Rolling out this system is a key milestone in equipping the terminal with capacity to efficiently handle diverted containers during berth rehabilitation at the busy Durban Container Terminal: Pier 2 (DCT). 

Berths on DCT’s North Quay are scheduled to undergo deepening and refurbishment over a 74 month period.  TPT will divert up to 400 000 TEUs of container traffic per annum from DCT to the Durban RORO and Maydon Wharf Terminal.

 Zeph Ndlovu, Terminal Executive, Durban RORO and Maydon Wharf Terminal, said: “Our terminal handles mainly break-bulk and RORO cargo (roll-on roll-off or wheeled cargo, such as cars and containers). However TPT has put considerable effort into ensuring that it can deal with the container demand while phased repairs of berths take place at DCT.”

 Navis will be rolled out at the RORO facility on 1 April 2012, followed by the Maydon Wharf facility on 1 August 2012.

The RORO facility will close at 18h00 on 1 April. System checks will take place, followed by simulation testing and the conversion from the old GCOS operating system to Navis.

The first vessel, the Cape Moss owned by shipping line Nile Dutch, will then be worked from 06h00 on 2 April with the aid of Navis, followed by Messina’s Jolly Rosso vessel and MACS Shipping’s Black Rhino.

TPT has implemented a six-point plan to ensure operational readiness and uninterrupted service delivery to customers

Each year, around 11,000 vessels put into the Port of Gothenburg, the largest port in the Nordic region. These can vary from large container vessels and freight ferries to car carriers, tankers and passenger ferries. The National Shipping Administration VTS system and the pilot ordering system will join forces with the Port of Gothenburg approach and berthing system. The aim of this new collaboration is a quicker, safer and greener approach by vessels.An approach is an extensive process and many parties are involved. The vessel needs to contact the National Shipping Administration to order a pilot and to receive information about the traffic situation in the fairways and when berthing. It also needs to contact the Port of Gothenburg to be allocated a berth, to arrange peripheral services and so on. The whole process is governed by time.

Gothenburg Approach

To offer shipping a more efficient approach into Gothenburg, co-operation has been intensified between the National Shipping Administration and the Port of Gothenburg. In effect, this means that the National Shipping Administration VTS function and the pilot ordering system will merge with the Port of Gothenburg approach planning system, Port Control. The joint operating centre will come under the name Gothenburg Approach.

Anne-Cathrine Zetterdahl is Director-General of the National Shipping Administration: “Quicker, simpler and greener berthing of vessels is the aim behind this co-operation between the Port of Gothenburg and the National Shipping Administration. It is now underway with the implementation of process improvements with the customer firmly in focus.”

Employees from the two organisations will work together in an adapted and redeveloped operations centre on the fourth floor of Amerikaskjulet, with an excellent view of the river. Communication between them has been facilitated considerably.

Magnus Kårestedt is Chief Executive at the Port of Gothenburg: “By being together, we hope to be able to improve approach efficiency even further. Our customers will gain from this intensified collaboration.”

The new system will in time present environmental benefits, as the approach by the vessels is made more efficient, with improved time control and planned traffic flow when berthing.

ISL, the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics of Bremerhaven and partner of the most prestigious Universities worldwide, focuses his attention on optimization and simulation tools for the transportation and logistics network.

DSP has become distributor of the CHESSCON suite and will provide consultancy services for its implementation. The CHESSCON suite, with more than 50 projects running worldwide, is the new generation of terminal optimization software and utilizes visualization, simulation and emulation to aid the operators strategic and tactical planning as well as the start-up of new terminal components. The CHESSCON software’s open architecture allows to connect easily to any TOS giving to the terminal operator the most up-and coming way to check new functionality, simulate new process, test system scalability and stability, without affecting the real time operations.

The combination of products like NAVIS SPARCS N4 and ISL CHESSCON is the winning solution to get the maximum benefit and return of investment from the Terminal Operations System by optimization algorithm tuning, advanced training and “what if” scenario.

“Through this important partnership “– DSP General Manager Marco Fehmer says – “DSP is now able to provide a turnkey solution acting as a single interface between software producers and terminal operators, ensuring immediate and measurable results from simulation studies, thanks to a concrete and operational approach to the problem that DSP consultants achieved through their experience in the container terminal business over the years”.

“This growth was driven by continued strength in steel tonnage,” said Interim Executive Director Leonard D. Waterworth in his monthly report to the Port Commission of the Port of Houston Authority.

Steel was up 329,000 tons, or 143 percent for the month and 564,000 tons or 119 percent for 2012. Container tonnage showed solid growth of 147,000 tons or 6 percent for the year, with loaded container units growing by 10 percent.  Other general and bulk cargos at Port Authority facilities grew by 296,000 tons or 44 percent for the year, he noted.

Total operations tonnage was solid, equating to operating revenues that grew by double digits, Waterworth reported. February revenue was $17.7 million, up by 16 percent with year-to-date revenues of $34.7 million, a 13-percent increase over 2011. 

Net operating income is $1.8 million ahead of the budget, Waterworth said, given lower expenditures than expected, partially offset by a shortfall in container revenues due to timing issues. 

“It’s good to be on the positive side,” he concluded, noting that while there is an upswing in the market currently, the Port Authority will continue to strive to increase efficiencies.

During the March 27 meeting, the Port Commission approved and adopted a resolution in support of the Houston Arts Alliance’s “Working the Port” project.

Houston Arts Alliance Director Pat Jasper gave an overview of the “Working the Port” project, which documents individuals who have worked in Houston’s port and ship channel industries. Jasper said they are part of a workforce that “represents every cultural community that comes together in Houston,” ranging from dock, rail and oil industry workers, to engineers and executives, merchant marines and marine biologists, environmental specialists and international traders. Fifty interviews with port workers have already been completed, with 50 to go, she noted.

The Houston Arts Alliance will also endeavor to engage industry and retired members of the workforce to assist with interviewing and documentation.  This project comes as the Port Authority prepares for the centennial anniversary of the Port of Houston in 2014 and is already accessing archival data to mark this milestone.

“This is an unbridled opportunity to capture the live voices of the port,” Jasper said.

In his opening remarks, Port Commission Chairman James T. Edmonds welcomed staff members of the Texas Sunset Commission, who last week began reviewing the Port of Houston Authority and its work.  Their efforts are expected to continue through June, with a report submitted with recommendations to the members of the Sunset Commission at the end of July. A public hearing on the committee’s recommendations will be held in Austin September 4.

“I know I speak on behalf of the entire Port Authority organization when I say that we sincerely support this process,” Edmonds said. “The Port of Houston Authority intends to make whatever changes are necessary to maintain the confidence of Texas legislators and the public, as we carry out our mandate to deliver jobs and economic prosperity for our community and nation into the next century.”