Containerization and Terminal Area Requirements
Containerization and Terminal Area Requirements
Containerization and Terminal Area Requirements
UDK 656.615:621.798.1
IZVORNI ZNANSTVENI RAD
Primljeno (Received): 07/2002
Assoc. Prof. Nil Güler, Ph. D.
Istanbul Technical University, Maritime Faculty
Tuzla 81716, Istanbul, Turkey
SUMMARY
Containerisation is still spreading all over the world and the containerisation requirements in the
ports had to be taken into account to meet national and international demand. Based on the present
trends, it is expected that containerisation will be between 70% - 80% of all general cargo in the
next decade.
A container terminal layout is usually based on various requirements for container storage and transfer
between ship and land feeder modes. When planning a new container terminal quite a number of
decisive factors have to be considered which again will lead to the type of handling system request-
ing appropriate and special types of equipment.
Further decision factors are the available area, the number of shipping lines to be served, access
for operational reasons and the flow of information within the port. In addition to the above basic
decisive factors, further factors are the need for handling of special containers, the market analysis
and forecasting for containerisation.
In this paper, after showing the increase in containerisation in the world and in Turkish Ports, the
planning of container terminals, the area requirements will be discussed with a special reference to
UNCTAD planning charts.
1. Introduction
After the World War II, the economies of developed countries were marked
by the progress of mass production and mass consumption centring on consumer
goods, Shipping lines were faced with an expansion of world trade together with
bottlenecks at ports (Bubeer, 1983) A system was required to accommodate the needs
given:
In comparison to world ports and the other ports in the region, port productivity
is not high especially related with container handling which is the basic function of
a port.
In many ports, container productivity is about 20-25 TEU/hour. But if this is
analysed per machine, this number becomes 15 TEU/hour/crane. The below tables
will explain this better:
* Gross productivity includes the time the machine is not working whereas net productivity
does not.
(Source: Master Plan for Turkish Ports, 2000)
* This does not include the berth where the ship crane exists.
(Source: Master Plan for Turkish Ports, 2000)
As can be understood from the above analysis, the productivity in the Turkish
ports is low in comparison with world ports. The reason for this can not only be ex-
plained with insufficient infrastructure or equipment since the operational productivity
of quay cranes is also low. One of the main reasons of this is insufficient training of
port personnel.
3. Container Logistics
a) Ship Operation: Loading and discharging of containers between the vessel and
the quayside. This is the dominant system since it ultimately determines terminal
handling rates.
b) Quay Transfer Operation: Movement between the quayside and the container yard.
It directly influences ship loading and discharging rates.
– Mainline transocean vessels 230 to 250 m. long (11,0 to 12,8 m, Draft), with a
carrying capacity of 1.800 to 4.200 TEUs,
– Mainline secondary service with 200 to 230 m. long and 10,0 to 11,2 draft vessels
with a carrying capacity of 750 to 1.800 TEUs.
– Container feeder vessels or barges, used in coastal intraport feeder service 120 m.
to 150 m. long, 7-8 draft, with a carrying capacity of 150 to 500 TEUs.
a) Container Throughput
The starting point for the planning and design of a container terminal is of
course the projected throughput of containers expected to be handled over the life
of the facility. The assessment of activity will normally be the subject of historical
trends as well as geographic, demographic, economic factors. For forecasting, the
most important technique is the multiple regression analysis model. The independent
variables of the analysis can be:
– Commodity statistics,
– GNP of hinterland,
– GNP of the region,
– GNP of the country,
– Population growth,
– Housing construction,
– Industrial production,
– Per capita income etc.
If the cargo volume is to be linked to the country’s GNP, the model can be as
below:
C = a + (b) GNP + µ .
yard layouts and paving types and has different stacking heights and aisle spacing.
Thus, to handle the same cargo, a variety of land areas could be necessary.
a) Chassis system,
b) Straddle carrier,
c) Yard gantry cranes.
c) Dwell Time: It is the average storage time of containers in the yard area, Al-
though the dwell time changes between 6-9 days on the average in many big ports
of the world, this is around 15 days in Turkish Ports (Turkish Ministry of Transport,
2000).
d) Utilisation Factor: The value of area utilisation factor will be in the range of 0,25-
0,5 for no stacking and up to about 1,0 when stacking containers two high (Frankel,
Haumb, Moe and Bratteland, 1981).
In the planning of required container area the aim is to provide space sufficient to
match the projected throughput. The required area is normally defined by the number
of ground slots which is the projected area of a standard 20 ft. container. Containers
can then be stacked one or more high on these ground slots (Drewry, 1998).
