Port Technology International – The key resource for the ports and terminals industry

The Terminal Handling section provides a comprehensive posting of all the latest container handling, terminal logistics, and dry bulk, liquid bulk and specialist handling related news. Have news to submit? Email the Editor.

Felixstowe South development receives latest two STS cranes Sep 01, 2010

The Port of Felixstowe has taken delivery of the latest 2 ship-to-shore cranes for its Felixstowe South development. Read more...

Rental company orders eight Kalmar reachstackers for operations at Port of Antwerp Sep 01, 2010

Belgium-based equipment rental company Cuypers Vorkliften N.V. has awarded Cargotec an order for six Kalmar DRF450-60S5M reachstackers to lease to customers operating at the Port of Antwerp. Read more...

Martin Engineering laying strong Foundations in conveyor training Sep 01, 2010 Martin Engineering has expanded its Foundations™ Training Program on the design and development of more productive belt conveyors to offer three customizable seminars to increase understanding of conveyor safety and performance, help justify upgrade investments and increase profitability. Read more...

Handheld Group receives ISO certification Aug 31, 2010 The Handheld Group, global supplier of rugged mobile computers, has obtained ISO certifications 9001 and 14001 for Quality and Environmental Management. Read more...

Mexico orders 50 new Kalmar terminal tractors Aug 27, 2010

Idealease, a North American-based truck and equipment lease and rental services business, has placed an order for 50 Kalmar Ottawa 4x2 terminal tractors from Cargotec. The units will be leased to a customer operating at the ports of Lázaro Cárdenas and Manzanillo, located on Mexico's Pacific Coast. Delivery of the new machines will begin in November 2010. Read more...

Neuss Trimodal orders four new Kalmar reachstackers from Cargotec Aug 24, 2010

Neuss Trimodal GmbH has placed an order for four new Kalmar reachstackers from Cargotec. The intermodal operator, located on the banks of the Rhein River at Germany's Neuss Düsseldorfer Häfen, has opted for two Kalmar DRF400-60C5 and two Kalmar DFR450-60S5 reachstackers. Read more...

Company profile: Introducing Seward Wyon Aug 24, 2010

Specialist port and marine engineering company Seward Wyon was formed in 1981 and has been supplying first class engineering support and services to ports and industry for nearly 30 years. The company employ a team of highly experienced engineering designers with a wealth of crane knowledge. Read more...

Promoting harbor export logistics with true efficiency: the Terex Fuchs MHL365 Aug 03, 2010

Those in the harbor logistics sector today need modern equipment to succeed against tough competition. Dutch recycling specialist Van Dalen Metals Recycling depends on the high harbor operations capacity of the MHL365 from Terex® Fuchs for the million metric tons of steel scrap exported to European and East Asian countries each year from its 17 steel recycling centers. Read more...

Bristol Harbor Group provides barge design and construction oversight for New York Power Authority Jul 26, 2010

Bristol Harbor Group, Inc. (BHGI), has reached the final design phase for an 80-foot pedestal crane barge design for the New York Power Authority, (NYPA). Read more...

Restructuring at the Port of Cape Town helps clear industrial action backlogs at terminals Jul 26, 2010

South African port operator Transnet Port Terminal (TPT) has credited the recent merger of its Cape Town container and multipurpose terminals, and the restructuring of its planning and operations structures in the Western Province, for an increase in productivity and performance in the Cape Town Terminal since the end of June. The changes have assisted in recovery plans after the three week industrial action in May of this year, which affected operations in ports across the country. Read more...

Briggs Equipment to provide Port of Liverpool with key maintenance and engineering services Jul 26, 2010

Peel Ports has appointed Briggs Equipment UK to undertake the engineering maintenance of its operational plant and equipment at the Port of Liverpool, in an aim to prevent equipment uptime and carry out preventative maintenance to port machinery. Read more...

Russian stevedore expands with an order for Kalmar RTGs and terminal tractors Jul 20, 2010

Baltic Stevedoring Company (BSC) has contracted Cargotec to supply six Kalmar E-One2 rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) cranes and 10 Kalmar TR618i terminal tractors to its facility at the Port of Baltiysk, Kaliningrad, Russia. Read more...

