World Port Development is pleased to announce that we will be exhibiting at TOC Europe 2014 to be held in London in June. Why not stop by for a chat and pick up a complimentary copy of the magazine. You can find us at stand D56. We look forward to meeting you in London 24-26 June…

VSBW Joint Venture, a consortium of VolkerStevin and Boskalis Westminster, has been appointed as the lead contactor to extend the port’s Berth 9 by 190 metres. The work will increase the combined lengths of Berths 8&9 to 920 metres, giving the port even greater flexibility to berth the world’s largest container ships.

The Boskalis Westminster dredger, Causeway, began dredging the area on 13 April 2014. The initial dredging is in preparation for construction to begin in the summer. The project will involve dredging 1 million cubic metres of material to provide the berth and approaches, and enable a new steel-piled quay wall to be built.

Commenting on the project, Clemence Cheng, Hutchison Ports (UK) Limited Chief Executive Officer, said:

“The scale of operations at the Port of Felixstowe already gives us the ability to berth more large container ships simultaneously than other ports in the UK. The new extension will increase the berthing permutations we can offer and continue to ensure that we turn our customers’ vessels around in the quickest possible time.

“Felixstowe’s location closest to the main shipping lanes and the ports of Northern Europe already saves our customers both time and money. Combined with the best road and rail connections to serve the UK, the new extension will further extend our advantage as the port-of-choice for deep-sea container ship operators.”

Ian Cussons, VSBW Project Manager said:

“We were delighted to secure the contract for the Berth 9 extension at Felixstowe and are ready to mobilise all the necessary resources in the very near future. The tubular pile design is very similar to the existing Berths 8&9 and will be built to allow the water alongside to be dredged to 18 metres depth.”

Piling of the quay wall for the new extension will start later in the summer with construction due to complete in mid-2015. The new extension will be equipped with three new ship-to-shore gantry cranes, each with a 25-container wide outreach.

The contract value is approximately NOK 65 million.

Global Container Terminal, the closest container terminal to the New York/New Jersey harbor entrance, is among the top terminal operators in North America. For the expanded terminal, focusing on state-of-the-art technology and equipment, it has been decided to use the TTS cassette system and translifters for the transportation from the container port to the intermodal terminal.

TTS has delivered the similar solutions to London Gateway and APMT Virginia, USA. The new contract confirms TTS’ strong position in the container handling market.

A TTS translifter is a self-loading trailer which has been designed to be coupled to any universal towing tractor. These manually operated vehicles lift and move the specially designed cassettes using hydraulic systems. This combination creates a flexible and reliable system for all terminal demands, which ensures the maximum efficiency and the minimum time loss.

The delivery is scheduled for completion in June 2015.

France-bound Dacia cars built at the Renault-Nissan plant in Tangiers are being handled at a new terminal operated by vehicle logistics specialist TEA, part of the Charles André group.  The Marseilles Fos port authority chose TEA to develop and run the site last December following a call for tenders in November 2012. The port already handles 220,000 vehicles per year at two other import/export terminals. The new 14-hectare facility, at the Brule-Tabac quay in Fos, will increase annual capacity by up to 60,000 cars.