MARITIME 1
fleetMaritime: IRISH SHIPPING & FREIGHT Compiled by Howard Knott Edited by Jarlath Sweeney email: maritime@fleet.ie
Volume 7, No. 2 Summer 2012
Liebherr Container Cranea Killarney based World Leader
L
iebherr Container Cranes Ltd. recently booked an order for t wo double-sided container cranes, each capable of working two Post-Panamax containerships, and both wide enough to carry eighteen rows of containers on deck berthed on either side of a fi nger pier. Th is order came from the TCEEGE Container Terminal at the Port of Aliaga, near Izmir in Turkey. Each crane has two booms with an equal waterside reach of 50 metres and lift height is 38 metres. The cranes will be delivered from the Liebherr plant in Killarney, County Kerry in quarter three, 2012. During this year the Company plans to deliver at least twenty two cranes of similar size to Ports all around the World. The Killarney plant, hidden behind a lane of trees is located on the road out of the town towards the famous lakes and the two hotels owned and operated by the same Company. Almost six hundred people carry out a full design, build and aftersales service on those massive ship to shore gantry cranes but also on Terminal handling equipment to move the containers from truck and stacks to and from the quayside. These include Rubber Tyred Gantry units and Rail Mounted stacking units. The company’s range of straddle carriers, though designed in Killarney, is currently being built by another Liebherr owned facility: Liebherr has manufacturing units in every Continent making products ranging from avionics refrigerators and quarry equipment, though to the Tower Cranes that, until recent years, dominated many city skylines. The story of Liebherr cranes at Killarney goes back to 1958 when Hans Liebherr arrived there to set up what was the fi rst Liebherr facility outside Germany and one that would focus on the production of Tower Cranes. By 1967 the focus there shifted to the emerging container gantry
Liebherr plant entrance
crane business and in 1972 Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd. was established to specialise in the development and manufacture of rail mounted cranes. Over the ensuing forty years well over 300 such cranes have been built in Killarney with a current production rate of ever larger cranes running at over 22 units a year. On a recent visit to the Killarney plant we spoke with Garvin Cronin who explained that Liebherr has about 3 percent of the world production of such cranes in a marketplace that is dominated by Chinese manufacturers, though Liebherr product is gaining market share. He said that there are three main reasons for this. First, the Liebherr Cranes are custom built to meet the exact specifications of the buyer and his Port. He instanced a recent delivery to Southampton in which the crane legs were painted up in the colours of the local Football Club. More important is the flexibility that the custom built option allows the manufacturer to adjust the specification to the varying needs of the quays on which they will be located. The Chinese cranes are all of standard designs. The second Liebherr strength is in the level of customer service in which the manufacturer gives on-line lifetime operations service to the customer. Garvin exampled a situation
in which the Killarney based monitor would call the Port operator in Vladivostok to tell him that one of the cranes there was showing up with a lubricating oil shortage and, thus, being able to cure problems and the risk of downtime before anything went wrong. As ship sizes escalate, current crane designs have to be able to serve vessels with a capacity of up to 18,000 TEU, the Ports can ill afford to have any crane breakdowns. Unlike their competitors’ products Liebherr container cranes are delivered to customer quayside unassembled. This greatly facilitates the on-site construction and requires less heavy lift ing equipment there. The company also believes that assembly on-site ensures that the unit is completely to the customer’s requirements and that there are no surprises when the machine is activated. Operating in that way is, of course, essential given the inland location of the Killarney Plant. The pieces can be up to 51 metres long, up to 4.45 metres wide, 7 metres high and up to 100 tonnes weight. Christy Lucey Transport haul the pieces to the Port of Fenit on specialist vehicles, generally overnight and this activity can involve the taking down and reinstatement of road furniture and signs en route. Burke Shipping Group charter the vessels used on behalf of Liebherr and also undertake the Stevedoring function at Fenit. The Rail Mounted stacking units which are of a similar size to the container cranes, and the slightly smaller Rubber tyred Gantry units are also shipped this manner. The Liebherr business remains in family ownership, operating under the control of founder, Hans Liebherr’s daughters. The Company is completely confident of its future prospects in the container crane business and the Killarney plant is, in fact, actively engaged in an expansion plan to facilitate the building of more and even larger cranes.
