Ports adopt Qingdao's energy-saving cranes

Farmer-turned-port worker Zhao Shushuang surprised many experts when he proposed using electricity to power cranes instead of petrol at Qingdao Port in coastal Shandong province. To his delight, the port management not only accepted his proposal, but coughed up one million yuan (US$146,380) for the project and provided him with a team of technicians.

Zhao, a self-taught technician who only passed junior high school, beat all odds and came up with a crane that lowered per unit energy consumption by at least 40 percent and achieved almost zero emission of carbon.

Last year, the port saved 270,000 litres of petrol by using his technology and reduced carbon emission by 1,474 tonnes. This year, with the support of the Ministry of Transport, the scheme is being applied at more than a dozen ports in China.

What Zhao did represents a trend in today's environment-savvy era, said Li Yuping, vice-president of the China Communications and Transport Association. "The key to saving energy and cutting carbon emissions at Chinese ports is the replacement of outdated equipment and improvement of processes," he said.
China has promised to cut carbon emissions by 40 to 50 percent by 2020 at its ports with the use of low-carbon, energy-saving equipment.

At a transport development forum in late May, Minister of Transport Li Shenglin voiced the government's aim to upgrade industrial structure, popularise energy-saving techniques, build up monitoring and testing systems, in order to reduce carbon emission.

Zhao's new container crane and two other energy-saving innovations produced by Qingdao port technicians were given priority for use at ports in the country.

The Ministry of Transport has set several goals for ports to achieve by 2020: The per unit cargo volume at berths should be 50 percent more efficient compared with 2005 figures while energy consumption should decrease by 10 percent; the sewage treatment rate should reach 100 percent with a sharp fall in emissions.

Xiao Daxuan, deputy director of the water transport department of the ministry, said the country is avidly pushing for energy-saving and environment-friendly ports while continuing healthy expansion.

According to Xiao, both coastal and river ports in China will be using new techniques, new materials and clean energy resources in the coming years. While new standards will apply to new berths and docks, existing ones are expected to consolidate further to increase their efficiency. Any technology and equipment that consumes high energy and produces heavy pollution will be modified or replaced.

There will be challenges to make breakthroughs in technical innovation in accordance with international standards, Li said, but concerted efforts by all workers and training of staff could lift the industry's efficiency onto a new stage.

The ports of Qingdao and Shanghai have been cited for their roles in energy saving. With a total berth capacity of less than four million TEUs, Qingdao managed to handle more than 10 million TEUs of containers last year. The installed capacity for general cargo is about 100 million tonnes, but last year its throughput for general merchandise exceeded 300 million tonnes.

"Detailed and refined management is the key to raising efficiency," Qingdao Port president Chang Dechuan said. "What we have been going after is tapping every workers' potential to innovate." In the past decade, the port tripled cargo volume from 100 million tonnes to 300 million tonnes, but per unit energy cost was down 29.7 per cent, Chang noted.

The port has built an eagle-eye technology system that covers almost every corner of the port area. More than 1,400 meters measuring energy consumption have been installed at the port as well as 300 large fixed electricity-powered appliances and more than 125 freezers so that the energy cost for each shift, each vehicle and each document of cargo can be monitored.

The improved efficiency has been welcomed by shippers and carriers, who now find the time involved for loading and unloading containers is much shorter.

The Shanghai International Port Group has managed to cut its per unit energy consumption by an annual 6.6 percent on average in the past five years. Bao Qifan, deputy general manager of the port, said building a green port requires down-to-earth steps from planning to dock handling of cargo. The port's key focus is on modification of port equipment. With the growing consumption of diesel oil, the port improved its use of rubber tyred gantries (RTGs) at container berths.

The move, applied to more than 120 machines at container yards, can save 7,480 tonnes of diesel oil and cut CO2 emissions by 22,900 tonnes and carbon emissions by 6,210 tonnes. More energy is saved when the frequency of RTG reduces its speed by less than 10 percent, which hardly affects the handling of containers.

The port has also introduced TPS intelligent cards and built up an information platform at the docks, which improves port efficiency.
(Source:www.cargonewsasia.com)