Auckland halts extensionPorts of Auckland Limited(POAL) has decided not to appeala judgement forcing it toabandon work underway on twoberth extensions.Earlier this year, the port beganwork on two small extensions toexisting berths that had alreadybeen through the resource consentprocess. These involved extendingberths B2 and B3 at itsBledisloe Terminal by 98m and92m, respectively. The new structureswould be concrete piled,requiring no infill expansion.Two groups, Urban Aucklandand The Society for the Protectionof Auckland City andWaterfront Inc, sought a judicialreview of the consent process,under which Auckland CityCouncil gave the extensions a resourceconsent without a formalconsultation process.In the High Court of NewZealand, Justice Venning ruledthis was a breach of environmentallaws and regulations. However,he declined Urban Auckland’sapplication for a declaration thata different type of consent shouldbe required for the work.In his judgement, Justice Venningrecognised his decision willcause POAL considerable financialloss, but said “POAL it has, toa degree, brought that on itself, inthe way that it urged the Councilto proceed on the non-notifiedbasis, in the knowledge of the reactionthat was likely to engender.In doing so, it took a commercialLASE - saves lives!Industrielle Lasertechnik GmbHLaseSCP-3D-Stack Collision Prevention 3D...we are the eyes of your crane!Customer Benefits & Features:• Avoids collisions between load and stack• Applicable for RMGs and RTGs• Avoids collisions with adjacent stacks in gantry direction• Driver assistance• Gentle container handling through soft landings• Less spreader wear• 3D profile scan in trolley drive direction• Reduction of container damage claimsStand - B 10LASE offers innovative andproductive solutions for ports bycombining state-of-the-art laserscanners and sophisticated softwareapplications. We are specialisedin the fully automated handling ofcontainers, cranes or trucks.Come and visit us!Auckland has been forced to stop work on two berth extensions, shown in bluerisk in proceeding in that way.”POAL has announced itwill not appeal the judgement.“While the decision causes ussome problems with consentingand our ability to accommodatemore and longer ships,we feel that appealing this casewould not produce a sustainableresolution to those issues,”said CEO Tony Gibson. “We willnow look to Auckland Council’s‘Future Port Study’ to help findworkable, long-term solutions toAuckland’s sea freight needs.“We still have an immediateneed to accommodate longerships at our general cargowharves, and we will talk to ourcustomers and stakeholders to tryto find possible short-term solutions.We have made no decisionyet on whether or not to reapplyfor consent for the B2 extension.”“Our container operations atFergusson Terminal are not affectedby this decision and continueto thrive. Over the comingmonths we expect to be able toannounce a number of excitingnew initiatives to improve thatpart of our business further,” headded.Euroports General Cargo Terminal GmbH in Rostock has taken deliveryof a new Konecranes SMV4545TBX5 reach stacker for heavy cargo handlingunder hook, and with the flexibility to handle containers, as all thequick-release hydraulic connectors for a spreader are installed in the boomhead. The 8m wheelbase machine can lift a load of up to 61t to a height of15.4m without deploying jacks. With jacks deployed, it can lift up to 78t.Krishnapatnam railA new intermodal rail servicehas been started between India’sKrishnapatnam Port and WhitefieldDepot (WFD) ICD. Thefirst rake was a full load of importladen containers belonging to thebusiness houses in and aroundBengaluru city (Bangalore).This weekly rail service, in associationwith CONCOR, is saidto provide the fastest transit fromThe inaugural service being loaded at KrishnapatnamWFD ICD to the closest gatewayport, and gives an impetus to theimporters and exporters aroundBengaluru, Hosur, Chittoor, etc.The service has a maximumcarrying capacity of 90 TEU eachway and reduces the transporttime from 24-36 hours taken byroad to just 18 hours. In addition,it also helps customers to saveUS$100-150 on each container.PORT NEWSTanzaniaPortsAuthorityreshapedTanzania’s Minister of Transport,Samuel Sitta, has restructuredthe Tanzania PortsAuthority (TPA) and appointeda new board of directors.The move followsthe sacking earlier this yearof TPA’s former acting director,Madeni Kipande, and thegovernment’s determinationto stamp out alleged fraud,bribery and corruption at theorganisation.Recent years have seencomplaints rise about theTPA’s tendering processesand its administrative procedures,with the governmentstill carrying out a numberof investigations into the authority’sactivities.Sitta said: “My decision todissolve the board shows thata lot more needs to be doneto improve efficiency at ourports, from employees’ welfareto doing away with unnecessarybottlenecks thatdiscourage port users fromusing the country’s portsand thus opting to use thoseof neighbouring countries,mostly Kenya.”In all, eight new directorshave been appointed, includingDr Tulia Akson, a lawlecturer at the Tanzania LawSchool, Musa Ally Nyamsingwa,a civil engineer withNorplan Consultants, DonataMugassa, a procurement professionaland member of theTanzania Posts Corporationboard of directors, HarunaMasebu, former director generalof the Energy and WaterUtilities Regulatory Authority,Gema Modu, an electronicsengineer with the EngineersRegistration Board,Dr Francis Michael, a seniorlecturer with the Universityof Dar es Salaam, CrescentiusMagori, director of planningwith the National Social SecurityFund and Flavian Kinunda,a former director ofmarketing at TPA.Dar es Salaam lags behind itsmain rival, Kenya’s Mombasa,when it comes to productivity,and also handles substantiallyfewer containers thanthe 1M TEU-plus that theport now processes. In 2014,Dar es Salaam’s traffic totalled612,551 TEU, a rise of almost9% on the previous year.”The better spreaders we manufacture,the more value we bring to our customers”Those are the words from the founder of ELME Spreader, Gösta Karlsson.Today more than 14,000 ELME Spreaders have been attached to lifttrucks, reach stackers, straddle carriers and cranes all over the world. Figuresthat encourage us to continue doing what we’ve been doing since 1974.Building top performance spreaders to top performance customers.The art of securing a container. The ELME Spreader twistlock - based on 40 years of heavy container experience.8June 2015
