At Nemag we work with transshipment companies all over the world. Time for us to lay down some of the most important things when it comes to transshipment.
Transshipment is the shipment of goods or dry bulk cargo to an intermediate destination, then to another destination. One possible reason for transshipment is to combine small shipments into one large shipment (consolidation) and/or to divide the large shipment at the other end (deconsolidation). High-performance transshipment usually takes place at on- or offshore transport hubs.
Trends and challenges
Apart from management issues on board, seaborne operations face the following challenges:
- Operational: How do I avoid congestion and demurrage costs of ingoing and outgoing vessels due to slippage in ETA & ETD, availability of the installation due to bad sea state and other meteorological conditions?
- Technical: How do I keep my installation going at open sea under severe conditions and without too much technical support?
- Financial: As the handling rates are under pressure due to overcapacity in the dry bulk market, how do I increase efficiency and lower costs per tonne of transshipment?
Equipment at transshippers
Many high-performance marine transshipment hubs are equipped with four rope (grab) slewing cranes. The reason for choosing four rope cranes is significantly higher efficiency compared to, for instance, slow-moving, single line derrick cranes equipped with slow- operating remote-controlled or electro/ hydraulic grabs.
In most cases, these four rope cranes are standardized to a high degree with specific speeds and accelerations, depending on the make and type. Within these constraints, the productivity of any transshipment crane depends entirely on the productivity of the grab.
Any grab, regardless of type or brand, will have a given deadweight and payload. The general idea is that the lower the grab’s deadweight, the higher the payload and the higher the productivity. Right? Or is there more to it? Download our whitepaper about transshipment to find out.
Want to accelerate your transshipment? Download our transshipment whitepaper
