Archive 2 - Page 855 of 1311 - World Port Development

Moving forward providing solutions

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7 February 2013

A fundamental principle in the trading of raw material is that efficient logistics in a supply chain allow lower delivery costs, ultimately making the supplier and the price of the final product more competitive. To achieve such results there are several aspects to keep in mind while approaching possible improvements to an existing situation or reasoning on a green-field project, and one of these is experience. Experience is the plus factor that gives the possibility of having a global view over the supply chain development, making the difference when you want to make the best of the whole process.

Off-shore terminals

The ingredients that make a port project economically viable are the availability of a large amount of commodity to be handled, shore-infrastructures (for example railways), water depth at site and large flat areas for commodity handling and storage. Nowadays, dry-bulk producers and dealers face the difficulty of exporting and/or importing their commodity as open land next to deep water is not easily available and dredging is an environmentally sensitive issue that usually causes concerns within the local community.

Subsequently, the construction of new deep-water ports is expensive and time consuming.

As a result, commodity producers and end-users are penalised compared to those that can rely on the necessary infrastructure to accommodate larger vessels. In these cases a viable alternative solution to overcome such restrictions could be the use of trans-shipping solutions, which can give a real boost to the efficiency of the supply and open up new sea gateways, becoming critical logistical links in the industrial supply chain. Logmarin has been involved in most of the major trans-shipment operations around the world, advising, devising and designing different logistical solutions for these particular situations. Over the last 12 months, six new floating terminals have been delivered, including the world largest floating hub, bringing the fleet “of floating hub solutions” designed by Logmarin to 17 units. Three more units are at various construction stages and will be delivered during the first quarter 2013. Such results have given Logmarin a leading position in this market niche, as their solutions have proven themselves to be reliable and efficient demonstrated by the over 50 million tonnes of dry-bulk commodities exported and/or imported in the last 12 months through their “solutions.” For Logmarin, 2012 was a year of strong progress and achievements in the supply chain sector both on-shore and off-shore. Three different logistical solutions implemented during the year ranged from the “simplest” to the ‘biggest’ ever built taking into consideration their efficiency and focusing, in particular, on performance, cost and energy consumption.

Largest floating terminal

Earlier this year Logmarin delivered the world’s largest floating terminal ever built to mining giant Vale.

The company was looking to overcome restrictions imposed by the Chinese authorities of a 350.000dwt limit in their ports preventing the use of their Valemax (a 400.000dwt vessel) from entering. To by-pass the restrictions Vale decided for a “Plan B”; a floating hub enabling them to trans-ship iron ore from the Valemax onto Capesize feeders. Logmarin got involved in all the stages of the “Plan B” from the feasibility study to assistance in the commissioning, including site selection, engineering, procedures and check-lists. The Ore Fabrica, a 285,000 tonnes buffer storage trans-shipper, equipped with Liebherr cranes and Bedeschi conveyor system and travelling ship-loader with a design capacity of 5,000tph, was delivered in February and operates in Subic Bay, Philippines. The entire project from design to delivery took 333 days to complete.

Innovative solution

Another project in which Logmarin implemented some innovative solutions was on the floating terminal the Queen of Jade. Named in July and delivered by Keppel Batangas Shipyard in the Philippines her design is different from conventional floating cranes. A small buffer storage protected by a retaining bulkhead, allows the stowage of about 3,000 tonnes, useful for balancing and trimming of the ocean going vessel.

In addition, the vessel is equipped with a passive system to amortise the rolling and pitching movements, allowing operations in adverse weather conditions. Installed is the most efficient single crane on the market, consuming only a glass of (MDO) fuel every tonnes of coal loaded, and the position of it on the ship provides a perfect balance between cargo, power and speed. The average daily loading rate exceeds 24,000 tonnes and in one day the vessel handled over 27,000 tonnes. The Queen of Jade carries the Indonesian flag, is registered to the maritime authority of Jakarta and classed by Rina.

