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Wednesday, May 29, 2024
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China steps up building of intelligent ports
CHINA's Ministry of Transport recently issued a guideline on accelerating the construction of intelligent ports and waterways.
According to the document, by 2027, China will have comprehensively lifted digitalization levels of port and waterway infrastructure, while significantly strengthened intelligent production, operations, management, as well as external services related to ports and waterways nationwide.
China has built 18 automated container terminals so far and is currently constructing or renovating 27 more. Both numbers rank among the top in the world, according to PR Newswire.
Moreover, China has comprehensively mastered the key technologies in the design, construction, equipment manufacturing, system integration, and operational management of automated terminals.
The next-generation intelligent transportation equipment, such as 5G-enabled automated guided vehicles and autonomous container trucks, have been deployed and put into operation.
At Shanghai Port, remote control has been fully implemented for cargo handling, and intelligent transportation equipment such as automated guided vehicles have been widely applied.
At Huanghua Port in north China's Hebei province, reclaimers and rotary car dumpers are remotely controlled, and gantry bucket unloaders are gradually going through automation.
At Dalian Port, multiple indoor and outdoor environmental monitoring points have been set up to collect data on water quality, energy consumption, air quality, meteorology, and other environmental factors related to terminals, effectively promoting the green development of the port.
"The construction of intelligent ports is not only a field for pioneering smart transportation, but also an important part of the development of new transportation infrastructure," said an official with the Water Transport Bureau of the Ministry of Transport.
The official said the construction of intelligent ports calls for systematic efforts, and China will build a batch of demonstration intelligent ports, strengthen pilot application of intelligent transportation, and accelerate digital transformation of the shipping sector.
The nation's first automated container terminal is Rizhao Port in east China's Shandong province and was put into use on October 9, 2021.
Rizhao Port, a prominent coastal container hub for domestic trade, plays a vital role as a global transshipment base for energy and bulk raw materials. Thanks to its efforts to promote intelligent and eco-friendly development, Rizhao Port has continuously propelled its growth to new heights.
In 2023, the container throughput of Rizhao Port witnessed an increase of 7.9 per cent from a year ago, and that of its fully automated container terminal experienced a remarkable 15 per cent year-on-year growth in the first four months of this year.
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PTP inks deal for five ULCV quay cranes from ZPMC
PORT of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP), a joint venture between the MMC Group and APM Terminals in Malaysia, has signed an agreement with Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZPMC) to purchase five ultra-large container vessel (ULCV) quay cranes.
This follows a similar agreement made in February with Sany Marine Heavy Industry for the procurement of six ULCV quay cranes, reports Greece's Container News.
PTP chairman Tan Sri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh stated that acquiring these advanced cranes is a critical step in PTP's commitment to providing top-tier capabilities and services to its customers and stakeholders.
"This latest investment in equipment emphasizes PTP's dedication to efficiently handle the rising volume of containerized cargo at its terminal, ultimately strengthening regional trade dynamics," stated Mr Tan.
PTP CEO Mark Hardiman emphasized that this purchase is a key component of PTP's comprehensive equipment modernization strategy.
"The acquisition of these five ULCV quay cranes symbolizes a significant capacity expansion and upgrade of our equipment and facilities. This development marks a crucial advancement in PTP's steadfast dedication to prioritizing customer satisfaction by delivering enhanced capabilities and services." added CEO Hardiman.
Mr Hardiman noted that the acquisition of these new cranes complies with standards and guidelines aligned with PTP's commitment to the Paris Agreement and environmentally responsible practices. He added that PTP's ongoing efforts to achieve a targeted 45 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030 remain a critical aspect of the port's sustainability agenda.
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Adani's Mundra Port hosts largest ever container ship
ADANI Group's Mundra Port saw the largest ever container ship to dock at an Indian port last Sunday when the almost 400-metre-long MSC Anna came visiting.
This vessel is a metre longer than the earlier biggest one MSC Hamburg that docked at Mundra Port last July, reports The Times of India.
MSC Anna boasts an overall length of 399.98 metres (roughly the length of four football fields) and a staggering capacity of 19,200 TEU, which makes it the largest container ship by capacity to ever visit an Indian port.
Its arrival draft is 16.3 metres, which can be accommodated only at Adani Ports, Mundra, as no other port in India is capable of berthing a deep-draft vessel.
During its stay, the expected exchange is 12,500 TEU, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) said in a statement.
The statement said its container terminal CT-3 reached a significant milestone by becoming the first in India to manage 3 million TEU in a year.
The terminal also achieved a monthly handling record of over 300,000 TEU in November, the highest ever by any terminal in India.
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NWSA April container volumes surpass 258,000 TEU
THE Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA) has reported continued strong container volumes in April, with container volumes reaching 258,688 TEU.
The data represents an 11.3 per cent jump over April 2023, according to London's Port Technology.
In April 2024, full international exports surged by 15.6 per cent compared to the year prior, while full international imports grew by 13.5 per cent. This led to a total international volume increase of 12.7 per cent.
