Refreshing my technical knowledge, practising giving the eyebrow…

26 Sep 2011 - By Holly Birkett, Managing Editor of Port Technology International, London, UK. - Editor's Blog

Sunday 25^th September - Day 1 of TOC Middle East 2011

When I come away to events such as TOC Middle East, invariably I’m by myself so I have to effectively make my own fun. Often this is quite pleasant (reading a book with a glass of wine in the hotel bar at night.) Other times, it’s frankly quite rubbish (sat drinking by myself, with a book in the hotel bar at night.)

Day one of TOC Middle East was not, I told myself, just the first day of the region’s first TOC Container Supply Chain conference. It was a reconnaissance mission. After a few months sat in a fusty office working on the latest edition of PTI (no. 51), my mission was now to gather as much information as possible about as many subjects as possible, in as short a time as possible. Then – and only then – would I allow myself to go to Pizza Express.

After setting up my trade stand, I made for the Innovation Forum to see one of my heroes, Prof. Holger Schuett, MD of ISL Applications GmbH, speaking on the use of virtual terminal modelling when planning container handling operations.

One of the things I love about our industry is the sheer volume of knowledge and expertise held by its members, on topics as diverse as mathematical decision modelling, macroeconomics, mechanical engineering, which somehow we manage to make intersect. Perhaps we often take that for granted. If you’ve ever heard Holger speak, you’ll know that he is a man who knows his stuff.

Container terminals today (as I’m sure we all know) are getting bigger, and therefore more and more complex, and it’s no longer enough to chuck a few queued-up trailers into the mix to wait while the quay crane unloads a vessel (not that it’s entirely that haphazard!)

What Prof. Schuett proposes is virtual terminal managing software to model operations before the vessel even reaches the berth, and which is currently being used as part of the development of the new greenfield terminal at Bremerhaven, which goes live in August 2012. Pretty interesting stuff! His last article for us (PTI 50) summarises his argument, and you can read it here.

 Later, I sat in on a presentation from another past PTI author Angelo de Jong, Technical Project Manager for Abu Dhabi Terminals, who presented on the topic of technical asset lifecycle management. Talk about food for thought!

Using data he has gathered throughout his career both at ADT and APM Terminals, Angelo presented a convincing case that in low labour cost countries it actually makes sense to purchase lower quality equipment, because the total cost of downtime (that is the cost of maintenance and repairs etc.) is lower, thus reducing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). (This general rule of thumb does not apply to quay cranes, however.)

Likewise, where the cost of labour is high, it makes sense to spend more on better quality assets, which will break down less often and hence incur lower maintenance costs, which again brings down the TCO.

My mind was racing with all these new ideas (Pizza Express pretty much went by in a blur) – commissioning editorial for PT52 should now be a breeze! Mission accomplished.

But there was something else I’d been studying all day: stage craft. Yep, tomorrow’s the day that I myself take to the Innovation Forum to chair a stream on port equipment and technology of the future, along with colleagues from Cargotec and Cavotec (must not get them confused.)

Great hand gestures, Holger, I’d think, as Prof. Schuett paused to illustrate a point on terminal handshakes (not literally.) Sublime microphone work, Angelo. Very engaging eyebrows, man-whose-name-I-cannot-remember.

I can only hope that tomorrow, when my time in the Innovation Forum comes, everyone notices the expert-level of eye contact and head-nodding I use, and appreciates all the hard work I’ve put in.

• Come and join me at 11am in the Innovation Forum, where I’ll be joined by Ismo Matinlauri (Senior VP – Port Cranes, Cargotec) and Mike Howie (Product Manager – MoorMaster, Cavotec) to discuss future port development and technologies. See you there!