PORT NEWSLimassol to be privatisedCyprus’s largest container port is to beprivatised, and interest from global terminaloperating companies is expectedto be keen.The decision to move forward witha bidding tender for the port followsthe approval in early June of a timetableand framework structure for the process.Initially, the Cyprus Ports Authoritywill offer documents inviting companiesto express their interest in the project,a shortlist of candidates will then bedrawn up and further information ontheir business plans requested, afterwhich a concessionaire will be appointed.It is hoped that the process will becompleted by the end of Q1 2016.In all, three tenders will be issued, withone covering operations and investmentin the container terminal, another forthe multipurpose facility and the thirdfor maritime/port services. While thefirst two are for 25-year periods, withfive-year options, the latter is a 10-yearcontract.The past 30 years have seen Limassollose market share to its rivals in theMediterranean region, particularly in thetranshipment stakes, with volumes nowhovering in only the 300,000/350,000TEU range.The Cypriot government believesprivatisation can resurrect the port’sfortunes and allow it to claw back fromports, such as Piraeus, Marsaxlokk andPort Said.Transnetprivatisationmove?The Development Bank of SouthernAfrica (DBSA) has agreed to help adviseand fund private sector investmentin joint ventures between South Africantransport utility Transnet and privatecompanies. South Africa has toyed withthe idea of port, rail and road privatisationover the past 15 years. Private companieshave now built and operate somehighways, but the country’s powerfultrades’ union movement has blockedoutright privatisation of most port andrail infrastructure or operations.However, the government has nowsanctioned the company to form morepublic-private partnerships (PPPs). Likelybeneficiaries include the new containerport planned near Durban, theproposed Ekurhuleni inland containerterminal and new manganese handlinginfrastructure. It will be interesting tosee how much of Transnet’s R336B(US$27.7B) seven-year infrastructuralbudget is actually spent with the privatesector, or indeed whether the companyor government are prepared to publishsuch information.The acting CEO of Transnet Group,Siyabonga Gama, said: “Finding innovativefunding solutions is a key elementof the market demand strategy (MDS).Partnerships with the private sector willnot only broaden our sources of fundingfor capital investments, they [DBSA] willgive us access to private sector skills andexpertise.“At the same time, they will help usmanage risk and provide alternative procurementtools for large infrastructureprojects. In addition, PPPs provide entitieslike Transnet with mechanisms toensure black participation in large-scaleprojects.”The agreement is perhaps recognitionthat private sector companies inSouth Africa have difficulty in securingfunding from private banks. DB-SA’s participation is easier to secure as,in common with Transnet, it is ownedby the South African government. TheCEO of DBSA, Patrick Dlamini, said:“This partnership speaks to one of ourcore objectives of supporting economicgrowth through investing in economicinfrastructure – with transportation beingone of the four key focus sectors toachieve this objective.”Limassol is set to be privatised via three separate tenders within a yearNEXT GENAUTOMATEDCONTAINERHANDLINGINAUGURATED IN SURABAYA, INDONESIAThe Lamong Bay Terminal in Surabaya, Indonesia, was recentlyinaugurated. It’s the jewel in the crown of Indonesian state-ownedterminal operator “Pelindo III”. Its Konecranes automated containerhandling system consists of 20 Automated RMG cranes (ARMGs),Remote Operating Stations (ROSs), and associated container yardinfrastructure. Konecranes also provided 10 Ship-to-Shore (STS)cranes and 5 straddle carriers.The future is very bright for Lamong Bay Terminal and Indonesia.PLEASE VISIT WWW.KONECRANES.COM/LAMONG-BAYFOR MORE INFORMATION.Teesport capacity boostPD Ports Teesport has completed a £22Minvestment project, including reconstructionof 305m of the quay, enabling it toaccommodate fully laden Panamax vesselsat any level of tide.The 12-month project, which is part ofPD Ports’ wider growth plans, was undertakenby McLaughlin & Harvey and supportedby consultants Royal HaskoningDHV and Turner & Townsend.The next phase of the upgrade projectis due to commence in July and, over aseven-month period, an additional 245mof quay will be upgraded. As reported onWorldCargo News Online, PD Teesport isnow using Navis N4 to manage its lolo,rail and ro-ro business. “Over 70% ofcontainers handled at the port can nowbe tracked to their owner, along withany specific requirements the owner hasfor their goods,” the company stated.Using a TOS in this way, claimed PDPorts, is the “UK’s first cross-platform terminaloperating system”, covering container,rail and ferry operations.Teesport can now handle laden Panamaxvessels at any level of tideJune 2015 9
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