Winner of Women in Transport Fleet Award 2012
E bookings@derrybros.com T 0044 28 87784949 www.derrybros.com
FREIGHT FERRY SERVICES 40 FLEETMARITIME | SUMMER 12
FLEETTRANSPORT | DEC 10/JAN 11 63
MARITIME 11
Seatruck – much done, more to do
O
n 23 March Lynn McBurney, wife of McBurney Transport’s founder, Norman McBurney formally launched the ‘Seatruck Precision’, the last of four sister ships built for the Irish Sea carrier at the FSG Flensburg Yard. This yard has earlier completed a series of similar but larger vessels for CLdN, the Cobelfret Company. ‘Seatruck Precision’ will join her three sisters on Seatruck’s unaccompanied freight routes on the Irish Sea in June, the first two of these 151 trailer capacity vessels now operate the lines. Dublin to Liverpool route while the third sister has taken over operations on the Dublin to Heysham route. The owners claim that the new vessels give fuel efficiency benefits of 30% compared to previous designs. Speaking at the ‘Seatruck Precision’ launch, Alistair Eagles, Managing Director for Seatruck’s Irish Sea division said, “Our new FSG vessels are the key to Seatruck’s continued progress on the Irish Sea. Our unaccompanied trailer model continues to gain ground. With some months of operational experience with the new vessels now in hand I can say that we are extremely pleased with them.” Seatruck is the ferry division of the Copenhagen based, Clipper Group which is a major global operator in bulk and tanker trades. It recently sold out its 10% shareholding in the DFDS Group. DFDS recently announced its plans for active involvement in English Channel routes – see story below?
Seatruck terminal on the City side of the Mersey. This will consolidate Seatruck’s position in Liverpool operating two daily services each to Dublin and Belfast. It will also place Seatruck into head to head competition with the revamped Sealink service linking Belfast and Birkenhead, though that service does focus strongly on driver accompanied traffic and passenger business. The arrival of the new quartet of vessels enables Seatruck to move its four to five year old, Spanish built quartet to its routes from Northern Ireland and, in turn, displace their original series of vessels which have half the capacity of the current new buildings. These vessels have been chartered to, amongst others, the Scottish Northlink operating services from the mainland to Shetland.
Speaking to ‘Fleet Maritime’ at the recent Multimodal 2012 exhibition in Birmingham, Raymond Bell, Operations Manager at Woodside Distribution said that the switch of the Seatruck service from Larne to Belfast will greatly improve the attractiveness of the service.
The Line’s recently established Larne – Heysham route has proven to be very successful and, thus, the decision was taken to displace the smaller ‘Arrow’ and ‘Ranger’ with two of the larger vessels. This has led the line to switch its Northern Ireland Port from Larne to Belfast as the P&O Line owned Port could not handle the larger vessels without having to make considerable investment in linkspan facilities. The switch to the Belfast Albert Quay terminal close to the City centre was made on 7 May but the new vessels will not be deployed for some months.
Elsewhere, concerns have been expressed that new regulations proposed by the Port of Heysham Authority on restrictions on under-keel clearance of vessels using the approach channel under certain tidal and wind conditions could lead to the use of tug assistance or, possibly, denial of entry to the Port. The publication ‘Ferry and Cruise Review’ reports that this has become a major issue for the Port’s other main ferry customer the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. It has now advised the Port that it may have to switch to Liverpool also as sourcing vessels that meet the new requirements at Heysham will be too difficult. Both Heysham and Liverpool are owned by Peel Ports Plc.
