Original news was published on 19 October, 2015

Dutch-based container terminal operator APM Terminals plans to turn its terminal at Costa Rica’s Port of Limón-Moin into a regional hub for perishable cargo carried in refrigerated containers (reefers).

APM Terminals Moin will allocate 60-70% of the terminal to refrigerated storage capacity for handling of the temperature controlled containers through which fresh fruit such as pineapple and bananas are now being transported to Costa Rica’s export markets in North America and Europe.

Costa Rica is currently the world’s largest exporter of pineapples, and the 3rd-largest exporter of bananas. Sugar, coffee and beef are also major export products. Much of the country’s exports of agricultural and meat products are temperature controlled; and are increasingly moving in reefers as opposed to being transported by dedicated refrigerated vessels.

Costa Rica’s Port of Limón-Moin ranked 13th in Latin America, and 4th in Central America with container volume of 1.09 million TEUs in 2014. Over the next 15 years, reefer container shipments from Costa Rica are projected to double from an estimated 300,000 TEUs to 600,000 TEUs. Pineapples and bananas alone at present account for a combined 13% of all Costa Rican exports.

“The future of temperature-controlled shipments is containers, and the larger containerships dedicated space to reefer cargoes. The advanced technology of APM Terminals Moin next-generation cranes will improve safety as well as efficiency, with improved environmental performance essential to handling these ships and attracting more business for Costa Rica in the port, and across the country,” said Kenneth Waugh, Managing Director of APM Terminals Costa Rica.

APM Terminals Moin recently concluded a contract for the delivery of six electric-powered STS cranes and 29 electric-powered Rubber Tire Gantry Cranes (eRTGs) which will make the 1.3 million TEU, deep water container terminal one of the most advanced in Latin America upon completion of Phase One in 2018.

Dredging is underway of the access channel and turning‐basin to be deepened to 16 meters. Other construction projects include the construction of a new 1.5 kilometer breakwater with a 40 hectare container yard, 600 meters of quay and 2 berths equipped with 6 post‐Panamax cranes.

Upon the completion of the project’s final phase, the facility will cover an area of 80 hectares, with 1,500 meters of quay, 5 berths, a 2.2 km breakwater and an access channel 18 meters deep, serving as a shipping hub for the Caribbean and Central America.

The opening of the expanded Panama Canal locks in 2016 will essentially triple the size of container vessels able to transit the canal to 12,500 TEU capacity, which current facilities at the Port of Limon are unable to handle. The current port, with a draft of 9 meters, is limited to vessels of 2,500 TEU capacity. Newer vessels on order for the Latin American trades include five 10,500 TEU vessels for German-based Hapag-Lloyd, each equipped to carry 2,100 reefer containers (4,200 TEUs).

*NEWS SOURCE

Original news was published on 14 October, 2015

Belgium’s port of Antwerp handled 156,515,552 tonnes of freight in the first nine months of this year, up 5.5% on the same period last year, which puts the port firmly in position to end 2015 with a record breaking total volume of 200 million tonnes.

The container volume rose during the first nine months by 8%, reaching 7,265,577 TEUs. In terms of tonnage, the volume came to 85,478,483 tonnes, up 5.4%.

The ro/ro volume for its part was up by 2.5% to 3,463,315 tonnes, although the number of cars handled was down by 9.7% to 825,312 vehicles. The conventional breakbulk volume in the meantime was down by 1.8%, with 7,301,018 tonnes handled by the end of the first nine months. The volume of iron and steel was up slightly by 2.4% to 4,983,794 tonnes. The decline in the breakbulk segment is due to the increasing containerisation of fruit and the consequent fall in conventional handling.

The liquid bulk volume rose during the past nine months by 7.9% to 49,791,570 tonnes.

By the end of the first nine months of 2015, the dry bulk volume had risen by 2.4% to 10,481,166 tonnes.

A total of 10,786 seagoing ships called at the port of Antwerp during the past nine months, 2.5% more than in the same period last year. The gross tonnage for its part rose by 7.7% to 271,015,177 GT.

*NEWS SOURCE

Dear Project Cargo Specialists,

Very Professional agents are going on to join Overseas Project Cargo Association from all around the world. Today we are very happy to announce you that MULTIMODAL SERVICES MODAL TRANS LTDA. has joined among us from BOLIVIA.

Let's welcome our new agent on board of Overseas Project Cargo Association !

MULTIMODAL SERVICES MODAL TRANS LTDA.
ADDRESS : Casa Matriz Radial 26 entre 4to y 5to Anillo # 4370 Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
CONTACTS : Eduardo Penaloza Tapia
Wilfredo Penaloza
Heidi Penaloza
TEL : 591-3 341 6159
FAX : 591-3 341 1867
WEB : www.multimodalservices.com

Please click here to see company profile of our new agent.

