Operations Management in Container
Terminal Port
Report by:
Mahmoud ElAyouty
Tamer Abdelhalim
Shady Gamal
Supervised by: Prof. Dr. Essam Khedr
Contents:
• Introduction:
➢ Story
➢ Vision & Mission
• Operations Management:
1. Design of Goods and Services.
2. Quality Management.
3. Productivity
4. Capacity Design.
5. Location Strategy.
6. Layout Design and Strategy.
7. Forecasting
8. Conclusion
9. Recommendations
Introduction
Maritime trade always had a significant impact on the global
economy. This is expressed in the increasing value and volume of
transported cargo in the last decades. The maritime container trade is
an essential part of creating global GDP, and the maritime container
terminals, which can be perceived as an integrator of various
transport modes, play a crucial role in this chain.
About DCHC (Damietta Container & Cargo Handling Co.)
Egypt`s geographical location gives it competitive advantage in the
maritime sector. with access to both the Mediterranean and the Red
Sea and linked by the Suez Canal, Egypt`s ports are critical to the
global maritime industry.
DCHC was established in 1986 is located on the western of the port
of Damietta. In 1990, DCHC began commercial operations, becoming
one of the most important container terminals in the Mediterranean
Sea.
Vision & Mission
DCHC Vision
To maintain the leading position among container terminals in the
Mediterranean Sea, by providing world-class quality services that
meet our customers’ expectations, while considering the local
community welfare.
DCHC Mission
Through an efficient and up-to-date container terminal in Damietta
Port, DCHC performing all container handling related operations, also
handling and stevedoring different types of general cargo.
Operations Management
Design of Goods and Services
Ports must have enough available space to accommodate the
footprint for container terminal operations, which required the
setting of new facilities and new port areas. This gave opportunities
to experiment with container terminal designs to improve its
operations. The design and operations of container terminals take
into consideration the following constraints:
• The available land footprint that will limit terminal capacity,
particularly yard storage.
• The nautical profile of the site that will command the maximum
ship size and the number of ships that can be serviced at a given
time.
• The needed infrastructures and superstructures and their
capital investments.
• The available transport infrastructures supporting the
connectivity of the terminal with its hinterland.
Quality Management
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led to growing attention to the
issues concerning security and safety. These two factors have become
one of the major factors influencing the perceived service quality.
Therefore, it can be stated that the perceived service quality is
influenced by three categories, safety, service quality, and security.
In the context of safety, which is connected with risk control and
protection of people from accidents, it is possible to distinguish three
elements that are influencing this category. The first one is climate
conditions, which are affecting the efficiency and performance of
operations. Another aspect is dedicated to the dangerous goods
protocols. The more elaborated the safety aspects are, the efficiency
of the operations is worse. On the other hand, comprehensive safety
issues can secure people from accidents, which improves the total
service quality.
Nowadays aspect of security has become extremely important – there
is more automatization on the terminals, which leads to being more
vulnerable to any cyberattacks. The possibility to utilize suitable
procedures and protocols in the face of such events has important
meaning for all beneficiaries and stakeholders, which has a direct
influence on the total perceived service quality.
Productivity
DCHC container terminal productivity measurement and analysis are
a necessary and powerful tool for terminal operators and their clients
as well as port authorities and at a strategic level.
The productivity of DCHC has been measured using different
approaches. The most common approach consists in the
measurement of operational key performance indicators (KPIs)
calculating productivity at each of the terminal functional elements,
for example, productivity at berth – in (TEUs)* per meter berth; crane
handling productivity – in (TEUs)* per crane – or terminal area
productivity in terms of (TEU)* per terminal unit area. These types of
measurements can be easily benchmarked against other container
ports and terminals.
container terminal productivity measures tend to converge on a
relatively few metrics, namely:
• Physical productivity indicators:
o annual TEU per berth length (per meter of berth).
o annual TEU per Ship-To-Shore (STS) crane.
o annual TEU per terminal area.
• Operative productivity indicators
o crane moves (or TEU) per time period (hour or year).
o vessel turnaround time (in hours or minutes).
o berth utilization (in percentage).
• Labour productivity indicators
o TEU or crane moves per man-hour.