Seatruck intends then to switch the English destination to Liverpool, operating from the
Capt. Michael McCarthy takes chair at Cruise Europe
C
aptain M ichael McCarthy, Commercial Manager at the Port of Cork Company has been elected to the chair of the ‘Cruise Europe’. The organisation’s vision is ”To deliver to the cruise companies a world class cruise destination on behalf of our members.” Between 2005 and 2010 there has been an increase of 84% in the economic impact of the European Cruise Industry, bringing the total contribution to €35 billion. The Group estimates that there are, on average, over 200 cruise calls to Ireland each year with about half a million passengers and crew
aboard, generating about €60 million to the island of Ireland.
keeping costs tightly under control, particularly as the lines adapt to the ECA (Emissions Control Area) regulations in force from 2015.”
Speaking at the Group’s 2012 Conference Michael McCarthy said: “One of Ireland’s advantages is the strategic and geographic spread of its numerous Ports, many of which are in close proximity to world class tourism destinations”. He continued, “The cruise industry as a whole faces major challenges and it is vital that Cruise Europe members support the cruise lines through effective communications and develop an outstanding service while
It is estimated that these regulations will result in fuel cost increases for lines operating in the English Channel and the North Sea by over 50% and above the likely escalation of oil costs. Speaking with ‘Fleet Maritime’ Captain McCarthy said that he saw some opportunities for Cork, Dublin and other Irish Ports to operate in a new business model in which vessels would be based at those Ports for the season and passengers would join and leave the vessels there flying in to Irish Airports from Europe and North America. The Port of Cork’s Cruise facilities at Cobh and at Ringaskiddy enable it to handle the largest Cruise vessels afloat whereas other Irish Ports are limited.
Winner of Women in Transport Fleet Award 2012
E bookings@derrybros.com T 0044 28 87784949 www.derrybros.com
IRISH SEA ROUTES FLEETMARITIME | SUMMER 12 41
MARITIME 111
Tall Ships to return to Dublin after 14 years Volume 5, No. 4 Winter 2010
I
n July Galway will host the finish of the Volvo Round the World Ocean Race while six weeks later Dublin will welcome the fi nish of the Tall Ships Race 2012. Th is race, which is presented by the Port of Szczecin and organised by Sail Training International, kicks off at St. Malo in Brittany on Sunday, 8 July with the fleet sailing from there to Lisbon, from there to Cadiz in Spain and on to La Coruna. After a three day stop, the fleet sets sail on 13 August for Dublin for the fi nal leg, expecting to reach the Port by 23 August following a ten day adventure crossing the Bay of Biscay.
1.7 million tourists through the ferry companies operating at the Port as well as an additional 130,000 tourists and crew from the 85 Cruise ships that call here.”
Speaking at the launch event for the Dublin Festival Event, Lord Mayor, Andrew Montague commented, “I am delighted to be a part of the launch of the Tall Ships 2012 Dublin, the city’s most anticipated event of the year, where Dublin can expect to see up to one million visitors with a majestic fleet of ships and 3,000 crew attending the event.” Eamonn O’Reilly, CEO of Dublin Port Company, also at the launch event in the CHQ Building, a building that will have a central role in the festivities said, “We are delighted to welcome the Tall Ships Races to Dublin Port. Dublin Port is Ireland’s premier Port and handles 50% of all Ireland’s imports and exports, making it a significant facilitator of Ireland’s economy. The Port also welcomes
Speaking to ‘Fleet Maritime’ Dublin Port Head of Operations, Seamus McLoughlin confi rmed that, despite the coming and going of more than sixty Tall Ships which will be moored alongside the Quays all the way from the Point Village (O2) to the Customs House, on both sides of the river as well as in the Grand Canal Basin, there will be no disruption to the Port’s everyday business activity. The fact that the Dublin Port Tunnel is now operational means that traffic problems experienced during the previous Tall Ships event will not be repeated. Tom Conway of Leinster Shipping Agencies, who is contracted to look after all the needs of the vessel and crew on one of the largest vessels in the fleet said that he had fulfilled a similar role at last year’s call to Waterford and
