Port of Hamburg

Port of Hamburg, the largest seaport in Germany, lies between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. It is the second biggest container port in Europe and the 11th biggest in the world.

Spread over 7,250ha, it is an important port for cargo transport between Central and Eastern Europe. It can be accessed from the North Sea through the Elbe River. The Port of Hamburg is a universal port capable of handling all kinds of goods. It offers a range of services for handling cargo, customs clearance, quality control, storage and packing or distribution. A total of 320 berths are available at the port.

Facilities at the German port

"The port is operated by the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), a public service institution."
The port features four large container terminals capable of high-performance handling. Three of the terminals are operated by Hamburger Hafen und Logistik (HHLA), a port logistics group based in Europe. Capacity of the terminals is being continually expanded to meet the growing demands for cargo handling.
HHLA Container Terminal Burchardkai is the Port of Hamburg's largest cargo handling facility. The terminal features nine berths and an area of 1.4 million square meters.It is equipped with 27 container gantries, including modern Twin-Forty container cranes which are capable of loading or unloading two 40-foot containers in a single movement. Maximum depth is 15.3m and quay length is 2,850m. The terminal will be expanded in the future to enable it handle 5.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).

HHLA Container Terminal Altenwerder began operations in 2002 as a joint venture between HHLA and Hapag-Lloyd. The terminal is spread over an area of one million square meters and has four cargo berths. Maximum depth is 16.7m and length of quay is 1,400m. The terminal features 15 container gantry cranes.
The Eurogate Container Terminal Hamburg features six berths and a quay length of 2,080m. Maximum depth is 15.3m and terminal area is 1.2 million square meters. Operated by Eurogate Group, the terminal is equipped with 24 container cranes. HHLA Container Terminal Tollerort has an area of 600,000m2 and four container berths. Maximum depth is 15.2m and length of quay is 1,230m.

The terminal is equipped with 12 container cranes. It features its own container rail station which has been operational since 2008. The station has 720m of track and three Transtainer cranes capable of handling block trains efficiently. The Port of Hamburg also features 42 multipurpose terminals capable of handling general cargo and bulk cargo. The general cargo terminals handle cargo such as vehicles, fruits, metals, iron, paper and cardboard. Some of these terminals include Wallmann Terminal, C. Steinweg Süd-West Terminal and Rhenus Midgard - Dradenauhafen. The port handled 2.6mt of general cargo in 2010.

"Port of Hamburg, the largest seaport in Germany, lies between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea."
Bulk cargo terminals are also available at the port and are equipped with grabs, suction equipment and conveyors. The port handled 40mt of bulk cargo in 2010. Companies handling bulk cargo at the port include Vopak Dupeg, Hansaport Hafen, Kalikai, G.T.H. Getreide Terminal Hamburg and Rhenus Midgard.
The port's cruise terminals include Cruise Terminal HafenCity and Cruise Terminal Altona.
Cruise Terminal HafenCity has two berths. Length of quay is 460m and maximum depth is 12m.
Cruise Terminal Altona opened in June 2011 and features one berth. Terminal area is 1,500m2 and quay length is 360m. Maximum depth is 10.6m.

Operator of the Port of Hamburg

The port is operated by the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), a public service institution. HPA is responsible for the development and maintenance of the port. It is also responsible for making timely investments to meet the demand for cargo handling.

Future plans for the second biggest container port in Europe
Capacity of the Eurogate Container Terminal Hamburg is to be extended towards Bubenday Ufer. The expansion will enable the terminal to handle six million TEUs per annum. Construction is scheduled to be carried out between 2015 and 2019. Area of the Container Terminal Tollerort will be expanded and two additional berths will be constructed in future.

A new terminal is also being planned for cruise liners.



source: http://www.ship-technology.com/

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Port of Philadelphia

The Port of Philadelphia is situated on the bank of the Delaware River, 151km south of New York City and 216km north of Washington D.C. The port is believed to be the number one perishables port in the USA. The port facilities are located along a five kilometre stretch of the river within the limits of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The port was designated as a strategic military seaport by the Defence Department in 2002. It registered a 17% increase on its total cargo output in 2010, handling 3.64 million metric tons (mt) of cargo against 3.11mt in 2009. Containerised cargo grew from 222,900 TEUs in 2009 to 264,059 TEUs in 2010, an increase of 18% year on year. Non-containerised cargoes posted growth of 32%. The Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PRPA) takes care of the management, maintenance, marketing and promotion of the port facilities. The PRPA, created in 1989 by an act of the Pennsylvania legislature, is an independent agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.



