Messages

1

Shipping News and information / Re: 5-ship queue at Felixstowe:

« on: February 22, 2014, 12:10:33 PM »

Unfortunately this weeks delays at Felixstowe were not all weather related, it was expected that several vessels would divert but in the end many did not, it is clear that shippers are still nervous about LGW, that in time will change though as they ramp up. All shipping lines were forewarned that this week would be bad so had ample opportunity to divert if they wished. The delays are down to the sheer number of vessels booked to arrive at the Port this week, despite slow steaming and adjustments to schedules it still culminated in more vessels due to arrive than the Port could possibly hope to turn around.

I am told....by those that know these things....that this was always going to be a very busy week, we have had almost wall to wall vessels and virtually every berth full and FSR has almost totally been double vessel booked. I am also told that much of this surge is a catch after the Chinese new year, as was much of the rush before to get empties out there.

I do agree we need more deep water berth space in the UK, in due course there will be enough traffic for both, but as in every two horse race, one will always have more.

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Shipping News and information / Re: SVENDBORG MAERSK

« on: February 19, 2014, 08:24:27 PM »

I had a good look at what was berthed either side of my crane today and both had lashing bridges that will secure to the base of the four high box, both vessels had traditional structures that should clear a seven high stack but would nominally stack six high.

The photos are interesting, some of those stacks are eight high and seem to have survived, the damaged ones could have been nine highs, I'm fairly confident when she left here that there were nine high stacks as my colleague and I commented on "there goes another Maersk mega stack of lego" sadly I didn't have my camera with me.

Quite a few classes of Maersk vessels have had accommodation extensions and were seeing them almost daily now. I asked one quay manager how high can they stack above the lashing bridge, the answer is scary, as high as we can get so long as the total column weight does not exceed 150t, in reality with tides and cranes that's nine high but I understand the Triple E will take ten high, though the Triple E has a three high lashing bridge which will secure to the base of a five high box.

I retract my comment about Svendborg Maersk, she does have a two high lashing bridge, however Maersk Stepnica did not.

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Shipping News and information / Re: SVENDBORG MAERSK

« on: February 19, 2014, 08:43:12 AM »

This'll be the second nine high stacked vessel to loose boxes this year.

Both the Maersk Stepnica and Svendborg Maersk have had their accomodation raised several decks to stow nine high on deck, yet neither have had their lashing brisges raised to meet the higher stacks. Thus, instead of three rows of containers just relying on twistlocks you now have six.

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Shipping News and information / Re: London Gateway

« on: January 26, 2014, 11:10:29 PM »

The P3 service is a big winner for those who can collect it, currently it's eight services to the UK, five at Felixstowe and three at Southampton, word is that's where they will stay for the foreseeable future, but both Ports may loose other services to ensure prime slots at the quay for P3. No one really knows what will shake out when the merry go round stops.

I can also confirm LGW have been seriously shaking the Southampton tree, being owned by the same parent company means little in this tug of war for custom. Like Tilbury, Southampton is 'part' owned and wild guesses are that if they can secure some of that traffic to LGW they may pull out of Southampton and consolidate at LGW which will be wholly owned.

Felixstowe have done a lot of PR recently with COSCO and CSCL, the Chinese being Chinese would obviously prefer to line there own pockets rather than the middle east, but business is business and will clearly go where the rates are cheapest.

Evergreen are feeling left in the wilderness and may team up with someone or possibly join the CKYH alliance, interesting times ahead.

5

Shipping News and information / Re: London Gateway

« on: January 25, 2014, 05:49:02 PM »

It's going to get very difficult for the larger container companies to justify sailing past LGW to Tilbury in the near future, which kind of mocks recent political blurb that insisted that LGW would generate new traffic, thus far it hasn't, it's only collect existing traffic at the loss to other ports.

It'd be no suprise if Hamburg Sud left Felixstowe in the future to consolidate services at LGW.

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Shipping News and information / Re: London Gateway Doubles Container Lift Capacity

« on: January 25, 2014, 05:45:50 PM »

Interesting, I'll try and cover some of the above from what I know.