(TEU)*: Volume measure in units of twenty-foot long containers
Operative productivity indicators
STS cranes productivity June month
STS no. moves operational time Productivity
crane BOX % minutes hours container/hour
Z7 7084 9.10% 7 345 21
Z8 7862 10.10% 11 377 21
Z9 8650 11.11% 46 401 22
Z5 7174 9.22% 15 354 20
Z6 6086 7.82% 27 334 18
Z1 7817 10.04% 57 375 21
Z2 7164 9.20% 42 363 20
Z3 7416 9.53% 34 352 21
Z4 6704 8.61% 30 339 20
M1 2177 2.80% 19 130 17
M2 2001 2.57% 50 121 16
M3 3142 4.04% 40 184 17
M4 2347 3.02% 52 159 15
G.W 65 0.08% 22 4 15
LB 1 0 0.00% 1 0
LB 2 2154 2.77% 43 126 17
Total 77843 100.00% 16 3973 20
Vessel’s productivity
Operations Total Vessel
no. Vessel name Net Time Moves productivity
1 CHATTANOOGA 17:03:00 874 51.26
2 GH FOEHN 8:38:00 2065 63.28
3 CONTSHIP RUN 7:31:00 228 30.33
4 MEDKON LTF 9:30:00 152 16.00
5 MATTHEW SCHULTE 1:44:00 778 30.23
6 MANDO 16:57:00 350 20.65
7 MAERSK BROWNSVILLE 1:46:00 1699 65.94
8 ZEPHYR LUMOS 14:26:00 5098 81.66
9 MOLIVA 9:31:00 436 13.01
10 EF OLIVIA 10:27:00 734 21.31
11 LE HAVRE EXPRESS 11:27:00 2758 77.80
12 EGY FUTURE 9:18:00 455 13.66
13 EGY CROWN 22:11:00 981 21.24
14 MSC DESIREE 21:18:00 2609 57.59
15 MSC DYMPHNA 23:46:00 792 33.32
16 HUI DA 9 11:32:00 177 15.35
17 OVP TAURUS 15:21:00 662 43.13
18 CAPT KATTELMANN 12:49:00 489 38.15
19 EGY FUTURE 14:09:00 345 24.38
20 VALENCIA EXPRESS 4:16:00 1853 65.55
21 CHATTANOOGA 14:58:00 445 29.73
22 ANTIBES EXPRESS 20:38:00 1584 76.77
23 CONTSHIP SEA 11:44:00 267 22.76
24 MEDKON LIA 4:55:00 57 11.59
25 MAERSK UTAH 15:10:00 654 43.12
26 YM WELLBEING 6:44:00 1707 55.54
27 EF OLIVIA 10:07:00 638 63.06
28 HALO 12:20:00 161 13.05
29 SPARTEL TRADER 19:32:00 905 46.33
Capacity Design
The degree of port competition within a region can be assessed using
different indicators and various elements such as throughput, market
share, market concentration, location, accessibility, port infra and
super structure.
Previous Terminal and Facility
Quay Length: 1050 m
Max Draft: 13.25 m
Vessel Operation: 10 x Gantry Cranes + 2 mobile Cranes
Yard Operation: 10 x RTG + 8 Reach Stacker + 16 SVE Truck with
Spreader
Storage Capacity: 32.000 TEU
Terminal Throughput Capacity: 1.2m TEU
Total Yard Area: 625.000 m2
LCL Warehouse: 4,200 m2
Reefer Plugs: 500 Fixed on Dedicated Yard
DCHC started to invest large amounts in infrastructure,
superstructure and cargo handling equipment. In this way, the
terminal will create the suitable conditions for the provision of a
variety of services to the customers. According to DCHC
announcement, the investment plan of the Damietta Container
Terminal is the following:
- In October 2019, DCHC increased the quay length with 38% from
1050m. to 1400 m.
- The depth of the new berths will be 17 m. With this depth, the
container terminal can provide services even to the biggest mother
ships.
- The total TEU capacity is about 52000 TEUs.
-There will be an increase of the reefer capacity from 1850 TEUs into
2500 TEUs.
- Improvement of IT system. The TOS (terminal operating system)
upgraded with Navis N4.
- DCHC will invest in 10 RTG‟s until the middle of 2022. By the use of
those cranes, the terminal will achieve high density of stacking. More
over DCHC will be able to accommodate and operate the biggest
container ships worldwide as the allowed ships draft will reach
15.5m and the STS outreach able to handle 25 containers across
deck. DCHC benefits from good transport links (Rail/ Road/Barges) to
the Egyptian hinterland.
Current Terminal and Facility
No. of Cranes: 13 Super Post Panamax Cranes
Quay Length: 1,450 m
• Draft: 15 m (Save Allowed Ships Draft).
• Terminal Capacity: 1.8 million TEU
• Terminal Area: 795,000 m2
• Reefers Plugs: 2650 plugs
Location Strategy
The geographic location of DCHC terminal from the main trade
route(s) is also an important factor to assess the competitiveness of
the terminal. The carrier’s main objectives are to provide the most
comprehensive door-to-door coverage with minimum transit time
and cost.
Therefore, the closer the port is to the main route, the higher is its
competitive advantage in the market. For example, DCHC terminal is
in the Mediterranean coast has very advantageous positions as this
terminal located in the mouth of Suez Canal with deviation distance
60 nm. In the same context, Beirut, Izmir, Mersin, Ashdod, and Haifa
are less competitive than DCHC.
