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Melbourne port receives green light to handle larger containerships
来源： 编辑：编辑部 发布：2018/06/29 09:32:54
The busiest cargo gateway on the US East Coast and third largest in the US saw its containerised cargo volumes continue to rise last month, boosted by increases in both loaded import and export volumes. It was the fifth consecutive monthly record, according to the most recent data from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ). Throughput of loaded imports grew 6.6 per cent year over year to 302,081 TEU, while laden export volumes surged 9.3 per cent to 130,341 TEU. Exports of empty containers, however, slipped 0.2 percent to 159,743 TEU compared with the same month a year ago, and import empties dropped 33.9 per cent to just 1,460 TEU, reports American Shipper. ExpressRail, the port authority's ship-to-rail system serving New York and New Jersey marine terminals, also set a new all-time monthly volume record in May with 57,732 container lifts, a 19.6 per cent jump from the same 2017 period. Through the first five months of 2018, cargo volumes at the Port of New York and New Jersey have grown 6.8 per cent year over year to 2.83 million TEU, keeping the port on pace to surpass the record 6.71 million TEU it handled for all of 2017. Cargo growth has been fuelled by an 8.8 per cent increase in import loads to 1.45 million TEU and a 9.9 per cent jump in loaded exports to 626,884 TEU. Empty container exports also have grown 2.1 per cent to 744,675 TEU, while empty imports have dropped 30.3 per cent to 6,457 TEU. In non-containerised cargo, vehicle volumes at the port surged 22.6 per cent year over year to 52,312 units in May, bringing the year-to-date total to 240,693 automobiles, a 6.8 per cent increase from the first five months of 2017. |
THE International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH) has considerably strengthened its membership base in China now that Ningbo Zhoushan Port Group, manager of the Ningbo and Zhoushan port complex, has decided to join the body. The group's decision was confirmed in the wake of the Maritime Silk Road Port International Cooperation Forum, which was held in Ningbo in mid-June, reported MarineLink of New York. IAPH president Santiago Garcia Mila met with Ningbo Zhoushan Port Group vice general manager Ni Chenggang at the forum to conclude the membership arrangement. "With the ever-growing impact of the Chinese Belt and Road strategy, we look forward to working together to boost trade and stimulate economic growth across Asia and beyond," said the IAPH president. Ningbo and Zhoushan represent the largest port complex in the world. In 2017 the port group handled a total cargo throughput of one billion tonnes. The port complex is part of the maritime Silk Road and has the largest deep-water facilities in China. The port's maritime connections increased substantially after China's Belt and Road initiative. In addition, the port has commenced sea-rail transport services with trains providing services to 30 cities in China as well as countries in central and northern Asia and eastern Europe. The container handling volume of its sea-rail transport is expected to surpass 400,000 TEU this year, a 60 per cent increase compared to 2017. Ningbo-Zhoushan handled 10 million TEU from countries along the Belt and Road in 2017, up 16 per cent compared to 2016. |
DP World is expanding its facilities at the DP World Prince Rupert Fairview Container Terminal after finalising terms of a project development plan that outlines the next phase of expansion at the terminal with the Port of Prince Rupert. The Phase 2B expansion will increase annual throughput capacity at Canada's second largest container terminal to 1.8 million TEU when completed in 2022, the global port operator said in a press release. No financial details were disclosed. DP World had reportedly spent US$200 million on the earlier Fairview Phase 2A project. DP World Group chairman and CEO, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, said: "Canada is an important part of our global network and we are delighted to confirm these plans, which underline our commitment to Prince Rupert, which plays a major role in enabling trade in the region and across the west coast with rail connections inland to the rest of the country and the United States." The Fairview Phase 2B project follows the 2017 completion of Fairview Phase 2A, which increased the terminal's capacity by 500,000 TEU to its current capacity of 1.35 million TEU. Construction on Phase 2B will begin in mid-2019. There will be an initial gradual release of capacity to 1.6 million TEU in 2020 following the completed expansion of the container yard to the south. Port of Prince Rupert board chair Bud Smith said: "This project will provide critical trade-enabling infrastructure for Canada's west coast, a timely response to forecasted growth in trans-Pacific trade and supportive of Canada's efforts to diversify markets through new free trade agreements such as the CPTPP." The project will expand the container yard from its current 32 hectares to 41 hectares and add two new rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) cranes as well as an eighth dock gantry crane. The existing maintenance and administration buildings will be relocated to create additional container storage capacity. The Phase 2B project will further expand on-dock rail capacity with the addition of 6,680 feet of working track, for a total of 24,680 feet of on-dock rail by 2e News. CN interim president and CEO J J Ruest, said: "Together with our supply chain partners, this expansion, combined with CN's investments in BC and across its rail network, positions us to drive this unique trade gateway success story forward." |
