Container terminals (ii). Storage systems.

A container terminal can be understood as composed of several subsystems, with physical connection and information networks of land and sea transport system.

Terminal subsystems are:

1. Loading and unloading subsystem. The maritime gateway;
2. Storage subsystem. The courtyard of the terminal;
3. Receipt and delivery subsystem. The road and ground rail doors (sometimes not available);
4. Interconnection subsystem.

Apart from these subsystems have to consider whether to locate and where to do it, these other services:

• Container freight station (CFS). This is the area dedicated to serving LCL traffic.
• Areas of customs inspection and customs.

Other things to consider:

• The location of refrigerated containers
• The attention to dangerous goods

Storage subsystem

This subsystem can be classified according to the equipment employed.

Storage on platforms

• The blocks are arranged parallel to the dock.
• The block is usually formed by two rows of platforms with their backs together.
• A typical length of block may be equivalent to a docking.

Storage by forklifts

The block is usually formed by two rows of container houses, so that the truck can access the containers by their side or at the top; and stacking 2 or 3 heights.

The blocks are available: parallel or perpendicular to the dock to it. This decision together with the other dimensions are taken to adapt to the measures available to the possibilities of the trucks, and the optimization of space and movements performed (of trucks and means of interconnection).

Storage by straddle carrier

The shape of the SC forces have separate containers stacked in rows 1.2 to 1.5 m, sufficient distance for the driver parade with their feet by the hole SC.

The SC introduced and removed containers passing blocks above the rest, so the last stack level must be unobstructed.

The SC classic stacked on two levels (2 + 1), but today are very frequent three (3 + 1) levels, indicating the last ‘+1’ which is the level overpass.

Regarding the wharf line, the orientation of the rows can be done in two ways:

• Parallel to it: the SC enters the row of a circular motion perpendicular streets;
• Perpendicular: This spring arrangement in relation patio- the SC enters and exits the row which came back down, describing a kind of pendulum.
• What corresponds to optimizing movements, perpendicular arrangement is better, but is far more prone to accidents, so it appears that most courts are organized in rows parallel to the dock.

Storage by Rubber Tyred Gantry crane (RTG)

The RTG organizes elongated rectangular blocks, of which the most common sizes are:

• Length: length similar to the length of the vessel type;
• Width: 6 Container + 1 to circulate through interconnection (sometimes the lane for interconnection is external, which forces the RTG is much wider, because the container must come and go between the two frames);
• High: 3A5 + 1. But there are some major measures RTGs.

Storage by Rail Mounted Gantry crane (RMG)

• Circular rail allows maximum stack (3, 4, 5 and up to 8 +1), and width (up to 20), therefore the system is maximization of surface, and also the one with the maximum removals – useless-for effective movement.
• The blocks are rectangular and very long.
• Communication with the interconnecting means is made

Well arranging road or on the sides of the blocks by RMG exterior overhangs, or providing a good road in the center of the block

Container terminals (i). Introduction.

Here we begin a new chapter: container terminals. The most important traffic nowadays and the type of traffic with greater improvement and best future previsions

The difference in container terminals with other port terminals is that they can achieve a high degree of systematization due to: the standardization of the item transported, the container; standardization in the form of port handling; the high level of exchanges that are required; and the significant impact that technology represents the profitability of the terminal.

First of all it is necessary to know which goods will be handled. The container can be of very different sizes and types.

The Series 1 Freight container (ISO 668) is the most widely used standard sizes. Over 95% of the world are well containers 20 ’40 well’. This defines the transport unit, the TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit)

Almost all are made of steel. Usually owned (or leased) shipping. He is handled and secured by its 8 corners with standardized slots. Traffic imbalances require moving large number of empty containers (easily 30 or 40%).

The most important types are:

Standard TEU

Medium Height

Tank

Cage

Open Side

Open Top

Flat Rack

Reefer

Traffic data

Container traffic is a growing trend in recent years. More and more goods are transported and open routes. We can see these tendencies in the following figures:

1. International maritime traffic (in millions of tons charged)

2. Tendencies in different container maritime lines (in millions of TEU transported)

3. Main maritime shipping companies.

Ro-ro terminals (iii). Beth arrangements and storage.

The existence of ramps on ships, the fact that they work with outstanding usable by customers, changes in water level (tide and others) and the ship itself (to be loaded and unloaded) single out this docking.

