Twenty-foot Equivalent Units Research Articles

Chennai Port: -An ISO 14001: 2004 Certified Port

Chennai Port established in 1639, is the gateway port of India's eastern coast and is the 2nd largest port in terms of cargo handled. It has a channel length of 7 kilometers, harbor length of 5.5 kilometers, and advantage of having a deep draft of 16 meters allowing it to handle large vessels. The Port handles a variety of cargo including containers, automobile exports, POL, coal, fertilizers and general cargo items. It has infrastructure facilities of container terminal, oil terminals, RORO terminal and bulk container handling terminal for handling a variety of cargo. The Port has a large hinterland consisting of the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Pondicherry. The Port has very good opportunities due to India's growing international trade and the large hinterland serviced by it. The government of India plans to develop Chennai Port for a greater role in India's Maritime trade. The study measures the growth of container traffic in TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit) during the selected time period 1994–95 to 2014–15 and also find out the impact of container traffic handled by Chennai port on the development of the state. For measuring the growth of container traffic, we incorporate the time trend analysis of container traffic handled by Chennai port during the specified time period. Similarly, to measure the impact of container traffic handled by Chennai port on state development, we consider regression analysis. The study also incorporates SWOT analysis of the Chennai Port.

Strategic and Operational Plan Implementation of Seaports (Utilization Jeddah Port)

The Port of Jeddah (Port) released the initial version of this Strategic Plan in 2006. It was developed by Port staff, along with input, as a five-year rolling plan designed to guide the Port's future development while keeping in mind the needs of our tenants, local community members and stakeholders, and the nation. This is the second update to the Strategic Plan since its initial release. While the Port's overarching principles -- commitment to environmental stewardship, addressing tenant needs, goods movement, economic development, and security --have remained largely unchanged, it is important for us to adapt our strategies to meet the challenges of an ever changing local and global environment. The Port is among the world's premier ports and is a critical hub for global trade. This prominence brings with it responsibilities and expectations for the highest possible standards for efficiency, safety and security, and environmental leadership. The Port is the nation's busiest container port and part of the world's busiest port complex, handling 3.7 million twenty-foot equivalent units in 2013. Global trade and goods movement is Western kingdom of Saudi Arabia's strongest industries in terms of jobs and economic activity. The Port of Jeddah powers these industries, handling almost more than a quarter of the cargo that enters the kingdom of Saudi Arabia annually. Through the Port's activities, a lot of jobs are created in western kingdom of Saudi Arabia and over five hundred thousand nationwide. In order to maintain our position among the world the kingdom of Saudi Arabia premier ports, the Port is continually addressing the demands for providing modern and efficient cargo handling terminals as well as transportation and infrastructure projects. Protecting one of the nation's most vital economic hubs is also an ongoing challenge. Finally, promoting a sustainable grow green philosophy and ensuring that we are the leader among ports in promoting environmental stewardship is a strategic objective of the Port. A strategic plan is a management tool used to improve the performance of an organization and outlines the organization's direction and priorities. This plan identifies the Port's twelve strategic objectives for the next five years. Each of the objectives identifies a series of an act or strategy intended to resolve a difficulty or improve a situation; a fresh approach to something that the Port will undertake to accomplish that objective. While these objectives are organization-focused and require the coordination of resources throughout the Port, each one will be championed by a bureau, and the divisions within that bureau, as this paper will contain.

Comparison of fully coupled hydroelastic computation and segmented model test results for slamming and whipping loads

This paper presents a numerical analysis of slamming and whipping using a fully coupled hydroelastic model. The coupled model uses a 3-D Rankine panel method, a 1-D or 3-D finite element method, and a 2-D Generalized Wagner Model (GWM), which are strongly coupled in time domain. First, the GWM is validated against results of a free drop test of wedges. Second, the fully coupled method is validated against model test results for a 10,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containership. Slamming pressures and whipping responses to regular waves are compared. A spatial distribution of local slamming forces is measured using 14 force sensors in the model test, and it is compared with the integration of the pressure distribution by the computation. Furthermore, the pressure is decomposed into the added mass, impact, and hydrostatic components, in the computational results. The validity and characteristics of the numerical model are discussed.