Floating terminal

Delivered in October the floating terminal FC Vittoria is operating in Indonesia enhancing the Kideco coal export. Like her twin Princess Chloe (supporting the coal sales of Berau since March 2011), it has two heavy-duty Liebherr cranes which work in conjunction with a cargo handling
system comprising of hoppers, conveyors and a ship-loader that perform at an average daily rate exceeding 50,000 tonnes (that is 60% higher than the contractual one). The swivelling and telescopic capability of the ship-loader ensures serving multiple holds of the ocean going vessels minimising the need of the floating terminal to move alongside. The luffing mechanism of the ship-loader is used to cater to the difference in the air draft of the ocean going vessel at ballast to fully laden condition. At the ship-loader end a movable trimming chute is fitted to ensure delivery of coal into all corners of the ocean going vessel’s holds. Vittoria is double bowed and has, therefore, the possibility of operating on both sides of the vessel to load/unload – even in choppy seas. The cranes are strategically placed to minimise the slewing movement, thereby increasing the cycle time and efficiency thus reducing energy consumption. The experience gained in the field together with the new technologies applied give clients the benefit of a performance monitoring system implemented by Logmarin that provides valuable feed-back on the operations of the existing terminals. Such system enables the constant refining of designs…”everything can always be done better than it is being done” (Ford 1922).

Moving forward

In Queensland, Australia, Logmarin is currently involved in a Mitchell group project which is at the Environmental Approval Stage and foresees a final amount of 22 million tonnes of coal per year to be handled in the Great Marine Barrier Reef area (which is an UNESCO heritage site). On one hand, given the site the protection of the environment is pushed to the most positive limit at all stages of the design; on the other hand efficiency still is the target. The chosen logistics solution, proposed by Logmarin, is an articulated tug and barge combination, with a catamaran floating terminal to minimise the environmental impact. As the operations will be carried out in the area of the Capricorn Tropic, the vessel has been named Capricorn CAT, to further symbolise the environment’s presence in the mind of the designers. All features foreseen on the Capricorn Cat are designed to prevent spillage and pollution. Every detail is aimed to the protection of the Great Barrier Reef Park fauna, flora and water including the grabs, the spill plates, the tunnel conveyors and transfer points, the ship loaders, the hoppers, the drainage collection facility, settling tanks, paint and lighting to name a few.

Open minded thinking

To achieve the best possible results, each supply chain needs to be considered as unique but avoiding the application of standard solutions means there are almost infinite options to be evaluated. A solid knowledge of the markets, the material handled, the technical and operative know-how are fundamental to produce a solution delivering value to the client as only such characteristics can allow a focussed and proper understanding of the challenges faced by the commodity producer or dealer. Worldwide (commodity) players, such as Kepco, EDF, ENEL, Egat, Marubeni, Kinder Morgan, Vale, Mitchell Group, Noranda, Sakari Energy, have all opted for Logmarin’s support to design or to improve efficiency in their commodity supply chain. As a result, the company itself has a track record in applying solutions in USA, Europe, Australia, Africa, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea and Thailand. Logmarin is proud to have won a design contract for the supply chain for a Japanese/Korean Consortium selected as preferred party to build, own and operate a coal fired power plant in Vietnam. It is also involved in three green-field power plant projects in Thailand and is involved in a logistic terminal for a new steel mill in Indonesia, which is at a preliminary feasibility stage.

Planning – not guessing

To compete and succeed in today’s economy, suppliers and industry players must understand the economic trade-offs of their decisions and act accordingly. “Part of Logmarin’s role is to make our customers more aware of the advantages arising from a global view of the supply chain providing customised solutions,” says Mario Terenzio, Managing Director of Logmarin. To support clients in the decision making process during the development of a new supply chain or the improvement of an existing one, the company has customised a commercial software system to analyse the key resources (rings) of the end-to-end supply chain, like mine production, in-land transportation (trains and trucks), stockpile management (single product/client or multi-users/qualities), shore terminal (intermediate river terminal or marine port), river and/or sea ways (barges, tugs, floating terminal, ships features and freight), end-users facility, etc. as the case may be. All the above rings of the supply chain have to operate in an integrated manner to ensure overall efficiency allowing savings in the delivery costs of the commodity. Therefore the bottlenecks of each of the rings including production requirements, storage capacity, external traffic, weather conditions, tide variation, dredging requirement, random arrival of the vessels, shipping market fluctuation, port and river constraints, breakdowns, etc. all have to be duly investigated and their interactions analysed to determine the most efficient supply chain solution.

