Port Development

TOPICS:
• Many factors can cause ports to change, evolve or die
• SWOT AND competitive performance factors of port
• Factors affecting port growth
• Why some port become major ones?
• Containerization
Factors Constraining Port Development
Many factors can cause ports to change,
evolve or die
Many factors can cause ports to change, evolve or die
— Changes in the inland transport infrastructure.
For instance, the coming of the railways tended to make large ports like London and
Liverpool larger and small ports smaller. Road transport had the opposite effect in the
UK where the post-Second World War motorways saw a revival in many of the
country’s smaller ports. Many would argue, however, that it was not the motorway in
itself that attracted the ship-owner to the smaller ports, but that in the smaller ports
the labour unions were less militant. However, the development of large container
ships has again encouraged the growth of large regional ports.

— Changes in trade patterns.

The UK joining the EU had a negative effect on Liverpool but a positive effect on
Felixstowe as the UK traded more with its EU partners and less with the old members
of the Commonwealth. Port analysts need to consider carefully the effect which the
current trend of regional co-operation in trade and industry will have on port growth.
Many factors can cause ports to change, evolve or die
— Changes in financial and logistical thinking.
London at its peak was an enormous warehouse for Europe. Since the Second
World War the tendency is not to store “things” but to use ports as industrial areas,
such as Rotterdam. More recently the trend has been to develop “value-added
activities” and become a sophisticated marketing and distribution centre, such as,
for example, Hamburg or Bremen. It may be a point of discussion as to discuss why
London apparently failed in this development as compared with Rotterdam.

— Length of life.
Unlike ships, ports often have to last a long time, sometimes for centuries. They
therefore have to adapt and change over the course of time. Many of the
traditional British ports were developed and built well over a century ago which
means that many are now faced with a legacy of small antiquated docks.
Growth in world seaborne trade
Growth in world trade
As the price of crude oil increased in the early 1980s, the demand for it
reduced slightly.
Grain will always fluctuate depending on the success or otherwise of
local harvests.
From the Table, coal can be seen to have shown the most successful
growth.
In 1980 the percentage in general cargo of world trade was 28%.
In 2000 the world trade in general cargo was 981 million tonnes, of
which 57.6% was containerized. In 2005 this was 1,200 million tonnes
of which 60% was containerized.
Figure: The competitive performance of a nation’s ports: The
extended Porter Diamond applied to seaports
(adapted from Haezendonck, 2002)
Factors to consider for a port’s SWOT analysis

— Maritime accessibility, depth available and position on major trade routes.

— Amount of trans-shipment cargo it can attract and storage space and facilities.
— Logistics that provide value-added and available manufacturing industries.
— Activities of transport agencies and goods and rail distribution networks.
— Good well trained labour force and efficient servicing companies.
— Technology and communication systems.
— State of internal and external competition.
— Ability of port authority and political administrations.
— Costs.
Some other “wildcards” that can effect growth
Labour
For instance, the port of Colombo having turned itself into a transit port in the early
1980s had moved up the container port league table from 75th position in 1983 to 26 th
position in 1988. However, labour unrest (which often follows success) in the late 1980s
caused a major container line customer to pull out, and it was 1996 before the port was
able to regain a similar rating in the world port container league.

Exceptional bad weather

Has also damaged many ports, many of which have been under-insured and been unable
to find the necessary capital to make good the damage.

Changes in cargo-moving technology

For instance, in the 1970s some ports made large capital investments in terminals for the
handling of LNG only to find a change of policy in some areas to move the commodity by
pipeline
Why some ports become major ports

In 1995, 20 ports handled 52% of the world’s terminal throughput. There are two main
requirements for a port to achieve success:

1. A good natural harbour and deep water approaches, i.e., site considerations. For
example, with Rotterdam, as with most large river deltas, silting was a major problem
and the direction of the channels was constantly changing. To try to stabilize the
situation a canal was cut in 1830. This attempt did not succeed but in 1870 the New
Waterway was constructed to provide a direct outlet to the sea. This was successful
and formed the basis of the modern port of Rotterdam. Amsterdam had an even
greater problem when after the Second World War it lost the sea altogether when the
Zuider Zee was reclaimed.

2. A strong traffic-generating location, i.e. the port must be central to an area and on
the way to a meaningful destination.
Growth of the world’s leading ports
There are many different ways port size can be compared,
such as the physical area, the length of waterfront, the value
of cargo passing through the port, number and/or tonnage of
vessels calling, etc.

