Around 20 of the largest ports in Asia and Europe are seeing a decline in berth productivity, which is said to be caused for reasons other than the new era of big ships, according to The Loadstar.
Andy Lane of CTI Consultancy said: “As the size of the call is a major determinant of crane intensity, we might expect berth productivity to fall if the average call size decreases. What we observe, however, is that berth productivity has fallen further than call size. So whichever way you choose to measure it, productivity is in decline.”
Feature: What Makes a Productive Port or Terminal?
PTI previously reported that China held the top five spots for berth productivity, despite the workload for vessels having risen by 709% since 1975.
Back in 2011, Elvind Kolding, the then CEO of Maersk Line called for ports to be able to shift 6,000 containers in 24 hours.
Technical Paper: Automated Terminals: The Productivity Quantum Leap
However, Drewry argue that innovation is required if ports are to have the capability to handle the surge in mega-ship sizes and calls, as well higher crane moves.
Despite reports that productivity is declining in spite of larger ships, one way to boost profits at ports could be through increased cooperation.
Methods such as data sharing and vessel-stowage planning are options available to ports and terminals to mitigate the pressure of handling increasing loads.
