b'JANuARy 25 - FebRuARy 7, 2021MaritiMe Section 17(DRIVEcontinued fromsafety concerns related to moving(DENIKEcontinued from(HEADWINDcontinued fromtheyear,evenifthecurrent page 15) toatotallyautomatedcontainerpage 15) page 16) disruptions get ironed out, said the UK will cause increases inhandling system: The move to aday, which corresponds to 10 areanchoredwaitingforberthChris Rogers, lead trade analyst dwell times and perhaps addedtotally automated system requires12% reduction in the workforce.space at the twin ports near L.A.,forS&PGlobalMarketIntel-costs in handling. At the samea number of safety protocols andThis is also COVID related. thebusiestgatewayforU.S.ligencesPanjiva.Companies time, we expect that these chal- is facing union resistance that hasThe good news for Oaklandgoods trade, up from about 20thathaveseenmuchhigher lenges in customs requirementscausedustooptfortheremoteis that three new superhigh 175- vessels right before Christmas. shipping costs are either going will add time and cost to Ro/Rosystem instead One of the issuesfootcontainercranesrecentlyAmongthosefeelingtheto have to swallow that in their business going on ferries and onis the visual resolution of cameras.arrivedfromChina.The175- pain is Sidney Yu, whose firmprofitsorpassitthroughto trains, with the result that someIt is not yet advanced enough tofootcraneswillimprovethePrime Success Enterprises Ltd.their customers.of these moves will end up onprovide the type of precision thatability of SSAs Oakland Inter- makeseducationalandrecre- Normallycontainerrates containerstocompensateforwe need in order to operate safelynationalContainerTerminalationalproductsthatincludesdrop 15% to 20% after the Chi-the higher cost. We expect thatand efficiently with an automated(OICT) to handle 17,000 teu andtents for children and baths fornese holiday, he said, but that these issues will be resolved bysystem. It may require another 1018,000 teu ships, he said. pets. After booking two contain- mightnothappenexactlythe the end of 2021. We are observ- years before the cameras reach theers to Europe for a shipment lastsame this year because the back-ing 7-10-hour delays right nowlevelofefficiencyforscannerso tHERn EwS , d EnikEn otEd : month from Yantian, Shenzhen,log has got to be cleared.processing containers as a resultthat will be optimum for an auto-Denike sounded a note ofhe was later told he could onlyTheres a lot riding on man-of the new customs paperworkmated operation. concernovercontractnegotia- get one. ufacturingtodrivetheglobal requirements. A utomAtionC HAllEngES tions between West Coast termi- When we went to the con- economicrecoverygiventhe Rotterdam Shortsea Termi- nals and the ILWU scheduled totainer terminal to take the con- doldrums that tourism and hos-nals provides short sea shippingAtP oRt ofR ottERdAm begin in 2022. He said negotia- tainer they said sorry, theres nopitality are mired in. The World linksforcontainerdrivencar- m AASvlAktEC omPlEx tions are going to be difficult incontainer anymore, they are allBank this month warned that the goesfromRotterdamtoEuro- VanPeltsaysthePortofnegotiatinganewcontractforused up, said Yu, director ofrebound from the deepest reces-peanportsandtotheUnitedRotterdamsMaasvlaktecon- WestCoastportsin2022.Onthe Hong Kong-based company,sion since World War II will be Kingdom. tainer terminal complex featuresthe plus side, he said the ILWUwhich has manufacturing facili- slightly weaker than previously RSThadathroughputofsome automated container craneis much more supportive of theties in Guangdong. Things likeexpected.740,000 containers in 2019 andoperations, but automated oper- competitivenessofU.S.WestthisarehappeningwhichweThe Washington-based lender wasprojectedtodo775,000ations are not, as yet, as produc- Coast ports than in the past. have never experienced before. alsotrimmeditsglobaltrade containers before COVID hit. Ittive as worker operated cranes: HestronglyopposestheContainers that once wouldvolume growth forecast to 5% in now projects 750,000 for 2020. At the same time, we areproposedOakland Asballparkhave cost $2,000 to send across2021 following a 9.5% contrac-hearing that the automation onat the Port of Oaklands Howardthe Pacific are now being quotedtion last year.i nnovAtivEw idEb oom the Maasvlakte complex is notTerminal. The proposed ballparkashighas$13,000forserviceStill,therearegoodrea-C RAnEo PERAtionS as productive as using mannedhascausedcarrierstotellusbeforeChineseNewYearinsons for optimism. China won a RST has been an innovatorcrane operators. It is estimatedthat they will not sign long-termmid-February, he said. record share of world trade last in container handling. It deploysthatterminalsusinghumanagreements with us if the ball- Whilemostshippingana- year and Taiwans exports con-awideboomcontainercranecrane operatorsare as muchpark is built. They are afraid thatlysts see the congestion lastingtinued their double-digit