Page 10: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 2013)

10 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ? SEPTEMBER 2013 The boxes have yet to start ß owing but already the chal- lenger is squaring up with the established champ.The battle for the hearts and minds of shippers has begun as two port-operating giants compete for Britain?s containerised trade. Felixstowe, owned by Hutchison Port Holdings, has been a long es-tablished hub and the busiest, and biggest, port in the U.K. To the south in the Thames Estuary is the new $2.32 billion deepwater port of London Gateway, operated by DP World and coming on stream in No- vember. The competition between the es-tablished player and the new upstart has been professional up to now, but the depressing trade volumes between Asia and Europe are sure to spice up the tussle for customers.London Gateway has certainly managed to get under the skin of its larger rival recently, surprising when one considers that Felixstowe handled 42% of the U.K. container trafÞ c while London Gateway has yet to handle a single box.The new DP World facility main- tained in a report that by using Lon-don Gateway, companies would be able to completely reevaluate their supply chains. Marks & Spencer obviously sub-scribed to that and announced plans to build a giant distribution centre at the facility. A selling point of the new port and its business and logistics park is the proximity of London, home to 30% of the UK population. This, it believes, gives it an advantage over Felixstowe.In response to the London Gate-way claims, Felixstowe commis-sioned a study that showed the in-land distribution of cargo was based on the location of large warehouses and not on population. Most of those big warehouses were located north of London and therefore in prime Felixstowe coun-try. The study also found Felixs-towe had an overall cost advantage of $40.22 per container over its Thames rival and that London Gate-way would face extra costs through road congestion around the city. London Gateway hit back in the U.K. media, asking import-ers and exporters to have a look at Google maps and they would see that the port is closer than Felixs-towe to two-thirds of the U.K. mar- ket. Closer means cheaper, a port spokesman said.If this is an indication of how the battle for Britain?s gateway port is going to play out, it is deÞ nitely worth watching. Ports compete in many areas but seldom are they so close together and going directly head to head.Will there be one winner? It is not a zero sum game, despite the way it is portrayed by both port operators, and when Europe emerges from its economic winter there should be enough business to go around. But until that happens we are freshen-ing our drinks and settling down for a mouthwatering clash between the reigning champ and the hungry challenger. Bring it on. NEWS(Photo: DP World London Gateway) Gloves come off in the Gloves come off in the Battle for Britain?s Shippers Battle for Britain?s Shippers $2.32B London Gateway, operated by DP World, comes online in November and challenges FelixstowePosted by Greg Knowler, Aug 13, 2013, on MaritimeProfessional.com News in BriefChinese Shipbuilder Reveals ?Breakthrough Tech? According to a report on the China Daily, China Shipbuilding Industry Corp.?s Wuhan Institute of Marine Electric Propulsion has developed its own integrated electric propulsion technology, a step it claims will help it wean itself from imported systems. One of the major issues has been a lack of domestic companies who can make gas turbine engines to support long distance voyages. With- out domestically developed gas turbine engines, the navy had to import foreign EMD: 2,500 bhp Rating for Series 710 Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) announced the newest rating available for its eight-cylinder mod-el line, which is aimed at harbor docking propul-sion and similar applications. The new 2,500 bhp (1,864 bkW) rating at 900 rpm, provides respon-siveness for maximum acceleration, maneuvering and deceleration characteristics. Coupled with a new 200 rpm idle speed option, the engine offers low fuel consumption, high bollard power and wide operating range.The new rating complements EMD?s 2,000 bhp (1,491 bkW) and 2,200 bhp (1,640 bkW) ratings at 900 rpm without major changes to the existing design. CertiÞ ed to U.S. EPA Marine Tier 3 and IMO II emissions it is available immediately. Cat Debuts Marine Hybrid SystemCaterpillar Marine Power Systems introduced the Cat Powered Marine Hybrid System, a complete hybrid propulsion package applicable to all en-gine platforms. Developed with Aspin Kemp & Associates (AKA), the package uses AKA?s Xe- roPoint Hybrid marine propulsion system and provides fuel savings of up to 25% and even emissions reductions. The Cat Powered Marine Hybrid System is currently being used in the tug and salvage market. The RT Adriaan, a hydrid tug built by Kotug, features 3 x Cat 3512 marine engines as well as the new hybrid system. Kotug elected to install the system on two new tugs cur- rently under construction at the Damen shipyard. Two more hybrid ready tugs are currently under construction at Cheoy Lee Shipyard.Study: Deeper Mississippi River Would Add $11.5B The Big River Coalition and the Louisiana De-partment of Transportation and Development commissioned a study by economist Tim Ryan, PhD., entitled ?The Economic Impact of Deep-ening the Mississippi River to 50 Feet.? Ryan determined a deeper channel allowing for larger vessels to maximize cargo throughput would cre- ate $11.49B in increased U.S. production, 16,991 new permanent jobs and account for $849.5 mil-lion in increased income for American workers.- London Gateway Aerial Photo, August 2013 MR #9 (10-17).indd 10MR #9 (10-17).indd 109/4/2013 3:38:36 PM9/4/2013 3:38:36 PM