Sustainable Container Ports Development - Case Study Example

Sustainable Container Ports Development Explain how a new Container Terminal/Port Development may cope with or influence the external environment in which they operate. A container terminal or a port development is a mega event that requires huge financial commitments and immaculate planning. The desire to create a more competitive, market based transport system has led to the involvement of the private sector in infrastructure investments. Most projects are joint ventures with equity participation in collaboration with the government. With industrialization, trade between countries has grown. Exports and imports need ports of entry. These could be either airports (for handling smaller cargo) or sea ports (to handle large cargo). When the existing facilities at ports become inadequate, pressure mounts in terms of clearance and demurrage charges. This leads exporters and importers to seek alternative sites to minimize damages. Certain ports may be handicapped due to obsolete machinery or being understaffed. In such cases, they find it hard to handle voluminous business, leading to backlogs. Such contingencies can damage business and lead to huge financial losses. ‘The need to improve Terminal Efficiency was addressed amongst other things during the execution of the 5th EU sponsored 5th FWP project TRAPIST. Of particular interest was the contribution made in Work Package 4, the aim of developing “means” for gathering and intelligently using Data from Identified Sources. These “means” comprised of Object Oriented, Relational Database and Electronic Terminal Planning Board. Together they addressed very comprehensively, the bottleneck ‘Port’ described in the EC publication “COM99 317 en final Development of SSS in Europe”, 1999 (EC, 1999)1, where short comings of port infrastructure and port inefficiency were commented upon and ‘port turn-a-round time’ was singled out as one of these inefficiencies. WP4 proposes “Means” aimed at increasing the efficiency of small to medium sized ports by specifically increasing their commercial attractiveness to regional exporters and importers’ (Felix A Schmidt, Felix A Schmidt and Robert Young, 2005). This was a method thought of to reduce operational backlog and enhance coordination between different wings of the port. Situations like that of above and others wherein ports are too small to handle create extreme pressure on the exporter and port authorities. Government then takes up a feasibility study to modify or develop a new port/terminal to ease the pressure. China and India are two countries that have witnessed such a situation, due to their surplus volume of imports and exports. The major ports faced innumerable problems due to high density flow of bulk consignments, such as automobiles, heavy machinery, and food products and so on. Difficulty in clearing these cargo and backlogs created pandemonium. Temporary measures such as work overtime and bonuses to attract more man-hour work eased pressure to a certain extent, but not enough to dissuade the option of alternative ports. The major ports have not been able to meet the infrastructural needs to meet such contingency, initiating the respective governments to explore alternative sites for construction of terminals/ports. Container terminals are mostly financed with involvement of private parties. Without going into technicalities, there are quite a few issues involved in setting up a container terminal/port development. On the commercial front, planning for a 21st century container port requires research and interdisciplinary approaches that include maritime economics, operations research, environmental economics, and use of new decision support tools in order to reflect the interests of different stakeholders and competition with other ports. The project will encompass: Shipping market analysis, financial and cost-benefit analyses of port development for federal, state/regional and private entities, environmental economic analysis for different stakeholders, like fishermen, coastal recreational users, and residents near the ports, and finally, the behavioral analyses for different parties of port users and for different ports. On the face of it, a project of such magnitude will face numerous protests and hurdles (URITC, 2003). Sensing such practical problems in the future, a private company along with the Malaysian government decided to go ahead with a mega sea port project that covered 1,362 hectares of land. “Tanjung Pelepas Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seaport Terminal (Johore) Sdn Bhd, Malaysia, entered into a privatisation agreement with the Malaysian Government and the Johor Port Authority, to plan, design and construct, under a BOT scheme for 66 years. The port's strategic location along the world shipping route in the Straits of Malacca, offered an attractive alternative to shipping lines which currently called at Singapore. Access to this mega port would be through the North-South Expressway, the Senai airport, and a new 5.4 km highway connected to the Second Cossing Expressway. The entire development once completed, envisaged to create a new hyper port covering 1,362 hectares of reclaimed land and onshore land, is claimed to be the biggest port in this part of the world” (Extract from IEM magazine, 1999). External Environments There are a lot of external issues that need to be addressed in the development of a port or terminal. These included: 1. Infrastructure development such as buildings, machinery, roads, and railway 2. Flyovers and subways 3. Capital Dredging 4. Construction of Breakwaters and walls 5. Disposal facilities for dredged materials 6. Job opportunities 7. Economic parameters that could hurt or develop village/town/city/country 8. Positive growth in Import/Export trade leading to surplus growth and development 9. Road congestion due to heavy vehicular movement We all know that if and when a mega project, like the one mentioned above, takes root, the local habitat gets affected or displaced. The livelihood of many people, who live by the sea, gets disrupted, leading to their hardship. In the case of port/terminal development, fishermen, who make a living catching fish, would be the hardest hit, as they are made to move out of familiar terrain to unknown destinations. All his years of livelihood is snatched from him in days. A lot of work goes into the development of a terminal or port. This means that employment opportunities appear. Labour, clerical, technical support staff would be required for infrastructural development. This is balancing of economics, as on the one hand, fishermen and their families are displaced, forcing hardship, and on the other, offering employment opportunities to others. Quite oblivious to the eye is the fate of the aquatic eco-system. Dredging is paramount to the operation of port. Unless there is sufficient depth near the terminal, berthing becomes difficult, negating any sound purpose of the project. Dredging disturbs the eco-system. Precious marine life is lost due to the imbalance caused by dredging, and soil erosion affects the exposed fresh soil. There could also be the need to build breakwaters and walls to wade of strong sea current. This is another way to imbalance the ecosystem. Dredging is the removal of soil from under the sea. The dredged soil can contain toxic substance that can be harmful, and will have to be disposed of in uninhabited areas. The necessity of constructing a port or terminal arises when the local administration sees the opportunity to increase business. In other words, when the volume of business, be it exports or imports, increases, there is a need for provision of infrastructure to handle additional traffic. This is part of globalisation. China and India has seen continuous growth in their industries and their exports have also risen. Many multi nationals have set up production plants due to liberalised government policies and incentives, apart from cheap labour. Due to this many automobile manufacturers, mobile phone manufacturers, pharmaceuticals and engineering companies have established production units. Most of their produce is exported through sea and airports. Major operations are seen through sea ports, and to streamline exports and imports, the government needs alternative exit points. This is when the need for additional ports or terminals arises. With growth of industry, there is increase in employment opportunities. This is precisely what happens when globalisation takes effect. Roads, railways and other infrastructural developments have to be developed to ease congestion. With wider roads, longer railway networks, flyovers and subways, the city and states witness all round growth, leading to economic prosperity, but at the expense of the eco-system. References 1.0 Prof. James Opaluch, Prof. Thomas Grigalunas, Dr. Bong Min Jung, Mr. Cheon Kyu Kim, 536163-Comprehensive Framework for Sustainable Container Ports Development of US East Coast in the 21 Century, www.uritc.uri.edu/research/projectdetail.asp?IDproject=81 d 2.0 Felix A Schmidt, Felix A Schmidt and Robert Young, Visualising layout and operation of a container terminal, www.elogmar-m.org/misc/ESCMPaper.doc 3.0 Extract from IEM Magazine, Tanjung Pelepas Port, Johor, Malaysia, Container Port of the Future, members.tripod.com/~mcleon/pelepas/pelepas.htm Read More