City profile: Ningbo

Ningbo is located in the south-east of Yangtze River Delta by the East China Sea, 220km south of Shanghai. The city has been an important port in East China for foreign trade since 7th century. Since 1980s, encouraged by China’s economic “open-door” policy, one of the ways the city attracted foreign investment and thus grew its economy was by establishing multi-functional economic development zones near its deep-water port. As a result, Ningbo is now one of the top ten coastal ports in the world (as measured in Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units, TEUs). Similarly, the city’s GDP per capita is approximately three times the national average.The current and historic prosperity of Ningbo is in no small way related to its geographical position, just 20km inland from the Hangzhou estuary and the gateway to the East China Sea. It is also the approximate centre of a 1000km2 coastal plain, at the confluence of the Fenghua and Yao Rivers, and from where the Yong River leads to the sea. However, also a result of this geographic location the city is now facing an increasing risk of coastal flooding caused by increase in urban area; climate change (increased rainfall intensity); and predicted sea-level rise. As a result both water management and current flood management practice (and related infrastructure) are under scrutiny. In addition to describing the evolution of the city, this paper focuses on the implication of current planning practices in Ningbo, which aim to ensure the sustainable development of the city both in terms of its natural resources and its expected rate of economic growth.

Economic analysis of trans-ocean LNG-fueled container ship

This paper proposes concepts and economic analysis of 9,300 TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) trans-ocean container ship fueled by LNG, sailing between Asia and Europe, based on the design of existing container ship fueled by bunker oil. For a quantitative comparison, three projects complying with IMO Tier III NO x emission regulation are made: oil-fueled ship with selective catalystic reduction (SCR), LNG-fueled ship with low-speed diesel engine directly coupled to the propulsion system, and LNG-fueled ship with medium-speed diesel electrical propulsion system. Moreover, parameters for the economic analysis study are evaluated by the market research and the general information: initial shipbuilding cost, freight revenue, operation expenditure, and fuel cost. Economic analysis by discount cash flow method shows that the project of LNG low-speed diesel ship is more attractive investment than the project of the oil-fueled ship with SCR. Supposing that life time is 20 years, net present value of each LNG ship is larger than that of the oil-ship at the end of the projects. Moreover, refund time to payback initial cost for the LNG ship is shorter. This result is confirmed by the market price of LNG.

Numerical Prediction of the Hydrodynamic Forces on a Post-Panamax Vessel in the Third Set of Panama Locks

In 2007–2008, Flanders Hydraulics Research built a 1/80-scale model of the third set of Panama locks and carried out model tests with a post-Panamax 12,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) container carrier model to assess the navigation behavior in the locks. In this paper, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method was used to predict numerically the hydrodynamic forces acting on the ship model passing through the locks. By solving the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations in combination with the renormalization group (RNG) k−ε turbulence model, the unsteady viscous flow around the ship was simulated and the hydrodynamic forces on the ship hull were calculated. User-defined functions were compiled to define the ship motion. Grid regeneration was dealt with by using the dynamic mesh method and sliding interface technique. Under the assumption of low ship speed, the influences of free-surface elevation were neglected. The proposed method was validated by comparing the numerical results with the data of model tests. Numerical calculations were performed at different ship speeds, water depths, eccentricities, approach wall configurations, guide wall angles, maneuver types, and bottom level height differences; the numerical results were illustrated to analyze the influence of these factors on the hydrodynamic forces. This study can provide a certain guidance on the lock design and the safe maneuvering of ships navigating in the third set of Panama locks.

