The future of cargo transportation is in the updated ports of China and the USA
There is no point in arguing about the relevance of mega container ships and the role they play in the present and future of the shipping industry. Carriers are certainly seeing that there is demand for super-volume containerized freight, and they also recognize the need for ports to adapt in order for the market to cope with the growing demand. The birth and strengthening of a new trend is evidenced by the large-scale work being carried out in many ports of the world, which will enable fleets of giant cargo ships to freely enter the berths.
Megaships are recognized by experts as a promising solution for growing demand, as they can deliver containers in large quantities and at a much lower cost per container. Well-known manufacturers are already fulfilling orders for the production of giant container ships, including nine CMA CGM vessels (22,000 TEU) and eleven MSC vessels (23,000 TEU).
With the advent of the era of mega-container ships, ports and terminals will feel the direct impact of the introduction of a large number of such ships like no other. There are fears that this trend may decide the fate of many ports in the coming years.
There are now a limited number of deep water ports that can accommodate such ships, which means that carriers will need to coordinate routes and schedules with this in mind. This will allow those ports that can receive mega-container ships to become the most important hubs, from which cargo will subsequently be transported via auxiliary lines to smaller ports.
For example, Singapore has long been considered one of the best and largest maritime hubs in the world, although of the volumes it handles, only relatively small volumes of cargo are destined for Singapore itself. And, as the new trend develops, a significant gap will form between large deep-water ports that serve mega-container ships and small ports that do not have this capability. The latter will need to rebuild if they want to join the ranks of the leaders.
Ports in Asia are already ready to receive huge container ships. The greatest progress in port modernization has been made in Asia and in particular in China, which is reflected in the very rapid development of Chinese ports over the past two decades.
Currently, seven of the ten largest ports in the world are located in China. And the port of Shanghai tops the list. With a new world record of 40 million TEU in 2017, the Port of Shanghai has established itself not only as the busiest port in China, but also as the world’s largest port. For comparison, Singapore, which took second place, showed 33.7 million TEU. In recent years, the port has developed at an astounding pace. It passed the 30 million TEU mark in 2011. When the port first started operating 40 years ago, its capacity was less than 8,000 TEU.
Today it also hosts the world’s largest automated container terminal, Yangshan Deep Sea Port. Not so long ago, test work began here using automated loading and unloading equipment and a control system.
American ports are still lagging behind. In fact, there is only one US port on the list of the world’s 20 busiest ports, and that is the port of Los Angeles. The Port of Los Angeles is located in San Pedro Bay in the western US state of California. Given its strategic location, it is not surprising that it is responsible for much of the trade in the Pacific. It occupies 7500 acres of land, in 2015 the port handled almost 4.4 million TEU. This represents 13.5% of the North American market share. Since 2000, it has been considered the main port in the United States. It is currently the 19th busiest port in the world in terms of container traffic. A $34 million rail yard expansion is currently underway to reduce the number of trips needed to transport goods and reduce congestion. To improve cargo flow, more than 31,000 feet of rail will be added, helping to increase the port’s overall capacity by about 10%.
Let’s look at it from a comparative perspective: the volume of trade in the busiest port in the world, the Port of Shanghai, exceeds the total volume of the five largest ports in the United States, and this is the Port of Los Angeles (it is estimated that about $1.2 billion), Port of Long Beach, Port of New York & New Jersey, Port of Georgia and Port of Seattle-Tacoma.
Despite growing demand for mega container ships, container terminals in North America are developing relatively slowly in terms of capacity compared to Asian ports. In particular, their performance has been relatively unchanged over the past six years.
US ports have not yet gained momentum for modernization. This applies more to the east coast. Most of these ports face significant geographic challenges that cannot be overlooked when modernizing, such as harbor depth, low bridges, or upriver port locations.
Modernizing ports that are willing to accept superships requires much more investment and effort, and it will not be limited to increasing the size and depth of the harbor. Any upgrade from 8000 TEU is quite significant and raises serious questions about the port’s infrastructure.
As the turnover of maritime cargo reaches ever greater volumes, it will be even more important to arrange timely delivery of containers from ports and to the end customer. Expanding the capacity of ports and terminals is critical as they need to be able to handle large volumes of cargo. And the solution to this problem lies in the establishment of a more efficient operation of the terminals and, importantly, in further investments in port automation. The entire infrastructure of the port as a whole should be upgraded, as isolated progress without infrastructural support would be inefficient at best.
For example, much larger container ships can now be used along the US East Coast, following the expansion of the Panama Canal a few years ago. And with the growing demand for even larger vessels, there is no doubt that to meet this demand, all ports interested in successful operation will need to carry out a lot of modernization work – and do it as soon as possible.
International sea container transportation in Ukraine is successfully carried out by M&M Ukraine (head office in Kiev, subdivision in Borispol and Odessa) in all promising and demanded world directions. “M&M Ukraine” provides high-quality and safe cargo transportation from China to Ukraine, from Ukraine to China, to Europe and to the USA.
Created from http://www.icontainers.com/ and publicly available data.