Shortsea transhipment exploits opportunity

Congestion in the major hubs could prove a bonanza for some of the UK’s less talked-about maritime gateways. John Fitzgerald, ABP port director for shortsea ports, says: “The development of shortsea transhipment services resulting from congestion at traditional deepsea gateways, compounded by UK road and rail infrastructure issues, is clearly an opportunity for those who can provide a network of regional ports.” ABP’s unit-loads services in the port of Ipswich already show evidence of this, and the group is working on similar initiatives elsewhere.

Ipswich reported increases in key trades in last year and has invested further in facilities. It opened its £6.1 m (US$11.15m) new ro-ro terminal in March, creating the port’s second ro-ro berth on the West Bank. ABP agreed with Ostend-based freight operator Ferryways to extend the port’s existing five-year agreement with the company by a further 20 years.

Timber also broke records in Ipswich, with more than 335,000cu metres passing across its quays last year - up almost 12% on the previous year. Ipswich has several facilities to support the trade including extensive hardstanding and warehousing and a timber-treatment centre, offering chromium-and arsenic-free preservative treatments.

Goole

ABP invested almost £300,000 ($448,500) in a new 2,400sq metre storage shed at Goole in April at its Boothferry Terminal. Operator RMS Europe handles vessels from Germany and Denmark for Seawheel’s container service to Rotterdam and Duisberg, which has returned to Goole after a two-year absence in Killingholme.The new business will boost Goole’s container throughput by about 50,000teu a year.

In March, ABP invested £900,000 ($1.65m) in extending storage at the South Dock Terminals, adding 5,100sq metres of warehousing for imported steel and bulk products and £647,000 ($l.18m) in new storage facilities for another major customer, Global Shipping Services, which currently handles timber and general cargo imports. ABP will develop a 5,000sq metre extension to Global’s facility, enabling the company to handle extra volumes of timber for Russian timber trader Tsar Timber from August.

ABP South Wales

ABP has invested £2.3m ($4.2m) in new cranes and handling equipment for its South Wales ports. In Cardiff, the group has spent £200,000 ($366,000) on a new 1.6ha timber terminal at Roath Dock, which handles increased volumes of forest products for customers Timbermart UK,Western Log Group and handles CM Willie's regular fortnightly service from the Baltic. A further £320,000 ($585,000) was invested to help Cardiff Stevedoring extend its H Shed facility at Roath Dock by 6,000sq metres to cater for increased traffic. Work is under way to create up to 2.4ha of timber storage space at the port.

In Newport ABP, on the back of a 25-year, £ 1.4m ($2.6m) agreement with WE Dowds, has completed the extension of the port's 7 Shed facility, adding 3,000sq metres of storage space for increasing levels of steel-coil imports. WE Dowds has also invested considerably in new stock-control systems, cargo-handling equipment and gantry cranes.

Coals to Newcastle

The Port of Tyne had its most successful year since the decline of coal exports, with more than 2.5m tonnes shipped compared with 2.3m tonnes in the previous year. It has also gained ISO 9001 quality accreditation for its procedures in handling cargoes such as scrap metal, grain

and coal. Under UK legislation, ISO 9001:2000 became compulsory requirement for all bulk ports, Tyne having achieved accreditation a year before the 2006 deadline.

It really is “coals to Newcastle” these days - the port has won several contracts to import coal for power stations around the UK, marking a major turnaround from the port’s position as one of the largest coal-exporting ports in Europe shipping out more than 23m tonnes per annum. Coals were last exported from the Tyne in 1998, and the coal-loading equipment was sold to Lyttleton Port in New Zealand in 2002.

Car shipments increased by 34.7% from 351,000 to 472,000, making the port the 10^th largest car shipment port in Europe. Container lines are increasingly seeing the benefits of feedering to main European ports such as Rotterdam and Felixstowe.

Port of Tyne Logistics Services, the port’s supply chain-management package, allows all types of goods to be shipped into the port, stored, repackaged and then delivered around the UK by the port’s own haulage fleet.

A £7m ($l2.8m) warehouse was built in 2004, extending warehousing capacity to 53,000 pallet spaces.At 18.6 metres high, the new facility provides substantial palletised warehousing for high-value products, bringing the total warehousing capacity within Tyne Dock to almost 6ha.

Tilbury containers оn track

The new railhead at the UK’s Tilbury Container Services ter­minal recently commenced oper­ating, when EWS hauled the first train from the deepsea container terminal.

The new facility – jointly owned bу Associated British Ports, Forth Ports, and Р & О Ports – is designed to reduce dependency оn the terminal’s gatehouse, ensuring аn еven spread of demand made uроn the terminal’s container transfer resources.

Three-quarters of the £4m (US$5.7m) investment required to build the railhead, саmе from а ‘Freight Facilities Grant’ from the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA), which was keen to pro­mote the project, due to its posi­tive impact оn the environment.

It will also еnblе TCS to deliver а more efficient service for its customers, mаnу of whom were surveyed оn the issue in advance of this project going ahead.

The inaugural service, which will run daily, will carry contain­ers between Tilbury and major destinations throughout the UK.

Liftec launches self-tipper

 

 

Liftec believes the tipper could be adapted for 30ft and even 40ft containers

 

Finland-based Oy Liftec AB, which recently extended its “Con­tra’ container mover range for fifth wheel terminal tractors with a 1 over 1 design, has now come up with a new mover design, which can be employed to tip a 20ft container as well as transport it.The new design uses a bottom lift system, which clamps the con­tainer at the side of the bottom corner castings.

In operation, the tractor backs the unit onto the grounded con­tainer until the lower clamps en­gage with the corner castings.The lower frame is fitted with a front vertical frame which is also equipped with clamps to engage the upper front, (ie non-door end) corner castings.

The lower frame is lifted by two hydraulic cylinders mounted be­tween the lower and upper frame. The latter frame is coupled to the tractor's fifth wheel and constitutes

the main chassis member.To tip the container, the front frame is elevated by a hydraulic cylinder while the rear of the frame pivots on special bearings. All functions are control­led by a PLC unit.

The first unit has been sup­plied to MaanrakennusAlamki Oy for operation at the Outokumpu steel mill inTornio, Finland, where it will be employed for steel scrap handling.

The basic design has been de­veloped for 20ft containers, includ­ing 9ft 6in high cubes, and the grap­ple devices can be adjusted for both ISO and 2.5m wide containers.

Maximum capacity is 30 tonnes and the maximum permitted tow­ing speed is 20 km/h. Standard 16:00-25 tyres are fitted on the sin­gle rear axle. Liftec believes that it may be possible to develop die con­cept for 30ft and possibly even 40ft containers for specific, relatively lightweight bulk com (nodi ties such as plastic granules.