The main application of the customised Dynamic Supply Chain Simulator Software (LOG.DES) is to be found in mine-to-port, port-to-port and port-to-industry logistic chains. Projects in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia have already benefited from the results of applying LOG.DES. It enables the user to represent a real world process in a dynamic animated computer model and then experiment on alternative “what-if” scenarios to identify the optimal solutio
n also by way of cost-benefit analysis to evaluate the advantages the client will accrue from the envisaged solution(s) implementation. In short, using LOG.DES to simulate (10 years) the entire supply chain in great detail prevents the end-user from incurring unnecessary costs (Capex and Opex) and helps to minimise the environmental impact while achieving the desired target.

When planning a new project development or the improvement of an existing one, working with clients, side-by-side is essential to produce targeted valuable solutions. From the identification of bottlenecks to brainstorming for ways to overcome them, from the designing stage to the final implementation and commissioning, Logmarin believes in team-working.

Higher flexibility and efficiency

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7 February 2013

The pressure of demand on local coal supplies in India is growing rapidly with an increase in coal-fired power and steel plants. However domestic output has been curtailed due to various hurdles concerning environmental clearances and land acquisition, as well as low investment. This requires the import of high amounts of coal which itself requires the highest effectiveness and efficiency through well planned supply chains in order to avoid excessive costs. In order to maintain competitiveness berthing time must be minimised, demurrage charges must be avoided, larger vessels must be accommodated and all this requires the most efficient loading and/or unloading equipment.

Floating equipment

To date, only three private ports in India are able to handle Capesize vessels and these ports are highly frequented and overloaded, while smaller ports are unable to handle Panamax and/or Capesize vessels due to their draught limitations. At Kandla Port, in the Gujarat state in western India, they are now able to handle gearless Panamax and Capesize Vessels, up to 300m in length and 16m in draught, with the installation of the Liebherr Floating Cargo Crane (type CBG 350).

The floating crane carries out lightering operations offshore and subsequently the discharging operation is completed at the port. The CBG 350 is a dedicated heavy-duty high performance four-rope grab crane. Designed for high speed continuous operation, these CBG cranes incorporate specific features for heavy duty conditions and operations in open water, including a compact slewing column, specially designed heavy duty hoisting winches, heel trim alarm systems and emergency operation functions.

Safe and precise crane operation is further supported with Liebherr’s own Litronic crane control and management system. Litronic facilitates smooth and high-speed operations as well as preventive maintenance. Amongst other information the load indication and limitation, as well as the load recordings are displayed. The machine data is recorded, including alarms and failures, and service and inspection intervals can be determined. Optionally, modem access is available for remote fault-finding through skilled Liebherr engineers. The software is available in several languages.

With the design focus on maximum operating capacities and minimum maintenance and life-cycle costs the cranes are ideally suited to round-the-clock working cycles. With this combination port volumes are expected to surge. Through the offshore lightering possibility of larger sized vessels the floating cargo crane customers are able to overcome their draught limitations and so reduce their freight charges.

Fixed cargo cranes

A second success story hails from Dharamtar Port, located on the right-hand bank of the Amba River, about 14 nautical miles from India’s busiest container terminal – Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Mumbai.

Transport of containers to JNPT is very difficult due to the lack of infrastructure and can take up to 8 hours to travel 60km by road. This has caused heartache for many importers/exporters as their aim is to optimise the total logistic costs and to deliver the cargo as fast as possible but have to face the fact that both road and rail infrastructure in India is not adequate for hinterland transportation. As transportation by sea and inland water is faster, cheaper and safer Liebherr came up with a solution to reduce both transit times and logistical costs with the construction of a small jetty at Dharamtar Port.

The small jetty equipped with a Liebherr fixed cargo crane (type 230) dedicated for container handling enables the shipment of containers between Dharamtar and JNPT via inland waterways. The fixed cargo crane is based on a proven design for container handling. Additionally the fixed cargo crane (FCC crane) is economical both in acquisition and running costs and requires minimum space making it ideal for harbours with limited room for manoeuvres or where low ground pressures are essential.

The execution of the fixed cargo crane concept for on-shore operations handles more cargo efficiently and faster with less investment. Due to its slender design and suitability the crane does not require a complete jetty. Only a concrete foundation to mount the crane must be constructed, which saves on investment in terms of creating a superstructure. Thanks to jib lengths of up to 36m, this allows efficient unloading of vessels and barges from a fixed position.

