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Preparation for Growth

Ports upgrade for 2025


Economic recovery has aggravated bottle - necks in freight ports, and in some cases there are waiting times at the port entrance.

In many places port operators scaled back their expansion plans as a result of the crisis years, but now they are reactivating them. The focus of the measures is on increasing efficiency, expanding and modernising port facilities and equipment, as well as optimising the hinterland through better connections between ports and traffic networks. Furthermore, port operators are investing in new concepts for power supply in ports in order to meet the growing environmental policy requirements.

The long-term forecasts for maritime traffic up to 2025 look good: experts reckon with a doubling of the cargo handling vol ume as well as a tripling of container traffic. The British analysts at Drewry assume that the infrastructure in numerous ports will be overloaded by around 2015 as a consequence of this. Drewry expects a rise in the global container handling volume of 245 million TEU, to 718 million TEU by 2015. However, they estimate an increase in the cargo handling capacity of only around 20 percent or 143 million TEU in the same period.

India expanding
In view of the obsolete infrastructure in some cases, there are currently substantial delays at port entrances as well as in the lay and clearance times. The cargo handling volume recently climbed significantly, by 15 percent or around 850 million tons. The government is pushing forward expansion of ports. This year another 25 port projects are to be contracted out. Currently 15 projects are in the process of implementation at nine of the 12 major Indian ports. Besides expansion of existing port structures, there are 24 projects that involve the construction of new facilities in various stages of completion.

South Africa – the hub
The Cape country wants to gain additional shares in container transhipment. At present its share of the transhipment of maritime cargo from large deep-sea vessels to smaller short-sea ships is only 13 percent. For this purpose the port of Ngqura, located near Port Elizabeth and opened in 2009, will again be significantly expanded in order to increase the cargo handling capacity from 800,000 to 1.2 million TEU. Ngqura, a hub for the second biggest shipping line, MSC, and the Japanese Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, will also become a hub for traffic between East Asia and Africa. By dividing traffic into a main run between Asia and South Africa, and a feeder service from Ngqura to West Africa, it is at least possible to handle the large vessels more punctually. The container port of Cape Town will be upgraded by adding a new gantry crane system for the rising cargo volume by 2012. Further expansion investments are planned.

New deepwater port for Northern range
Large ships will be the basis of the new JadeWeserPort near Wilhemshaven. The deepwater port on the North Sea coast is scheduled to launch operation in mid- 2012 and will handle giant container vessels along the first 1,000 metres of the quay. Completion of the rail connection to the hinterland is also scheduled by that time. There is a threat of additional competition for the ports of Hamburg and Rostock from the Polish Baltic Sea ports, which want to invest around 600 million euros by 2015 in order to deepen their shipping channels and modernise port infrastructure. New container terminals have been built in Gdansk and Gdynia in the last few years, another is under construction in Szczecin. The inadequate traffic link between the Polish ports and the hinterland means Hamburg and Rostock still have a competitive edge, however.

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