Philadelphia Port design features

The depth of the river channel at the port is 40ft. The Packer Avenue Marine Terminal has an area of 112 acres. Its depth at mean low water (MLW) is 12.2m. Piers 96 and 98 have a combined terminal area of approximately 55 acres and an alongside depth of 9.75m. Terminal area of Pier 84 is 13.9 acres. It is served by a 260.6m long berth. Terminal area of Pier 82 is 13.3 acres, that of Piers 78 and 80 is 44.4 acres, and that of Piers 38 and 40 is 12 acres. Tioga Marine Terminal has a terminal area of 116 acres and alongside depth of 10.8m.



Philadelphia Port construction

The Port of Philadelphia is more than 300 years old. Most of the port's facilities, including piers and waterfront warehouses, were built and maintained by private concerns in its early years of operation. These facilities were built without major help from the central government or its agencies. Major improvements took place at the port in 1960s and 70s. The Packer Avenue Marine Terminal and Tioga Marine Terminal were built during this period. The PRPA, after its creation in 1989, built an additional on-dock warehouse at Tioga Marine Terminal, a forest products warehouse at the Piers 78/80 Forest Products Distribution Centre and a refrigerated warehouse at Pier 82. Delaware River Main Channel Deepening Project was commenced in March 2010 to deepen the main navigation channel to 45ft. The $311m project is being undertaken by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The federal government will fund about two-thirds of the cost and the remainder will be borne by PRPA.



Port facilities and critical functions

The Port of Philadelphia is served by two terminals and eight piers. The Packer Avenue Marine Terminal is the largest and the busiest facility, and is specialised in handling heavy lift, steel products, containers, frozen meat and fruits. It is served by six berths and a roll-on / roll-off (RO/RO) ramp. It has two dry and one refrigerated storage warehouses. The Tioga Marine Terminal is considered as a base for the Chilean fruit business. It also handles paper, containers, plywood, breakbulk cargo and steel. It has one compartmented warehouse, two dry warehouses and a cold storage with racked storage for 6,000 pallets. Piers 96 and 98 are served by two berths and specialised in handling automobiles, project, trucks and heavy equipment cargoes. They are facilitated with an auto-washing shed and a service building. Cocoa beans and cocoa products are handled at Pier 84 which is served by one container berth. The pier has two dry storage warehouses. Pier 82 is a 13.3 acre facility specialised in handling breakbulk, paper, fruits and vegetables. Piers 78 and 80 handle newsprint, coated paper, wood pulp other forest products. Pier 80 has two container berths with RO/RO ramps. Piers 38 and 40 are served by three container berths.



Operators involved in the Port of Philadelphia

Packer Avenue Marine Terminal is operated by Greenwich Terminals, while Tioga Marine Terminal is operated by Delaware River Stevedores. Piers 38, 40, 78 and 80 are operated by Penn Warehousing and Distribution. Pier 82 is operated by Horizon Stevedoring, while Dependable Distribution Services is the operator of Pier 84.



Equipment used at the versatile port

Packer Avenue Marine Terminal has one Kocks heavy lift container crane, three Kocks container cranes, one Paceco container crane and two Hyundai container cranes. Terminal equipments include 11 toploaders, 100 forklifts and eight reach stackers. Piers 96 and 98 are equipped with forklifts, shuttle equipment and rail loading equipment. Piers 78 and 80 are provided with more than 100 customised lift trucks, 40 tractors, 30 vans, 35 flatbeds and five fifth wheels. Piers 38 and 40 are provided with 25 forklifts, 30 tractors, 20 vans and 35 flatbeds. Pier 82 is equipped with a Liebherr Mobile Harbor Crane. Tioga Marine Terminal is set up with two Kocks container gantry cranes and a Liebherr Mobile Harbor Crane.


Future plans for construction and expansion

The PRPA has planned to expand the port facilities by constructing Southport Marine Terminal in order to increase the port's capacity by three times. The terminal is estimated to cost $2bn to $3bn and is expected to be completed in 2014. Bids for the design and construction of the facility were sought in May 2010. A consortium of Delaware River Stevedores, Marine and Ports America Group and Hyundai Merchant Marine Shipping Agency was selected as the winning bidder in October 2010.