The project was inaugurated with the first container shipment of 16 TEU via barge from Dharamtar Port to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) for CMA-CGM. Subsequently two more shipments were carried out for JNPT, which is located 3 hours away. This concept, which is very popular in other areas throughout the world, was introduced in India for the first time.

Benefits of a FCC

Liebherr offers various crane models in order to meet handling requirements for example their FCC 300 model offers a capacity of 30 tonnes at 28m reach, while the FCC 350 offers 35 tonne
s at 36m (or 45 tonnes at 32m) and a FCC 230 model which offers handling capacity of 32 tonnes at 26m. Considerable savings can be achieved as the construction of a complete jetty can be avoided. This results in a lower CAPEX requirement for both crane and superstructure as only a foundation must be constructed. Another benefit is the costs of the electro-hydraulic crane resulting in a lower OPEX while providing a higher handling capacity and long life span due to its robust and proven design.

China’s Top Ten Performing Ports

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WPD

7 February 2013

Shanghai

throughput in 2011: 31,839,000 TEU

Shanghai continued to dominate the number one world spot in 2011 and its looking like they will maintain this position once all the 2012 traffic figures are crunched . Crowned the world’s busiest container port in the world in 2010, Shanghai took the number one spot from the Port of Singapore, as it saw its throughput recovering much faster from the downturn in container traffic as a result of the global economic crisis. In 2011, Shanghai saw container throughput increase to a total of 31 million TEU – up 9.53% compared to 2010 when it handled 29 million TEU. According to the city’s first five-year plan for the shipping industry, the port will not be ‘sitting on its laurels’ as it is aiming to achieve 4.1% growth in its container throughput by 2015. The port is determined to achieve an annual throughput of 33 million TEU by 2015, a figure it hopes will allow the port to remain the leader even when growth is affected by slowing global trade. China’s State Council also aspires to develop Shanghai into a major financial and shipping centre by 2020, and plans outline some tasks for the city to be completed by 2015, including the creation of a market for second-hand vessels with an annual turnover of USD1.58 billion. Zhang Lin, Vice Director of the Shanghai Transport and Port Authority, said one of the city’s efforts in the period through 2015 was also to enhance the capacity of inland waterways connecting Shanghai’s ports and neighbouring areas in the Yangtze River Delta region to reduce the use of road traffic. About 42% of Shanghai port cargoes are now shipped via waterways rather than by road or rail. The city aims to raise that figure to 45% by 2015. But there are concerns that China is ‘overheating’ and that double digit growth figures are a thing of the past. This is reflected in the period January to April 2012, when ports in China recorded a throughput of 3.09 billion tonnes, up 7.5% compared with the year before, but still 7.5% lower than the growth figure in the same period in 2011. In terms of container throughput traffic increased 8.4% to 54.17 million TEU – down 5.6% compared to 2011.

Shenzhen

throughput in 2011: 22,570,000 TEU

Shenzhen, the world’s fourth-busiest container port didn’t report significant growth in throughput last year. The port handled a total of 22.57 million TEU in 2011 compared to 22.51 million TEU the previous year – up only 0.27%. This result is in stark contrast with the previous year when it reported growth of 23.34% over 2010 – the highest on record for the port with around 75% of the total coming from overseas container flows. Together Hong Kong and neighbouring Shenzhen, both governed by the Chinese Government, form one of the leading ports complexes in the world serving one of the busiest regions – the Pearl River Delta. But the weak performance of Shenzhen points to the slowing economy in South China, which has seen factories move to other parts of the country or reduce their output due to weak demand from Europe. In the first two months of this year, Chiwan Wharf Holdings, the port operator that handles roughly a quarter of Shenzhen’s container throughput, reported a decrease in container throughput compared to the same period in 2011.

