The paper will show to the audience a new port layout that will enable faster loading and unloading of containers at the quayside, particularly for the new largest container vessels. The concept is novel and yet practical, using indented berths with innovative ship-to-shore cranes. The Mega vessels are the most valuable assets in the system, so these are focused at the heart of the terminal rather than at the periphery, as is the case with conventional layouts. The efficiency of COFASTRANS is built from adaptation of the latest container handling techniques combined with large crane technology from the shipbuilding industry as well as vessel navigation in confined waters, such as seen at the Panama Canal.
This container handling solution addresses the challenge laid down a couple of years ago by Maersk Line’s CEO Soren Skou on their unexpected introduction of the much larger vessels. He called for a “step-change” increase to 250 container moves per hour at each berth (up from about 150 at present). With only evolutional development over the 50+ years since the early containerisation of shipping cargoes, various ideas have been proposed but none have been close to achieving this aspiration. However COFASTRANS can exceed 300 berth moves per hour and, by using a more efficient layout, it can occupy a smaller amount of precious port land.
The author has made conference presentations on much earlier work for this concept at TOC ’99 in Genoa in 1999 and TOC Asia in Hong King in 2001. Since then the vessels have become substantially larger and, crucially, this concept has now been transformed with the introduction of the new patented crane design that will substantially increase efficiency and performance. Development work has been carried out with support from the EU’s Horizon 2020 SME1 programme and in association with Konecranes.
There have been no positively disruptive developments to ship-to-shore container handling since the start of containerisation in the 1960’s, despite constant urging from the large international shipping lines who, in 2006, introduced new vessels of the “Emma Maersk” class that doubled the largest size to a carrying capacity of 15,500 TEU (20ft container). Then, from 2015, even larger vessels have been added to the fleet with the largest 2017 delivery “OOCL Hong Kong” 38% bigger with a capacity of 21,413 TEU. To meet their profit targets the shipping lines need reduced time in port, but this is not possible with conventional shoreside cranes that inevitably take longer to reach the extremities of these ever-wider vessels.
The next step cannot be made with normal port layouts and conventional equipment. COFASTRANS solves this problem by making the ship the central working area with direct access to the shore on both sides of the ship. The innovative new portal crane makes this possible with double the number of lifting spreaders over the ship, each with 30% less travel distance. With container transfer over both sides of the ship, there is effective use of twice the length of quayside and correspondingly less congestion on shore. This will typically result in 30-40% reduction in ship time in port and a 4-fold improvement in land utilisation, often in environmentally sensitive areas. The benefits are huge, albeit complex to quantify because every port has different geography, historic facilities and customer needs.
With more and more Mega container vessels coming into operation the time is now right for an in-depth discussion on the fundamentals of port layouts for these vessels, as shippers consider placing more orders and port operators seek to gain an advantage over their neighbouring competitors. Panama is the ideal place for these discussions. It is a global transportation hub with access to two oceans and has itself a real opportunity for even more expansion in container transhipment. Also, the Panama Canal has unrivalled experience in the navigation of large vessels into indented berth structures.
In launching the larger vessels the shipping lines have set the challenge. COFASTRANS picks this up and is targeted at the largest international container ports where one or more new berths can augment the existing operation and transform the performance and turnaround time for the largest vessels. New greenfield locations also provider a significant opportunity.
The proposed presentation will consider the market needs, review unsuccessful attempts that have previously been made to change ship-to-shore container handling and consider the challenges in making changes to the well-developed container handling industry. Explanations and technical details will be provided to show the arrangement of the berths with innovative new portal cranes and how they will align with the ship to transfer containers to and from the shore. With ports across the world having very different natural layouts, requirements and constraints, there are several ways in which COFASTRANS can be implemented. This has been distilled into three generic arrangements taking into account navigational requirements for the approach and berthing of vessels in combination with the cargo handling as well as terminal storage and traffic constraints. These various types of installation will be shown; all have the potential to substantially improve efficiency of global container transportation in terms of time, cost and environmental impact on the world’s main trading routes.