The SVS (South China/Vietnam-US Southeast) service is a Suez service deploying 10 ships of capacity between 4,600 and 5,600 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs). The service originates in Cai Mep, Vietnam and includes calls in Hong Kong and Yantian in China, Singapore and Tangier, Morocco.

Significantly, Charleston is the last port outbound on the service, which highlights the port’s prominence in handling the region’s and the nation’s export demand.

“Charleston’s position in this service demonstrates that ships will be taking on a significant amount of cargo here, relying on our deep water to fill up the ship with heavy exports,” said Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the South Carolina Ports Authority.

Charleston Harbor is the deepest in the Southeast region, with 45 feet of depth at mean low water (MLW), and can handle ships drafting up to 48 feet on the tides. Charleston’s next harbor deepening project is currently underway.

Participating in the SVS service are the alliance carriers of APL, Hyundai Merchant Marine and Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), as well as Evergreen. The weekly service will call the Port of Charleston’s Wando Welch Terminal on Saturdays, adding 52 ship calls a year to the port and supporting jobs across the maritime industry. 

This new extension of HTS will be headquartered in Santos, and will focus on answering the needs within the Brazilian markets including port automation and security, traffic, enforcement  and safe city opportunities. The CEO of the new company is Alex Mendes, and the Vice President of Sales, is Maxwell Rodrigues. This initiative follows the successful establishment of HTS arms in Europe and the USA.

Alex Mendes is a Director at Grupo Mendes, founded in 1970, and comprised  of 15 companies, operating in the areas of civil construction, hospitality, entertainment, shopping centers and events. Alex has also been the driving force behind  ERGOS Tecnologia.

“HTS appreciates the growing demands of the Brazilian market and the value of having a local company and partner who understand the needs of these markets.  HTS has identified significant demand in Brazil for both its port and traffic solutions, and has carefully selected ERGOS, as its partner is the establishment of HTS Brazil” stated Phil Elovic President and CEO of HTS Ltd. 

HTS Brazil will bring to the country its leading technology solutions for port automation, safe city and critical assets, parking lot management, traffic control and enforcement on roads.

HTS is a world leader in port automation and its systems are successfully installed worldwide in marine terminals for security and automation purposes. HTS systems read the identification numbers on containers as they move in and out of the terminal on trucks, cranes and trains, thus monitoring and controlling the handling, input and output of the entire terminal. 

HTS Traffic and security systems accurately and quickly provide license plate and other vehicle identicifcation charateristics on cars moving from low to high speeds, with applicaitons for parking revenue control, access to critical facilites, safe city and traffic enforcement 

“The decision comes at an important moment” said Alex Mendes, referring to the legal requirement in Brazil for automation of ports that must be met by the end of the year. “By December, the port terminals must be equipped to scan 100% of containers, using OCR for the identification of containers and trucks, on arrival and on departure, without human intervention, and will also need to increase the resolution of the monitoring cameras in the courtyards. Those who fail to comply with these three requirements will not be able to operate”.

“We are glad to be able to present the best solution for automation of ports to the Brazilian market, precisely at the time when introducing this technology is a matter of urgency,” added  Mendes.

HTS Brazil has already secured orders in the targeted markets with awards from the TECONDI terminal as well as a major project awarded by DERSA for the HTS LPR solutions which will be used in monitoring vehicles using the water ferry crossings.

About High-Tech Solutions Ltd (HTS)

HTS is a leading developer and supplier of proprietary optical character recognition (OCR) and computer vision systems for a wide range of applications in the security, automation and management fields for the ports, transportation, safe city and parking markets.

HTS has successfully implemented commercial Container Code Recognition (CCR), License Plate Recognition (LPR) systems and other computer vision systems  in ports, traffic and security sectors in over 40 countries worldwide, and has established partnerships with top-tier global companies. HTS has branched in Europe and the United States.

In the marine terminal market, HTS has an installed base of more than 750 OCR systems in over 50 facilities and 17 countries.