The required container terminal storage area can be computed in rough terms
as follows:
Assumptions:
1) Port equipment capacity must be enough for loading and unloading container
ships of 1600 TEU/day
2) Draught is 11 m, of the above mentioned ships,
3) Working time/berth time ratio = 0,90,
4) Average output per gantry crane: 30 TEU/hour,
5) K = Loss of output for opening and closing hatches, 5% of basic output rate,
6) Port is working 24 hours,
7) Gang work 8 hours per day,
8) Dwell time is 6
9) Standard deviationof dwell time is 0.5
1600 = 24*30*X*0,90*0,95
X = 2,593 gantry cranes/ship are needed
In this example Z is taken 0,7; U is taken 0,5 and (H + 2h) is taken 1,2. Here, the
maximum stack height is thought te be 2 and H which is between 0,5 to 0,7 of max.
stack height is taken 1,0 and the stand. deviation is assumed to be h = 0,1.
4.2. Container Terminal Planning Charts
This chart (Appendix 1) is used to determine the container storage area. For the
calculation of the storage area, the area requirement per TEU should be known which
depends on the type of container handling equipment used and stacking height. This
is shown in Table 9 (Monie, G. De,1983).
Numerical example:
Data:
Calculation:
This chart (Appendix 2) has been designed to help the planner to estimate area
requirements for the container freight station (CFS), the area used for packing and
unpacking containers. The needed data for this calculation is as follows;
Numerical Example:
Safety factor : 25 %
Volume per TEU via the CFS : 35 m3
Calculation :
5. Conclusion
a) The choice of operating methods and equipment and thus the area of land needed
depends to a high degree on the availability of local land and soil conditions.
b) If the teminal is located far from the urban centres, and if the land is inexpensive,
a system of storing containers only one high may be the most economical. For
this layout, no costly equipment is needed for stacking containers.
c) If the land is scarce and expensive, the stacking of containers as high as physical
conditions allow becomes a necessity.
d) A special attention should be given that the maximum stacking height cannot always
be attained. In reality, the average stacking height is lower than the expected.
e) There should be a sound analysis about the dwell time of containers.
f) In addition to the container storage area, and CFS areas, the terminal requires space
for marshalling areas, vehicle parking, rail and road access, customs, damaged
containers, staff, administration, maintenance and dangerous goods storage facility.
REFERENCES
Nil Güler
SAŽETAK
Kontejnerizacija se nastavlja širiti svijetom i o zahtjevima kontejnerizacije valja voditi računa radi
zadovoljavanja domaće i međunarodne potražnje. Temeljem prisutnih kretanja očekuje se da će u
narednome desetljeću kontejnerizacija obuhvatiti 70-80% od ukupnoga generalnog tereta.
Raspored kontejnerskoga terminala obično se temelji na raznim zahtjevima za skladištenjem i
premještanjem kontejnera između broda i kopnenih načina dostavljanja (feeder). Pri planiranju
novih kontejnerskih terminala nužno je razmotriti poveći broj odlučujućih činitelja koji opet vode
do sustava rukovanja teretom koji zahtijeva odgovarajuće i posebne vrste opreme.
Daljnji odlučujući činitelji uključuju raspoloživu površinu, broj brodskih linija koje treba opsluživati,
operativni pristup te tijek informacija unutar luke. Pored spomenutih temeljnih odlučujućih činitelja,
dodatnu ulogu ima potreba za rukovanjem specijalnim kontejnerima, analiza tržišta te predviđanje
kretanja kontejnerizacije.
U ovome će radu, nakon prikaza rasta kontejnerizacije u svijetu i u turskim lukama, biti riječi o
planiranju kontejnerskih terminala i prostornim potrebama uz poseban osvrt na UNCTAD-ove
planske karte.
SOMMARIO
La containerizzazione si sta ancora diffondendo in tutto il mondo e i porti ristrutturati per accogliere
i contenitori hanno dovuto conformarsi alle condizioni imposte dagli organi nazionali ed interna-
zionali. In base agli odierni orientamenti per la prossima decade si prevede una containerizzazione
del carico generale tra il 70 e l’80 per cento.
La sistemazione di un terminale contenitori di solito deve tener conto di varie esigenze per lo
stoccaggio dei contenitori ed il trasbordo tra la nave ed i “feeder” a terra. Nella progettazione di
un terminale per contenitori nuovo bisogna prendere in considerazione una molteplicità di fattori
come ad esempio il sistema di movimentazione dei contenitori e il tipo adequato e specializzato
delle attrezzature.
Altri fattori decisivi riguardano l’area disponibile, il numero delle linee marittime facenti capo allo
scalo, l’accesso al porto, il sistema di flusso di informazioni entro lo stesso porto. Oltre a ciò altri
elementi determinanti possono riguardare il maneggio di contenitori specializzati, l’analisi di mercato
e previsione di trasporto containerizzato.
Lo studio, oltre a porre l’accento sull’incremento della containerizzazione nel mondo e nei porti della
Turchia, tratta la progettazione dei terminali per contenitori, le esigenze di superficie con speciale
riferimento al quadro di progettazioni UNCTAD.