Linear and nonlinear FE analyses of a container vessel in harsh sea state

Container vessels have a challenging structural design with respect to fatigue; they are long and slender and have large openings in the deck. Their structural design in combination with high wave loads, makes these ships sensitive to fatigue damage. Classification societies mainly base their assumptions in the fatigue rules on elastic material response and the fatigue analysis is carried out using the stress-based approach. However, for harsh sea states the assumption of elastic material response is not fulfilled in local details where the stress concentration is high; cyclic plasticity may occur, which requires a strain-based fatigue assessment. The objective of this study is to present a methodology which combines the softwares Sesam and Abaqus to enable realistic hydrodynamic, structure and fatigue analyses of a container vessel in a harsh sea state. Both of the softwares are needed in order to be able to choose a solver in the structure analysis to be either linear or nonlinear, depending on the cyclic elastic or plastic material response. Analyses of a case study of a 4400 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) container vessel on the North Atlantic route are presented. A long-term fatigue analysis is performed in order to search for the fatigue-critical locations in the ship. A part of the side-shell structure was chosen for a detailed study comparing results from a linear and nonlinear finite element analysis for two significant wave heights: 6.0 and 7.5 m. The results show that for both of these wave heights cyclic plasticity occurs locally, but at a very low accumulation rate, which eventually results in elastic shakedown material response. Hence, the overall conclusion is that, in the studied location, a strain-based approach to fatigue is not necessary.

Scale and scope of maritime cargoes through the Arctic Passages

This paper investigates the sources of goods being shipped through the Arctic passages, and trade generated in the Arctic, including oil and gas exploitation. Furthermore, it assesses the present situation for maritime cargo shipped from the Far East to Northwestern Europe and North America. Two main types of cargo are predicted to pass through the Arctic passages in the future. First, about 10 million t of liquefied natural gas will be delivered from Russia and the Nordic Arctic to the Far East by 2030. Second, there will be two-way trade flow of containerized cargo from the Far East to Europe and the United States through the Northeast, Central and Northwest Passages. This will relieve pressure on present routes from the Far East to Northwestern Europe and North America. If Arctic navigation is technically possible in all seasons and shipping costs fall to those of ordinary ships, then assuming an equal share of shipping volume with the traditional canal routes, the maximum container freight passing through the Arctic passages by 2030 will be approximately 17.43 million TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) per year, which is 85% of the volume transported on traditional canal routes in 2011. We conclude that there will be large-scale gas transportation through the Northeast Passage in the near future, and transit shipping across the Arctic will focus more on container transportation. The differences in shipping costs between Arctic routes and traditional canal routes are also compared.

Some aspects of structural modelling and restoring stiffness in hydroelastic analysis of large container ships

The increase in world trade has largely contributed to the expansion of sea traffic. As a result, the market demand is leading to ultra-large container ships (ULCS), with expected capacity up to 18,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) and length about 400 m, without changes in the operational requirements (speed up to 27 knots). The particular structural design of the container ships leads to open midship sections, resulting in increased sensitivity to torsional and horizontal bending loads that is much more complex to model numerically. At the same time, due to their large dimensions, the structural natural frequencies of ULCS become significantly lower so that the global hydroelastic structural responses (springing and whipping) can become a critical issue in the ship design and should be properly modelled by the simulation tools since the present classification rules do not cover described operating stages completely. There are several research projects worldwide aiming at solving this problem, and one of them is the EU FP7 project TULCS (tools for ultra-large container ships) for development of the integrated design tools, based on numerical procedures, model tests and full-scale measurements. This paper is based on research activities and results of the project, with particular emphasis on the part that deals with global hydroelastic loading and response. Special attention is paid to beam structural model based on the advanced beam theory. It includes shear influence on bending and torsion, contribution of transverse bulkheads to hull stiffness and an appropriate modelling of relatively short engine room structure of ULCS. Along with that, a hydrodynamic model is presented in a condensed form. Further on, a fully consistent formulation of restoring stiffness, which plays an important role in the hydrostatic model, is described. Theoretical contributions are illustrated within the numerical example, which includes a complete hydroelastic analysis of an 11,400 TEU container ship. In this case, validation of the one-dimensional (1D) finite-element method (FEM) model is done by a correlation analysis with the vibration response of the fine three-dimensional (3D) FEM model. The procedure related to determination of engine room effective stiffness is checked by a 3D FEM analysis of a ship-like pontoon, which has been made according to the 7800 TEU container ship properties. The obtained results confirm that the sophisticated beam model is a very useful numerical tool for the designer and represents a reasonable choice for determining wave load effects on ULCS, in preliminary design stage.

