B.C. Bührmann
Chemicaliëntransport in de 21ste eeuw.
Masters thesis,
Report 2003.TL.6737, Transport Technology, Logistic Engineering.
Introduction
The transshipped volume of chemicals in the Port of Rotterdam has
decreased over the past years. Little attention has been paid to the
sector and the competition of neighboring ports has increased. With the
transport of chemicals by sea the precious chemicaltankers spend a
disproportionately amount of time in the ports, where goods are
transshipped. Consequently the transport capacity is exploited badly and
the costs during a stay in the port are high.
The first objective of the research is to introduce solutions for the poor
utilization of the transportation capacity of parceltankers and to reduce
costs that are a consequence of the transportation. The second objective is
reduction of the port time of the parceltankers.
Problem analysis
The current transport of chemicals has developed from the oil transport.
The first chemicals were transported in converted oiltankers. The cargo's
ownership was owned by only a few owners and loaded or unloaded at a
single location in the port. Through the years the demand for chemicals
has strongly increased and also the number of chemical types has increased
as well as the number of locations, where chemicals are produced. To
transport different types of chemicals and to pick them up at the correct
place, the number of tanks on board of a ship became larger
(parceltanker).
Due to all these aspects the following bottlenecks of current organization
in chemical transport are recognized:
- Poor utilization of the parceltankers
- High costs for shipping companies
- Unnecessary temporarily storage
- A lot of unnecessary paperwork
New concept
Compared with other sectors a new transport concept has been developed
which contains the following main points
- Moving the control of the transport to a central organization
- Sailing in liner service
- All operations, required to load and unload parcel tanker take place
on one location.
Central terminal
The central terminal has two important functions:
- Sufficient supplies for direct transshipment of cargo of parceltanker
to a barge
- Supplies for the temporary storage of goods.
The central terminal must meet among other things the following criteria:
- Two berths for parceltankers with a deadweighttonnage larger than
10.000.
- Four berths for barges or shortseaschips per parceltanker.
- Possibility to handle future parceltankers without transshipment
equipment.
By means of five criteria six lay-outs are developed and are evaluated.
Next a choice is made from the six terminal lay-outs presented by means of an
appreciation of the established criteria. The capital costs count in heaviest.
The criteria are: danger of contamination, required space, accessibility for
ships, used area, reception possibilities of future parcel tankers without
transship equipment.
Computermodel
The handling of the parceltankers at a central terminal means to the cargo,
which must be delivered at a terminal, an extra step in the logistical process.
By means of a computermodel an analysis has been made to see if this additional
cost has a payback in reduced port time of the vessel.
Conclusions
The following conclusions can be drawn:
- At the current transportation of chemicals a great dispersal of terminals
and locations where chemicals are produced and know many bottle necks.
Especially on the technical area has been tried these reduce sticking
points, which have not had the desired results. In the organizational area
few changes have been carried out, whereas improvements seem feasible. The
displacement of the organization of the cargo own ears to a central
organization is a logical step. All links in the chain are directed by this
party and operate no longer separate of each other.
- The transshipment of all cargo on board of a parceltanker on a single
location in a port has the following advantages:
- A reduction of the annual port time from 35% to 15% is possible and
the annual turnover possibilities for parceltankers increase
- The costs of a port visit are reduced
- Extra costs, that are involved with internal port transportation, are
lower than the savings because of a shorter stay in a port
- The new concept for the transportation of chemicals benefits the shipping
companies. Terminal owners on the other hand rather prefere the current
situation.
- The port of Rotterdam itself seems pre-eminently for the implementation of
a central terminal.
Reports on Logistic Engineering (in Dutch)
Modified: 2003.08.05;
logistics@3mE.tudelft.nl
, TU Delft
/ 3mE
/ TT
/ LT.