Original news was published on 14 October, 2015

The TrusDek is a two-part container that loads like a flatrack or open top container, with a one-piece lid that securely locks to the bottom deck, keeping cargo secure during transport and storage.

The container is specifically designed for the carriage of heavy, top- and side-loaded machinery and project cargo shipments that require more deck strength and thickness for the mounting of hardware, plumbing or electrical connections below the surface of the deck, explained CakeBoxx.

The TrusDek series uses CakeBoxx's new vertical locking system, which is comprised of tough, easily-operated twist locks that the company says make the lid easy to place and remove, while providing a high level of reliability and maintainability.

The locking system also allows the deck to be configured in two basic variations: a flat, open deck for maximum footprint and a recessed deck model that offers more vertical space, while providing a secure fit for rolling stock and heavy equipment.

As with all CakeBoxx models, the TrusDek container and lid can be used with standard container handling equipment and a wide variety of commercial lifting equipment.

CakeBoxx's TrusDek series containers are available in 20 ft, 40 ft and 45 ft lengths, half-height, hi-cube and as both standard dry cargo or insulated versions.

"The TrusDek series was developed in response to the needs of the top and side loaded project cargo market," said CakeBoxx ceo Daine Eisold. "We offer the strength and loading ease of the flatrack or open top design combined with the security of a completely enclosed and secure container.

"TrusDek will solve of a lot of problems in the project cargo and special applications world where cargo safety and operational efficiency are top priorities."

Original news was published on 11 October, 2015

GLOBALINK's projects division has successfully transported compressor equipment, weighing 15,000 tonnes, from the ports of Ilichevsk in Ukraine and Astrakhan in Russia to Almaty, Kazakhstan for a gas pipeline project.

This involved the handling of 350 truckloads of over-dimensional cargo, said the Globalink statement.

The over-sized shipment required non-standard special equipment for loading, unloading, and the haulage itself direct to the project site. At ports the equipment - the biggest piece being 4.5 metres high - was reloaded from vessels onto trucks with floating cranes and heavy duty trawls, reported American Journal of Transportation. 

The logistics provider required road permits and had to organise a military escort for the safe transportation of the cargo to its final destination, as well as customs clearance in Almaty.

*NEWS SOURCE

Original news was published on 08 October, 2015

Barnhart Crane and Rigging has signed an agreement with the Tulsa Port of Catoosa for crane services, while the port upgrades its current crane infrastructure.

Barnhart will position a high capacity crane at the port for a limited time. "The timing worked out really well," said Bob Portiss, port director, Tulsa Port of Catoosa. "Barnhart is handling the logistics for components that will be utilised as part of an upgrade to a power plant in eastern Oklahoma. Over a period of several months, those components will be barged up the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers to the Port of Catoosa, where they will be off-loaded by a Barnhart crane for overland transport to the plant.

"During that period, the crane will be available to our customers who require crane service while we are refurbishing our main dock and making upgrades to our existing overhead crane," said Portiss.

Barnhart, which has handled projects transiting the Port of Catoosa for more than 20 years, said it will position a Demag CC2600 at the port's Low Water Dock. The crane is mobile and can be relocated to other areas within the port when necessary.

"The crane will be in Superlift mode, which will allow us to lift components of up to 600 tonnes," said Bob Possel, Barnhart project manager. "We will be offloading a number of heavy components, including heat recovery steam generators, a steam turbine, steam generator, combustion turbine, combustion generator and several steam drums, all of which will be used to upgrade a power plant to a combined cycle. The largest component we are currently scheduled to lift is the combustion turbine, which weighs approximately 331 tonnes."

Jeff Latture, Barnhart senior vice president, added: "With a few days' notice, we should be able to accommodate lifts for other Port customers. This will allow the Port Authority to carry out its expansion work and upgrades without any loss of service for shippers who need heavy lift capabilities. Because the crane is mobile, it can be utilized to off-load barges at the Low Water Wharf Dock, load rail cars north of the Main Loading Dock or load over-the-road trucks almost anywhere within the Port."

*NEWS SOURCE

Original news was published on 07 October, 2015

Jurong Shipyard, a subsidiary of Sembcorp Marine, ordered two BOS 2600-35 EX LIT offshore cranes that will be equipped to the Libra field's Extended Well Test FPSO vessel.