Konecranes to supply RTG cranes to Indonesian port Jul 19, 2010 Konecranes has announced it has received an order for five rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) cranes from the Indonesian state-owned terminal operator PT. Pelabuhan Indonesia I (Pelindo 1). Read more...

Four post-Panamax quay cranes delivered to Vallarpadam, India Jul 19, 2010 Four state-of-the-art giant gantry cranes have been delivered to India’s first dedicated international container transhipment terminal (ICTT) at Vallarpadam. Read more...

Shanghai may overtake Singapore as world's busiest port Jul 15, 2010

This year could be the year that Shanghai overtakes Singapore to become the world's busiest container port, after a boost in global trade. Read more...

Kuenz to supply another three intermodal container cranes to German port Jul 07, 2010

Kuenz has announced it is to deliver another three cranes to Kombi-Terminal Ludwigshafen, Germany, by 2011, as well as Kuenz spreaders during the terminal's continued expansion. Read more...

First Terex CC 2800-1 NT crawler crane delivered to IMPSA Wind, Brazil Jul 02, 2010

The first Terex® CC 2800-1 NT Crawler Crane to be delivered to Brazil was recently handed over to José Eduardo Teixeira de Carvalho Filho, Director of Operations, IMPSA Wind. Read more...

DP World Antwerp commissions its first Liebherr Portal Slewing Crane Jun 30, 2010

In March 2010 DP World Antwerp officially commissioned its first Liebherr Mobile Harbour Crane on a portal (LPS 500) for service. Read more...

Portunus complete STS crane upgrade for PSA Mersin Jun 29, 2010

Turkish company Portunus Port Spares & Services has completed a project to upgrade and retrofit three STS gantry cranes at the Port of Mersin, Turkey. Read more...

Second mobile harbour container crane delivered to Port Manatee Jun 28, 2010 Port Manatee's second mobile harbor container crane arrived today from Gottwald Port Technology’s factory in Germany. Read more...

New Bromma GREENLINE and STS45 spreaders for Korea and Vietnam Jun 28, 2010 Bromma, the world’s leading crane spreader company, has been awarded a new all-electric GREENLINE™ spreader contract for Saigon Newport, Vietnam, as well as a new STS twin-lift spreader contract for delivery to Hyundai Development Company, Korea. Read more...

Greek LNG monopoly considers building new floating LNG terminal Jun 23, 2010 Greek LNG company DEPA is considering building a floating LNG terminal in northern Greece to boost its export capacity to southeast Europe. Read more...

Company profile: Introducing RHC Heavy Machinery (Asia) Ltd. Jun 20, 2010

RHC Heavy Machinery (Asia) Ltd. consists of a team of dedicated foreign and Chinese engineering and commercial professionals, with over 200 years experience in heavy duty machinery and working with international companies. Read more...

Archean Group buys Gottwald floating crane for coal handling on the open sea Jun 16, 2010

Gottwald Port Technology GmbH has signed a deal to supply the Archean Group with a G HPK 8200 B Floating Crane, a variant of Model 8 of Generation 5, derived from Mobile Harbour Crane technology. Read more...

New ship-to-shore crane delivery for South Felixstowe development Jun 16, 2010

The first three ship-to-shore gantry cranes have been delivered to the Port of Felixstowe’s new Felixstowe South development. Read more...

Cavotec wins port equipment order for Dalian Huarui Heavy Industry, China Jun 15, 2010 Maritime systems integrator Cavotec MSL is to supply high-voltage cable reel units and associated control reels to Chinese engineering group Dalian Huarui Heavy Industry, as part of an extension project at the Caofeidian Island Coal Terminal, located on China’s east coast. Read more...

New Linkspan for Portsmouth Commercial Port Jun 01, 2010 Managers have just installed a new Linkspan on number two berthat Portsmouth Commercial Port. Read more...

New additions to Hyster's range of ReachStackers for six-high container stacking May 26, 2010

Hyster Europe has announced a series of developments on its ReachStacker range of container handling equipment, including a six-high stacking option for higher density container stacking. Read more...

