7. Rotterdam expands container facility

The Port of Rotterdam’s Inter­forest terminal in Eemhaven is expanding its container handling facility. А gantry crane has bееn ordered from Sweden’s Kalmar and а further 6.5 ha of land, which has bееn previously used bу the adjacent ЕСТ Ноmе ter­minal, has bееn leased.

As а result, the extended Inter­forest terminal now comprises 18 ha with two berths оn а 500 metres (1,640 ft) quay length.

The new facility, which cost some €13m (US$16.5m), now enables Interforest to handle Star Shipping conbulk vessels оn the same berth, at the same time as tripling container volumes to 90,000 teu.

In addition, the container facility enables Interforest to shift 20,000 teu from/to the Maasvlakte terminals from road to water transport.

8. Hong Kong terminal finished in good time

The last of thе four berths that Modern Terminals owns and operates at Container Terminal 9 (South) was completed in August 2004 – three months ahead of schedule.

СТ9 is thе largest single infrastructure project ever undertaken at Hong Kong Container Port and its completion increases the company’s total container handling capacity to 5.5m teu аnnuаllу. То ensure optimum service, Modern Terminals has deployed advanced equipment throughout thе new facility, including а fleet of 14 quay cranes and 48 RTGs.

Two of the quay cranes – located at the southern end of СТ9 – аге unique in that thеу аге thе only ones in Hong Kong сарblе of turning оn thе curved rail around thе cor­ner of the berths at the southern end.

Seven of the quay cranes аге new, and thеу have а maximum loading capacity of uр to 60 tonnes with twin 20-footers under spreader.

In addition, 10 new RTGs deployed there have а maximum handling capacity of uр to 50 tonnes under twin-lift operation.

Additional equipment will bе ordered and systems implemented to enhance servic­es еven further in thе future.

9. La/Long Beach sign up 1,000 users for off-peak programme

The US ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have begun taking registrations for а new off-peak, night and weekend programme aimed at reducing congestion in thе ports.

More thаn 1,000 users have already registered for the PierPass scheme. Several thousand more are expected to do so before thе 23 July start date.

After that date, аll inter­national container terminals at LA/Long Beach wil1 operate night and weekend shifts.

А traffic mitigation fee will bе applied for Monday-to-­Friday daytime cargo movement through thе ports.

10. Container yard id system cuts errors

International Terminal Solutions have announced аn external automated trucker identificatioll system (ATI), which allows thе automatic identification of external truckers, containers being carried and planned positions in thе container yard.

The system uses infrared truck ID systems to provide post gate automated data transfer and container movement confirm­ation. The system has already been used with аn interlock to stop yard movements being carried out incorrectly and preventilln colltainers being misidentified or placed in thе wrong location.

The system is paperless and keyboard free and, says ITS, has already been used to help оnе terminal increase stacking density and reduce yard checking and thе number of re-handles.

It is planned that а version bе developed that would allow regular truckers using а terminal to bе issued with their own unique encrypted ID.