However, as a crude indicator of size, the total cargo

throughput of the port is the statistic preferred by most
people working in the port industry. Bulk cargoes do form a
very large proportion of the total in all cases, particularly with
the leading ports.
Growth of the world’s leading ports
The Table shows that over the last century the majority of the world’s
largest ports were in the Atlantic basin, but in 1995 Singapore appeared
as the world’s largest port and the latest world league tables show that
the Pacific basin can now claim this honour. In 2001 the Port of Tanjung
Pelepas (PTP) was the fastest growing port. In the late 1960s, New York
passed the largest-port baton onto Rotterdam
Singapore’s growth in the last decade has been truly phenomenal.
However, in 2005 Shanghai showed an even greater phenomenal
growth when it moved into the lead position with an annual
throughput of 443 million metric tons with Singapore on 423 freight
tons and Rotterdam on 370.6 million metric tons. In 2005 Rotterdam
announced a new development called Maasvlakte2 which will involve a
massive reclamation project that started in 2008.
Miami claims to be the biggest when it comes to cruise shipping.
Developments in port location
A simple “model” port
The Figure shows how many of the estuarial ports have developed.
Originally the ships approached as far upriver as possible and were
generally forced to stop where the first bridge had been built.
This was usually no problem as the bridge marked a main thoroughfare
and a large trading city had probably developed there.
The Port of London
The port of London
In the case of London, the Romans built the bridge and developed the city of
London. The ships would anchor or berth below the bridge and discharge. By
the beginning of the nineteenth century the river had become congested by
ships and
much of the cargo was being stolen. (The London River Police were the city’s
first police force.) To ease congestion and increase security various docks were
built along the river.
As ships got bigger with deeper drafts, the new docks and terminals moved
down-river to the sea. In London by the 1870s, Tilbury docks were built, 35
miles down-river from the city.
With the advent of containerization and faster cargo-handling, more terminal
space was needed as well as good access to inland transport systems so old
terminals were closed and new ones constructed.
Developments in customs procedure
In 1803 in London a law was passed allowing ships to discharge to customs
warehouses. This is a very significant date as it meant that until this time the
ship was virtually the warehouse, and the consignee had to collect the cargo
from the ship.
So before this time merchant warehouses were often outside the docks.
Communication was very limited, so a ship’s arrival could seldom be
anticipated with any precision. Consignees had to wait until the Master
notified them that the ship had arrived and where she was berthed.
Even towards the end of the 1800s in the UK, sailing ships had to give shippers
three days’ notice before working cargo, to allow them time to make
arrangements for collecting or delivering the cargo.
This very significant change in customs procedure affected the whole concept
of port cargo-handling and terminal design.
Layout for a typical berth (1850–1900)
Layout for a typical berth (1850–1900)
The ship discharged her cargo on to the wharf or into a barge. The
warehouse probably had cranes fitted to her walls to lift the cargo to
the required floor.
Cargo movement on the wharf or in the warehouse would be by hand
truck and distribution to and from warehouse would be by horse and
cart or railway.
Break Bulk Cargo
In shipping, break bulk cargo or general cargo are goods that must be
loaded individually, and not in intermodal containers nor in bulk as with
oil or grain.
Ships that carry this sort of cargo are called general cargo ships.
Typical break-bulk general cargo terminals
(1900, 1920, 1960)
Dry cargo
• Dry Cargo ships are used to carry solid/dry goods that have a higher
tolerance to heat and cold, such as metal ores, coal, steel products,
forest products, and grains.
• These vessels are equipped with on-deck cranes and other
mechanism for loading and unloading of goods.
A new era for dry cargo shipping and ports
From about the mid-1960s it could be argued that ports and shipping
were entering a new phase of operation. The “traditional” cargo ships
continued in operation but were in decline and would continue to be
marginalized to the lesser ports of the world with less lucrative cargoes,
in the same way that sailing ships had been a century earlier.
General cargo moved to container ships, and bulk cargo to bulk carriers.
Both ship types grew rapidly and considerably in size as ports found the
water to match their draft and the cargo-handling technology to
maintain a rapid turn-round in port.
Specialized ships
• 1965: PCCs (pure car carriers) and PCTCs (pure car and truck carriers).
These require the port to have large parking facilities and their large
"windage" may cause berthing problems.
• 1970s: Introduction of barge-carrying ships such as Lash and Seabees.
Originally it was thought that these ships could manage with little or no
terminal facilities. In fact some special terminals were developed for
them. Because of their very sophisticated barge-lifting gear there were
also occasional labour problems in ports as to who had the "right" to
operate them.
• 1976: First semi-submersible.
• 1985: First fruit juice carrier. These ships do, of course, require specialist
terminal facilities.
Growth in world container tonnage
Container Traffic
In 2000 world container ports handling increased by 8.7% but in south-
east Asia and South America the growth would be nearer 25%.
Note that some 17% of container traffic is in empty containers. It was
estimated that the cost of repositioning empties in 2000 was around
US$15 billion.
Container Ports

By 1980 the second generation of container vessels was now well

established and the concept of a well-developed container terminal
became better defined. However, ships continued to grow and by the late
1980s there were the fourth generation ships which required larger
gantry cranes to reach across them. New container sizes were also
introduced and all these changes required large capital investment which
for developing countries meant further difficulties.
By the year 2000, the outreach of the new cranes at the larger terminals,
such as Yokohama, reached 63 metres to reach across 22 boxes, which is
a possible athwartship stow in the current larger generation of container
ships. The new gantry cranes in 2007 can now weigh 2,800 tons.
Containerization problems for port operators
— The large investment necessary to containerize a route meant that liner ship-
owners had to form themselves into larger financial units and hence were more
powerful customers from the point of view of the port.
— The increase in size and complexity of ships meant an increase in the cost of the
ship’s time. Also the cargo was now intermodal so the cargo started to move to the
ship rather than the ship to the cargo.
— Because the cargo was now intermodal, adjacent ports on the same land mass
could now compete with each other and the choice of port was, and often still is, in
the hands of the large multinational liner operator.
— There was a need for a comprehensive information system and greater efficiency.
— A significantly smaller but better trained work force was needed.
— Faster customs clearance, better documentation procedure and a review of much
of the country’s transportation law was required.
Container terminal, 1970
Container terminal, 1980
Container terminal, 1990
Bulk cargo terminals
The development in size of these terminals is very similar to that of
container vessel terminals, with the Panamax (65,000 DWT) size being
popular in both groups. However, at the higher end of the scale the bulk
carriers are larger, with some ore carriers in the VLCC size.
Bulk cargo-loading terminals are usually situated as near as possible to
the source or with good rail connection to the source, and loading will be
some variation of controlled gravity fall into the hold. This will be fast and
often very dusty which may now bring environmental claims from people
living nearby. Cement dust for instance can be troublesome to people
living many miles away downwind.
The discharging terminals will now often be part of an industrial complex
situated in the port area and the complex will often have its own
dedicated terminal, discharge equipment and conveyor belts.