State of emergency declared at Port Callao, Peru May 26, 2010 A 60-day emergency has been declared by the Peruvian Government in an attempt to end a dock strike at the country’s largest port, Callao. Read more...

ACE Winches opens officially opens Norway base May 20, 2010 Hydraulic winch manufacturer ACE Winches has formally created ACE Winches Norge AS, a new company in Norway. Read more...

Bedeschi supplies new dry bulk handling equipment to Greek plant May 19, 2010

CTP Team, part of the Bedeschi Group, commissioned a new bag filter for kiln/raw mill exhaust gas dedusting at Aspropyrgos plant, Greece, owned by the Halyps-Italcementi Group. Read more...

Two new Gottwald HMK 260 EG Cranes for bulk handling in Brazil May 07, 2010

Gottwald Port Technology GmbH has sold two 4-rope grab Mobile Harbour Cranes for professional bulk handling to Brazil. Read more...

Volkmann introduces the "No-Tip Unloader" Vacuum Conveyor for dry bulk handling Apr 29, 2010 The new "No-Tip Unloader" vacuum conveyor has been launched by Volkmann, a market leader in vacuum conveying, which has been developed to eliminate the material flow issues involved when transferring powders, granules, pellets, capsules, tablets and other bulk materials through conventional unloading methods requiring tipping of the raw material drum, bin or IBC. Read more...

$40 million in automation orders for ABB Cranes Apr 29, 2010

Power and automation technology group ABB has won orders worth a total of $40 million from Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co. Ltd (ZPMC) to supply crane automation and electrical systems for three projects across the globe. Read more...

Custom-engineered transfer chutes improve conveyor loading and reduce blockages Apr 23, 2010

Martin Engineering, a supplier of bulk materials handling equipment, has introduced custom-engineered transfer chutes, enabling material to be controlled from the time it leaves the conveyor discharge pulley until it reaches the receiving belt. Read more...

Manitowoc launches world's most powerful six-axle crane Apr 23, 2010

The GMK6400 from Manitowoc, which launches at bauma 2010, is the world’s most powerful six-axle all-terrain crane. The crane has a 400 t maximum capacity. Read more...

Bromma expands spreader safety products portfolio with new load sensing technology Apr 19, 2010 Bromma, a leading crane spreader company, has expanded its spreader safety products portfolio with a new load sensing system for the spreader twistlocks. Read more...

UK ports benefit as European air travel shuts down Apr 19, 2010

Ports in the UK are to capitalise on the sudden influx of sea-borne passengers, after air travel shut down across Europe, due to volcanic ash from Icelend. Read more...

Port of Rotterdam posts strong recovery in first quarter Apr 16, 2010

Throughput at the Port of Rotterdam saw a sharp increase during the first quarter this year. Read more...

China ports boom fuelled by increase in coal and iron imports Apr 16, 2010

China's major ports have reported an increase of more than 20% in cargo volumes in Q1 this year, thanks to a boost in coal and iron imports and the recovery in international trade. Read more...

Featured articles

Efficiency of multi-trailer systems for ship to stacks container transportation Jul 27, 2010

A multi-trailer system (MTS) allows transportation of a larger number of containers as opposed to the traditional single trailer systems. Therefore terminal and port operators consider the MTS as one of the options for increasing efficiency. Read more...

Performance measurement and benchmarking for dry bulk terminals Jul 12, 2010

Coal handling at the Port of Seward looks set to improve after ship loader conveyor upgrade Jun 15, 2010

The Port of Seward has completed a conveyor system upgrade for its coal handling operations that has increased throughput by an estimated 20%, allowing Alaska’s largest coal producer to better compete for international customers. Read more...

A study for optimisation of double cycling in container ports May 21, 2010

In a rapidly changing marine environment, worldwide container terminals are concentrating on improvement in productivity to reinforce marketing power and to obtain competitive power. In modern terminals, equipment, and facilities, productivity is rapidly developing. Specifically, productivity is progressing with a great deal of investment focused on improving equipment functionality and infrastructure. Read more...

