Developments in Containership Sizes
Developments in containership sizes and their impact on terminal productivity.
Introduction
Since the invention of the container, the developing of container vessels has gone fast. Where the first container vessel had a capacity of just 58 TEU, nowadays container vessels carry over 11,000 TEU. This development happened in only 40 years.
Before the invention of the container, cargo was handled by hand. The loading and unloading of ships took days or even weeks, in this way it was not possible to increase the ship sizes. But when the containerization started, much more cargo was handled by gantry cranes. In this way the cargo handling time was very much reduced. Ports and terminals became more productive.
The major question in this paper has everything to do with the increasing vessel sizes and the productivity of the terminals. So the focus in this paper is on:
What is the influence of the increasing container vessel sizes on the productivity of terminals?
At first it is necessary to have a look at the history of container shipping. How did it develop and why did the container vessels grew larger and larger over the years? What were the main reasons for the container carriers to increase the size of their vessels?
Increasing the size of container vessels had a lot of advantages, mainly for the container carriers, but there were also some disadvantages. The advantages for container carriers can also be disadvantages for the terminal operators. For instance when the container vessels grow larger, most of the times they get a deeper draft too. This means that port authorities need to make their berth locations deeper.
The advantages and disadvantages have their influence on terminals. But do they increase or decrease the productivity of terminals? And how is the productivity of terminals measured? All these questions are discussed in this paper and contribute to answering the main question of this paper.
Invention of container shipping
In 1914 a man called
Introduction
Since the invention of the container, the developing of container vessels has gone fast. Where the first container vessel had a capacity of just 58 TEU, nowadays container vessels carry over 11,000 TEU. This development happened in only 40 years.
Before the invention of the container, cargo was handled by hand. The loading and unloading of ships took days or even weeks, in this way it was not possible to increase the ship sizes. But when the containerization started, much more cargo was handled by gantry cranes. In this way the cargo handling time was very much reduced. Ports and terminals became more productive.
The major question in this paper has everything to do with the increasing vessel sizes and the productivity of the terminals. So the focus in this paper is on:
What is the influence of the increasing container vessel sizes on the productivity of terminals?
At first it is necessary to have a look at the history of container shipping. How did it develop and why did the container vessels grew larger and larger over the years? What were the main reasons for the container carriers to increase the size of their vessels?
Increasing the size of container vessels had a lot of advantages, mainly for the container carriers, but there were also some disadvantages. The advantages for container carriers can also be disadvantages for the terminal operators. For instance when the container vessels grow larger, most of the times they get a deeper draft too. This means that port authorities need to make their berth locations deeper.
The advantages and disadvantages have their influence on terminals. But do they increase or decrease the productivity of terminals? And how is the productivity of terminals measured? All these questions are discussed in this paper and contribute to answering the main question of this paper.
Invention of container shipping
In 1914 a man called
References: ▪ Who made America? Malcom Mclean. Retrieved September 30, 2009, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/mclean_hi.html ▪ Brian J ▪ Port of Rotterdam: Container Shipping – Background Information. Retrieved September 30, 2009, from http://container50.org.uk/RotterdamBackground.pdf ▪ Karen V ▪ Mennis E., Platis A., Lagoudis I.N. and Nikitakos, N. (2008). Improving port container terminal efficiency with the use of Markov theory. Maritime Economics and Logistics, 10(3), 243-257. ▪ De Langen P.W. and Pallis Α.Α. (2007). Entry Barriers in Seaports. Maritime Policy and Management, 34(5), 427-440. ▪ Pallis A.A. (2005). Maritime Interests Representation in the EU. European Political Economy Review, 3(2), 6-28. ▪ Le-Griffin, H. D. and Murphy, M. (2006). Container terminal productivity: experiences at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Technical report, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Southern California. ▪ Vacca I., Bierlaire M. & Salani M. (2007) Optimization at Container Terminals: Status, Trends and Perspectives, Technical report TRANSP-OR 071204, Transport and Mobility Laboratory, EPFL.