The Libra oil field is a large, ultra-deepwater oil prospect located in the Santos Basin 230 km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. OOGTK Libra, a joint venture between Brazil's Odebrecht Oil & Gas and Teekay Offshore, awarded a contract to Jurong Shipyard for conversion of the Navion Norvegia shuttle tanker to form the Libra EWT FPSO.

Liebherr's role in the project is to design, manufacture and deliver the two offshore cranes; Liebherr's Singapore division will supervise the assembly and commissioning process.

The cranes are being fabricated at Liebherr's MCCtec Rostock facility in Germany. They are scheduled for final installation in the first quarter of 2016.

*NEWS SOURCE

Original news was published on 05 October, 2015

When global breakbulk, project cargo and heavy-lift shipping operator AAL announced it had selected British Columbia’s Port of Prince Rupert for a call on its Pacific Service it undoubtedly raised a few eyebrows; Prince Rupert is not known for its project cargo prowess.

But snaring AAL was no quick-win for Prince Rupert. Attracting this international operator was the result of a five-year planning and development journey, which began when Prince Rupert Port Authority set its Gateway 2020 vision back in 2010 and culminated in the completion of Ridley Island Project Cargo Facility this year.

Gateway 2020 was developed with a goal to deliver a “well-planned, integrated and diversified port” that would anchor the Prince Rupert Gateway as a North American hub for a variety of cargo streams. It identified specific development sites, identified appropriate general terminal uses, and attempted to mitigate the potential for conflicts between future terminal activities.

To kick-start project cargo volumes, Gateway 2020 highlighted the potential of the port’s Ripley Island. But to realize that potential the port authority needed to co-fund a road, rail and utility corridor to facilitate easy access to the hinterland and beyond.

Officially completed in May, that intermodal corridor project included an access road, rail loop, utilities, onshore terminal infrastructure and marine components. The first phase consisted of three inbound and two outbound tracks for coal, potash and other bulk terminal developments, two additional tracks that form a loop around the main part of Ridley Island and one new track that extends off the rail loop towards Ridley Terminals.

And there’s more to come: by completion the corridor will feature a two-lane access road running parallel to the rail loop, with an underpass and an overpass at opposite ends of the loop. Also planned for a later phase is a new 3.4 kilometer 69 kilovolt power line, owned by the port authority, to connect Ridley Island and proposed development sites to the existing power transmission system. At full build out, there will be 7,818 meters of rail loop with capacity for 14 inbound tracks and 11 outbound tracks.

Under the jurisdiction of the port authority, the Ridley Island industrial site is located some 8.5 kilometers from downtown Prince Rupert. It boasts a roll-on roll-off ramp, a 2.6 hectare laydown area, and commercial-only access to the Canadian National, or CN, rail network and the Trans-Canada Highway 16.

Michael J. Gurney, manager for corporate communications at Prince Rupert Port Authority, confirms that the investment in the Ridley Island Project Cargo Facility enabled the AAL service, which the port hopes will be the first of many project cargo services in the future.

“The Prince Rupert Port Authority, and the terminal operator (CT Terminals) have been working with shippers to provide insight into the attributes and advantages of Prince Rupert as a project cargo gateway,” Gurney said to Breakbulk. Gurney believed that accessible energy, mining and other resource sectors should be a draw for project/breakbulk/heavy-lift operators considering Prince Rupert.

“Prince Rupert’s proximity to fabrication centers in Asia and large BC and Alberta energy, mining and resource projects provides a cost, distance and reliability advantage over traditional project cargo gateways in North America. We do expect to attract more project cargo volume due to our strategic location,” he said.

While Gurney is reluctant to be tied down to a projection for project cargo, breakbulk and heavy-lift volumes, the port does expect to see growth in the short to medium term. With its newly established road and rail links it has already emerged as an important new gateway for project cargo imports to the oil-rich mining area of Alberta, Canada, and the wider Pacific Northwest.

AAL is particularly excited by this access to oil and gas fields, citing that as a key selling point in its choice of Prince Rupert. Felix Schoeller, general manager of the company’s Pacific Service, said to Breakbulk: “The Port of Prince Rupert, with its newly established road and rail links, has emerged as an important new gateway for project cargo imports to the oil-rich mining area of Alberta and the wider Pacific Northwest. There is a lot of container activity in addition to shipments for the oil and gas industry and a burgeoning wind energy sector in the region.”

He continued: “AAL has extensive experience in serving the oil and gas, mining and energy sectors, for which British Columbia is a key market. Customers in these sectors rely upon us to provide the reliability and cargo security that they require within their supply chains and, at a time when cost pressures are leading some carriers to compromise on safety, we see cargo safety as our first priority.”