was looking forward hugely to the fleet coming to his native Dublin. Also at the launch was Peter Cardy, the CEO of Sail Training International. In conversation he chose to emphasise the huge benefit that the crew members, mainly teenagers with no maritime experience, derive from participation in such an event and, particularly, how it can build self-confidence. He said that the whole business of sail training had suffered a dip when the economic Tsunami struck and many countries sought to reduce their fi nancial exposure. However, there has, over the last couple of years, been a re-alignment of the management of the ships and programmes that enable the sail training activity to move forward again, but in a more cost-effective manner. After the Dublin Race fi nale a number of the vessels will participate in the inaugural Irish Sea Tall Ships Regatta. They will race from Dublin to Liverpool, but the course will include a number of waypoints that will have them crisscrossing one another as they go adding to the challenge and excitement. A number of the smaller vessels may also extend their Irish stay, moving across the bay to Dun Laoghaire. For full information on the Dublin Tall Ships event log on to: www.dublintallships.ie
Competition heats up on and under the English Channel
S
ince 27 April, the DFDS Seaways, LD Lines joint venture service operating between Dover and Calais, offers ten sailings a day in each direction, following the introduction of the ferry ‘Barfleur’ chartered from Brittany Ferries. P&O Ferries has reduced its vessels on the route from seven to five, following the introduction of ‘Spirit of France’ in February. The two services combined with the DFDS Seaways, Dover to Dunkirk service offer about eighty million lane metres annual capacity.
In spite of the new ferry competition, but in the absence of competition from SeaFrance, Eurotunnel reports a 21% increase in shutt le traffic over the first three months of 2012 reaching 365,000 units, while estimating that the overall market grew by three per cent in the period. Over the same period rail freight volumes through the tunnel grew by 2% to 313,000 tonnes. At the time of writing, tenders are being considered by the liquidator for three of the former SeaFrance ferries and there is industry uncertainty about their future deployment. Th is has been heightened by the announcement on 27 March by DFDS Seaways and LD Lines of the extension of their co-operation through sett ing up a new company combining DFDS Channel operations and LD Lines’ ferry operations. The new company will be 82% DFDS owned and will take over the operations from 1st July 2012. The routes affected are: - Dover – Dunkirk, Dover
– Calais, Portsmouth- Le Havre, Newhaven – Dieppe, and Marseille – Tunis. The only LD Line route not affected is the EU backed Nantes – Gijon route. DFDS Group comments that the new company expands DFDS’ route network in line with the DFDS strategy of creating European shipping and logistics network. In order to boost Irish originating and destined traffic levels on this network, DFDS Seaways has recruited Declan Cleary who joins as Sales Manager Ireland. Declan has held similar posts previously with Norfolk Lines and previously P&O.
Winner of Women in Transport Fleet Award 2012
E bookings@derrybros.com T 0044 28 87784949 www.derrybros.com
EUROPEAN ROUTES 42 FLEETMARITIME | SUMMER 12
MARITIME 1V imon Moore, CEO of theEuropean London promoters estimate that 65 million road miles a - by serving the English South-East. Shortsea ’12 Convention acompanies’ Great Success
SC
Gateway Port project has announced year will be saved through the use of this facility ommenting afterplans the event held that the company to open Dublin’s Mansion Houseaon9 the newinfacility which includes Glenn Murphy, million 24 sq. May, ft . Logistics Park inCEO the of thequarter Irish Maritime Development fi nal of 2013. Th e deepwater Offi (IMDO) that the feedback portce, will have ansaid initial capacity of 1.6 from delegates was very million TEU’s.inItatt is endance located some 25 positive, there wasTh plenty foodwall for miles eastthat of London. e newof quay thought and that certainly some new and will extend about 400 metres further potentially fruitful newestuary relationships out into the Thames thanwere did formed. The IMDO had the previous terminal onorganised the site. the event in conjunction with the Coastlink The London Gateway LogisticsDavid Park Organisation and its Chairman, Cheslin was also very positive, not just from an Irish perspective but for taking the discussion on many topics into new areas. The majority of delegates came from the Shipping and Ports sectors, though Insurance, Forwarding and Leo Varadkar, T.D. Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport organisations such as the Commissioners of Irish Lights.
domestic market are similar to those in Britain. While all markets are very sensitive to weather this is particularly the case for the more local ones and Paddy went on to say that, depending on demand, anything between 40 and 150 trucks could leave the Clonmel plant on a single day. This puts hauliers under considerable stress not just to source sufficient equipment, trucks, trailers and containers, secure bookings on ferries etc. but also to be able to operate in a profitable way as the backload business continues to dry up. The major seasonal volumes also cause problems for other exporting companies seeking to use the same pool of transport for their exports.
