Work on the project has already been halted for two weeks and has delayed its projected completion until at least December 2015 as a result of a disagreement between the two parties over USD1.6 billion in cost overruns and how to maintain financing.

The delay could cost the Panama Canal Authority (PCA) millions of dollars in lost shipping tolls and are a setback for companies worldwide that are eager to move larger ships through the canal, including liquefied natural gas (LNG) producers that want to ship their products from the US Gulf Coast to Asian markets.

Located next to CXP, CCIP will increase overall handling capacity by 60% to 16 million tonnes a year, and expand the current berth length from 1.7km to 2.8km. The total land area will also increase by 35% to 1.36sqkm and warehousing space by 67% to 175,000sqm.

The 90% stake will be purchased from Changshu Binjiang Urban Construction Investment & Management, which will retain the 10% of CCIP. The purchase is expected to be completed by 25 March 2014. Changshu Binjiang is wholly-owned by Jiangsu Changshu Economic Development Group, which also owns a 5% stake in CXP.
  
CXP specialises in handling pulp, logs and finished steel products. As of September 2013, it handled more than 16% of China’s pulp imports and 18% of the nation’s log imports from New Zealand.

“We are encouraged by the strong growth in January that continued a trend that began during the fourth quarter and are hopeful these volumes signal a strengthening U.S. and global economy,” Foltz said.

The Port of Savannah moved 259,159 TEUs, up from 230,372 over the same period a year ago. Freight moved across all terminals totaled 2.45 million tons, an increase of 7.3 percent or 166,544 tons compared to the same month in 2013. GPA officials anticipate such growth to continue.

In Brunswick, Colonel’s Island Terminal led GPA terminals to a 6.1 percent increase in automobile and heavy equipment units moved during the fiscal year to date. Including Savannah’s Ocean Terminal, the GPA moved 386,070 units of roll-on/roll-off cargo, up by 22,044 units. Brunswick handled most of those moves, at 372,146 units from July through January.

“Our deepwater ports offer a hub for transportation that is unmatched in the United States,” said GPA Board Chairman Robert Jepson. “It’s a place where ocean, road, rail and distribution centers come together to ensure that commerce is handled efficiently, environmentally responsibly and at the lowest cost possible.”

Located approximately 1,600 km north-west of Perth, Pilbara is a Security Level 1 Port and the world’s second-largest bulk exporting port, loading ships around the clock, 365 days a year in in searing heat, with temperatures regularly hitting 45 degrees Celcius.

The SafeGuard anti-collision systems are installed on heavy-duty, conveyer belt loaders, each capable of swinging through 180 degrees to speed the loading process by turning immediately from a fully-loaded ship on one side of the quay to the next empty ship at the other side.

Andrew Pasquale, Consultant at LogiCamm worked on the project and he explains. “Iron Ore ship loaders are huge and very expensive machines in their own right but the product they convey represents an even larger asset. Each loading machine can convey several thousand tons of iron ore per hour and, with each ton of iron ore being worth approx. 100 US dollars, it is essential to keep the loaders operating with minimal downtime. If a loading machine gets damaged, or the loading is hampered for any reason, the loss per machine is likely to be a minimum of approx. one million US dollars per day, rising to as much as twelve million. After a number of expensive incidents, Pilbara Port was looking for a technology that could help them to avoid or mitigate potential incidents. After investigating various different technologies available in the market, including laser, radar, ultrasonic and cameras, we chose to propose the implementation of a Navtech Radar SafeGuard anti-collision Solution. 

“Several things attracted us to the SafeGuard solution. We did feasibility trials with laser and radar and were impressed with the robustness, professionalism and execution of the SafeGuard software design. We also found that other technologies lacked proven experience in the required application. We were looking particularly for a solution that would help the loader avoid hitting hatches, light poles, cranes and the ship’s bridge and highly rated Navtech’s  huge experience in stockpile profiling and machine anti-collision.”

Stephen Clark, Technology Director of Navtech Radar comments, “In most outdoor industrial operations there is the potential for pieces of equipment to collide, or for individual machines to collide with and injure personnel operating in and around the same area. Therefore, early detection and prevention of collisions is vital for safe and efficient operations. This applies in manned operations and also, increasingly, for machines that are operated remotely or, even, autonomously. Whilst dependable detection is a prerequisite for any safety system, so is reliable operation with alerts only being raised in genuine circumstances. For some time, Radar has been used reliably for the outdoor industrial automation of various vehicles. They are not affected by bright sunlight, rain, and fog, or by dust in the atmosphere or on the sensor itself, and changes in environmental conditions have little effect on the detection performance.”

Since its implementation, the SafeGuard System has operated in all weathers, day and night, and proven to be reliable even in this demanding dry and dusty environment. The staff at Pilbara Port report a very low rate of false alarms, easy commissioning, minimal maintenance and no need for routine cleaning.