Terminal de Vila Velha (TVV) specialises in container handling and general cargo for import and export operations, servicing key Brazilian and international ports. In 2011, TVV managed 220,000 TEU and expects to increase this volume in 2012. Last year TVV introduced Navis Sparcs N4 as terminal operating system with great success.

As a direct result of the familiarity and experience with Navis, TVV’s decision for Cargotec’s Kalmar SmartPort is straightforward. Anderson Carvalho, director of terminals at Terminal de Vila Velha said: “We are convinced the maximum improvement in security, productivity and efficiency can only be realised by a well integrated solution with our terminal operating system. The pre-integration ensures a proven solution, rather than a complex project. This in turn minimises both the project risk and the total costs of ownership.” The combination of these factors allows TVV to leverage existing assets, minimise new project costs, and truly maximise the result of the new automation investments.

The solution provided to Terminal de Vila Velha is realised through the Cargotec’s SmartPort Alliance, in close cooperation with partner APS. Cargotec’s Kalmar SmartPort is a collection of pre-integrated process and equipment automation solutions from Kalmar, Navis and strategic partners, ensuring the best possible fit for any size of terminal.

Tonnage (excluding bulk cargo associated with leased locations) was up by 104,000 tonnes or 5% for the month compared to last year, while year-to-date tonnage continued to show solid growth of 1.8 million tonnes or 8%. This growth was fueled primarily by steel, which had increased by 1.2 million tonnes or 29%, compared to November 2011. Steel is expected to slow down in 2013.

“Year-to-date operating expenses are down by USD900,000 or 1%,” Waterworth said. This brings the Port Authority’s year-to-date net operating income to USD22.4 million, up by USD10.2 million or 84% from 2011.

“Through the close working relationship between Cavotec and the SLSMC, we continue to develop and refine automated mooring for the unique needs of the Seaway,” explains Cavotec CEO, Ottonel Popesco.

Under the latest agreement, Cavotec is to deliver three MoorMaster 400LC units that will be installed at one of the SLSMC’s Beauharnois Locks. The Group will also support the SLSMC with on-site commissioning of the units.

Under its modernisation initiative, the SLSMC ordered two units that underwent trials in 2007 and 2008. The following year, the SLSMC ordered an additional two units that were installed in Lock 7 on the Welland Canal. “Throughout our rigorous testing programme for MoorMaster, we have been consistently impressed by how the technology makes great improvements in safety, and holds the potential to generate marked reductions in vessel transit times,” comments Terence Bowles, President and CEO of the St Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation.

Cavotec engineers, working in close coordination with the SLSMC, have adapted MoorMaster™ to the specific physical and environmental demands of the Seaway. For example, the units already supplied securely hold vessels through variations in water level of up to 14m. The St Lawrence Seaway is the world’s first inland waterway to introduce automated mooring.

Staying in North America, Cavotec has also received an order to supply a detailed engineering study on the implementation of MoorMaster systems for ship-to-ship applications. This order follows a similar one received in 2006 and underlines the on-going interest in further developing and expanding the MoorMaster range.

“This recognition by Nigeria’s maritime journalists is a great honour for our operation and for the nearly 1,000 Nigerians working at APM Terminals Apapa who have worked so hard to achieve this great success” stated APM Terminals Apapa Managing Director Dallas Hampton.

The event was held on 11th December in Apapa, Nigeria’s primary port serving the Lagos area and was attended by representatives of Nigeria’s Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar and the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority, Mallam Habib Abdullahi. 

Established in 1988, the purpose of the Maritime Reporters’ Association of Nigeria (MARAN) “is to objectively report activities in the shipping sector in totality and also the activities of all ministries, departments and agencies of government involved in the country’s import and export business”. APM Terminals Apapa was also named “Best Terminal Operator of the Year” in the 2009 award ceremony.

With the investment of USD200 million in new equipment and upgrades at Apapa since 2006, APM Terminals Apapa has eliminated vessel waiting times of up to 40 days common in 2006 – as yard expansions and other improvements have been implemented, raising productivity from 6 moves per hour to the current average of 24 moves per hour. APM Terminals CEO Kim Fejfer noted during a terminal visit last May that the Apapa operational standards have reached parity with European facility operations.

APM Terminals Apapa has announced plans for a further USD130 million expenditure over the next three years, including the purchase of eight new mobile harbour cranes and 13 Rubber-Tire Gantry Cranes (RTGs), which will increase annual throughput capacity to one million TEUs.  The terminal is the largest mobile crane-operated facility in West Africa with nine, and one of the only facilities in the region able to accommodate the new 4,500 TEU capacity West Africa-Max (Wafmax) vessels now entering into West African service.

“Our investment in Nigeria is by no means limited to land and equipment, but encompasses our most valuable asset, the Nigerian people themselves” observed Hampton, who noted that APM Terminals Apapa sponsored 50 local scholarships in 2012, and funded the refurbishment  of a local secondary school, including the installation of new computers.