AAL’s inaugural sailing from Prince Rupert’s Ridley Island ro-ro cargo terminal was made in May by the 31,000-deadweight-ton AAL Brisbane, with a cargo of process units for a major new oil sands project in Alberta.

AAL has further scheduled calls to make at Prince Rupert to complete an important ongoing project. While Prince Rupert is not a permanent feature of its monthly Pacific Service, AAL has retained the flexibility to resume calls there based on future customer demand, whether on a scheduled or project-by-project basis and with whatever frequency is required.

Said Schoeller: “By expanding our Pacific Service and port network across the Pacific Northwest – with both popular and more remote ports – we multiply our customers’ options and choice, ultimately impacting on the efficiency, delivery and overall competitiveness of their projects. In the region of British Columbia and Alberta, there is significant potential to expand our network.”

AAL’s melting pot of tramp, projects and liner services on a global basis has allowed it the flexibility to include a Prince Rupert option, which can be offered through its liner services or on a project-by-project basis through its tramp and projects division.

Looking ahead, the shipping operator believes that Prince Rupert is well-positioned to snare additional project cargoes in the future, given the increased rate of infrastructure development in the region. AAL goes so far as to describe the port as a convenient port of loading or discharge for any cargo that might need to be transported into Central Canada.

“As the shipping time is much shorter than going through Houston, there are significant cost and efficiency savings to be made,” said Schoeller. “The frequency of cargo operations to Prince Rupert will always be dictated by customer demand, and we have the flexibility and the relationships with local partners in Prince Rupert to respond positively to whatever our customers require.”

*NEWS SOURCE

Original news was published on 02 October, 2015

Dutch port operator APM Terminals, part of Maersk Group, has taken delivery of the first three of the world’s largest Ship-to-Shore (STS) container cranes and two rail mounted cranes for the Lázaro Cárdenas Terminal Especializada de Contenedores II (TEC2), now in the final stages of construction at the Port of Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico.

This 1.2 million annual TEU capacity, semi-automated deep-water facility on Mexico’s Pacific Coast is scheduled to begin operations in 2016.

APM Terminals signed a 32-year concession for the design, construction and operation of the Lazaro Cardenas TEC2 facility, representing an overall investment of USD 900 million.

Phase I will include a total of seven STS cranes which feature a 24-container row reach, along with 750 meters of quay, able to accommodate the largest container vessels, a fully-automated gate as well as an on-dock intermodal rail facility, the largest of its kind in any Latin American port.

“Lázaro Cárdenas TEC2 will be the most technologically advanced container terminal in Latin America, and we are very proud to be a part of Mexico’s ongoing growth as a major world trading partner and global logistics hub,” said APM Terminals Mexico’s Managing Director J.D. Nielsen.

The Government of Mexico has announced plans to double port capacity over the next six years.

While in Mexico, Maersk Group CEO Nils Smedegaard Andersen confirmed APM Terminals’ interest in expanding operations into the Port of Veracruz as part of a future public bid, eventually linking the Pacific and Gulf Coast operations through intermodal rail links intersecting near Mexico City, at APM Terminals’ Cuautitlán Izcalli intermodal facility, located near 250 distribution centers in Mexico’s premier industrial zone.

“Mexico is an essential part of the growth strategy of the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network in Latin America, and around the world,” said Nielsen.

*NEWS SOURCE

Original news was published on 29 September, 2015

Effective Oct. 1, Mitsubishi Heavy Industrie (MHI) has appointed Senior Vice President Yoshihiro Shiraiwa to serve as president of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries France, a wholly owned subsidiary based in Paris, marking the start of a new structure for MHI's operations. Simultaneously Shiraiwa will take up the newly established post of Chief Regional Officer, Europe, Middle East and Africa with the aim of strengthening MHI's structure for promoting business in those regions.

This enhancement of MHI's business structure is being pursued for two overarching reasons: an expansion of MHI's business in continental Europe, and the presence of numerous leading business partners in France.

Paris-based MHIF functions as the nucleus of MHI's group-related business promotion throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Its business support duties include proposal and execution of business strategies, sales support, and coordination between MHI's group companies within those regions. It also conducts the MHI Group's various businesses such as nuclear power. Going forward MHIF is expected to mark further expansion in its business scope.

The Chief Regional Officer, Europe, Middle East and Africa determines how operations in those regions should be managed. Specifically, the Chief Regional Officer's duties include proposing regional strategies, taking steps to strengthen relationships with the government institutions and important customers in each country, and promoting enhanced sales strength through groupwide business tie-ups.

Going forward the MHI Group intends to continue strengthening its presence in the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions and to vigorously pursue development of new markets.

*NEWS SOURCE