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Port of Brisbane

The Port of Brisbane is the largest general cargo port in Queensland, Australia. It is located at the mouth of the Brisbane River, about 15 miles from the Central Business District of Brisbane, Queensland. The port is currently the fastest growing container port with 978,814 TEUs traded in 2010-11; it is the third busiest port in Australia with its total trade being 33 million tons in 2010-11.

Port of Brisbane details

The Port of Brisbane is a purpose-built 7.5km² facility and is accessed via the Moreton Bay.
General cargo berths have alongside depths of 29.52ft to 45.93ft; container berths have depths up to 45.93ft and oil berths up to 46.91ft. Grain berth is 42.65ft deep and the coal berth is 44.29ft deep.

Port of Brisbane construction

The port emerged as a main commercial centre in mid-1800s. Cairncross Dockyard was built during World War II. The industrial and port structures changed forever after the completion of two major phases of development which began in the 1960s. The first container terminal was built in 1969. The general purpose berth and terminal was opened in 2009 at an investment of A$57m. Wharf ten, a 1,220.47ft dedicated container berth, was opened in June 2009 at a cost of A$65m. Berths 11 and 12 are under construction and are scheduled for completion in 2012 and 2014 respectively. The construction contract for berths 11 and 12 was awarded to Smithbridge Australia in September 2010 and June 2011 respectively.


Facilities at the general cargo port

Most of the facilities are located at the Fisherman Islands. The port is served by 29 operating berths and more than 23,622ft of quayline. Container terminals include seven container berths with 5,905.51ft of quayline. The general cargo and motor vehicles terminal has three berths with a total length of 2,296.58ft. The terminal handles containers, break-bulk cargo, motor vehicles and other roll-on roll-off cargo. Dry-bulk terminals include a coal terminal, grain / cottonseed / sugar terminal, woodchips terminal, cement / clinker plant, general purpose wharf and general purpose berth. The Pinkenba bulk terminal, Pinkenba and Gibson Island fertiliser / chemical plant, Queensland Bulk Terminal, Bulwer Island cement / clinker plant and Hamilton wharves / Maritime wharves are located upriver. Wet-bulk terminals handle crude oil and refined products. Vegetable oils are also shipped through these terminals. Brisbane multimodal terminal (BMT) acts as an interface between the container terminals and the road and rail networks. It facilitates movement of goods and cargo in and out of the port by rail. Dry dock and ship repair facilitates are available at Forgacs Cairncross Dockyard. Wharves eight, nine and ten feature 1,796 plug points for refrigerated goods and 5,766 ground slots for dry goods. Wharf three has 15,000m² storage sheds.


Operators of the Queensland port

The Queensland Government has leased the port to PBPL for a period of 99 years.

PBPL is owned by the Q Port Holdings consortium, comprising Global Infrastructure Partners, Industry Funds Management, QIC Global Infrastructure and Tawreed Investments. As per the lease agreement, PBPL is responsible for management and development of the port and its facilities. Australian Amalgamated Terminals (AAT) operates berths one, two and three. Berths four, five, six and seven are operated by DP World Brisbane, while Berths eight, nine and ten are operated by Patrick Terminals. Berths 11 and 12 will be operated by Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH).



Equipment used

Berths one to three are equipped with a mobile harbour crane and a 66t single-lift container crane. Berths four, five, six and seven are equipped with two Super Post-Panamax twin-lift container cranes, two Post Panamax single-lift container cranes and two Panamax single-lift container cranes. Berths eight, nine and ten are served by 27 machine-controlled straddle carriers and five gantry cranes. Two of the cranes have heavy lift capacities of 40t, two are 75t and one is 80t.


Future plans for the Port of Brisbane

PBPL has drafted a future port expansion plan to add 2.3km² of port land and provide increased berth space. The reclaimed land will be filled over 15-20 years. Another project is the sand extraction project, for which approval has already been granted by the Environmental Protection Agency. A total of 15 million cubic metres of sand will be extracted from the Spitfire Channel in Moreton Bay over 15 years.

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Port of Amsterdam

The Port of Amsterdam is a tideless port located on the banks of the North Sea Canal and IJsselmeer, a shallow artificial lake located in the northwest part of the Netherlands. 

The port is connected to major international transport flows such as the North Sea, Den Helder, Markermeer, IJsselmeer and the River Rhine.

The port is the second largest in the Netherlands in terms of transshipment. It is ranked fourth among European ports. In the first half of 2011, the port handled 37.5 million tons of cargo, an increase of 5.7% compared to the first half of 2010.

