THAILAND TO INVEST BILLIONS IN PORT SECTOR BRIEFS

NSW Ports has unveiled plans for a large-scale port facility at Port Kembla’s Outer Harbour, in the Illawarra, to support offshore wind development projects. NSW Ports holds the long-term leases for Port Kembla and Port Botany. Marika Calfas, CEO, Port Kembla, notes the project is to support the State’s growing renewable energy demand and will capitalise on the port’s favourable location.

Mace ABP Wins

The consultancy arm of Mace has secured a number of new contracts with Associated British Ports (ABP). Mace will provide a range of professional port services across the ABP portfolio, including project management and support, cost advisory and site supervision covering the ports of Immingham, Southampton, Lowestoft and Plymouth, as well as a further project in Newport in Wales.

Singapore & Vietnam Ties

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and the Vietnam Maritime Administration (Vinamarine) have confirmed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance maritime and port cooperation between Singapore and Vietnam. The MPA notes that the deal will explore areas of collaboration and exchange views covering diverse subjects including maritime digitalisation, port state control inspection, the training of personnel and green shipping initiatives, and generally promoting safe, secure, clean and efficient shipping.

The Government of Thailand has announced it will spend US$15bn on transport infrastructure in a bid to boost national economic growth.

Approximately US$3bn has been allocated to upgrade Laem Chabang port, with the aim of increasing the country’s import and export cargo handling capacity. Part of the initiative is to turn the port into a smart port with seamless intermodal and rail links.

Presently, approximately 88 per cent of transport with the port is via the road system and 9.5 per cent by rail. The freight rail hub within the planned expansion works, called the single rail transfer operator (SRTO), aims to increase the handling capacity of rail transport from 500,000TEU to two million TEU per year. It is estimated that this will lift the proportion of container traffic moved by rail to around 30 per cent of volume.

Around 70 per cent of Laem Chabang container port volumes involve the Intra-Asian trades.

There is also a plan to construct an automated container terminal at the Port of Bangkok’s West Quay and to develop 29 public terminals on the Chao Phraya River.

“The Thai government is currently promoting several large-scale water transport projects, including an industrial port development project in the

Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) district,” the Prime Minister’s office confirmed in an official statement, explaining that developing Thailand’s waterway transportation network will help boost international trade with Southeast Asian locations.

Portsmouth Pilots A New Smart Energy System

Portsmouth International Port is piloting a new smart energy system as part of its strategy to significantly decarbonise operations at the port and further afield.

The port, located on the south Coast of England, is working with Swanbarton, ESC and MSE International on an initiative that has been dubbed the Port Energy Systems Optimisation (PESO) project.It employs smart grid technology and energy storage to reduce the adverse impact of ports on air quality.

The PESO system involves using a dual chemistry battery and a multi-level control system that utilises AI-based capabilities. The control system learns from historic energy consumption profiles to ensure that the battery can deliver as much stored energy as possible when demand is high. A predictive ‘digital twin’ model boosts the storage capacity of the battery to fully use energy generated by on-site renewable generation procured from the power grid when prices are lower.

This project is co-funded by Innovate UK, an agency that works to show how port infrastructure can meet the UK Government’s ‘Clean Maritime Plan.’

The partners in the project maintain that most ports will contract with a third party provider to build and operate the PESO system, with the first locations expected to be where ships are obligated to utilise shore-based power to comply with policy developments in air quality and carbon emissions.

“Terminals and recharging sites will be required and PESO has a critical role to play in minimising costly impacts on the local grid. It will do this by smoothing the power demand of the recharging sites and by prioritising as much power draw as possible at times of excess capacity in the grid (e.g. at night). The energy stored in PESO can then be made available to vessels when needed,” explains Portsmouth International Port, adding that the consortium partners are expecting to advance the commercial deployment of the PESO concept during 2023.

Mike Sellers, Port Director, Portsmouth International Port, highlights the port’s objectives in more detail: “Our aim is to turn the port into a living laboratory of green technology. We were delighted to collaborate with partners on the PESO project, which has so much potential for the wider ports and shipping industry. Combined with other sustainability initiatives, the findings from the PESO project will help us achieve our ambition of reaching net-carbon zero by 2030, and becoming one of the UK’s first zero emission ports by 2050,”