, and enable the terminal to handle vessels up to 13,000 TEU capacity which will be able to transit the Panama Canal after the lock-widening project is completed this year.

Cartagena, located at the northern tip of South America on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, is the second-busiest container port in South America, and the fifth-busiest in the Latin American/Caribbean Region, with a throughput of over two million TEUs in 2015, trailing only Balboa and Colón, Panama; Santos, Brazil and Manzanillo, Mexico. The Colombian economy is the third-largest in South America, after Brazil and Argentina, and has averaged better than a 4% annual growth rate since 2010. The Colombian economy has been
projected by the IMF to expand by 2.9% in 2016.

A recent World Bank report has noted that Colombia’s population of 47 million, the second-largest in South America, has seen the poverty rate decline from 49% in 2003 to 21.9% in 2014, with economic growth leading to job creation as the main engine of poverty reduction. Increased trade opportunities resulting from port and transportation infrastructure investment and improvement will help to continue to drive Colombia’s economic expansion and social progress.

CCTO is the sixth operational Latin American facility within the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network, which includes ports in Callao, Peru; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Santos, Pecém, and Itajaí, Brazil. APM Terminals is currently building a new 1.2 million TEU deep-water terminal in Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico opening later this year and a new, 1.3 million TEU deep water terminal in Moin, Costa Rica, opening in 2018.