The Yi Sun-sin Bridge: Innovative Solutions for Suspension Bridges

The Yi Sun-sin Bridge, which is under construction, will be the fourth longest suspension bridge in the world when it is completed, with a main span of 1545 m. The long central span and the location of the pylons on land will reduce the risk of ship collisions and thereby secure 18 000 Twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU)-class shipping serviceability. The sag ratio of 1/9 has resulted in 270 m high pylons; at the same time, the layout has led to diminishing the size of anchorage, and thereby, the construction costs have been reduced. The main cable uses high-strength wire of 1860 MPa. As a result, the weight of each cable was reduced, as was the construction cost. By applying a twin-box girder design, the aerodynamic stability is guaranteed. Moreover, highly optimized cross section suppressing vortex shedding vibration and minimizing the drag force coefficient was determined through wind tunnel tests. In the floating system with no vertical supporting point at the tower, stoppers at the tower and lock-up-type buffers at the end of the stiffening girder control the longitudinal displacement efficiently. These structural components, as discussed in this paper, represent a suitable choice as a standard component for other suspension bridges with main spans that exceed 1500 m. The Yi Sun-sin Bridge will be opened temporarily from May to August during the Expo 2012 at Yeosu. It is scheduled to be completed in October 2012.

Shipping containers for a sustainable habitat perspective

Shipping containers have many names: cargo containers, sea cans, metal boxes, freight containers. Originally they were constructed, as the name reveals, “to contain” and store items and mainly to transport goods. Freight containers are built to strict international quality standards, to survive harsh treatment and a violent life in the marine environment 1. The main technical details regarding containers were specified in an ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standard in January 1968 2. The history of the shipping container starts like any other invention with a simple thought. It takes Malcom McLean, father of the shipping container, over 20 years to realize his revolutionary idea for the shipping industry and create a closed transport chain of universal freight container for ships, trucks and trains 3. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that shipping containers have laid the foundation for globalization and changed the world. Over 95% of the worldwide trade affairs are winded up in containers. Today, international freight transportation is no longer conceivable without containerization. There are approx. 28 million containers circulating the globe. In the last couple of years up to 3 billion TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) shipping containers were produced annually, mainly in Asia 4. Most of the freight containers are made out of COR-TEN-Steel, which ensures strong carrying and loading capacity and supports withstanding deformations or corrosion. Once they have served their purpose, shipping containers are being recycled as scrap. Another possibility is to be used in the architecture as spatial modules. A container’s life is ca.12 years and every year up to 1.5 billion TEU are considered disused. The continued availability of shipping containers as a building block is thus assured. Therefore, the construction business with containers has a great potential regarding sustainability. In the last 15 years shipping container construction has become popular for not only living spaces and homes, but for offices, studios, schools – the variety of uses is huge. Containers offer suitable solutions for a wide range of uses. The increasing interest in these “icons of globalization” can be explained with the fact, that they are relatively inexpensive, structurally sound and in abundant supply 6. Using old freight containers could be seen as an environmental protection strategy and also as a redesign of technical artefacts. Building with shipping containers is a new more affordable method of construction and design. Due to metamorphose in functionality and meaning of containers – from a cargo box into a habitable space – we realize how big the technical range of diversity is. Technique reaches and changes the “Social” through design. The imprecise term design, which has become a vogue term nowadays, is the interface between technique, body, mind and communication 5. Designed objects are always also symbolic objects for different milieus; design has an effect on awareness raising, thus on environmental awareness. An ongoing project at RWTH Aachen University gives attention exactly to those disused shipping containers, their eventuality and boundary as environmental protection strategies in the living area, as well as to the well-known cleavage between environmental awareness and environmental behaviour. The project focuses on the living situation in Germany and its potential for such new and innovative living concepts.