Ground docking types:

a) Side

b) Corner

c) Ventured

d) Protruded

e) In point

f) Stepped

Depending on sea levels and ship leveks, docking can be made directly on the dock, or through intermediate ramps.

The two basic types of mooring, as to their shape in profile is concerned, are two: fixed heel and shore ramps. Both are standardized types ISO: 6812.

For shore ramps, the definition is simple, leaving much room for the designer.

Storage ro-ro terminals

Storage platforms

• For platforms: storage is formed by blocks of tracks. The footprint is usually 16×3 m, and marked on the ground.
• Move refrigerated platforms, is required to have a special area for them (Power Team).
• The composition of tracks in the block may be of various shapes, resulting in the use of the following table  (m2 / platform):

Turning radius (m)	Area needed (m2/platform) for each design and optimum angle f
	1	2	3	4
	90°	45°	50°	45°
14	72.4	66.1	68.7	64.3
13	70.8	65.6	68.1	63.8
12	69.2	65.1	67.4	63.4
11	67.6	64.6	66.8	63.0
10	66.0	64.1	66.1	63.7

Designs:

                                         

Unregistered vehicles storage

In these terminals, often imported vehicles are carrying out value-added operations such as:

• Paraffin removal and washing
• Refinishing vehicles
• Customizing
• Minor repairs or fuel supply

To benefit the surface sometimes buildings are constructed, sometimes called ‘silos’. In this case, value-added operations are performed on the ground or in.

Ro-ro terminals (ii). Receipt and delivery.

The load flow points between which the terminal is responsible for loading:

• First Point Of Rest (FPOR) or location from which the terminal takes responsibility for the vehicle or load.
• Last Point Of Rest (LPOR) or place from which that responsibility ends

This issue is of particular interest in vehicular traffic without registering

---

In vehicular traffic without accessing road enroll

For shipping / receiving export vehicles materializes as follows:

1. They arrive at the terminal by road (rarely by rail) in large multi-transport vehicle trailers.
2. These multi platforms access a FPOR reception located near door of the terminal where park in 5x25m slots, and from where the vehicles are unloaded in a row.
3. For each platform two rows of 8 cars are expected.
4. Since this block is going after the general store moving vehicles, making room for arrivals on other platforms.

In the case of landing / import:

1. When you get to take the multi-platform destination, they are transported from the warehouse to delivery LPOR:
   • Location with a similar arrangement of the previous image.
   • Also located in the vicinity of the doors, but with a reverse to the aforementioned operation, so the muti-vehicle platforms for his departure from the terminal are loaded.
2. It could be taken into account whether this LPOR also count as FPOR, although in this case it is used only as temporary storage, as access to multi platforms is not so immediate. In general, as the uses of FPOR and LPOR not usually simultaneous, sometimes has a unique area that acts as the case with either function.

---

Railway receipt or delivery

• As for the port arrangement is usually solved by pathways that access to an area with ramps (these ramps can be transportable), which allows loading or unloading trains from behind.
• As the vehicles are not on the road yet, trains to bring vehicles to the terminal (railway receipt) have had to be loaded in own factories.
• The opposite (vehicles carried by rail –railway delivery-) is also doubtful: where are carried well? To a dry port or similar area, equipped with exchange zone?). This makes many terminals of this type (particularly those devoted exclusively to imports) do not have a railway gate.

Reception and delivery in platforms terminals

• At the door of the terminal there will be one or several booths that indicate the location of the terminal where they should deliver / collect the platform.
• To this end, if the traffic is not intense the driver goes directly to the storage area to leave-collecting platform.
• If instead it is a very heavy traffic, would provide a parking area next to the park gate where the driver / platform collects, and where you will collect / take a tractor terminal. This option is interesting if traffic is intense (and the driver enters the terminal, reducing the accident), or if the merchandise is special. In this way, the internal organization of the platforms are made by the terminal at the time deemed appropriate and not forced by the presence of the driver of the cargo; although this involves more space available, means and personnel.

Ro-ro terminals (i). Types of traffic and costumers.

Here we begin a 3 posts serie about Ro-ro terminals (Roll on-Roll off terminals). In the first of these posts we will talk about different types of traffic and costumers in a ro-ro terminal. In the second one we will talk about receipt and delivery of freight and, finally, in the third post we will talk about berth arrangements.

