Tacoma digs deeper for new vessels
THE US port of Tacoma is gearing up to ensure its channels are deep and wide enough to take the new generation of post-Panamax vessels.
They are so named because they have too much beam to pass through the Panama Canal.
According to Pacific Gateway, a publication of the port of Tacoma, more shipping lines were concluding that bigger vessels were better, providing faster, more efficient and more cost effective services.
With the development of the larger vessels, more companies are ordering ships capable of carrying about 25 per cent more cargo than their predecessors.
To accommodate the vessels, Tacoma and other ports are improving their channels, and designing new terminals with cranes large enough to reach across the vessels and shore-side operations efficient enough to handle the larger loads.
Dredging now underway on Tacoma's Blair Waterway will enable the port to accommodate post-Panamax ships at terminals on both sides of the waterway, with plenty of room for a third to pass between them.
''The future Blair Terminal by itself could handle almost the equivalent of what we are handling now in the entire port,'' said Paul Chilcote, Port of Tacoma senior director for planning and budget.
At present, the port moves about 1.1 million 20 ft equivalent units (TEUs) each year. The new terminal, according to Mr Chilcote, could accommodate 800,000 TEUs.
Feasibility studies of container facilities at the Blair and Pierce County terminals on the Blair Waterway show that these would be ideal sites.
The terminal layout, Mr Chilcote explained, would be linear rather than box-like, giving exceptional rail access.
''There are some real advantages, because we could lay trains out in long lengths, rather than breaking them up,'' he said.
Also through the feasibility study, the port learned that the terminal could be substantially enlarged if the road behind it was elevated, providing access to extra land.
The Maersk, Evergreen and Husky terminals already have enough depth to accommodate the new ships, and after the present dredging project, the Sea-Land Terminal also will be deep enough to handle them.
Finn Wollebek, the port's senior director for marketing and trade, said shipping lines are learning that big vessels produce economies of scale.
''They have fuel and fixed costs of running the ships,'' he said. ''So the more boxes they can put on the ships, the cheaper it is per box.'' Ship construction technology also has improved, allowing yards to build vessels that can handle the added weight.
''You are looking at a ship carrying 4,000 to 5,000 TEUs that can cruise at 24 to 25 knots,'' Mr Wollebek said.
Use of the big ships in the Pacific trade also plays to the rail strategy of Tacoma and other West Coast ports.
About 80 per cent of cargo moving between Asia and the eastern US is landed on the West Coast and forwarded to its destination by rail. The remainder goes through the Panama Canal.
Since the big ships now entering the Pacific trade are too big for the canal, the West Coast's share of that cargo could grow even larger.
Maersk and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines are among Tacoma port customers to have ordered post-Panamax ships.
''It is pretty clear that these vessels are coming in full force,'' Mr Wollebek said.