Hydroelastic Effects in Vibration of Plate and Ship Hull Structures Contacted with Fluid

Abstract The present study deals with the hydroelastic vibration analysis of structures in contact with fluid via coupled fluid-structure interaction (FSI) embedded with a finite element method (FEM) such that a structure displacement formulation is coupled with a fluid pressure–displacement formulation. For the preliminary study and validation of FEM based coupled FSI analysis, hydroelastic vibration characteristics of a rectangular plate in contact with fluid are first compared with the elastic vibration in terms of boundary condition and mode frequency. Numerical results from coupled FSI analysis have been shown to be rational and accurate, compared to energy method based theoretical solutions and experimental results. The effect of free surface on the vibration mode is numerically studied by changing the submerged depth of a rectangular plate. As a practical application, the hull structural vi-bration of 4,000 twenty–foot equivalent units (TEU) container ship is considered. Hydroelastic results of the ship hull structure are compared with those obtained from the elastic condition.

Optimization of container inspection strategy via a genetic algorithm

It is estimated that 90% of the world’s freight is moved as containerized cargo, with over 125 million TEUs (Twenty foot Equivalent Units) of container being shipped by 2010. To inspect this volume of cargo for explosives, drugs or other contraband is a daunting challenge. This paper presents an optimization technique for developing an inspection strategy that will provide a specified detection rate for containers containing contraband at a minimum cost. Nested genetic algorithms are employed to optimize the topology of an inspection strategy decision tree, the placement of sensors on the tree and the sensor thresholds which partition suspicious containers (containers believed to contain contraband) from innocuous containers (containers which are believed to be free of contraband). The results of this optimization technique are compared to previously published techniques.

An analysis of carriers’ selection criteria when choosing container terminals in Pakistan

This paper presents the results of an empirical study conducted by distributing questionnaires to shipping agents working for foreign principals in Karachi, Pakistan. In Part A of the questionnaire, respondents gave a score reflecting the importance of 13 factors affecting terminal selection. Their responses indicate that service quality, loading/discharging rate and handling charges are the most important selection factors. A linear model is developed in which the dependent variable is total stay (in hours). The independent variables are vessel type, vessel size, total TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), vessel frequency and past visits of the shipping line. All the coefficients are significant. In the second section (that is, Part B of the questionnaire), respondents gave scores reflecting the quality of different attributes and how they affect the attractiveness of four specific container terminals. One-way ANOVA was used to test whether respondents have significant opinion differences. The result indicated that respondents do differ in opinions. Moreover, factor analysis of the aggregate data produced two factors with strong loading of six attributes in one factor and two attributes in the second.

The size effect of a port on the container handling efficiency level and market share in internation transshipment flow

This study examines the relationship between the size of a port, its efficiency increase and the performance growth in the transshipment market. The hypothesis tested is that the bigger size of a port would increase the market share of the port in container transshipment; only when the size effect guarantees better ‘relative’ container handling efficiency in competing port system where the port belongs. To verify the hypothesis, this study carries out two analyses. First, the overall efficiency change of major Asian ports is examined through stochastic frontier analysis (SFA)—this produces the relative efficiency indices of the ports. Second, the relationship between efficiency indices and container transshipment volumes is studied through panel data analysis. From these analyses, it is observed that larger Asian ports show better cargo handling efficiency in relative terms; they also record bigger market share in container transshipment, while the size effect of the ports starts to play a factor when the annual container throughput reaches 5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).

Empty marine container logistics: facts, issues and management strategies

With the global container population exceeding 25 million TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) and the annual production of new boxes exceeding 3 million TEU it is estimated that around 1.5 million TEU of empty containers are sitting in yards and depots around the world waiting for use. Although utilization rates have improved since 2004, container utilization depends on the very dynamic nature of container transportation, and the container building and leasing industries. Owing primarily to the chronic trend of increasing trade imbalances across the oceans, and despite recent trends along some trade routes, the empty container management problem has become a major issue for the container shipping industry during the last decade. This paper examines and analyzes empty container logistics at a global, interregional, regional and local level. Special consideration is given to key factors affecting the empty container logistics management and strategies implemented by ocean carriers and other stakeholders to better manage empty containers.

