There is a crucial component in the transport system which is just as important as the merchant fleet. Ports are the crucial interface between land and sea. It is here that much of the real activity takes place. In the days of cargo liners and tramps the activity was obvious. Ports were crowded with ships and bustling with dockers loading and unloading cargo. Artists loved to paint these busy scenes and the waterfronts were famous for the entertainment they provided to sailors during their long portcalls. Anyone could see what was going on. Modern ports are more subtle.Today, ships make fleeting calls at highly automated and apparently deserted terminals, sometimes stopping only a few hours to load or discharge cargo. The activity is less obvious but much more intense. Cargo handling speeds today are many times higher than they were twenty or thirty years ago. Before discussing ports we must define three terms ‘port’, ‘port authority’ and‘terminal’.
A port is a geographical area where ships are brought alongside land toload and discharge cargo—usually a sheltered deep water area such as a bay orriver mouth. The Port Authority is the organization responsible for providing the various maritime services required to bring ships alongside land. Ports may be public bodies, government organizations or private companies. One Port Authority may control several ports, e.g., Saudi Ports Authority. Finally, terminal is a section of the port consisting of one or more berths devoted to a particular type of cargohandling. Thus we have coal terminals, container terminals, etc. Terminals may be owned and operated by the port authority, or by a shipping company which operates the terminal for its exclusive use.Ports have several important functions which are crucial to the efficiency of the ships which trade between them. Their main purpose is to provide a secure location where ships can berth. However, this is just the beginning. Improved cargo handling requires investment in shore-based facilities. If bigger ships are to be used, ports must be built with deep water in the approach channels and at the berths. Of equal importance is cargo handling, one of the key elements in system design. A versatile port must be able to handle different cargoes—bulk, containers, wheeled vehicles, general cargo and passengers all require different facilities. There is also the matter of providing storage facilities for inbound and outbound cargoes. Finally, land transport systems must be efficiently integrated into the port operations. Railways, roads and inland waterways converge on ports and these transport links must be managed efficiently. Port improvement plays a major part in reducing sea transport costs. Some of this technical development is carried out by the shipping companies who construct special terminals for their trade, or shippers such as oil companies and steel mills. For example, the transfer of grain transport from small vessels of 20–30,000 dwt to vessels of 60,000 dwt and above depended upon the construction of grain terminals with bulk handling and storage facilities. Similarly the introduction of container services required container terminals. However the port industry provides much of the investment itself. It has its own marketplace which is every bit as competitive as the shipping markets. The ports within a region are locked in cut-throat competition to attract the cargo moving to inland destinations or for distribution within the region. Hong Kong competes with Singapore for the Far East container distribution trade. Rotterdam has established itself as the premier European port in competition with Hamburg, Bremen, Antwerp and, in earlier times, Liverpool. Investment in facilities plays a key part in the competitive process. The facilities provided in a port depend on the type and volume of cargo which is in transit. As trade changes, so do the ports. There is no such thing as a typical port. Each has a mix of facilities designed to meet the trade of the region it serves. However, it is possible to generalize about the type of port facilities which can be found in different areas. In very rough terms, the blocks in these diagrams represent, in width, the number of facilities or length ofquay wall, and in height, the annual throughput of each.
Type 1 Small local port:
Around the world there are thousands of small ports serving local trade. They handle varied cargo flows, often serviced by shortsea vessels. Since the trade volume is small the facilities are basic, consistingof general purpose berths backing on to warehouses. Only small ships can be accommodated and the port probably handles a mixture of containers, break-bulk cargo plus shipments of commodities in packaged form (e.g. part loads of wheat in bags, or oil in drums) or shipped loose and packaged in the hold prior to discharge. Cargo is unloaded from the ship on to the quayside and stored in the warehouses, or on the quayside until collected. Ports like this are found in the developing countries and in the rural areas of developed countries.
Type 2 Large local port:
When cargo is higher, special investment becomes economic. For example, if the volume of grain and fertilizers increases a drybulk terminal may be constructed with the deeper draft required to handle bigger bulk carriers (e.g. up to 35,000 dwt), a quayside with grab cranes, apron space to stack cargo, railway lines and truck access. At the same time the break-bulk facilities may be expanded to handle regular container traffic, for example, by purchasing container handling equipment and strengthening thequayside.
Type 3 Large regional port:
Ports handling high volumes of deep sea cargo require heavy investment in specialized terminal facilities. Unit loads such as pallets, containers or packaged timber are handled in sufficient volume to justify a unit load terminal with cargo handling gear such as gantry cranes, fork lift trucks and storage space for unit load cargo. For high volume commodity trades, moving in volumes of several mt a year, special terminals may be built(e.g. coal, grain, oil products terminals) capable of taking the bigger ships of 60,000 dwt and above used in the deep sea bulk trades.
Type 4 Regional distribution centres:
Regional ports have a wider role as distribution centres for cargo shipped deep sea in very large ships, and requiring distribution to smaller local ports. This type of port, of which Rotterdam, Hong Kong and Singapore are prime examples, consists of a federation of specialist terminals, each dedicated to a particular cargo. Containers are handled in container terminals; unit load terminals cater for timber, iron and steel and ro/ro cargo. Homogeneous bulk cargoes such as grain, iron, coal, cement and oil products are handled in purpose built terminals, often run by the cargo owner.There are excellent facilities for trans-shipment by sea, rail, barge or road.
Ports and terminals earn income by charging ships for the use of their facilities. Leaving aside competitive factors, port charges must cover unit costs and these have a fixed and variable element. The shipowner may be charged in two ways, an ‘all in’ rate where, apart from some minor ancillary services, everything is included; or an ‘add-on’ rate where the shipowner pays a basic charge to which extras are added for the various services used by the ship during its visit to the port. The method of charging will depend upon the type of cargo operation but both will vary according to volume, with trigger points activating tariff changes.
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