Ship Size Revolution Boosts Port Productivity

The top 25 port and terminal operators in each region around the globe all increased productivity in 2013, according to the latest data on port productivity provided by the Journal of Commerce (JOC).

The JOC database relates to specific data from individual terminals based on average moves per hour, counting in  ports that clocked up at least 100 calls during the year.

The latest database shows information supplied by 17 shipping companies from 150,000 calls during 2013.

In terms of productivity, the Asia pacific region proved to be more productive than Europe and the Americas once again, with 100 to 130 moves on average.

 Andrew Penfold, project director of Ocean Shipping Consultants (OSC), said that the productivity rise was driven by demand in part and increases in volumes over 2012 to 2013 which has increased the pressure on the terminals for improvement.

Penfold said that at “the heart of the matter driving productivity forward is the ship size revolution and rapid consignment increase.”

The major contribution to the productivity in Asia, as explained by Penfold, is due to the fact that terminals in this region have a better starting position.

“A new container terminal in Asia does not inherit all of the soft and hard constraints on optimising their facilities. They are starting with a clean sheet of paper and labour is also cheaper,”added Penfold.

However, the most productive was Korfakkan in the middle-east which achieved 179 moves per hour.

Abu Dhabi follows right after Korfakkan and Jebel Ali that achieved around 120 moves up from 80 moves per hour in 2012.

It is forecast that the  pressure on terminals will continue as shippers are expected to resume their orders for bigger ships. This will mean that the terminals will have to up their game or face the loses.

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Press Release, August 5, 2014; Image: JOC