Avoiding being crushed in "elephant land": Innovative lasers detect obstructions Apr 22, 2010

It’s a problem worldwide. Ships getting bashed by container cranes; straddle carriers nearly losing their cabs as they stray into the path of a crane spreader; not to mention the damage to containers as a misaligned spreader bounces off its side. Read more...

Achieving the diamond standard: Conveying challenges with Dos Santos Apr 07, 2010

Fifteen years ago, "going green" wasn't quite the popular phrase that it is today. However, that is when Joseph Dos Santos, President of Dos Santos International was presented with a challenge to go green like no other. The challenge was to use the least amount of space possible to process and separate one of Earth’s greatest treasure - diamonds. Canada's first completely underground diamond mine, Snap Lake was the motivation for the DSI Snake Sandwich Belt Conveyors in the Northwest Territories. Read more...

New developments in continuous ship unloading Mar 02, 2010

The Garant Feed Mills group, who since 1999, have had extensive experience working with a Flexiport unloader at their mill in Pöchlarn, Austria, on the Danube River, decided to install the same unloader type at another of their mills; in Aschach, Austria. The new Flexiport, which has been incorporated with the latest technical developments, was delivered to Aschach, also on the Danube, and installed at the beginning of 2005 (see Figure 1). Read more...

Achieving maximum productivity with older cranes Feb 26, 2010

As ports face the continued push to reduce port of call mooring time, an overall productivity improvement may be necessary to remain competitive in the container shipping industry. Read more...

The World’s first LNG onboard regasification port Feb 09, 2010

February 20th 2007 saw the first ever flows of natural gas from a liquefied natural gas (LNG) ship directly into the onshore natural gas grid – the culmination of a remarkable 12 month project to create the fastest and lowest cost LNG importation facility in the world. Read more...

Investing in the future: tackling the economic slowdown Jan 22, 2010

Effective storage tank management programme Dec 16, 2009

Companies that store bulk liquids in aboveground storage tanks face the challenge of developing and maintaining a tank management programme. An effective tank management programme is necessary to ensure that tanks operate safely and are inspected and maintained on a regular basis in a cost-effective manner. Read more...

Dry bulk terminal expansion or redesign? Dec 10, 2009

Due to the high demand for energy and mineral resources many dry bulk terminals around the world are expanding and seriously increasing their capacity. One approach to expansion can simply be copying the existing facilities until the required capacity is reached. In this way however the terminal does not only lose the opportunity to utilise the developments made over the last decades on terminal design, it will also end up with a costly operation. In addition it may not be able to reach the environmental restrictions imposed on terminal operations nearby environmentally sensitive areas. Read more...

Prolonging the life of your crane and your bank account Dec 08, 2009

The speed and subsequent depth witnessed in the current economic slowdown has clearly presented the port industry with a wholly different range of decisions to ponder whilst formulating Capital expenditure budgets for 2010, and perhaps beyond. There has, as a result, been a marked shift from the purchase of new capital-intensive items such as cranes to meet growing volumes and replace aging equipment, by projects more akin with conserving cash. Read more...

Automation – a case for the future Nov 30, 2009

While the demand for designs of container terminals with part automation has increased significantly, some within the industry remain sceptical about the future of full automation. Despite the progress with system designs there is certainly a reluctance to commit to full automation and the use of automated Horizontal Transfer Equipment (HTE) – either AGVs or Automated Shuttle Carriers. Read more...

Fast tracking fuel supply in Chile Nov 24, 2009

Chile has a dependence on imported natural gas, which supplies a large proportion of their electricity generation. At present, gas imports are predominantly via pipeline from Argentina. However, in 2004 Argentina decided to reduce its gas exports to Chile, forcing a dependence on more expensive fuel oil to make up the difference whilst an increased hydroelectric capacity is developed. Read more...

New bulk loaders for Bayóvar (Peru) and Port of Marseille Nov 18, 2009

TAIM WESER, a Spanish company that specialises in latestgeneration bulk handling equipment and solutions, was recently awarded the contract to install conveyor belts and a ship loader for phosphate, with 3,500 t/h capacity, for the Bayóvar Port Terminal in Peru. Read more...