Quad lift isn't new technology, it's in use in the far east in a few ports already, however they all differ from LGW in that they use a trailer to park system, LGW doesn't, it uses straddles, unless I'm mistaken these are only one box wide? They have obviously thought about the system but as yet I cannot see how they can land to quay or load from quay with a land side system designed around one box width, in the far east they use tandem width trailers to accommodate quad lifts. Typically quad lift frames have an interconnecting system that can move the boxes apart, usually only just enough to match cell guides or peg positions on lids, it'd be some frame that can spread far enough to allow a straddles wheels to pass between the boxes.

Regarding weights and safety systems, it is unlikely there will be any crane failures due to quad lifts and if used for loaded containers then special efforts will need to be made to ensure a balanced load. The problem with quad or twin lift is load balance, it is critical tat you do not load one wire more than the others (cranes typically use a four wire system), on current systems there is a percentage difference allowed between left and right wires and fore and aft or any single wire over the other three, typically 25%. If you try and twin lift two 20' and the difference between boxes exceeds 25% left and right then the crane will stop, by the same virtue if you have a load that has shifted in a 40' and is corner heavy then it will also stop.

Now if you quad lift then you will have an expanded footprint, whilst your left and right extremities remain the same your fore and aft are increased, leading to greater risk of a load differential fore and aft.

One other factor with quad lifts are box heights, the system will cope with height differences of 6" easily and some with great care will cope with 12", above that then it will not work. Imagine loading two 40', one at 8'6" the other at 9'6", the higher to seaside, that's fine but the next layer either has to be two identical boxes or a reverse of the above heights or else the frame will not cope.

Whilst your loading it's simple to make sure all your boxes arriving at the quay face are height and weight matched, but for discharge your relying on other ports to make sure box heights ans weights fall into your criteria....good luck on that one.

One other aspect, what happens to a crane when a vessel does arrive with boxes of varying height to discharge and load where quad picking is not an option, looking at the LGW press it shows a massive head block that is more than one frame wide, thus they cannot change the crane to a simple single frame option, that crane looks dedicated to quad lifts so will be parked up for the duration of the vessel.

It will be interesting to see how they get on, but I don't think it'll be a technology that many other European ports will rush to emulate, automated stacks, yes, but quad lift is a brave operation to run.

Regarding LGW recent poor box rate, it's they automated stackers they are having issues with, they can get the boxes off and on the vessel quick enough but are swamping the yard, the yard cranes are so busy trying to keep up with the quay that they then cannot cope with hauliers. All the recent three vessels they picked up from Felixstowe were poorly turned around, so much so that one left early after only discharging 800 of the projected 2000 boxes. Indeed Maersk then canceled the Maersk Kiel call, re planned the European calls so that it could call at Felixstowe instead.

Rumor on the quay is that Maersk only sent the Gudrun Maersk down there to see if such a large ship could transit in and out of there, which it could. It'd be wise not to discount LGW, they will get there once they have got over these initial teething problems and a recent shipping report shows that UK box growth has outstripped Europe and by end of 2015 we will be short of deep water berths in the UK, and that report already takes into account a finished LGW and berths 10/11 at FSR. If Ports can weather out the next 24 months then the indications are that there will be enough big boats for everyone.

Sorry for the extended dialogue.

7

Shipping News and information / Re: Maersk Stepnica storm damage at Felixstowe

« on: January 09, 2014, 06:26:19 PM »

Y'all very kind, but also mistaken LOL, it is not technically good for a whole host of reasons I won't bore y'all with

Chris, no flash, just hand held out of a car window, had to push the ASA up which results in a more grainy photo, didn't dare get the tripod out as the place was crowded with people who would probably take a dim view of such proceedings LOL

I've been informed that the boxes were loaded but not heavies (I.E. in the region of 5-15t) and she lost 32-33 in the Bay of Biscay.