The total amount of transshipment in 2010 was 72.7 million tons. A total of 198,530 sea cruise ship passengers and 264,540 river cruise ship passengers visited the Amsterdam port in 2010.

The Amsterdam port authority, as part of the local government, is responsible for operation, management and development of the whole port area.

Design of Port of Amsterdam

The Port of Amsterdam comprises 680ha of water surface and 1,960ha of land area that consists of port sites, quaysides, roads, railways and dikes. Of the total land area, 310ha is allocated for infrastructure, 1,305ha is issued for business sites and 345ha is available for rent or lease.

The port can be accessed from the sea as well as from inland waters. The sea route access is through the North Sea Canal. Oranje locks and Amsterdam Rhine canal provides access from inland waters. The maximum draught reserved to use the lock is 13.72m. The North Sea Canal is 275m wide and 20km long at the approach.

The port authority has taken various environmental measures to improve the natural environment in the port area. The Port of Amsterdam, in cooperation with Municipality of Zaanstad and Amsterdam's Department of the Environment and Buildings Inspectorate, has initiated a project called Afval = Grondstof (Waste = Raw Material).

The basic principle of this project is that residue flows and waste material produced by one company might become a source of raw material or source of energy for another company. The port provides project management, subsidy applications and location to those companies which want to exchange residue flows.

The port has also initiated the Port of Amsterdam Sustainability and Innovation Fund. For this, the authority is giving two million Euros in the form of subsidies for projects that can lead to sustainable and innovative development in the port area.

Other environmental measures include use of wind turbines for power generation, installation of shore power outlets at all public barge mooring facilities, production of energy by incineration of waste and installation and expansion of vapour recovery units in oil terminals.



Construction timeline and history

The first major development took place in the later half of 16th century and in the 17th century. The Ooster and Westerdok dikes were built in 1832 and 1834 respectively. Construction of the North Sea Canal in 1876 enabled seafaring vessels to reach the Port of Amsterdam. The first part of the West port was built in early 1930s for a Ford car factory and the first part of the Asiahaven harbour was built at the end of 1970s. The Afrikahaven harbour was opened in 2000. An all weather terminal was opened in 1998 by Waterland Terminal, a multipurpose, stevedoring and terminal operating company. The Passenger Terminal Amsterdam was opened in 1999 and Amsterdam Container Terminal became operational in 2001.


Facilities and equipment at the Port of Amsterdam

The Port of Amsterdam is a multifunctional port capable of handling, storing and shipping cargoes ranging from cocoa beans to coal, and from paper to oil. The port is served by three types of terminals for breakbulk, containers and energy. The Koopman Car Terminal has a surface area of 350,000m2. Its maximum depth is 12m and quay length is 350m. Automotive stevedore and RO/RO activities are performed here.  The Amsterdam Marine Terminal handles containers, RO/RO and general cargo. Its quay length is 210m and maximum depth is 10.5m.

The Amsterdam Container Terminal has a total surface area of 620,000m2. Its quay length is 645m and maximum depth is 15.5m. The terminal is served by five 100mt gantry cranes.  The VCK Terminal, located in Suezhaven / Beringhaven, is an all round logistic service provider. It has a total surface area of 175,000m2 and is equipped with a 55t crane. The Waterland Terminal is also located in Westhaven. Its covered surface area is 77,500m2 and open area is 110,000m2. The terminal is equipped with three gantry cranes. BP Amsterdam Terminal has a total surface area of 880,000m2 and maximum depth of 14.6m.



Operators at the major European port

The Koopman Car Terminal is operated by Koopman Logistics Group.  The Amsterdam Container Terminals / Amsterdam Marine Terminals are operated by Amsterdam Container Terminals (ACT) BV.
Some other operators operating breakbulk terminals include Ter Haak Group, VCK Group and Waterland Terminal BV.  Operators of energy terminals include Overslag Bedrijf Amsterdam, Rietlanden Terminals, Oiltanking Amsterdam, Eurotank Amsterdam, NuStar Energy, Noord Europeese Wijnopslagbedrijf (NEWOB), Vopak, Westway Terminals, Tankstorage Amsterdam Greenmills, Vesta, Icova, Nuon and Afval Energie Bedrijf.


Future plans for the Port of Amsterdam

The port authority is planning to build a new sea lock to simplify access to the port region. For this purpose, a covenant was signed by the Government of Netherlands, Province of Noord-Holland and the city of Amsterdam in November 2009. The new lock is expected to be operational by 2016.

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