Ningbo-Zhoushan

throughput in 2011: 15,220,000 TEU

Despite the continued worldwide economic downturn in 2011, the port of Ningbo-Zhoushan focused on their strategic target of “building a world class strong port” to expand their market, accelerate growth and reach a new historic high. This has certainly been the case in 2011 as Ningbo-Zhoushan became another Chinese port that saw double digit growth in container throughput – handling a total of 15.22 million TEU in 2011 – up 15.8% compared to 2010. Ningbo is a major gateway port in Eastern China and the Zhejiang Province. Container throughput in Ningbo grew 17% annually from 2006 to 2010. At the current growth rate, Ningbo capacity utilisation will exceed 80% by the end of 2012, and the Meishan project for berths 3-5 represents the future source of capacity. Meishan Container Terminal is the newest container terminal in Ningbo and in June 2012 APM Terminals and Ningbo Port Group signed a major agreement reflecting a 75%/25% (Ningbo Port Group/APM Terminals) share to jointly invest and operate berths 3, 4, 5, comprising a one kilometer quay. Once constructed, the new facility will become operational by the end of 2014. It will have five deep-water container berths with an annual capacity of 3 million TEU. With economies around the world slowly picking up again container throughput at Ningbo-Zhoushan for the first two months of this year came to a total of 2,432,000 TEU – up 12.2% compared to the same period in 2011. In January the port’s Jint
ang Dapukou container terminal recorded a surge in the box throughput, which was a result of four newly launched container shipping lanes.

Guangzhou

throughput in 2011: 14,400,000 TEU

The port of Guangzhou is operated by Guangzhou Port Group Co Ltd, a wholly state-owned company. On February 2004, Guangzhou Port Group reformed and separated from the former Guangzhou Harbor Bureau in accordance with relevant Chinese laws on modern enterprise mechanism. Last year, Guangzhou Port Group Co handled a total of 14.4 million TEU – up 14.74% compared to 2010 when it handled 12.55 million TEU. Guangzhou Port has more than 20 container berths of different classes operated by numerous subsidiaries including Nansha Stevedoring Company (Nansha Phase I), Guangzhou South China Oceangate Container Terminal (Nansha Phase II), Guangzhou Container Terminal (GCT), Huangpu Old Port, Hennan Branch and Xinfeng Branch. Nansha Terminal (both Phase I and Phase II) is located at the estuary of the Pearl River covering 14 cities within a radius of 60km. The deep-water terminal has ten 100,000 tonnage class container berths with a depth of 15.5m alongside capable for accommodating 10,000 TEU vessels. International container shipping lines like Maersk, MSC, CMA-CGM, Evergreen, COSCO, CSCL all call at Guangzhou with services to different locations including the US, Europe, Mediterranean, the Red Sea, Middle East, Intra Asia and Africa. Guangzhou Port Group is also operating a “Shuttle Bus” to complement their distribution network, connecting medium to small terminals within the port area. Other initiatives include numerous feeder services and intermodal services.

Qingdao

throughput in 2011: 13,020,000 TEU

The port of Qingdao is an important hub for international trade and sea-going transportation along China’s Yellow River basin and along the west bank of the Pacific. Perhaps better known for its bulk operations (handling coal, crude oil, iron ore, grain, etc) – it is the world’s largest port for inbound iron ore and China’s largest port for inbound crude oil – and boasts the world’s highest productivity for iron ore discharging. But the port of Qingdao offers also high productivity in container handling and has established trade relations with over 450 ports in more than 130 countries and regions across the world. As a result, the port handled a total of 13 million TEU in 2011 – up 8.4% compared to 2010 when it handled 12 million TEU. The port is divided in 4 areas: Qingdao old port area, Huangdao oil port area, Qianwan new port area, and Dongjiakou port area and has altogether 81 berths, among them there are 75 for cargo handling operations of which 59 are at or above 10,000dwt level. Host to the world’s largest container terminal for 12,000-15,000 TEU vessels, the port of Qingdao has always been a pioneer in world port development, promoting the establishment of the convenient, safe, economic and efficient transport systems in China. The port has some amazing statistics – it has 1.3% of China’s total quay length, handles 6.9% of the country’s total cargo throughput, is the largest local taxpayer, and for 4 consecutive years the Port turned in returns on state-owned capital accounting for over half the city’s total. In 2009, it paid off all debts and loans to realise zero debt operation. So far, 9 of the Fortune 500 companies have established cooperation with Qingdao Port Group.

