Speaking at this week’s Connecticut Maritime Association event in USA, Mr Masamichi Morooka told delegates: “In a truly difficult economic climate like the present, which for many shipping companies is the worst in living memory, there is really only one issue on the minds of ship operators working on the waterfront – and that question is: ‘how are we going to survive’?”

“The protection of the environment is of great importance, but we must balance the measures we take with the economic impact of these measures. At present shipping finance has virtually dried up. This is not just for new ships but also for the investments needed to continue operating existing ships in a safe and environmentally sustainable manner,” he pointed out.

Speaking during a key debate on The Regulatory Environment, Mr Morooka questioned: “If a shipping company is already sinking in debt, how is it going to pay for the retrofitting of expensive new ballast water treatment systems that will be required in the next few years, at an estimated cost of between one and five million dollars per ship?”

He pointed out that investing in environmental measures such as exhaust gas cleaning systems and ‘green’ technologies to reduce CO2 emissions, as well as installing ballast water treatment systems and the use of distillate fuels, could cost the shipping industry “hundreds of billions”. “How will ship operators manage all these additional costs rising so high that they have a dramatic impact on world trade or force cargo back onto roads or to other, less carbon-efficient modes of transport?”

“We are committed to protecting the environment but I do not believe that shipowners should shy away from asking these challenging questions,” Mr Masamichi said.

“While our regulators have a responsibility to balance the interests of shipowners with the need to protect the environment and the interests of wider society, they also need to be pragmatic and to have an understanding of the impact that their actions are having on the industry’s own long-term sustainability. Otherwise there is a danger of creating an industry in which investors will not want to invest,” he warned.

The London Eye could be rolled underneath the three new cranes, which measure 138 metres tall at full height.

Weighing 2,000 tonnes each, the cranes are taller than Wembley Stadium’s arch and two-and-a-half times the height of Nelson’s Column. They are the first in the UK to be able to lift four containers at once, which means the world’s largest ships will be unloaded more efficiently in future.

Simon Moore, CEO, DP World London Gateway, said: “London Gateway port, and the combined logistics park, is Britain’s new gateway for global trade. These cranes will bring new innovation and efficiency to the supply chain industry. It won’t be long before importers and exporters across the country will be able to cut costs dramatically from their supply chains by choosing London Gateway, a port which is much closer to where goods need to go.

“A world-class deep-sea container port requires a world-class set of cranes. They will be the lynchpin of the operation – the biggest, most modern and most efficient the UK has ever seen.

Moore added: “We are also working on several aspects of London Gateway, including recruiting hundreds of staff who will operate and maintain equipment; investing millions of pounds into local roads, including the A13 and the M25 motorway; and building 20 kilometres of new rail track to ensure that over 30% of containers can move by rail.”

This first delivery of cranes, built and delivered by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company (ZPMC), a world leader in the development of quay cranes, left Shanghai on January 7. Two more cranes set sail bound for the new port earlier this week and a further 19 cranes are planned for delivery over the coming years.

The cranes will operate on a new quay wall which is 2.7 kilometres in length with foundations that are 16 storeys deep into the ground (50 metres deep).

Andrew Bowen, London Gateway Engineering Director, said: “London Gateway is built on new land created from material that we dredged from the existing shipping channel. So, these new cranes will be operating on land that, up until a few months back, was in the sea.”

The shipping channel has been dredged from 11 metres to 14.5 metres in the inner channel and 16 metres in the outer channel. The berth pockets have been deepened to 17 metres, allowing the world’s largest ships to call at London Gateway.

Bowen continued: “We have more than 2,300 people now employed on-site who are in the final stages of constructing what we believe is the most technologically advanced port in the world, with hundreds more employed behind the scenes. The majority are British engineers and construction companies, which means this is great news for the economy. This really is a fantastic place to work and we are now recruiting heavily for more engineers and operations staff.”

London Gateway is set to create 36,000 jobs at full build out, with some 2,000 directly employed in the port, 10,000 employed in the logistics park, and over 24,000 in-direct and induced jobs being created in the supply chain.

Ahsan Agha, London Gateway’s Mechanical and Electrical Services Manager, is responsible for the design and build of the cranes. When the cranes arrived, he said: “These cranes are what London Gateway is all about. They are future-proofing Britain’s ability to trade with the rest of the world and I’m proud to see them arrive. It’s a huge step forward for the whole team at London Gateway.”

The award, for Organizational Leadership, was announced on Thursday, February 28, 2013 and presented at the Climate Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. The Port of San Diego is only one of four local governments nationwide to be recognized by the EPA’s Center for Corporate Climate Leadership.

The Port has demonstrated leadership in managing and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in internal operations and throughout the supply chain, as well as integrating climate resilience into their operating strategies.

“It is an honor for our Green Port program to receive this national recognition,” said Ann Moore, Chair of the Board of Port Commissioners. “In addition to focusing on what we can do as environmental stewards, the Port is collaborating with other agencies in the region and the state, as well as our tenants.”

“The Climate Leadership Award winners are setting the bar even higher with their outstanding actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that harm the environment and threaten the public’s health,” said Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation.

The order comprises 10 Ship-to-Shore (STS) cranes, 20 Automated Stacking Cranes (ASC) and 5 Straddle Carriers (SC). Delivery is scheduled for 2014 and 2016. The value of the order is not disclosed, but is more than EUR 100 million.

The government of Indonesia has introduced a nationwide freight transport program to improve the movement of goods through the country’s vast waterways. As part of this program Pelindo III will construct a new terminal called Lamong Bay Terminal in Surabaya, East Java, with a planned inauguration in 2014.

“A safe and uninterrupted container flow in the terminal is our customers’ uncompromised need, just like predictable operational costs are for us,” stresses Mr. Prasetyadi, Project Manager, Pelindo III. “Considering these circumstances we feel confident in cooperating with Konecranes aiming to build up business success in Indonesia and more widely in South-East Asia.”

Indonesia is a strategically important market for Konecranes, which has been operating in the country for 15 years. The country and its market are big and rapidly growing. Konecranes is poised, with its products and services, to be a partner in Indonesia’s drive to become a global top ten economy by 2025.

“We are proud to be the first to deliver an automated container yard in Indonesia,” says Tuomas Saastamoinen, Director, Sales and Marketing, Konecranes. “This record order is the result of Konecranes’ strong commitment to enhancing the productivity of our customers, by means of advanced automation, field proven crane technology and local support.”

“Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelago and has fast growing provincial economies, so its ports are crucial to international, regional and domestic trade,” says Philippe Richard, Konecranes’ Country Director in Indonesia. “With our leading technology in port solutions and a strategic target of increasing our presence in the area, we are very pleased to have won this order”.

Konecranes’ Indonesian headquarters are located in Jakarta, and it has branch offices in Makkasar, Surabaya, Batam, Pekanbaru, Medan and Balikpapan. Konecranes provides service to almost 300 Indonesian customers from different customer segments such as paper, steel, mining and ports. Konecranes product offering for the area also includes industrial cranes of different sizes and lift trucks.

This new order for container handling equipment includes the latest in crane technology, offering the customer maximized productivity.