Speaking at the Eurocoke Summit in Amsterdam today, Chris Welsh Secretary-General of the Global Shippers’ Forum said: “increasing international trade will set unprecedented challenges to the transport system, particularly around ports, in port hinterland distribution and in surface road and rail freight movements.”

Addressing leading global procurement leaders in the world coke, coal and steel industry, on the theme of “exploring Macro Stressors in the logistics sector”, Mr Welsh told delegates:

“The OECD and other international agencies project that trade related international freight will grow by a factor of 4.3 by 2050. Future growth will be driven by changes to production and sourcing and in the geographical composition of trade. The shift is reflected in the fact that nine of the world’s top ten ports are located in Asia with China alone accounting for seven of the top ten ports and of a continuous shift of economic activity to emerging economies.”

Within his presentation – Welsh outlined the ‘geographical shift,’ and highlighted the key stressors on shipping and the economy if there is insufficient road and rail infrastructure, port capacity and systems.

Chris Welsh explained:

“The West Coast of the United States has given a glimpse of a nightmare situation. The ‘perfect storm’ of larger container ships, new maritime alliance configurations, vessel bunching, port congestion, labour disputes and a lack of inland haulage has placed unforeseen consequences on global supply chains and the US economy.”

Welsh continued:

“West Coast port congestion has specifically hit US retailers, suppliers, distributors and agriculture. Some US economic analysts have said that the situation has had a “drag” effect on US GDP, with 12.5% of US GDP flowing through the two main West Coast container ports, costing the US economy billions of dollars.”

GSF called on industry and regulators to work together in order to avoid any future congestion crises; with better scenario planning, and ensuring sufficient supply chain contingency strategies are in place. In addition, GSF would like regulators to ask more searching questions on the impacts of the new mega vessel maritime alliances – in particular with concerns of their impact on international trade.

In conclusion – the GSF Secretary General stated: “with agricultural products rotting at the port, lost contracts and empty shelves, those engaged in the supply chain have a clear responsibility to prevent future breakdowns, and in undertaking some future proofing to finding solutions to further potential problems.”

…after successful negotiations with the current owners of the terminal, amongst them the majority shareholder Globalvia. The transaction is pending approval by the relevant authorities, which it expects to receive in the next few weeks. TPC manages about 80% of TEUs handled at the Castellon port and is a vital infrastructure for the export competitiveness of local industry.

TPC will complement the services, which Grup TCB offers to its customers in the Mediterranean arc by adding to the existing terminals at the ports of Barcelona (TCB) and Valencia (TCV). From its origin in 2005 under the management of Globalvia and up to 2014, TPC made a leap of competitiveness when it recently obtained the ISO 9001 certification reaching 162,000 movements, 5% more than the previous year. By joining Grup TCB, the Castellon terminal will benefit from all the world-class know-how and state-of-the-art technology which the group has developed in recent years, allowing it to continue improving the service and productivity it provides to its customers.

The terminal has 970 meters of berthing line, with a maximum draught of 14 meters, modern equipment and a direct rail access for quick connectivity with its hinterland.

The Port of Castellon is a driver for the Valencian Community and one of the main port infrastructures on the Spanish coast. Russia, Angola and Turkey are the top three trading partners of the port by number of tons moved.

Xavier Soucheiron, the CEO of Grup TCB, notes that the purchase of TPC is a strategic acquisition for the group. “With terminals in Barcelona, ??Castellon and Valencia and a commitment to intermodal transportation of goods by rail, we are able to offer import and export companies a global high quality logistics service to the whole southern European and Mediterranean markets. Our terminals also serve as connection hubs with Africa, the Gulf of Arabia and Asia.”

The MB2 Multibeam Echosounder is developed for fast
mobilization on smaller vessels and is optimized for shallow water survey companies, Port and Harbour Authorities, dredging companies and other users looking for an easy to use, quick to deploy, high resolution system.

As an option, MB2 can be supplied with an Integrated GNSS aided INS powered by Applanix’ POS MV WaveMaster engine, as well as an integrated real-time SVP sensor to simplify installation and calibration, making the MB2 perfect for use on vessels of opportunity, small survey launches and ASVs.

MB2 features a dedicated cylindrical transmit array and broad range of sounding frequencies from 200 – 460 KHz improving on the performance of the MB1 by offering a wider coverage and narrower acoustic beam. Using both amplitude and phase bottom detection, the MB2 is capable of sounding a swath of up to 140° in up to 110m of water depth.

With 24 bit raw data, both water column and seabed information can be collected within the controller software. The Real Time Appliance (RTA) synchronizes all of the sensors with accuracy better than 0.1 ms.

“The new MB2 is the outcome of a dedicated product development effort over the last three years, building on customer feedback and experiences gathered in the market for ultra-compact Echosounders for fast mobilization. Our product range of MB1 and MB2 will now fit a much broader span of both budget and performance expectations,” says Stephen F. Apsey, General Manager for Teledyne Odom Hydrographic.