Tianjin

throughput in 2011: 11,500,000 TEU

Tianjin Port, located on the northwest bank of the Bohai Bay, is another Chinese port that has seen double digit growth in 2011. The port handled a total of 11.5 million TEU in 2011 – up 13.9% compared to 2010 when it handled a total of 10.1 million TEU. Last year we reported that Tianjin has plans to increase cargo throughput with the construction of 300,000 tonnes shipping lanes in order to increase throughput to 560 million tonnes by 2015 and that annual container capacity will have grown by 1.8 million TEU by 2015.These plans are still in force with the North China’s Tianjin Port aiming to double its container throughput by 2015 to become one of the world’s top five container ports. At the annual session of the Tianjin Municipal People’s Congress Yu Rumin, chairman and senior engineer of Tianjin Port Group Co Ltd said, “The plan is to increase the port’s annual container throughput to 20 million TEU by 2015.” He also said that the Central Government’s 2010 policies to develop Tianjin’s port area will assist in reaching this. These policies outline tax reductions for ocean-going
ships that use Tianjin Port and the creation of a free-trade zone in the Binhai New District. The free-trade zone will enable the port to further enlarge the scale of port handling logistics and comprehensive service functions in the next five years. Initially it will construct a logistics network covering all hinterlands by aiming to establish itself as the “North China Shipping Centre.”

The network consists of Tianjin connecting 20 hinterland cities over 12 provinces. Seven of these centres are already operation, including the ones in Beijing’s Pinggu District, Hebei province’s Shijiazhuang city and Inner Mongolia’s Baotou city.

Xiamen

throughput in 2011: 6,461,000 TEU

The port of Xiamen is located in China’s Fujian province and is operated by Xiamen Port Group. It is the largest port in the province and becoming a more important gateway for the neighbouring hinterland provinces. In 2010, the port handled a total of 5.8 million TEU – up a staggering 24.35% from the 4.69 million it handled in 2009. This growth was contributed to recovering economies around the world but in 2011 the port reported to have seen double digit growth – albeit smaller. Last year, the port handled a total of 6.46 million TEU – up 11% compared to the 5.8 million TEU it handled in 2010. Xiamen Port group is working hard to execute their National 12th Five-year Plan which included plans to increase throughput to 200 million tonnes (with foreign trade throughput amounting to 100 million tonnes) by 2015. To achieve these goals it would reconstruct and relocate some of the port areas. Currently there are two new deep-water port areas under construction – one at Xiang’an in the north and the other one in Gulei in the south. Included in the plans is an extension to the shoreline to 84.5km while the terminal will cover 75.65 square meters. According to the Five-year Plan, Xiamen will have 337 berths operated in 2015, including 248 deep-water berths with a capacity of 600 million tonnes.

8 Dalian

throughput in 2011: 6,351,000 TEU

Dalian Port, located in the south of Northeast China, the entrance of Bohai Rim, is regarded as the core of ‘Northeast Asia International Shipping Centre.’ Last year, the port handled a total of 6.351 million TEU – a 21.2% growth compared with 2010. This impressive growth figure was also top-ranked nationwide. The sound performance of Dalian Port in 2011 was based on the strengthening of market development, attributed to the beneficial policies given by Liaoning Provincial Government and Dalian Municipal Government to assist the port to realise its goal ‘to reach 10 million TEU in year 2013’. Based on the figures for 2011 the port is confident that it will handle an estimated 8 million TEU in 2012 and that this rapid growth will continue in consecutive years. In order to realise this increase in volume Dalian Port made great efforts in its services in 2011. The port has taken full use of economic policies and advantages for local enterprises, continuously maximising the use of the channel and the berths, further developing relationships with shipping lines, winning new services on that of existing services. Last year, Dalian also concentrated on the development of a new trans-shipment system and welcomed 9 new shipping lines for that purpose.

9 Lianyungang
throughput in 2011: 4,822,000 TEU

Lianyungang, located in Jiangsu province, continues to set a yearly record with double digit growth on their container throughput. In 2011, the port handled a total of 4.8 million TEU – up a massive 24.6% compared to 2010. Although 2010 saw a much bigger growth margin of 28.11% compared to 2009. As a result the port moved up 6 places in the Top 100 ranking – which is unbelievable as only 6 years ago – back in 2006, it had ‘just’ reached an annual container throughput of 1.3 million TEU, which ranked it somewhere on spot 97 of the Top 100 ranking. The beginning of 2011 was a continuation of 2010 for the port with growth of 21.5% in the first three months of the year – handling 40 million tonnes of cargo. Total cargo throughput in 2011 was 166 million tonnes. In April 2011, the port started the first phase of the construction of a 300,000 tonnes deep-water channel for easy access to the port. This construction project is currently on schedule and will take three years with an estimated cost of USD 1.2 billion. The deep-water channel will link the port area of Lianyungang with the port area of Xuwei and enhance the capacity of these two areas, becoming a main shipping lane connecting sea-land transport. The channel is 400m wide and has a depth of -26.2m. Shanghai Dredging Co Ltd, the company
that was awarded the dredging contract from Lianyungang Port for the dredging of the existing basin and silt sinking deepening near the 250,000 tonnes ore terminal , is reporting to be on schedule and dredging will be completed at the end of December 2012.

