Port of Hamburg geared to support piecemeal restructuring by carriers

EXCESS capacity is one of the biggest challenges confronting shipping lines at present. As a market rebound, adequate to absorb the existing tonnage plus the newbuildings on order is unlikely to occur soon, carriers are increasingly resorting to restructuring and streamlining services.

A key concern among carriers is whether ports are able to accommodate the overhaul in port calls. Dr Jurgen Sorgenfrei, chairman of the Port of Hamburg's marketing association is positive that the port is in a position to handle a reshuffle in services if demanded by carriers and shipping lines.

He told The Container Shipping Manager, We are in a position to do it but not in a massive way (or) very quickly. It is not easy but if it is coming step by step we can do it.

The Port of Hamburg recently accommodated the change in schedule for Maersk line's Asia-Europe services after it discontinued its AE 8 string and merged its AE 1 and AE 10 services. Maersk Line has been scaling down capacity in the recent months to deal with the slowdown in Asia-Europe trade.

The port is of the view that the downsizing of services by shipping lines calling on Hamburg, will not impact its productivity and the profitability. On the contrary, fewer vessels with a high utilisation rate will enhance productivity, increase yard and wharf capacity, save money and reduce the dwell time for containers.

These days if you can have fewer ships, it is more containers per ship and more moves per ship, Dr Sorgenfrei said.

The revenue earned by the port is independent of the number of vessels calling on the port but proportionate to the number of moves per ship. More vessels but fewer containers per vessels mean more crane movement but less revenue and lesser productivity, which can then lead to congestion.

As shipping lines move to cut strings, thereby removing capacity and increasing utilisation levels, ports will find it easier to reduce congestion levels through heightened productivity.

In order to deal with the high incidence of unproductive loading and unloading activities, the port allots berths on the basis of the number of moves made per vessel. For a feeder vessel, a minimum of 100 moves is essential to get a berthing window, the Hamburg chairman explained.

Source: Schednet