The ‘Port de Sète, Sud de France’ Regional Public Establishment, which operates the Sète commercial port, has decided to equip the site with a goods management system to ensure more fluid transit of both imported and exported goods. Subsequent to the port’s implementation of the ship management system, CAPSUD, in 2012, it needed a goods management tool to further develop the port community.

The AP+ implementation contract will be signed in October, in line with the contract award notice sent to MGI on 7 August. The AP+ system will be installed in the last quarter of 2014.

Florence Brochard, MGI Project Manager for Sète, said,  “I am very happy to come back to this project and work with the Sète community, which has always supported the idea that a CCS would be an advantage for the Port’s development.”

AP+ will cover all goods transit operations in the port area, from the time the ship makes its call declaration to the time the goods exit the port zone. It will establish connections between all private port entities – freight forwarders, consignees, shipping agents, terminal operators, carriers (rail, river and road) – and public organisations – Customs, the Port Authority and veterinary and phytosanitary services.  Through optimisation and the implementation of paperless logistics processes for each of the port’s core businesses, goods will transit Sète Port more smoothly, providing the largest port in the Languedoc region with increased competitiveness. AP+ will make it possible to track goods in real time while ensuring data confidentiality.  It will also incorporate national and international regulatory requirements for safety and security (Import Control System, Export Control System and Container Security Initiative), an issue closely monitored by local customs authorities.

François Mahé des Portes, President of the MGI Executive Board, comments, “There are no simple projects, just determined and demanding professionals who take responsibility for their business, like at Sète Port.”

According to Mr Olivier Carmes, the port’s new Director, “Our stated aim is to bring all port entities together under a single window. This is a joint project that involves all companies operating in the port community.  AP+ must be seen as a real advantage that helps improve Sète Port’s competitiveness and attractiveness.”

The project forms part of an agreement between ABP and DONG Energy, which is building facilities for its own operations and maintenance base at the port, alongside other energy companies including E.On, Centrica and Siemens.

The lock leading to the port’s Royal Dock has seen both inner and outer lock gates replaced, as well as extensive repairs to the cills that the gates abut. 

ABP Supervising Engineer Dave Good explained why the gates needed to be replaced.

He said: “The existing lock gates were semi buoyant and as such can only work for six hours around high tide. This gives us an operations window of around 12 hours in every 24.

“The new gates are of a single-skin construction and are non-buoyant, with much stiffer anchorages so we can work for almost 24 hours.

“This will allow our newer customers – the energy companies who run their operations and maintenance (O&M) activities from Grimsby, to work regular day shifts, rather than having to work around high tide, which could be any time of the day or night.”

ABP Port Manager Grimsby & Immingham Mike Sellers said: “This is about making the dock more accessible, becoming a 24-hour port rather than being tidally restricted.

“We want to attract more of this business to Grimsby. It is now a major hub for operations and maintenance businesses in the offshore wind industry, and this is another example of ABP investing to grow the port.”

DONG Energy’s Jason Ledden agrees: “The flexibility allowed by the new system will give us unrestricted access to the dock. This means we can work smarter and more efficiently to service our wind farms from Grimsby for the next 25 years.”

The old gates weigh 70 tonnes each and were last replaced in 1982. The replacement gates measure 12m by 9m and each weigh 72 tonnes. Designed and constructed by Dutch contractor Ravestein, they were craned into place after work to repair the damaged cills had been completed.

Photo: One of the huge outer gates is carefully craned into place (image courtesy of ABP / David Lee Photography)

 For July and August, the GPA moved 595,711 twenty-foot equivalent container units, up 12.9 percent or 68,246 TEUs compared to the same period last year. Both months set consecutive TEU records, with 293,889 TEUs crossing GPA docks in July and 301,822 TEUs in August. The August number grew by 21,009 TEUs, or 7.5 percent, compared to the same month a year ago. Containers moved by rail also reached record levels in August, at 52,711 TEUs.

“To accommodate growth at these levels, we are taking the necessary steps to expand capacity now,” said GPA Executive Director Curtis Foltz. “Infrastructure improvements, which include additional cranes, operational improvements and container storage consolidation, will increase annual throughput capacity from 4.5 million to 6.5 million TEUs.”

At today’s board meeting, the GPA also approved the latest phase of container storage consolidation, which will add space for additional TEUs on Garden City Terminal.

“Increasing our capacity means increasing jobs and economic opportunity,” said GPA Board Chairman James Walters. “More cargo moving through our deepwater ports supports growth not only within the transportation sector, but in the community goods and services supported by logistics industry payrolls.”

By 2024, Garden City Terminal will feature some 30 ship-to-shore cranes, up from the current 22, and 169 rubber-tired gantry cranes, Foltz said.  The GPA currently employs 116 RTGs to handle shipping containers on terminal.

Foltz noted that at both of Georgia’s deepwater ports in Savannah and Brunswick, there is ample room to grow.

“In Brunswick, we moved more than 674,000 Ro/Ro units last year, but we have enough land permitted for construction to double our Colonel’s Island operation,” Foltz said.

For the first two months of the fiscal year, Brunswick has experienced a 7.9 percent (3,863-unit) increase in Ro/Ro volumes to reach 57,085 units moved.

The deliveries consisted of:

6 x CSD 450 for the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority

4 x CSD 500 for the Bangladesh Water Development Board.

The dredgers were built at the Karnafuly Chittagong Shipyard, where they have been commissioned by a joint specialist team with employees from both VOSTA LMG and Karnafuly.  With this delivery included, VOSTA LMG and Karnafuly have delivered a total of fifteen cutter-suction dredgers, which are employed to keep the Bangladesh waterway system navigable.

VOSTA LMG has been responsible for providing engineering services, dredging equipment and supervision during the construction of the CSD’s. VOSTA LMG’s expertise – acquired over more than a century – and the workmanship of the Karnafuly Shipyard made it possible to construct the dredgers onsite and turned the project into a success.