Transportation Possibilities News

Strategically located Spain, linking countries in Europe, Africa and the Americas, along with a dynamic coast line dotted with number of highly proactive ports have bolstered its progress helping it to become a global leader in the ‘ship’ repairs and conversion. Spearheading the ship design and construction operations in Europe, the sector is witnessing an unusual boom with an annual volume of about €400 million. One can find 13 shipyards competing in this ship repair/conversion market. The smaller ones being able to repair vessels of up to 100 meters in length and the bigger ones – considered to be the biggest shipyards in Europe in terms of docking facilities – have dry docks that service vessels of up to 400 meters.

APM Terminals signed an agreement for the construction and delivery of four Ship-to-Shore (STS) Gantry Cranes and 14 Automated Rail-Mounted Gantry Cranes (ARMGs) for the new APM Terminals Vado terminal now under construction on Italy’s Ligurian coast. The new terminal, the first new major port construction in Italy in several decades, is scheduled to open in January 2018 with an annual throughput capacity of 800,000 TEUs, and the ability to handle vessels up to 18,000 TEU capacity. The Italian government is providing EUR 300 million for civil works for the project. APM Terminals is investing EUR 150 million in the new terminal which will create 450 new jobs when operations commence.

Following the launch of the IHC Beaver 65 DDSP in February, the first vessel has been sold to Advanced Construction Company, a member of the Al Geithy Group, based in Saudi Arabia. Testing was successful completed at IHC Merwede’s shipyard in Sliedrecht, The Netherlands, in early March and delivery to Jeddah will be organized in the second quarter of this year. After delivery the dredger will begin work in the Red Sea. The new vessel succeeds the highly successful IHC Beaver 6518 and belongs to the renowned IHC Beaver  series of standard cutter suction dredgers.