Port of Helsinki, Vuosaari Harbour Center: Automatic Gate System Nov 16, 2009

Visy Oy was selected as the gate technology provider for the Port of Helsinki, Vuosaari Harbour project – a massive undertaking which involved moving and combining two commercial port areas from the center of Helsinki to a new, single, location east of the city. Read more...

Is yard automation getting easier? Nov 13, 2009

ABB, formerly ASEA, has been actively supplying cranes and related equipment for over 100 years and has delivered electrical and automation equipment to more than 1,200 cranes of all types and in all parts of the world. ABB has and will supply automation and electrical equipment to a number of demanding automation projects, such as CTA, Hamburg, Euromax/Rotterdam, Hanjin and PNC in Korea and Kaohsiung and TPCT in Taiwan. Read more...

Container handling alternatives: the benefits of sidelifters Nov 03, 2009

There has been much discussion about the place in the industry for sidelifters. Why have sidelifters seen huge success and are in extensive use in some regions whilst still not even heard of elsewhere? Apart from the obvious benefits of the sidelifter service to shippers, packing containers safely at ground level, there are also many benefits to be had by container terminal operators. Traditional container handling equipment such as reach stackers, forklifts, straddle carriers, etc, can be expensive. There are purchase, setup, operational and maintenance costs. Read more...

Workarounds: just say no! Oct 30, 2009

Marine terminal operators have been searching for accurate Position Detection Systems (PDS) for about a decade and, while several types of solutions have been deployed (RFID/RTLS and DGPS at the top of the list), few, if any, have truly delivered the throughput gains, cost reductions, and process forensics operators expected. Read more...

Latest technology in cargo handling attachments Oct 28, 2009

Stevenel, based in Tampere, Finland is an engineering company who have, for the last 10 years, been designing and manufacturing attachments for general cargo for ports and industrial terminals. All of their products include CE-marking, thus, EU-directives are the basis for their engineering. Stevenel design and manufacture attachments solely for general cargo focussing on break bulk cargo. Read more...

New paradigm on the lashing process in container ports Oct 27, 2009

Currently, we are living in a rapidly changing and developing world in connection with port operations. In particular, port equipment is improving so rapidly, we need to redefine even the concept of container ports themselves. This technical progress is the primary concern of the container terminal operators. Read more...

Chemical storage tank systems: good practice guide - Operation, inspection and maintenance: Part 2 Oct 26, 2009 Cleaning of chemical storage systems can be a hazardous activity, and is important for the long life of a system. Some good practice guidance on cleaning of systems is given below: • Depending on the nature and scale of cleaning, specialist contractors may be required. This is particularly true for inside tanks which are classed as confined spaces, thus special training and apparatus are required. • Specialist cleaning machinery is available for certain cleaning tasks such as machines for lowering into tanks and wall climbers. Read more...

Port of Göteborg gets results with new staff and equipment planning system Oct 21, 2009

The complexities in balancing the productivity of a terminal operation, in relation to the level of service required by its customers and the cost efficiencies required to stay competitive, demand a high level of decision support. Borrowing some capability from the airline and rail planning businesses can turn out to be a strong move. Read more...

Calling for more stringent crane ‘tie-down’ procedures Oct 20, 2009

With damaging hurricanes in the Atlantic, typhoons and cyclones in the Pacific, monsoons in the Indian, and random windstorms occuring anywhere, port equipment, premises and liability insurer, TT Club is strongly recommending that terminal operators urgently review their terminal emergency plans for dealing with high winds and in particular crane tie-down procedures. Read more...

Clearer outlook with vapour recovery Oct 15, 2009

Increased measures to reduce volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions during the loading operations for crude oil, both offshore and onshore, are being required by the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority (SFT) and international environmental agreements. Read more...

Continuous bulk material loading for all types of vessels Oct 13, 2009

Recently, bulk material handling company Bedeschi was asked by Coeclerici Logistics, Italy to install some of its coal industry applications, in particular those applicable to coal conveying systems, to a plant in India. Bedeschi has been commissioned to provide: Read more...

Optimising container terminals using simulation and emulation methodology: Part 2 Oct 12, 2009

A system working on the lowest level of detail does not consider the operation system the terminal uses. The capacity of a container terminal is limited by the capacity of the container stacking area and the quay. The latter is limited by its length and by the capacity of the ship-to-shore cranes available. The aim of such a system is to surmise the current point at which the terminal bottlenecks. Read more...