The Effects of Market Differences on the Throughput of Large Container Terminals with Similar Levels of Efficiency

Aggregate comparisons of the efficiency of container ports using techniques such as Data Envelopment Analysis usually rely on the number of Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) moved across the quay face per year to provide the measure of output from which to derive efficiency measures. This may be due in part to the difficulty of obtaining large sample publicly available data sets at a more disaggregated level. Detailed simulation of individual container terminals using actual vessel sizes and schedules, together with detailed breakdowns of containers by size and intermodal transfer (land-sea or maritime transshipment), suggests that the nature of the market served can have a significant effect on the throughput of terminals managed and operated at similar levels of efficiency. The manufacturing centres in the Pearl River Delta are served by large, world-class terminals at Yantian and Hong Kong. These use similar technologies, operating methods and yard management systems. They operate at similar levels of efficiency at the micro-level (crane container handling rates, etc), but over the last 6 years the markets they serve have steadily diverged. This paper discusses the results of a preliminary study of the effects of exogenous market differences on the potential throughput capacity of container terminals with similar levels of efficiency as measured at the micro-level. Factors considered include the proportion of containers of differing size in the market, vessel size, the number of container moves per vessel, and the relative size of the transshipment and landed container markets. The paper concludes that the aggregate effect of these factors on throughput as measured in TEUs can be very significant and that aggregate analyses of container terminal efficiency should disaggregate the output measure into separate components. This will require larger sample sizes and more comprehensive data sets, particularly if varying returns to scale are to be assessed. It also considers the specification of frontier models of container terminal efficiency and puts forward proposals to ensure that the requirements of isotonicity and homogeneity are addressed and that the sensitivity of these models to data errors, weakly correlated inputs and outlying observations are taken into account.

Hongkong International Terminals Gains Elastic Capacity Using a Data-Intensive Decision-Support System

As the flagship of Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), Hongkong International Terminals (HIT) is the busiest container terminal on the planet. HIT receives over 10,000 trucks and 15 vessels a day, about six million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) a year. HIT makes hundreds of operational decisions a minute. HIT's terminal management system, the productivity plus program (3P), optimizes resources throughout the container yard using operations research/management science (OR/MS) techniques and algorithms. It manages such interrelated decisions as how to route container trucks in the yard, where to store arriving containers, how many quay cranes to use for each vessel, how many trucks to assign to each crane, how many yard cranes to assign to each container storage block, and when to schedule incoming trucks for container pickup. As the number of container terminals in Asia grows, competition has become price driven and service driven. HIT realized its future rests not only with moving boxes but with mastering the associated information. This meant developing a decision-support system (DSS) to provide superior and differentiated services by generating optimal decisions, one that is very robust under uncertain arrival times of trucks and vessels. In its 10 years of operation, the implementation of the DSS through 3P has helped HIT to become the world's most efficient and flexible terminal operator. HIT alone saves US$100 million per year. By optimizing internal truck use at its sister terminals, the HPH group saves an additional US$54 million per year.

A Study on Improvement of Estimation Method for international maritime Freight Flows

A past study by the authors proposed a method to estimate maritime freight flows using metric tons and the twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU). In order to clarify the accuracy of the estimation method, this paper describes the characteristic of the existing freight flow statistics shown in Japan, Indonesia and Hong Kong, and the characteristic of the estimation results for those three countries/regions. From the relation between the characteristic of statistics and the characteristic of estimation results, the authors show that the accuracy of the estimation results is not different from existing statistics.

A simulation model for the Kwai Chung container terminals in Hong Kong

Although the trade recession has had a notable impact on Hong Kong's container port business, a positive growth rate could still be achieved. In 1998, Hong Kong handled totally 14.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers, a slight increase of 1.4% over 1997. In 1998, due to Hong Kong's efficient port facilities, it was even selected as the best Asian port by “Cargonews Asia”. Of the total container throughput, container terminals in Kwai Chung handled 66%. As the success of container-handling industry is significant, in this paper, an application of a simulation model (using Witness software) to simulate Kwai Chung container terminals is developed and described. The objective was to investigate to what extent a simulation model could predict the actual container terminal operations with a higher order of accuracy.