船舶拥挤将带来新挑战

Vessel bunching will lead to more difficult challenge

《商业日报》的一项研究表明,大型船舶在一周中的某些天里频繁靠港,也就是船舶拥挤,使美国港口设备、劳动力资源不堪重负,也愈发威胁着集装箱码头的生产效率。

Multiple calls by large vessels on certain days of the week, known as vessel bunching, are straining the equipment and labor resources at US ports and presenting a growing threat to productivity at container terminals, according to a Journal of Commerce study. Although megaships in and of themselves have an impact on terminal resources and productivity, 'the bunching will be causing more significant challenges'in stressing the ability of ship-to-shore cranes, labor and container yard equipment to handle the cargo surges, according to Andy Lane, a partner with CTI Consultancy, who produced the study. The impact of megaship bunching has been felt for several years in Los Angeles-Long Beach,where calls by multiple vessels capable of carrying 8,000 to 14,00020-foot-equivalent container units in the same week are a fact of life.June's completion of the third set of locks at the Panama Canal, however,is allowing larger mega-ships to call New York-New Jersey and other East Coast ports. Given all of the variables involving bigger ships operated by larger vessel-sharing alliances generating huge cargo surges with growing vessel bunching each week, it's safe to conclude that the complexity of terminal operations will continue to increase in the coming years, and the impact of these developments could spread beyond Los Angeles-Long Beach and New York-New Jersey.Beach and New York-New Jersey.