The ro-ro terminals according to the type of traffic are:

• Mixed-ro and passage: mixed traffic characteristic of traffic crossings to islands or straits, but also others.
• For cars without enrolling (new or used), but also sometimes trucks and tractors, buses, vans, etc … as well as lots of agricultural machinery; mining and public works. Smaller vehicles such as motorcycles or the like, their size can be transported (sometimes removed) in similar cases to the pallets, or even within containers.
• For Short Sea Traffic (SSS). This is because this type of traffic (only complete trucks or platforms, loaded or not), which is called ‘Motorways of the Sea’, is not competitive with container on long trips, defined as those exceeding one or 2 days.

Terrestrial terminal clients are:

• Trucks loaded (either the case or mixed SSS) traveling with his driver.
• Platforms traveling by sea without tractor and driver (that is if the SSS).
• Passenger cars, traveling by sea with its driver (in the case of mixed terminals).
• Vehicles without registering, who come to or leave the terminal by road, and in some cases by rail.

Source: International Shipping USA

Passengers terminal: elements and types.

In this first post about terminals for passengers we will talk about the basic elements of this terminal and the main important types of passengers terminals

Terminal elements

• Area of ​​operation. In the dock next to the ship, to serve passenger shipments, and vehicles where appropriate, in addition to the provisioning and provisioning the ship. In it are located, where appropriate, the boarding hall and distributor, as shown in the sketch; (including gateways) complex elements whose accident has required some normalization (BS, for example), and whose design influences noticeable in the esthetic values ​​of the terminal it is.
• Sea port. Building concentrating the passage for loading or unloading, and other related operations passage or these services.
• It is necessary to have an area to attend to passengers and passenger, or staff working at the maritime station.
• Area for ro. If we have a joint terminal. The organization of this is in accordance to what is said on the subject of «ro-ro terminals» with. Emphasize the desirability of separating the parking lot for cargo earlier this precise area.

Two major types of maritime station:

• Ferry Terminals

Aimed at:

 Passengers (possibly carrying his luggage, which does not generate attention)

 Vehicle passengers themselves,

 Ro merchandise.

• Terminals cruises, whose passengers often travel in much greater numbers, with lots of luggage, and require higher levels of quality of care in the previous case. Can be:

Basis port: which starts / ends the contracted journey, problematic through the baggage handling and          controls to be performed.

Port of call: intermediate crossing points with short durations of the scale, do not move with much less baggage and less control of people and goods.

Hinterland vs Foreland. Hub ports vs Gateway ports.

Hinterland

It is called hinterland to national or international region that is the origin of goods shipped in the port and destination of the goods landed in it. This is so the area of ​​influence of the port around it.

For example, the metropolitan area of ​​Barcelona and most part of Catalonia form the immediate hinterland of the port of Barcelona. Other geographic areas (Aragon, Madrid, Languedoc-Roussillon, …) are also part of this hinterland but in this case you enter in open competition with other ports (Valencia, Marseille, …). Economic power and consumption capacity of a port hinterland largely determine its ability to capture and traffic loads.

Foreland

Foreland is called a port to national or international region is the origin of goods unloaded at the port and destination of goods loaded in it. This is because the area of ​​influence of the port to which the load generated by its hinterland is directed or from which comes the goods to that hinterland. For example, the Far East, Maghreb, etc. part of the foreland of the port of Barcelona.

Hub port

Until a few decades ago it was made maritime traffic mainly from port to port: the goods were loaded at the port of origin and discharged directly into the port of destination without intermediate transshipment operations. However the search for higher levels of efficiency and growth in the size of ships has forced boost new types of operations.

Maritime hub or hub port is that port in which basically takes place the merger and distribution of cargo whose origin and destination is done outside the port hinterland. That is, it comes to ports where most of the operations performed correspond to transshipment of goods between ships, while local traffic in the port area of ​​influence is of little relevance to the former. Currently the major ocean container shipping lines use high-capacity vessels engaged a relatively small number of stops along their routes. The hub ports are strategically located along major shipping routes in performing these transfer operations.

Examples are the hub ports of Gioia Tauro (Italy), Dubai (Dubai) or Algeciras. They are located in strategic points of the route from the Far East to Northern Europe.