Year to date (YTD), the NWSA's container volumes have climbed by 5 per cent, totalling 958,069 TEU. This growth includes a 7.7 per cent increase in full imports and a substantial 15 per cent rise in full exports.
A significant milestone for the NWSA was the completion of Phase 2 of the Terminal 5 Modernization Project. This project, which began in July 2019, was financed by a joint investment exceeding half a billion dollars from the NWSA, SSA Terminals, and Terminal Investment Ltd.
Terminal 5 now features 185 acres of cargo capacity and is equipped to handle ultra-large vessels. Enhancements include two reconfigured berths and six state-of-the-art super-post Panamax cranes aimed at boosting operational efficiency.
The addition of on-dock rail at Terminal 5 is expected to benefit agricultural exporters and reduce truck traffic, with plans for additional refrigerated plug-ins in the future.
Domestic container volumes have also shown mixed results. YTD domestic volumes in 2024 increased by 3.3 per cent compared to the same period in 2023. Specifically, Alaska's volumes rose by 6.6 per cent, while Hawaii's volumes declined by 11.1 per cent.
Last month, the NWSA established a comprehensive cargo and service incentive programme to increase international container rail freight volumes and improve service delivery in the Seattle and Tacoma harbours.
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China-Europe freight train service breach 90,000 trips
A TRAIN fully loaded with diverse goods departed last Saturday morning from Xi'an, the capital city of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, bound for Malaszewicze, Poland, marking a significant milestone as the total number of China-Europe freight train trips surpassed 90,000.
To date, China-Europe freight trains have transported more than 8.7 million TEU of goods, valued at US$380 billion, according to China State Railway Group Co, Ltd, reports Xinhua.
From 2016 to 2023, the annual number of China-Europe freight train trips surged from 1,702 to over 17,000. The value of goods transported by this service skyrocketed from US$8 billion in 2016 to US$56.7 billion in 2023.
The types of goods transported on the China-Europe freight trains have expanded from IT products such as laptops and printers at the beginning to over 50,000 different types, including clothing and footwear, automobiles and parts, daily necessities, food, timber, furniture, chemicals and machinery.
Since 2023, an increasing number of Chinese-made "tech-intensive green trio" products - lithium-ion batteries, photovoltaic products, and NEVs - have been transported through the China-Europe freight trains, reflecting strong market demand, said China State Railway Group Co, Ltd.
So far, the China-Europe freight trains have reached 223 cities in 25 European countries and over 100 cities in eleven Asian countries, with the service network covering almost the entire Eurasian continent, it added.
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Hamburg takes the lead in Europe to supply shore power for box ships
THE port of Hamburg has become the first port in Europe to provide shoreside power in the drive to eliminate shipping emissions at berths.
Initiated early May the development comes after two years of planning and EUR13 million (US$14 million) of investments in the necessary infrastructures, reports The Maritime Executive, Fort Lauderdale.
Hamburg, which is among Europe's top container ports, said that after years of supplying cruise ships with shoreside power, the technology is now also being used for cargo ships.
"It is in line with the port's net zero ambitions and European regulations which will in the future require the use of shore power to reduce in port emissions," the port said in a statement.
The 18,000 TEU box ship CMA CGM Vasco de Gama became the first vessel to plug in to shore power at the Container Terminal Hamburg. The 2015 built container ship was able to be supplied with shore power following numerous tests with different systems and ships.
This comes as the number of vessels calling at the port maintained a steady increase in recent years.
In 2023, a total of 6,901 vessels representing 256 million gross tonnes at the port, nearly half of which were container ships. The port's container throughput amounted to 7.7 million TEU in 2023.
Hamburg expects to extend the offering to other parts of the port so that all its container terminals and cruise ship berths will have shore power available by 2025.
Ports across Europe are also working to meet the EU mandate which requires shore power by 2030.
The Port of Rotterdam began a trial project for shore power at its Rotterdam Shortsea Terminals in July 2023. That project is exploring the potential of a lower voltage installation for short sea shipping which would also create a cost saving for the port.
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Logistics UK reiterates call for dedicated logistics minister
LOGISTICS UK, formerly the Freight Transport Association, has reiterated its call for the creation of a dedicated logistics and supply chain minister following the announcement of a general election in the country on July 4.
The business group urged all political parties to include the organization's call for the appointment of a minister for logistics and supply chain by the UK's next government in their election manifestos.
Logistics UK said that supply chains are vital to drive economic growth across the whole economy, reports London's Air Cargo News.
Chief executive David Wells said: "Whether manufacturing or retail, healthcare or education, every part of our economy relies upon logistics to provide all the goods needed to generate business and growth.
"Innovative, integrated infrastructure backed by a national logistics network will deliver efficiencies and opportunities that can benefit us all.
"Giving logistics a voice at the heart of government would ensure that the needs of industry and business are heard and that our sector can work with government to drive up the country's productivity."
The call was made as part of the organization's election manifesto.
The manifesto was launched alongside a survey commissioned by Logistics UK that showed fewer than a third of 2,000 adults think the government is doing enough to support the transport sector.
