Reconciling ship size with port capabilities

Terminal productivity is under the spotlight as larger container vessels are deployed on all markets and trades. Shippers and carriers are looking to terminals for faster, more reliable turnaround times in
order to ensure supply chain integrity. On Day two of TOC Americas 2014, a panel of experts from lines, engineers and terminals will discuss how the growing stresses of ship size vs. port capabilities can be reconciled in the debate Latin American Terminal Productivity & the Supply Chain Impact.

“Big ships are a given” What seems certain is that Latin America will outpace the world average in terms of economic growth over the next five years. In container shipping the impact of this is already evident, with vessel tonnage cascading faster than expected.

“Vessel cascading is a given in the shipping industry; the timing just depends on volume growth, which is based on market dynamics,” says Karlien Brolsma, General Manager Procurement, Maersk Line Central America, and one of the panelists in the debate. Earlier this year at TOC Europe in London, Ocean Shipping Consultants noted that Latin America has seen the fastest increase in vessel cascading of all secondary deep sea markets, with average vessel size climbing from 3,000TEU to 8,000TEU in just four years to 2014.

That is a heavy lift for the region’s terminals to accommodate. Moreover, on certain east and west coast South America trades 9,000-plus TEU vessels are already being deployed. Big ships may already be here; but they will only get bigger, placing yet more pressure on terminals to raise handling rates and vessel turnaround.