Investing in the future: tackling the economic slowdown Sep 04, 2009

The economic slowdown has undoubtedly offered a big challenge to the shipping industry, but those who have the foresight to plan ahead will be better prepared for when the industry does make a recovery. This year is a time for re-evaluating and transforming the industry in which we work. In my opinion, it is essential for companies to be forward thinking in order to survive this tough time and come out on the other side stronger. Read more...

Crane drive and control systems: Part 2 Sep 01, 2009

The container transpor tation industr y has witnessed a remarkable growth over the last decade. Control system wise, the programmable logic controller (PLC) was the preferred solution for motion control and general interlocking. As technology evolved over the years, so have the cranes, which are now bigger, faster and more complex electrically. Read more...

Common quay crane modifications Aug 26, 2009

Crane modifications are often required to service larger vessels, increase productivity, allow for a different terminal operation, or reduce maintenance costs. Modifying existing cranes is quicker and often a more economical alternative than purchasing new cranes. Modifications to the crane’s geometry allow an existing crane to service larger vessels. The most common geometry modifications are increasing the lift height or increasing the outreach, backreach, or both. Read more...

Offshore transshipment terminals: a valid alternative to port infrastructure Aug 20, 2009

In the present world economic scenario, characterised by high uncertainty and market instability, the port sector is holding back expansion plans. These projects provide for huge investments, which are necessary for upgrading and building the new facilities required to accommodate the ocean going vessels trading worldwide, whose cargo carrying capacity has augmented to minimise the ocean freight impact. Read more...

Optimising container terminals using simulation and emulation methodology: Part 1 Aug 19, 2009

Over the last 50 years simulation technology has found its way from technical applications to logistics. Due to the demands of high productivity and automation, as well as increasing vessel sizes, special computer systems for simulation and emulation have been developed for container terminals. Read more...

Effective operations in ports Aug 18, 2009

“Global logistics chain suffers port bottlenecks”, “Seaports struggling with increase in container vessel sizes”, “Citizen complaints over port neighbourhoods”...The above list of newspaper headlines could be prolonged endlessly, highlighting that obviously seaports have some technical and organisation problems to deal with. Read more...

Research and development of automatic bulk cargo equipment in modern ports: Part 2 Aug 11, 2009

Part 1 introduced bulk grab ship unloaders and automatic and fully automatic bulk loading bucket wheel stacker-reclaimers, jointly developed by Shanghai Port, Shanghai Port Machinery Plant, ABB (China) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Read more...

No growth? Squeeze the lemon! Aug 10, 2009

It appears that everything is coming to a standstill due to the economic panic all around. The reality of the here and now is a drop in container handling volume to levels of 2006/2007. Most terminals will end 2008 still at par with 2007 as the first nine months showed steady growth. Read more...

Euromax: a new standard in container handling Aug 07, 2009

The Euromax Terminal is situated at the north-westerly corner of the Maasvlakte, just around the corner from the entrance to the Rotterdam port. From the North Sea, container vessels can be moored at the new container terminal in no time at all and shipping traffic is not hampered by any restrictions whatsoever. Read more...

Flexible material handling solutions Jul 30, 2009

With two port sites in Terneuzen and Vlissingen near the Belgian border, the Dutch port operator Ovet B.V. is an important regional player in bulk materials handling. Two quays with a combined length of 2,400 metres are available, and four floating cranes and a mobile quay crane provide a total handling capacity of some 5,000 tonnes per hour. Read more...

Integrated check-in and security system goes over above ISPS code compliance Jul 29, 2009

The International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code makes the adoption of security and monitoring systems mandatory for both accessing ports and transiting through boarding areas. Read more...

Modern interface between the TOS and the Crane Control System Jul 28, 2009

A modern container terminal needs an interface between the Terminal Operating System (TOS) and the crane control system onboard the cranes. If the terminal includes fully automatic cranes, it is an absolute necessity to be able to send work orders directly from the TOS to the cranes. Read more...