Page 54: of Maritime Logistics Professional Magazine (May/Jun 2018)

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SHORTSEA SHIPPING

The Long View on

Shortsea Shipping

YilPort Oslo provides a unique Shortsea shipping model from the other side of the big pond. Are there lessons here for North American ports and terminals?

By William Stoichevski ine, bananas and building materials” are what YilPort military, when someone recommended him as a port clerk. terminal director, Bjorn Engelsen, a 26-year Oslo-ports When YilPort started up, however, the container market for “W veteran, and Port of Oslo director and CEO, Ingvar M. large and small vessels was weak. Talk of shortsea shipping

Mathisen, say are the signs of prosperity. Those wares are what was new. Now, shortsea shipping — or, the moving of cargoes are flling containers to Oslo these days, although pricy capital “door-to-door” within Europe at the expense of other means and consumer goods now signal that Norway’s economic expan- of transport, especially trucks — is what Oslo is banking on. sion and Norwegians’ world-beating buying power are for real. In 2014, the Oslo Port Authority’s international tender

The number of container vessels calling on container terminal yielded a winning bid from terminal operator, the Yildirim

YilPort Oslo has been on the increase, of late. In 2018, they’re Group, owned by the Yildirim Brothers Robert Yuksel, Ali up from nine to 11 vessels per week, and ships of from 2,000 Riza and Mehmet (who recently passed away). Over the next to 20,000 DWT have helped lift the container count year-on-

Alphaliner's Global Boxship Fleet … by the numbers year by 21 percent between January and April. Between Janu-

Shipping lines: 7 Expected volume for Volume 2017: ary and March 2018, YilPort saw 179 boxships unload goods 2018: 225 000 TEU 206,000 TEU for shipping lines and their customers. All parties are keen to

STS Cranes: 4 Present Terminal Ca- Automated gate: expedite orders from the terminal by truck and train to waiting, pacity: 300,000 TEU Navis N4 well-capitalized customers and ordinary citizens.

Port Calls per Future Terminal Capac- Languages: English,

Week: 11 ity: 400,000 TEU Spanish, Turkish “Yes, this is a solid increase in the number of vessels call-

Limiting Draft: Truck Turnaround Time: Gate volume: ing Oslo from start-up (in February 2015) until today,” says 12 meters 15 minutes 500 trucks daily

Engelsen, who got his start in logistics straight out of the

Credit: Yngvar M. Mathisen 54 Maritime Logistics Professional May/June 2018 | |