"The public understands how vital logistics is and, rightly, does not think the government is doing enough to support the industry," added Mr Wells.
"Our sector, which services every part of the UK's economy, would deliver up to GBP7.9 billion (US$10.1 billion) per year in productivity-led growth if backed by the right government policies, as well as creating jobs and trading opportunities both domestically and overseas."
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Schiphol takes a pragmatic approach to protect freighter flights
AMSTERDAM's Schiphol Airport is taking a pragmatic approach to flight capacity limitations while continuing to work to protect freighter flights by lobbying to ring-fence slots for cargo aircraft.
In an interview with London's Air Cargo News, Schiphol head of cargo Joost van Doesburg says that the hub will remain an important place for freight despite reaching capacity in terms of the number of flights it can handle.
He points out that in 2023 cargo volumes at the airport declined at a lower rate than many of its rivals in what was a difficult year for air cargo.
However, he adds that the slot limit of 500,000 would put the number of all-cargo aircraft flights under pressure.
He says there is a "slow decline" in the number of freighter flights - pointing out that in January 2024 there were 1,307 freighter movements compared with 1,327 a year earlier, a drop off of 20.
"This will continue in my opinion for two reasons," says Mr van Doesburg. "Firstly, airlines are swapping their full freighter slots to passenger slots.
"It is very clear you can make more money on a passenger plane than on a freighter plane in a congested airport - we are completely sold out so that is why they are swapping slots.
"Secondly, you still see that many cargo airlines are not really used to operating in a congested airport or an airport where no slots are available."
He explains that some freighter operators lose their slots if they fail to operate 80 per cent of flights as allocated and all-cargo operations are more susceptible to delays than passenger operations given the nature of the business.
To help protect cargo flights, Mr van Doesburg says the airport - along with the local air cargo community - is lobbying to ring-fence slots for freighters.
"We have in total 500,000 slots and we want to put a fence around 2.5 per cent for freighter slots so that they cannot be swapped and so at least when a freighter operator loses their slots, another freighter operator will get the slots instead of a passenger airline."
A limit of 2.5 per cent was chosen because this matches the percentage of freighter flights currently handled at the airport, he explained.
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Nippon Cargo Airlines and Atlas Air renew freighter deal
JAPAN's Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA) and Atlas Air Worldwide have extended their Boeing 747 freighter partnership covering flights on the transpacific.
The Air Transportation Services Agreement (ATSA) agreement sees Atlas Air operate five 747-400F on a crew, maintenance and insurance (CMI) basis for NCA, according to London's Air Cargo News.
"The extension of the current ATSA with transpacific operation between Asia and North America will boost international air cargo growth, including capital equipment for semiconductor and e-commerce needs, while meeting diverse customer transportation demands," the partners said.
"We value our strategic, long-standing partnership with NCA," said Michael Steen, chief executive, Atlas Air Worldwide. "We are building on a strong, trusted relationship, established more than seven years ago, and are fully committed to continuing to contribute to the growing success."
Hiroyuki Homma, president and chief executive, NCA, added: "We look forward to further strengthening our collaboration and leveraging the distinctive features of the Boeing 747 freighter to provide high-quality services prioritizing safety, ensuring continued trust from our customers."
The partnership had initially covered two of NCA's 747-400s but in 2019 a further three of the model were added when the Japanese freighter operator decided to move to a dedicated fleet of 747-8F aircraft after some maintenance issues related to its -400s.
NCA currently operates a fleet of eight 747-8Fs and is in the process of being taken over by All Nippon Airways from its current owner NYK.
However, the deal has been delayed several times and is now expected to be completed in July.
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Private equity and shipping giants eye DB Schenker: Bloomberg
GERMAN forwarding and logistics company DB Schenker has attracted bids from shipping and logistics giants as well as a private equity consortium, reports London's Air Cargo News.
According to a report in Bloomberg, a consortium led by CVC Capital Partners and Carlyle Group has submitted a bid worth around EUR14 billion (US$15.2 billion).
Meanwhile, DSV, AP Moller Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) have also submitted bids.
Quoting insiders, Bloomberg said the logistics companies had been less aggressive on price than the private equity consortium.
In March, Air Cargo News reported that DB Schenker had attracted interest from around 20 parties.
Other companies rumoured to be interested include UPS, DP World, Saudi shipping company Bahri, and Abu Dhabi Ports owner ADQ.
Bloomberg said it wasn't clear whether Bahri and ADQ had pursued a bid and made no mention of UPS and DP World.
A Deutsche Bahn spokesperson said: "In recent weeks, bidders had the opportunity to refine their non-binding offers for DB Schenker based on comprehensive information.
"These confirmed, non-binding offers have now been submitted and are being carefully evaluated before the next phase of the sale process begins promptly. The process is running according to plan."
Earlier this year, AP Moller Maersk said it would consider making an offer after previously dismissing the idea.
DHL Group has declared itself out of the running for acquiring DB Schenker following much speculation over which company will buy the freight forwarder.
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