A REPORT from a major intergovernmental organisation clashed with another study from a big international private shipping organisation at a Leipzig transport conference where the CEO Singapore's global port operator PSA International sought to reconcile the two hostile views.
Speaking at International Transport Forum in Leipzig, Germany, PSA International CEO Tan Chong Meng said if tiny Singapore can handle the container volumes of Antwerp, Rotterdam and Hamburg combined, then it can be done by others.
Mr Tan conceded container handling volume has grown exponentially worldwide ?increasing by about seven times in the last two and a half decades, reported Singapore's Today.
To cope with that, shipping lines have changed the size of the ships quite substantially, doubling in size every eight years, he said.
He was addressing the substance of two clashing reports at the Leipzig conference, hosted by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) unit the International Transport Forum (ITF).
The ITF report warned that the transport costs caused by the deployment of mega-ships could be substantial because of the need for investment in port infrastructure.
It also said that the cost savings were falling as ships became larger, six times smaller than the savings from the previous round of upsizing and that 60 per cent of the savings came from more efficient engines.
But the report from the the World Shipping Council, which represents 90 per cent of container shipping, defended the efficiency of larger ships, rebutting claims that they, and vessel sharing alliances were responsible for port congestion.
"There are carriers in VSAs that would simply not be able to make the investments required to serve every port they cover pursuant to VSA space-sharing arrangements if they had to serve that network with their own assets," the report said.
Singapore's Mr Tan conceded that ships were becoming bigger and the advent of "mega ships", required authorities to come up with an adequate masterplan to cover the next two decades.
That he said was the time it would take to ramp up its the necessary capacity. The recently launched Maersk Triple E class has a capacity of about 18,000 TEU. By 2018, there will be about 80 of such large-scale containerships, and about 400 ships that are 10,000 TEU and above, he said.
"But ports are built for 30 years, so there is a timing difference between the decisions on the line side and the rest of the infrastructure," he said.
"Policy makers have to have a port and city masterplan that is good enough for the next 20 years. This is because while it takes just five to eight years to upsize ships, it takes cities a decade or two and sometimes longer, to upgrade infrastructure, Mr Tan said.
Raising the question of whether the industry should moderate the increase in the number of big ships sailing around the world, Mr Tan said when the first Maersk Triple E class ships were launched, there were a lot of "congestion, confusion and an inability to operate in a smooth and seamless manner".
"We need to be able to cope with [the mega ships] and actually ensure that we are not breaking down the resilience of the rest of the trade system," he said.
PORTS
31 May 2015 - 20:25
OECD frets about mega ships, but PSA chief says: Start planning
A REPORT from a major intergovernmental organisation clashed with another study from a big international private shipping organisation at a Leipzig transport conference where the CEO Singapore's global port operator PSA International sought to reconcile the two hostile views.
PORTS
31 May 2015 - 20:25
OECD frets about mega ships, but PSA chief says: Start planning
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