10 Suzhou
throughput in 2011: 4,690,000 TEU

Suzhou is another Chinese port that has seen not only double digit growth in 2011 but also one that continues to see growth of around 30%! The port of Suzhou is one of these ‘phantom’ ports located on the Chinese inland waterways. Suzhou is an inland city and as a result there is no “Port of Suzhou” as such. Suzhou is surrounded by three nearby ports – Changshu, Taicang and Zhangjiagang, hence the Port of Suzhou. The three ports are the hub for an industrial hinterland that produces goods for the rest of the world. In May 2011 the completion of the widening and deepening of the 92.2km long and 350-400m wide Yangtze Estuary channel was completed, following three phases of dredging since 1998. The deepening of the estuary means that third and fourth generation container vessels are able to wind their way up the river with larger ports being built to accommodate these ships. Fifth and sixth generation container vessels can also access the channel but only during high tide. This effectively means a container vessel can reach Taicang port in 24 hours. Out of the three ports Taicang is perhaps the one to watch. Back in 2010, Taicang signed a co-operation agreement with Kaohsiung Port in Taiwan. This agreement was aimed at transferring and distributing cargoes, port management and design, etc. This has brought great benefits to the port and as a result it is the fast growing contributor of container flows to the total for the port of Suzhou.

Mombasa Port Extension well underway

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7 February 2013

The Port serves the Kenya hinterland by exporting important agricultural products and supporting the foundation of the country’s economy. In addition to serving Kenya, the port serves countries in inland Africa such as Uganda, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and even further afield. Inland onward transportation is provided by truck and train, and special railtainer services operate from the port to inland container depots.

Dredging and construction of the new berth and extension of the existing facilities both commenced in June last year with dredging scheduled to be also completed at the end of this year. Dutch-based Van Ord Dredging won the dredging contract. The two projects are being funded by the Kenyan Government and will, cost in excess of £71 million. Dredging alone will cost nearly £39 million.

China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) won the contract to construct Berth 19 and associated works. To drive the piles required for the berth’s foundations the company purchased a BSP International Foundations (BSP) piling hammer and power pack through BSP’s Chinese dealer, Shanghai Trust Machinery. The CG240 hammer with a dropweight of 16t and powered by a BSP HP250 power pack was used to drive approximately 300 tubular steel piles, 813mm in diameter, a wall thickness of 16mm and ranging in length from 20m to 36m. Each pile is designed to take a bearing load of 240t.

The CG range of BSP’s heavy-duty impact piling hammers offers dropweights from 12t up to 40t are designed for driving a variety of bearing piles including steel tube, combi piles, H-sections and reinforced/pre-stressed concrete piles and can be operated from piling rig leaders or crane suspended. Key features include total control of hammer stroke and blow rate, allows precise matching of energy to suit the pile driving requirements and easy access to the cylinder and dropweight connection for servicing. In addition, an optional digital readout of hammer performance is offered in a choice of units – stroke or energy.

A choice of three Hydro Packs is available which are powered by either turbocharged Perkins or Caterpillar diesel engines developing 71kW up to 250kW. These BSP units have been specifically developed by the Ipswich-based company to maximise the performance of its piling hammers. The existing container terminal berths at Mombasa were designed to accommodate ships 180m long but most now calling at the Port today measure 230m. The three container berths have a total length of 600m and are being extended to 760m which will allow three vessels each with a length of 235m and leave a 215m safety allowance.

This project is the first port construction project undertaken by CRBC in Kenya with a construction period of two years and will further expand the throughput of Mombasa, consolidate its role as the largest port in East Africa, optimise CRBC’s business structure in Kenya and lay the foundation for future development of the Kenyan infrastructural construction market.