Msc Psa European Terminal News

Konecranes signed a major service agreement in which its Antwerp-based service organization will perform all of the maintenance and repair work on more than 150 Konecranes Noell Straddle Carriers of different generations for MSC PSA European Terminal (MPET), the single largest container terminal in Europe. The purpose of this service agreement is to achieve consistently high availability of the entire machine fleet. MPET, which handles the majority of containers in the Port of Antwerp, saw steady growth in 2016. Randy Verresen, Manager Rolling Equipment at Antwerp Terminal Services NV, service organization of PSA Antwerp and MPET said: “Last year, we exceeded the 10 million TEU mark for the first time, which led to an increasing need for new machines.

Trucks coming to load or unload containers in the Deurganck dock in the port of Antwerp will also be able to call at night as of 20 March. The container terminals MSC PSA European Terminal (MPET) and DP World Antwerp Gateway, both located in the Deurganck dock, are due to extend their opening hours so that fetching or delivering containers by truck can carry on around the clock on weekdays. With this measure the operators seek to spread the flow of trucks on their terminals more efficiently. Thanks to the extended working hours, quays 1700 (Antwerp Gateway) and 1742 (MPET) – the largest container terminals in the port of Antwerp – will be open non-stop from 0500 hours (Antwerp Gateway) and 0530 (MPET) on Monday morning to 0530 on Saturday morning.

Bigger container ships are resulting in much greater peaks in container terminal activity, which together with the ever larger combined volumes of bigger alliances, demands fewer, larger terminals in each port. Terminal operators are reacting by consolidating terminal layouts and ownership – and by working more closely together – but what are the consequences for their customers? Drewry Maritime Research discuss in this extract from their latest 'Container Insight Weekly'. A recent visit to the Eurogate terminal in Hamburg by China Shipping’s post-Panamax vessel CSCL Le Havre involved an exchange of 11,600 teu, illustrating the sheer scale of volumes per call that terminals increasingly have to deal with. The vessel is shared with CMA CGM and UASC.

The MSC shipping company is to consolidate all its activities in the port of Antwerp in the Deurganck dock, on the left bank of the Scheldt. The Port Authority board of directors gave the go-ahead for the move on Monday evening. The transfer is necessary in order to permit further expansion by MSC in Antwerp. The shipping company announced at the end of last year that it wished to have a new location below the locks, not only because its present site in the Delwaide dock had reached saturation point but also because of the increasing size of the ships being introduced. The Deurganck dock was the obvious choice, as it is already used by the other members of the P3 alliance of which MSC forms part, and furthermore the alliance plans to make even greater use of it in future.