The Irish equipment shortage was addressed by a number of other speakers The Opening Keynote address was and the final speaker of the day, Stephen delivered by Leo Varadkar, T.D. Minister Carr, Head of Business Development at for Transport, Tourism and Sport. Prior to Mersey Ports wondered if there would be the event there had been rumours that the merit in looking into making some plan that Minister would use this event to formally would allow Irish exporters access to some launch the new Government policy on of the 75,000 empty containers shipped out Ports in Ireland but he did not do so. What of Liverpool each year. These are sent back the Minister said in this context was:”I am to Rotterdam, in the main before being committed to the publication of a new Ports shipped back to Ireland or Scotland while policy this year. It is crucial that Ireland’s others are put onto Deep Sea vessels. The commercial Ports continue to provide the IMDO and the Irish Exporters Association best possible service to the economy at (IEA) have undertaken to work along with large, as it returns to growth”. the shipping lines concerned and the Ports to examine how this equipment resource He continued, “The existing structure Glenn Murphy, CEO of the Irish Maritime Development Office, (IMDO) could be used to further drive Irish exports, treats our nine Port companies as though particularly to overseas markets where they were the same size, scale and have there is a strong demand for product and the same role to play, which is clearly not the for container equipment for use for their exports case. The circumstances in each Port are quite Opening the first working session of the Convention, to Europe. different and need to be dealt with on a case by Glenn Murphy spoke about the first quarter 2012 case basis. Ports serving different markets have shipping figures which showed a decline in traffic different potential and different futures”. Speaking through Irish Ports in all sectors except liquid bulk Among the other speakers was Trevor Crowe of with senior figures from a number of Irish Ports cargoes such as oil products. He highlighted the Clarkson Research who expressed concern that the attending the event, this view was echoed and a drop of 2% in containerised imports during the demise of certain tax based banking arrangements number of Port Companies are actively engaged quarter, the 17th consecutive quarter of reducing in Germany would lead to a serious further decline through the development of master plans and other volumes. This has led to shipping and logistics firms in the building of smaller, 1000 TEU type container more specific development proposals to secure strategically importing more empty containers to ships, which are the mainstay of the Irish container their future within the parameters set out by the address the reduction of laden imports and to meet business. Mark Boulton, Business Development Minister and in close liaison with Regional and the needs of the growing export sector. Manager at Norbert Dentressangle, following other Authorities. that company’s takeover of TDG, spoke about the This theme of a shortage of suitable export Company’s “green” mission and his hope that they Minister Varadkar also confirmed that the equipment was taken up by Paddy Cummins, would introduce their first hybrid truck to Ireland Department was committed to the retention of Operations Manager at the C & C Group. The shortly (as per the UK). the advantageous Tonnage Tax scheme in Ireland. Group’s main volume focus is on the Magner’s Cider He said: “Since the introduction of the Tonnage tax brand which is now exported to global markets scheme in 2002, we have seen a tenfold increase with shipments to North America alone of over Many of the delegates stayed over in Dublin that in the number of ships owned, managed and 500 containers a year and delivering over 4500 night and went on a tour by boat of Dublin port the operated in Ireland, directly creating new jobs trailers annually to Great Britain and a another following morning. The Port Company was the and investment”. 260 to Northern Ireland. The volumes in the main corporate sponsor of the Convention. Winner of Women in Transport Fleet Award 2012
E bookings@derrybros.com T 0044 28 87784949 www.derrybros.com
AN ESSENTIAL PART OF YOUR TEAM FLEETMARITIME | SUMMER 12 43