Page 58: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 2016)

HEAVY LIFTING: CRANES • WINCHES • ROPES

Photo courtesy of Georgia Ports Authority

Container Crane Masters

The Port of Savannah, owned and operated by the Georgia Ports

Authority, is one of the most successful con-

BY HENRIK SEGERCRANTZ tainer ports in the U.S.

“In the overall global environment we ports due to their size, draft and capac- course raises the question: will the ca-

Maritime Reporter work in, container shipping volumes ity. Recently, even the International pacity of all these new big vessels be visited the global head of- continue to grow, container ships are Transport Forum (ITF) has expressed used?” Among the terminal operators, getting bigger, and container handling doubt about the wisdom of introducing consolidation has been taking place and ? ce of Konecranes Plc in cranes need to get bigger in step with these mega-sized vessels.” The huge new alliances have been formed in order

Hyvinkää, Finland, to ? nd the increasing size and capacity of the new container ships require a very ef? - to optimize volume and resources. “This out about the latest develop- container port terminals, which have to cient feeder system (roads and railways) is a constantly changing business land- be optimized for the peak loads.” Dr. to and from the container port to distrib- scape.” ments in the container han-

Oja describes how the arrival of the very ute the containers. “Smaller vessels, say Currently the global market is in reces- dling industry. Konecranes large capacity container vessels has put 14,000 TEU in size instead of 20,000 sion in some areas, but not everywhere. pressure on the logistical chain. The TEU, can access more ports, which can “Substantial growth has occurred in the is a major global port lifting container terminals have had to invest compete for the business, and provide a United States and West Africa, for ex- equipment supplier, and in larger overall size and capacity, and faster turnaround time and better land ample, in recent years,” Oja points out. larger container handling equipment, logistics. The business scenario has been He describes how some major invest-

Dr. Hannu Oja, Director of which has resulted in consolidation upended, lately,” Oja summarizes. ments have been made in Asia, in Indo-

Port Technology, is a well- among terminal operators. “When the “Then, of course, we have the effects nesia for example, while the European peak load used to be, say, 10,000 TEU of the current global market trends. market has been very challenging for known veteran in the busi- it is now 20,000 TEU. The new mega- Container volumes between China and quite a long time, with almost no invest- ness, having worked with sized container ships exceeding 18,000 the U.S. have not grown in recent years ment in new capacity except in Rotter-

Konecranes since 1985.

TEU in capacity can only use certain at the pace of earlier years, which of dam. The container shipping routes are 58 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • APRIL 2016

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