ABB has presented its view on the future of the container handling industry in a PTI interview featuring Uno Bryfors, the Senior Vice President of the ABB’s Ports unit, a leading supplier of automation and electrical systems for container terminals.
In the first part of ‘Eye on the Industry’, Bryfors has explained what the future will hold for terminal operators after the major container shipping sector developments of 2017.
Bryfors has labelled this period as “the year of change” due to actions of major container shipping companies, which consolidated to create efficiencies after suffering from years of losses due to overcapacity.
In a previous PTI video interview with Bryfors in 2014, he forecasted that the number of ship calls at ports would fall due to investment in larger vessels that can carry more containers.
Since then, ports across the globe, especially in the US, have had to invest heavily in improving infrastructure for bigger ships.
In his latest interview, Bryfors emphasizes that terminal operators are focusing on optimizing their facilities rather than starting new greenfield projects as the industry is now in “the age of expansion and re-equipment”.
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During Eye on the Industry, filmed at the London Eye in London, UK, Bryfors said: “We are now in the mega-age.
“We are talking about mega-container lines, -alliances, -ships, -ports, -terminals and cranes. The main mega driver is containerships. They are now getting very big relative to most trades.”
Bryfors is one of the most experienced professionals in the ports industry today.
During his career of more than three decades at ABB, he has been driving the development of automation solutions for cargo handling.
