Teesport containers up 70%

Teesport is reporting a 70% year-on-year increase in volumes at its two container terminals so far this year, and is targeting a throughput of 263,000 teu for the full-year 2010.

Operated by PD Ports, Teesport bucked the trend with a 20% increase in volumes through its container terminals last year, to 193,000 teu.

This included a 51% increase in volumes in the second half of the year, after the opening of the new Tesco import centre at Tees Dock.

“Quite frankly, we are blistering ahead of the rest at the moment,” said PD Ports CEO David Robinson.

“I don’t think anybody else would be looking to a 70% growth rate. We also had a record month on our container terminals in May.”

If boxes handled on ro-ro services into the port are added in, Teesport handled a total 414,000teu last year.

PD’s portcentric relationships - where retailer warehouses are based on, or near, port property - are at the centre of this dramatic growth, Robinson said.

As well as the Tesco facility, the Teesport is also home to an Asda import centre, with Asda George at nearby Darlington, a tea and coffee import facility for Taylors of Harrogate, and a new facility for chemicals giant Sabic just outside the dock estate.

“We are targeting a throughput of 263,000teu this year and we are on course for that,” said Robinson.

PD has drawn up plans to increase capacity on its container terminals from 250,000 to 450,000 teu a year, by upgrading yard, infrastructure, IT and purchasing rubber-tyred gantry cranes.

“We would expect, by 2013-1 to be a 600,000teu port, not 400,000,” said Mr Robinson.

“We will be one of the major UK container ports and our ability to put the Tees into the 1 million teu category of port is well within our reach in the next five to 10 years.”

PD’s plans for a new deepwater container terminal are still “in our sights”, he added.

PD is also looking to purchase more land in the near future to support expected growth in containers and portcentric operations.

http://www.ifw-net.com/freightpubs/ifw/index/teesport-containers-up-70/20017781915.htm?source=ezine&utm_source=IFW+Daily+News+Bulletin&utm_campaign=315fc5f290-IFW_Daily_News_Bulletin_04_06_106_4_2010&utm_medium=email

Upgrade for Southampton berth

The UK’s second busiest container terminal, DP World Southampton, is upgrading its shipside capability by deepening container berths and adding ship-to-shore cranes.

The dredging will increase the depth of berths 205, 206 and 207 to 14 metres, 14.6 metres and 15 metres, respectively. And DP World Southampton has placed an order with Liebherr for two super-post-panamax cranes.

The new cranes, due to be delivered in the first quarter of 2011, will mean that 50% of the terminal’s 10-crane fleet are of super-post-panamax design, having an outreach across 22 containers.

Chris Lewis, DP World Southampton MD, said: “The terminal continues to meet the ongoing industry trend towards larger containerships.”

http://www.ifw-net.com/freightpubs/ifw/index/upgrade-for-southampton-berth/20017781207.htm;jsessionid=F43875723A883B7EB37A7B134828923C.5fa4e8cc80be35e2653c9f87d8b8be45bf6ba69a

Felixstowe port project "on target" - more than 3 million m3 of material dredged to date

The latest chapter in Costain's long-running relationship with the Port of Felixstowe is now less than a year away from its targeted completion, with the team behind the current Felixstowe South Reconfiguration project aiming to bring it in on time despite the past winter's abysmal weather.

The first phase - 440m of quay - has been completed and handed over for delivery of the new quay cranes. The second section, involving a 300m length, is now underway, together with paving work inland.

The freezing winter weather early in 2010 presented a number of challenges in the first phase due to the low temperatures affecting the laying of the concrete sub-base, says Deputy Project Director Nigel Desert.

Although the team was able to claw back some of the deficit, losing that amount of time close to the end of that section of the project had an inevitable effect on handover schedules.

Nevertheless, the aim is still to finish the second stretch of quayside by 12 September and the overall project on time in May 2011.

The new quay wall consists of 2.56m diameter piles capped with site-fabricated precast concrete units, the heaviest of which weighs 90 tonnes.

The project requires huge amounts of fill; to date, more than 3 million m³ of material has been dredged from the seabed just outside the port and from off Great Yarmouth.

As well as the quaysides themselves, which will offer deeper berths for the largest container vessels, there is also a huge expanse of container stacking areas to complete on the 35-hectare site, requiring more than 18 million paving blocks.

http://www.sandandgravel.com/news/article.asp?v1=13092

Lower emissions from Felixstowe

The Port of Felixstowe has announced an 8% cut in its carbon emissions in 2009. The amount of carbon dioxide was reduced from 19.8kg to 19kg in 2009 alone, and the port is confident of a further downward trend over the coming year.

The port said this was due to its constant investment in new equipment and upgrading to more carbon efficient machinery, for example, new low emission RTGs.

Felixstowe is also progressing various other projects to improve its environmental performance. These include working with the Carbon Trust to develop its carbon management programme, and reducing energy used in buildings as well as increasing the amount of waste sent for recycling.

http://www.portstrategy.com/news101/europe/lower-emissions-from-felixstowe

10/05/10 09:30 Zhen Hua 25

What a whopper! This incredible sight gave onlookers a lift off Sheppey yesterday.

The ship - the Zhen Hua 25 - was on its way to the Port of Felixstowe laden with four massive cranes.

But before reaching the UK's largest container terminal it stopped off to dock at Thamesport on the Isle of Grain.

One resident of the Leas, Minster, said it was "the weirdest thing I've ever seen".

She added: "It looked liked the wrought-iron framework of a pagoda and the boat was moving quite fast."

Former KM Group photographer, Barry Crayford - who snapped the ship - described it as "awesome".

The ship is owned by the Shanghai-based ZPMC company.

Crane crash caught on camera

Footage of an incident involving the Liberia-flagged containership CCNI Antártico last Monday has been released, showing the dramatic moment the vessel demolished a gantry crane at International Container Terminal Services Inc’s (ICTSI) Contecon terminal at the port of Guayaquil in Ecuador, reports IFW sister publication Lloyd’s List.

The 2002-built, 4,100 teu boxship was on its maiden voyage on a service between Asia and the west coast of South America.

Footage posted on YouTube by a Contecon stevedore shows the dramatic moment the Antártico brushed another vessel at berth before ploughing into one of three gantry cranes at the Contecon facility. Remarkably, nobody was injured in the accident.

Investigators are looking into the extent of the damage caused by the incident, but Contecon general manager Luis Cao said that the crane would need to be replaced, a measure that will hit productivity for up to eight months.

Box business beats growth records

Global container throughput growth in February was the most rapid on record.

And volumes in the first quarter of this year are expected to reach close to pre-financial crisis levels, according to the latest figures from Macquarie Research.

Based on data from ports accounting for around two-thirds of global container throughput, the firm said volumes increased 25% year-on-year in February.

While year-on-year growth is expected to reduce to around 15% this month, Macquarie said: “The question mark now is whether this parity will hold, or whether the Q1 volumes were inflated by the end of the de-stocking cycle.”