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Shipping News and information / Re: Emma Maersk

« on: January 08, 2014, 09:34:48 PM »

Eugen Maersk due Felixstowe 9th Jan 22:00

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Shipping News and information / Re: Maersk Stepnica storm damage at Felixstowe

« on: January 08, 2014, 09:18:14 PM »

Derek, it's not technically that good with all those light sprites, and I wasn't sure which category to place it under, so have uploaded a shot to the same section as yours under casualties.

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Shipping News and information / Re: Maersk Stepnica storm damage at Felixstowe

« on: January 08, 2014, 06:34:14 PM »

Not sure if we're allowed to post images in these boards, Derek, can you make the necessary changes if I've over stepped the mark


Maersk Stepnica by Mickoo737, on Flickr

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Shipping News and information / Re: Maersk Stepnica storm damage at Felixstowe

« on: January 08, 2014, 04:30:02 PM »

There's still another 2700 moves to go and we're showing a finish time late tomorrow night, but I suspect the vessel may be a little longer to tidy the mess up, all boxes aft of the bridge are now done so engineers can get in there and begin the salvage.

Yes this is the vessel refered to in the MSC Rita thread.

12

Shipping News and information / Maersk Stepnica storm damage at Felixstowe

« on: January 08, 2014, 09:17:12 AM »

Maersk Stepnica is currently alongside at Felixstowe berth 6 with a storm damaged stack aft of the bridge, best shots will probably be had from Shotley when the sun gets round this afternoon.

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Shipping News and information / Re: MSC RITA

« on: January 07, 2014, 08:26:36 PM »

Derek, it may not be a Maersk vessel in Maersk colours but a rental or other vessel on a Maersk service, as I say, it's only hearsay at the moment and with European shipping, especially Felixstowe is in such disarray due to the weather it could go anywhere. The information I got was 'it's just a Maersk Ship', not a ship spotter clearly LOL.

I think LGW will be keen not to accept (Zim Rotterdam incident) as it'll tie their singular (at present) berth up from other vessels planned.

14

Shipping News and information / Re: MSC RITA

« on: January 07, 2014, 06:15:53 PM »

Yes, LGW have picked up two more Felixstowe vessels, discharge only I believe, we're currently being hammered by high winds recently so LGW are (rightly so) making hay whilst the sun shines.

Having said that I did hear today that Felixstowe is accepting a Maersk vessel off rotation for severe storm damage, it's not showing on our database as it has no work plan, we're only going to recover damaged boxes and repair as best we can, as yet I cannot see any vessels on AIS that fit the bill, it's due tomorrow sometime, probably late afternoon and our engineering night shift tomorrow have been prepped for deck work for some considerable time.

Felixstowe currently has quayside tied up with cranes in deep maintenance so slotting a vessel in there makes perfect sense as it will not hinder the other berths which are working at capacity right now. The work involved on the inbound vessel will not require gantry cranes, it may require a mobile in due course.

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Shipping News and information / Re: MSC RITA

« on: January 06, 2014, 08:36:18 AM »

Felixstowes wind agreement is 40knts, I have no idea what LG is, it'll be the same if not close, I'd be staggered if it were more than 50mph (43knts), good as new cranes are, it's the box on the end that's the problem and they have cranes the same height as Felixstowes newest.
Your ok in the lee of the vessel on the quay from a SWesterly but, the minute you clear the deck boxes all hell breaks loose, and to make matters worse the wind swirls and rips though the gaps in the deck stack making the box helicopter (rotate) and that's very difficult to stop without hitting something else. When the box helicopters you then run the risk of a rope comming off a sheeve as they are not designed to take that sort of loading, if that happens your in a world of hurt. If their cranes are fitted with the same staff lifts as ours then those would probably be limited to 40knts.

In reality when you get upto these sorts of speeds it's a matter of minutes between 40 and 43knts, which makes claims that they can work at higher speeds a bit suprising, perhaps they can, but in reality they're not gaining much over the competition.

I've been caught up a crane at 50mph and it's not pleasent. I wish them well if they're working at those sorts of speeds.