В статье рассматривается состояние и перспективы контейнерного бизнеса в некоторых портах Черноморского региона, таких как: Констанца, Новороссийск, Одесса, Батуми. Особенное внимание автор уделил планам инвестирования модернизации украинских портов, а также правовым аспектам модернизации портового хозяйства Украины в свете Закона “О морских портах Украины”.
In Ukraine, plans have been announced to invest € 20bn (US$ 25bn) in the modernisation of the country’s ports over the next ten years, according to deputy infrastructure minister Borys Kolesnikov. Significantly, where possible, all new equipment is to be sourced from Ukrainian companies.
This follows an announcement on June 13 this year that a new law on the Seaports of Ukraine had been adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, the country’s parliament, that will enable port infrastructure to be privatised, although this will exclude “strategic facilities”. On offer is state-owned property, including premises currently under state ownership and also shares held in public joint stock companies.
Curiously, Ukrainian president Victor Yanukovych had previously vetoed an earlier version of the same legislation, following some ten years of debate. He claimed that the draft had been “far from ideal” and therefore needed reworking, while pointing out that effective privatisation of the ports industry had already occurred, since the majority of port services were being provided by private companies.
In Russia, the board of directors of JSC Novoroslesexport (NLE) has approved a project to increase the capacity of its container terminal at the Port of Novorossiysk by 159% to 700,000 teu. The expansion is needed as the existing facility is already working at maximum capacity, and in 2011 reported throughput of 270,000 teu.
It has also been rumoured that Russia’s Finance Ministry has appointed Morgan Stanley to dispose of the 25% stake that the state still holds in OAO Novorossiysk Commercial Seaport (NCSP). The ministry is particularly keen to restrict Summa Capital and OAO Transneft (TRNPF), the current majority shareholders, from increasing their own stakes, to avoid the “monopolisation of corporate governance”.
Constanta counts the cost
In Romania, there was good growth in 2011 and this was very much reflected at the country’s main port, Constanta, which reported throughput of 662,796 teu. This compared with 556,694 teu in 2010 but was still far from the heady days of 2007, when throughput exceeded 1.4m teu.
Early on in its development, Constanta was very much seen as the transhipment gateway
for the Black Sea. However, times have changed quite significantly as traffic patterns in the region have evolved. As a result, in 2011 almost three-quarters of the volumes handled at the port consisted of local import and export containers, with the remaining quarter being transhipment.
DP World, which handles the majority of boxes, reported a “good recovery” in volumes at its container terminal, especially in local traffic. “We see this as a healthy indicator of the Romanian economy and as a more reliable source of throughput, since transhipment volumes can fluctuate significantly,” noted DP World Constanta’s managing director, Edi Cioran.
He pointed out that with the global economic downturn shipping industry dynamics changed significantly. Many shipping lines altered their service routes in search of cost-efficient logistic solutions in order to overcome huge drops in their volumes. A number of direct services from the Far East into the Black Sea region were cancelled, negatively affecting transhipment volumes. Despite that, transhipment and origin and destination cargo have both subsequently increased.
“Notwithstanding these changes, at DP World Constanta we pride ourselves on successfully handling the largest vessels operated in the Black Sea, which can have a capacity of 8,063 teu. The average capacity of vessels calling, however, is around 6,000 teu,” said Cioran, adding that berth productivity varied significantly, depending on its customers’ requirements.
It may well be that productivity plays an important role in the future development of container terminals in the region, where operators in both Ukraine and Russia are modernising, trying to attract both transhipment and import/export business.
Asked whether DP World Constanta was worried that it might lose business to ports such as Odessa or Novorossiysk, Cioran stressed that, despite the somewhat volatile nature of transhipment cargo, it continued to be part of the terminal’s business. Indeed, it comes as part of the overall mix, since ships need to call at the port anyway with origin and destination cargo.
“As per DP World’s global approach, our focus in Constanta is on local and hinterland cargo, as origin and destination cargo supports long-term sustainable growth,” he said.
With this increased focus on import/export traffic, Cioran noted that the hinterland remains primarily served by road, despite a steadily increasing trend towards greater use of rail and, to a lesser degree, inland barge.
“We would like to see this order reversed, for obvious environmental reasons, and are pleased to see that the change in modal split is heading in the right direction,” he said.
Growth at Batumi
Four years ago, ICTSI commenced operations at Batumi International Container Terminal (BICT), which was at that time only a minor player in Georgia’s container-handling sector. Since then, the company has grown the business and now claims a 20% local market share for box traffic.
“With only one other major port handling containers in Georgia, we felt that it would be a good time to develop a container terminal here, especially given the growth this country was experiencing,” said BICT’s general manager, Aurelio Garcia.
Among the improvements that the Manila-based operator has brought has been the addition of significant new handling equipment, consisting of two mobile harbour cranes (MHCs), two full container handlers, two empty handlers, additional FLTs and other related equipment that was not previously available in the port for container duties.
A new terminal operating system (TOS) has also been introduced, with vessel and yard planning modules currently in use. “These elements, combined with our 24 years of handling boxes around the globe, have resulted in the complete modernisation of container handling in Georgia,” said Garcia.
In 2011, throughput amounted to 45,442 teu, which was a 179% increase over the 16,318 teu reported in 2010. Although ICTSI does not reveal traffic forecasts, it says that it is seeing strong local growth in Georgia itself, with emerging demand also coming from Armenia and Azerbaijan.
All quayside lift is nowadays provided by the new MHCs, which are able to achieve gross productivity of 19-22 moves per crane hour, with overall berth productivity in the region of 35 moves. At present, the terminal can handle ships of up to 2,500 teu, although Garcia says that there is every possibility that larger vessels will be deployed in the future, given current throughput growth.
“ICTSI, together with Batumi Sea Port, has plans to rehabilitate the berth and fairways to this end,” said Garcia, adding that the existing draught of 10.5 m was more than enough for the size of the ships calling today. Yard stacking at Batumi is handled by reachstackers, although development plans call for the eventual use of RTGs, depending on teu volumes approaching certain levels.
BICT’s hinterland encompasses Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. There are rail facilities at the terminal, with around 5% of throughput this year being delivered or received via rail, compared with less than 1 % in 2011.
Автор: Juan Ferrer
Источник: Container Management. – 2012. – September/October. – P. 50 -51.