ULCS Maersk Line

[frederik]

Mark Malone, Managing Director of Maersk's shipping division, state on a recent conference that Maersk will not put her youngest generation of ULCS's (Ultra Large Container Ships (Emma Maersk)) on the UK because the British ports are insuffici

[DanSTN]

This is an interesting topic.

Felixstowe is currently the only UK port equipped to handle ships the size of Emma Maersk (in terms of crane outreach).

However, it is clear that Maersk believe that it would be a poor decision to position ships of this size on routes serving the UK just yet. This is mainly due to poor landside productivity.

The forthcoming Shell Haven Port will perhaps alleviate their concerns but it is quite concerning that the UK is still far behind Dutch, Belgium and German Ports in terms of 'hub' status.

[Andrew McAlpine]

The (UK) terminals really need to push investment in cranes etc in order to handle this generation of ship and ensure that our ports remain direct ports of call for main line vessels.

Southampton Container Terminals dramatically increased their landside turn around times with a vehicle booking system that other ports are also very interested in.
They have ordered two super post panamax container cranes with an outreach of 22 boxes these are due for delivery in the next 18 months.
From October this year SCT will be the only (UK) port with a dedicated feeder berth allowing feeder vessels to call without being delayed by mainline vessels using the berth.

Unfortunately maersk lines decision is just another example of how the (UK) as a whole is far behind other countries.

[frederik]

Hi,

At this time the decision isn't already made but it doesn't look good for the port of Felixstowe. If Maersk scrap the call in Felixstowe that will mean they loose the benefit of being the first port of call in Europe on the west-bound trade, the first port of disharge in Europe.
For the moment Felixstowe is still on the list for the first voyage of Emma Maersk but for how long? Or will Maersk change Felixstowe for Zeebrugge? Time will tell...

greetz,

frederik

[Kelvin Davies]

Part of Southampton's problem is the same as caused Maersk to have some serious doubts about using the port (until they resumed in March this year); the ships have to negotiate a 120 degree turn in a 12.6m deep channel which is just over 340m wide at its entrance.
When you have more than 300m of ship in front of you, there is no room for even the smallest error.
(Hats off to the Southampton Pilots!)

How do they measure productivity anyway? Is it based on how fast a ship can be loaded, unloaded and sent out again?
Kelvin

[Niklas Enggaard Zalewski]

The greatest problem in Felixstowe is their slow handling of the vessels. It is often called Felixslowe, because the container movements per hour are often very low.

[Andrew McAlpine]

"The greatest problem in Felixstowe is their slow handling of the vessels. It is often called Felixslowe, because the container movements per hour are often very low"

Nice quote Niklas, Felixslow!!! i like it!    :-D  :-D

Kelvin, Terminal productivity is very complex and is more of an art than a science, this is due to all the different players ie terminal operators,shipping lines, hauliers etc measuring it according to their own self interests.
Shipping lines tend to concentrate on measures such as container lifts per hour (box rate) as this directly affects the amount of time a ship spends on the berth.


Felixslow,(sorry) Felixstowe's box rate is currently around 20 moves per hour
Southampton is around 22 moves per hour
Rotterdam/Antwerp around 30 moves per hour

some ports in the USA can average 40 moves per hour

Hope this helps slightly!
Andrew

[Kelvin Davies]

Andrew,
Thanks for the info. I am surprised to read that Southampton is so slow.
I have often photographed ships from Marchwood/Opposite 201 berth and have sometimes watched the containers coming off at what seemed to be much faster than 20 per hour.
The next time I am down that way (probably tomorrow as I want some better pictures of the Maersk Donegal and Chicago Express), I shall make a point of counting for a short period. Those Daleks certainly don't hang about, whizzing round the terminal!
They are going to be busy there; as well as Maersk Donegal coming in for 204 and Chicago Express for 206, they have New Orleans Express sailing from 205 and NYK Aquarius from 207 a couple of hours before the other two arrive.
Looking at AIS just now, I see New Orleans Express is just being dragged round the Upper Swinging ground on her way in to the berth. She is over an hour behind schedule now and is due out again at 09:00 so those cranes will be busy tonight!
Kelvin

[cazenove]

The quote below is from the Port of Tanjung Pelepas' website.PTP is Maersk's hub in Malaysia.Assuming that they use 3 cranes per berth, that works out to 35 moves per hour per crane.With 4 being used, that would be around 26 moves per hour.Whats interesting is that this is the average figure for the whole year and i know that they normally do a lot better than this.

Quote
"The Port of Tanjung Pelepas has been recognised for the Highest Berth Productivity for 2005 at the recent APM Terminals awards held in Shanghai. The award follows PTP

[Morten]

They might be able to average 40 boxes pr hour in the US, but within the last six months i've been calling Pier 400 in Long Beach (Maersk line terminal) twice and even though they work pretty fast and their effective box rate might be 40/hour, but overall it is one of the slowest harbours i've ever been to because they stop working constantly! We completely emptied the ship (6000+ TEU) and it took them almost 60 hours using 5 cranes! This works out at just around 20 moves(TEU) pr crane pr hour! In some ports they load the stevedores onboard using the cranes even before we have the moring lines on the bollards! But in the us it can take hours before they start working because of all those stupid rules and regulations!

My personal experience is that the asian ports are by far the most effective overall!

But that is just my subjective opinion!

[Andrew McAlpine]

You are quite right when you say tht asian ports have the best productivity, i think that Tanjung Pelepas actually has the world record at 150 moves per hour!.

The US ports do have a reputation of being slow and not starting vessels immediately on arrival.60 hours to discharge a 6000+ ship does seem very slow.

In southampton work is started as soon as a vessel arrives and most vessels are worked continuously until finished only stopping for shift changes.

[Morten]

Well I have to say that i didn't explain it very well... 60 hours were the complete turn around time from arrival to departure. I'm not sure whether this is general for any american port, but the problem with the US is that before the work can begin, a small army of officials come onboard to make sure that we are who we say we are and that all garbage are stowed inside the ship, that nothing illigal is going on and all sorts of stuff... The 60 hour stay this took more than 2 hours (Pretty irritating in the middle of a Piston/liner haul!). And the work doesn't start until these officials are all done! Another problem is that the stevedores have brakes all the time and wont work from 3 am til 6 am! This is the only place in the entire world where i have experienced this (Except in Italy, but that had something to do with the World Cup:-))!

[frederik]

Hi,

Same in Zeebrugge. Normally the loading/unloading starts immediately after arrival untill the vessel is finished. In Zeebrugge we work in shifts of 7h45 and we only stop for lunchbreak (30min) and shift changes.

greetz,

frederik

[Morten]

I Think that one of the main reasons why they are much quicker in the far east is that they arent payed by the hour(I don't know how you are payed in europe)! Also the stevedores are onboard thru-out the entire stay (sometimes you have to watch you're step to avoid tripping over them, because they sleep everywhere when they aren't working) and as soon as a crane begin loading the third row above, they start lashing so that the only thing they need to do when the crane is done is to thighten the lashing gear, they don't do that in either southern europe, Saudi Arabia (yep went there aswell) or the us!

[frederik]

Hi BlueWombat,

We in Zeebrugge are payed per shift. Most quays (+95%)working 24/24h (ship operations). Early shift starts at 4h, last shift at 24h (midnight).
In a previous reply you state that in the US you lost a lot of time due to (custom)controls. But how many time? And are these controls at sea or by arrival in the harbour?

greetz,

frederik