Floating port offers 'quick fix' to congestion

A novel idea for a floating hub port has been unveiled which could not only boost the Scottish economy, but also provide an answer to ports’ perennial problems of trying to predict the future.


The idea has been developed by Edinburgh Napier University’s Transport Research Institute (TRI) and crane manufacturer Gottwald as part of the EU StratMoS Project.


Project leader professor Alf Baird of TRI tells Port Strategy, “We have estimated a single 4,000 to 4,500 teu vessel with four typical slewing cranes would give the equivalent of about 700,000 teu per annum capacity maximum, and would therefore easily be able to handle around half a million teu per year.”


The possibility of rehabilitating a Panamax vessel makes it a cost-effective option. “It could be put in place for about a third of the price of a standard land-based terminal,” says Prof Baird. But possibly it’s most attractive aspect is the speed of deployment. “Rather than the several years it takes to get ports to get a half-million teu hard concrete terminal in place, this would mean a port could expand in the very short term.”


And if a plan by one ship finance company to charter these ‘floating’ terminals out to ports for five or ten years at a time comes to fruition, it would shorten lead times to just the few months needed to get the relevant permissions in place.


This means it could also be the answer to hard pressed port executives who at present have to try to predict what the future holds as much as ten years in advance.


There are obvious worldwide applications especially where there are landside restrictions, either in draught or in gaining permissions, as in many parts of Asia.


But the earliest application may well be at Scapa Flow, Scotland. “Most of Europe’s seafood, for example, is produced nearby in Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Norway, Russia and Greenland – this traffic could be consolidated in Scotland into refrigerated containers for distribution worldwide via the container hub.


The hub could also become the “ultimate green port” due to its proximity to Orkney’s burgeoning marine renewable energy sector, said Professor Baird. “It would have virtually zero impact on the landside, lead to major reductions in deep-sea and feeder ship CO2 emissions due to the shorter sailing distances, and make use of renewable energy to power the container cranes and reefer boxes.”


A working Floating Container Storage and Transhipment Terminal may already be on the horizon, as Prof Baird says there are a few parties that are presently ‘in negotiations’ for a demonstration platform, which could be part-funded by the EU with support from the Scottish Government.
(Source:http://www.portstrategy.com)