recov-design. Cranes unload ships fromas 40% more productive than theitwillcreatetrafficinsidethethroughthefirstquarter,thereery in the final month of 2020.theseawardsideofpiersontoautomated crane operations. Oakland Estuary, making it moremaybelonger-termeconomicMeanwhile,SouthKoreas stacks below the container crane.Van Pelt notes several rea- difficult to turn ships around forcostsbothforconsumerstoexports climbed at the fastest pace Once the ship departs, the cranesonsforthis:Theautomatedloading and unloading at OICT.bearorcompaniesmarginsasin more than two years in Decem-operatorre-directsthecranetoguidedvehicles((AGV)whichHe has also heard truckers voicehigher transport costs get bakedber.Thecountrysbiggestship-the landside. The crane picks upremotelypickupanddeliverconcerns about picking up andinto annual contracts with con- ping line HMM Co. has deployed containers below it in the stackscontainerstothecranesatthedeliveringcontainersonthetainer carriers. extrashipsalongU.S.-bound andthenlowersthecontainersautomated terminal are not keep- daysasfansdrivetotheball- We know that the freightroutes and will add another ship to ontotrucksmovingonalaneing up with the rate of loadingpark for baseball or other eventspressure across retail is here toEurope later this month.alongside the cranes and stacks.andunloadingbycraneopera-As OICT accounts for 70%stay and weve built that into ourThe extra capacity is needed The result is faster loading andtors, So the cranes have to slowof the container volume at thefuture plans, Mark Tritton, theto help small companies on the unloading of vessels and quickerdowntowaitfortheAGVtoPort of Oakland, the loss of thischief executive of Bed Bath &receivingend.TheEuropean in and out times for truckers. catch upThis is slowing downbusinesswouldhaveaseriousBeyond Inc., said on a confer- FreightForwardersAssocia-the process. impact on the PortI think itsence call. tion and the European Shippers R EmotEo PERAtionS Theterminaloperatingsys- a big mistake. Council sent a letter to regulators At the same time, van Pelttems(TOS)providedbytermi- RailtransportcostschargedS uPPlyu nCERtAintiES in Brussels this month warning notesthatRSTisexpandingnal handling software companiesby the Union Pacific and Burling- Theoutlookgetsnolessof business failures if the ship-and moving crane operators offdonotefficientlyaccommodatetonNorthernSantaFerailroadsmurky heading into February ping market doesnt rebalance.crane cabs and into the office toexceptionalboxes:Anexcep- for transporting import and exportwhen Chinese New Year marksInAsia,thesituationis remotely load and unload ships: tional box can be a tank container,containers in the United States toa seasonal turn in Asian exports,unprecedentedforKenway AtRST,wehavetakenaflatcontainer,a45-footcon- U.S. WestCoastportsare$400manyimportersrenegotiateLam, who runs a Hong Kong-over the new ECT (Europe Con- tainer. In these cases, the terminalhigher per container than the railfreight rates with carriers for thebasedmakerofpackaging tainer Terminals) terminal adja- has to stop its operation to manu- costschargedbytheCanadiannext 12 months and the carriersmachinery. Last month he was cent to RST and have integratedally move the exceptional box intoNational Railway to U.S. shippersthemselves start to receive tensall set to ship to a customer in that into our shortsea operations.and out of stacks at the terminal. for transporting their containers toof thousands of new containersUruguay who had agreed to the WehavebegunoperatingtwoThe result is that in both ofthe two Canadian West Coast portsthey ordered last year. deal months earlier.ofthecranesremotely,whichthese cases, there is a reduction(DRIVEcontinued onElevatedcontainerratesAt the last minute, Lam was means that we have moved thein productivity.page 19) mayfactorinfortherestoftold no containers were available.crane operator off the crane and into the office where the crane operatorperformsthesame functionsastheydidonthe crane,butnowusingcameras, is able to load and unload lorries andmultitainersremotely.The verticalandhorizontalaxisof the cranes and crane rail expe-dite the remote operation of the STS (Ship To Shore) crane.Themovedoesnotcut worker wages, but saves money in time and less injuries. It will also allow people with disabili-ties to operate container cranes:In the case of remote opera-tions, the operator is still paid the same but we have time savings in terms of lunch breaks, not requir-ing getting off and on cranes and injury- related problems related. From a time and injury perspec-tive, moving the operator into the office is more cost effective and safer.Inaddition,wecannow usedisabledpersonswhoare properly qualified to operate the remote system. customs brokers&freight forwardersVanPeltadded,Remote operations with straddle carriers will take more time due to morewww . jfmoran.com: 800.944.1041varied trip routes in the stacks.Thereareregulatoryand'