Gateway port

Are called gateway ports those that have large volumes of transfer but, unlike the hub ports, have a powerful economically hinterland and also generates large volumes of cargo. In general, these ports are located near industrial areas and consumption and have good road connections that allow them to act as centers of concentration and load distribution. Somehow, as the name suggests, the gateway ports are the main points of entry and exit of goods from a particular geographic region. Examples of these ports are Rotterdam (The Netherlands) or Hamburg (Germany).

Evolution of commercial (trading) ports

Ports are strategic nodes that facilitate the flow of goods in the international arena, as part of an extensive logistics network on which trade and information between points and / or distant geographical areas are established exchanges. In the port management strategic planning, marketing, logistics development and business management have made their own ways, following the same trend as other productive areas. Thus, the evolution of the ports has forced to change forms of port management, which has been divided into four levels (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation).

The ports of 1st generation had the function of transporting goods land-sea and vice versa, through a local or regional (harborside which serves as a commercial route and distribution of goods) hinterland, unrelated to the socio-economic environment of the territory where they were located.

The 2nd generation beginning to be considered as a transport hub and center of industrial and commercial activity. They continue limited services to ships and goods, but in its vicinity processing industries are installed. These are called industrial ports.

The 3rd generation incorporate logistical functions related to the distribution of goods with treatment services using information and telecommunications systems and help to generate added value.

4th generation ports go a step further and are characterized by telematic networks (communication networks using new technologies) that connect different areas and allow port collaborate with other ports, in order to internationalize and diversify. These are called network ports. These ports are integrated into the supply chains of international transport services door to door with other logistics operators working in several ports geographically close.

Thus, a 4th generation port is a major logistics platform. It offers intermodal terminals or inland ports, connected to the seaport, and is located in a FMCG environment with free rail regularly and at competitive costs, allowing the transport of large volumes of goods to the distribution chain.

Additionally, the new network economy transforms the classical approaches of port logistics chains and gives them value. In this new context there have been significant changes in port operations, reducing time for loading and unloading and transport door to door. Here, the 4th generation ports are what are networked with other ports and characterized by:

• Develop strategies of internationalization and diversification of its activities that allow, for example , the transport of goods to any place on the planet .
• Provide an organization of logistics services that make them attractive and efficient facilities for the transportation of goods.
• Have EDI networks built between the port areas (EDI).
• Search port areas distributed abroad.
• Cooperate with other port communities.

Why is port planning so important?

In my first post I said that I am going to talk about port planning and ports in general. But first, we need to know why planning is so important in the development of a port.

Ports are main entrances to a country of two kinds of ware: goods and passengers. This is, we need ways to reach the port and ways to go from it to the city (or other settlements). But the two types of ware (passengers and goods) can not be located in the same place because they need different cares. Moreover, if we need them to be separated we will need different entries. Here is where port planning is so important, we need to organize the land in order to achieve a basic goal: to separate goods and passengers (and work with them efficiently) and to make them accesible from different directions.

The most part of ports and harbors are placed at a certain distance from cities, but in other cases the port is very close to the midtown (or downtown). There are 4 items that could affect the port’s planning:

• Accessibility: Main ports need to be accesible from different directions, e.g. Valencia’s Port (Spain) has accesses from the North, West and South sides and also has rail access.

Main entrances to Valencia Port. Source: valenciaport.com

• Urban permeability: Interaction with the city (e.g. restaurants, leisure activities)
• Permitted uses: commercial, fishing and marinas.
• Placeholders: for different uses and security issues.

I hope you find my posts interesting. Feel free to comment on everything you want, I will answer them with pleasure.

These are the topics that we will talk about in following posts:

• Post #3: Evolution of commercial (trading) ports
• Post #4: Hinterland and voreland
• Post #5: Passenger terminals
• Post #6: Ro-ro terminals (i)
• Post #7: Ro-ro terminals (ii)
• Post #8: Ro-ro terminals (iii)
• Post #9: Container terminals (i)
• Post #10: Container terminals (ii)
• Post #11: Container terminals (iii)
• Post #12: Dry-bulk terminals
• Post #13: Terminals for liquid bulk

Welcome to Engineering Affairs by Jose Ferrer

Hello everybody! My name is Jose Ferrer, a Civil Engineering student in The University of Oklahoma. This blog is part of the course «CEES 5493 Transportation and Land Development» and will show interesting matters about Harbor Planning and harbors in general. I hope you enjoy it.

Welcome to Engineering Affairs

Hamburg Port. Source: cadenadesuministro.es