MEL IN THE PRESS

Container International
November 10, 2003

Rise needed for terminals of the future

Graduating MEL students today heard a call for terminal operators and carriers to discuss increasing rates, in order to invest in efficiency and future capacity.

Shippers would be better off if container-handling rates went up a bit from today’s rock-bottom rates, claimed Richard Pearson, CEO of HPH’s Hutchison Westports and CEO of Europe Container Terminals (ECT) Rotterdam, speaking at the Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) last night.

Heightened competition has prevented co-operation for too long now, but deep-sea carriers’ mega-ship future – 12,000 TEU to 15,000 TEU - meant serious investment, and automation, he said. ‘Such vessels will require 35 to 40 moves per crane per hour. Take my word for it: 21 to 22-row wide gantry-booms will once be used to the full.’

Today, ECT’s Maasvlakte Delta complex and HHLA’s Altenwerder Terminal in Hamburg are the world’s only automated container terminals, but he predicted more would follow.

However, investment by governments would only distort competition. ‘There is abundant private capital available.’

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