However, from the shipping lines perspective the port
competitiveness level not only depends on the port location but also
on the port accessibility. the terminal is located 10Km West of the
Nile, and 70km west of Port Said. The port`s basin is connected of the
Nile by a canal to facilitate access to inland navigation.
Although mainly acting as a transshipment port, the port of Damietta
offers excellent access to Egyptian transport infrastructure such as
roads and railways allowing easy access to local markets and
exporters.
Layout Design and Strategy
Terminal Layout and Seaside Operations describes the container
handling (loading and unloading) processes at the seaside, illustrates
the topology of the vehicle travel path, and describes the integrated
terminal layout.
1. Scope and Container-Handling Process The terminal area is
composed of two sections: seaside and landside. The seaside
area includes the quay, transport, and stack areas, which are
operated by a fleet of QCs, vehicles, and SCs, respectively.
Seaside operations are critical for terminal operators because
shipping lines, which are the paying customers, select terminals
that offer the quickest service at the lowest cost. The focuses
on seaside operations, which comprise the unloading and
loading of containers from the import and export vessels,
respectively. The process of loading and unloading containers
on the vessel is dependent on the type of vehicle used for
horizontal transport.
2. Topology of Vehicle Transport Path Significant time is spent in
transporting containers from the stack side to quayside and
vice versa. The travel time of a vehicle depends on multiple
parameters, such as the originating point of the vehicle, the
destination points of the vehicle, the dwell point location of the
vehicle, and the layout of the transport path.
Among these parameters, the layout of the transport path is an
important design choice because it not only demands
substantial investments and infrastructure, but it is also
influenced by the number of SCs and QCs, rows/stack, and QC
locations.
The travel layout of vehicles used in the container terminal is
suggest that multiple parallel travel paths at the quayside
(corresponding to the different buffer locations) and at the
stack side might be preferable to minimize congestion and to
allow differential path travel velocity (high- versus low-speed
path. advocate use of multiple shortcuts to minimize the travel
time between the quayside and stack side areas.
we adopt the layout which is used at various terminals in
Europe. This layout includes shortcut paths, which can have a
substantial effect on minimizing travel times and on improving
system.
Forecasting
In the short run, DCHC terminal adapt its offer in periods with high
demand, by increasing the allocated mechanic means (gantry cranes,
straddle carriers, forklifts, etc.). DCHC try to achieve an increase in the
productivity of the container handling. because it is in a position to
serve the same demand with smaller effort.
In the long run, in order to have greater flexibility in the adaptation of
an offer, it is essential to have and operate tools that can provide the
possibility of producing sure and accurate forecasts of future demand.
The importance of these forecasts for the port industry is rather
significant, supporting port planning and investments.
Forecasts of port demand refer to the degree of future handling of
containers in all possible levels. These levels are: the size of the
containers (20', 40', and others), the type of the containers (dry,
liquid, general, and others), the kind of loading/discharged (Lo/Lo,
R/Ro, and others), the transportation or not of the goods handled
(full, empty), the kind of the goods handled and finally the
differentiation in imports/exports and transshipments.
Forecasting Approaches
Moving Average Method
Moving average =
demand in previous n periods
n
Total TEU throughput of the Terminal
Month TEU
jan 177134
feb 134278
mar 120317
apr 123585
may 136283
jun 137566
jul (123585+136283+137566)/3 = 132478
aug (136283+137566+132478)/3 = 135442
using 3-moving average we can forecast month of July total TEU to
be 132478 and August to be 135442
Conclusion
Operations management in DCHC container terminal is critical
for ensuring the efficiency, effectiveness, and competitiveness of
maritime logistics. As global trade continues to grow, ports play a
pivotal role in the supply chain, and effective operations management
can make a significant impact on various aspects of port functionality
and overall economic contribution. The face of maritime transport is
changing rapidly. This is characterized by a moderation in global
economic and trade growth, the expanding regionalization of supply
chains and trade patterns, a larger role of technology and services in
value chains and logistics i.e. block chains IoT, and accelerated
environmental sustainability agenda. Such developments need for
adequate response and flexible and forward-looking transport
policies that anticipate change.
The dynamic characteristics of the East Mediterranean container
market have a significant impact on determining the competitiveness
level of container terminals. There are many factors to be considered
when assessing the port competitiveness such as throughput and
market share, port location, accessibility and terminal
infra/superstructure.
Recommendations
- In order to survive and grow in such a highly competition market,
port managers and terminal operators should continuously assess
their internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external environments
(opportunities and threats).
- The DCHC container terminal operation management are the key
to efficiently utilize the existing facilities, and to plan for future
investment in the right time to achieve better efficiency level.
- Smart port technologies should be used to improve operation
management and they are the future of container terminals.