About ERGOS Technology

ERGOS, headquartered in Sao Paulo, delivers innovative and integrated solutions for the Brazilian market  in the automation and security sectors. ERGOS is a company focused on the newest trends and solutions, offering complete products and services to its customers. The CEO of ERGOS   is Alex Mendes and the operational Vice President, Maxwell Rodrigues

The project will increase dry bulk cargo handling capacity to 20 million tons and liquid cargo to over six million tons annually. The current annual general cargo handling capacity is 5.5 million tons.

“The general cargo business has been growing rapidly here, and this new expansion will play a significant role in serving the continued development of businesses in Oman and the surrounding region” stated Port of Salalah’s CEO, Peter Ford.

The Port of Salalah, astride the major global shipping lane between Europe and Asia on the Gulf of Oman in the Arabian Sea, holds a strategic position for transit cargoes to the upper Arabian Gulf, Indian sub-continent, Red Sea and East African markets. Salalah was the 2rd-largest containerport in the Middle East Region in 2011 with volume of 3.2 million TEUs.  In its 14th year of operation, the Port of Salalah will handle its 30 millionth TEU this month with the first eastbound call of the G6 Far East/Europe string.

“We are very grateful to the government of Oman and particularly the Ministry of Transport and Communication for their vision, insight and support in helping the Port of Salalah achieve this tremendous milestone of 30 million TEUs” said APM Terminals Africa-Middle East Regional CEO Peder Sondergaard.

The Port of Salalah is part of the APM Terminals Global Port, Terminal and Inland Services Network, with APM Terminals holding a 30% share in the Port, 20% held by the Government of Oman, and the remaining 50% held by institutional and private investors.

The planned expansion of the general cargo terminal includes the construction of an additional 1,200 meters of multi-purpose berth with 18 meter draft and liquid commodity loading facilities. The new liquids terminal will significantly expand Salalah’s role in handling such key industrial commodities as fuel, methanol, Monoethylene glycol, and caustic soda. Major dry bulk commodities handled at Salalah include limestone, gypsum and cement as well as plastics.

“We are committed to making the resources available to enable Salalah to assume a major role as a regional hub for liquid and general bulk cargoes, in addition to containers, as we meet the growing demands for increased economic activity in the Dhofar region and the growing international investment projects in Oman” said Mr. Ford.

“The electrification of the RTGs at LCB1 will enhance Port of Laem Chabang’s leadership position within environmental performance and make the port a role model for other ports in Thailand and elsewhere in the region” stated LCB Container Terminal 1, CEO Niels T. Hansen.

The conversion of RTG power from diesel to electricity is made possible through flexible automatic power connections linking the RTGs to a conductor rail. Conductix-Wampler will be installing more than 2.5 km of conductor rails at the terminal to accommodate the electric power link. By reducing diesel fuel consumption in the existing RTG engines, the terminal is projected to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 1,300 tons annually.

Diesel-powered RTGs account for approximately 20% of all CO2 emissions from terminal operations.

If adopted nationwide, the emission-reductions would be considerable. There are currently a total of 158 diesel-powered RTGs in operation at Thai ports. The Port of Laem Chabang in the Chonburi Province on the Gulf of Thailand was the 4th busiest container port in Southeast Asia and the 21st busiest worldwide with 5.7 million TEUs handled in 2011.

APM Terminals holds a 35% minority share in LCB1, which opened in 1995. Through its share in LCB1, APM Terminals also holds a 31.5% share of neighboring LCMT Company Ltd. (LCMT), in which LCB1 holds a majority stake. Combined container throughput at LCB1 and LCMT in 2011 was 1.25 million TEUs. The conversion of LCB1’s RTGs is scheduled to be completed next year, with the considerably larger RTG fleet at the Malaysian Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP), another member of the APM Terminals Global Port, Terminal and Inland Services Network next scheduled for conversion. PTP handled 7.5 million TEUs in 2011.