THE Canaveral Harbour and Canaveral Sand Bypass projects along the Florida coast is to receive priority funding totalling US$16.23 million in the US Army Corps of Engineers Fiscal Year 2018 workplan. The Corps has allocated $14.76 million to the Canaveral Harbour Sand Bypass project and $1.47 million will be provided for maintenance of the Port's harbour and the Canaveral Locks. US Republican Congressman Bill Posey of Florida worked with the Army Corps throughout their budget planning process to ensure critical Port Canaveral and Brevard County beach projects were included in the agency's workplan, reports AJOT. "The Canaveral Harbour Sand Bypass is important to our local economy, our space programme and our national security. Timely completion of the sand bypass will help safeguard our local maritime commerce by ensuring that ocean vessels can continue to navigate through Canaveral Harbour," said Mr Posey. "Port Canaveral is a critical economic asset for Central Florida. Ensuring access to our waterways and safe transit of cruise and cargo vessels are vital to this region's economy," said Capt John Murray, Port CEO. "We have a long-standing partnership with the US Army Corps of Engineers and are grateful to Congressman Posey for his efforts to ensure projects that are important to our operations received priority funding." The Canaveral Harbour Sand Bypass and jetty improvement project was designed to prevent infill of the federal Port channel through the jetties (jetty tightening component) and migration of sand around the tip of the north jetty (bypass component). The bypass project was deemed critically important for Port navigation. |
COSCO, OOCL and ANL's plans to dramatically upscale the size of the containerships deployed on their joint Asia-Australia service means that the size of ships calling at Australia's port of Melbourne will rise significantly. The current string comprises five 5,500-6,000 TEU ships, however, Melbourne port's regulatory authority has been given the go-ahead for OOCL and Cosco to berth vessels in the 8,000-8,900 TEU range, reported UK's The Loadstar. Specifically, the Victorian Ports Corporation (VPC) has given permission to conduct berthing trials for the 8,063 TEU OOCL Shenzhen, the 8,888 TEU OOCL Beijing and the 8,200 TEU Cosco China. The trials will initially be carried out at the Victoria International Container Terminal (VICT), while simulation and studies to raise vessel sizes at Melbourne's Swanson Dock are ongoing. The introduction of the new vessels will go some way to quietening accusations that Melbourne's two other terminal operators - DP World and Patrick - had been lobbying behind the scenes to prevent VICT from receiving authorisation to handle bigger ships. Access to the DP World and Patrick terminals at Swanson Dock is limited and the longest ship to call there was the 306-metre, 6,500 TEU Al Kharj, and the two operators are understood to be worried that the introduction of larger containerships at the port would make their facilities uneconomical. However, the continued delay in VICT receiving permission to accommodate larger vessels has also been blamed for Sydney overtaking Melbourne to become the country's top container gateway. With Sydney now able to handle vessels of up to 10,000 TEU, its advantage is obvious, even though VICT claims it can handle ships up to 12,500 TEU provided it receives permission. The berthing trials come amid a further expansion of shipping capacity into Australia, after Hyundai Merchant Marine, Evergreen and APL announced plans to commence a new Asia-Australia service in August. The new A1X service, with five 4,600 TEU vessels, according to Alphaliner, will mark the first time HMM has deployed its own ships on the trade - it is expected to provide two of the five vessels. Melbourne's container terminal operators are currently bidding to handle the service. And in a further twist, OOCL and PIL are to welcome Cosco as a slot charterer to their joint Asia-Australia AAA service, and then split the string into two: the AAA1 and AAA2. This will see the six vessels of 5,400-5,888 TEU capacity increase to nine. The splitting of the string is due to interest in a new direct call at Brisbane, as well as improving connections between Australia and Southeast Asian ports. "The new AAA 1/AAA 2 enhancement is expected to add some five per cent to the total Far East-Australia capacity. It follows the recent announcement by HMM, Evergreen and APL of the launch of a new China-Australia service in August this year," said Alphaliner. |