Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) has opened a new Centralized Parking Plaza (CPP) for container tractor trailers with Customs facilitation, as part of its efforts  to promote ease of doing business.

The parking plaza spread across 45 hectares has a capacity to park 1,538 tractor trailers at a time. The plaza has been built exclusively to integrate the parking of tractor trailers carrying factory stuffed export containers at one location instead of multiple locations earlier. This will help integrate document processing by Customs with state-of-the art facilities and service provision.

The plaza will be managed using Real Time Parking Management system and has a Wi Fi provision within the premises. It has a dormitory for truck drivers to stay, canteen for providing food to truck drivers, well-maintained toilets, area for vehicle repair and maintenance and commercial building.

The Centralized Parking Plaza will have guards and staff at each entry gate and entry lane to guide the tractor trailers to respective entry gates and lanes for entry formalities to ensure that at tractor trailers don’t have to wait in queue for entry.

The CPP will also have MIS system where the details of the tractor trailers such as Name of driver, Contact Number, In timing, Truck No, Container No, Size of Container, Type
(Dry/Hazardous/Reefer), Shipping Bill no, CHA Contact Number, Terminal will be recorded.  Once the data entry is done at the entry gates, a parking number will be allotted to the tractor trailer based on its characteristics such as destination terminal, type of cargo, size of container etc.

All information collected will be linked with parking number and a unique id with the date, time and stamp will be allotted and stored in the central server.
Further, the tractor trailer in CPP will be guided to its parking location using variable messaging signs, other signages and will be moved to a parking bay near the inspection area. Once the Customs official inspects and clears the container, the tractor trailer will be allotted the parking bay. When the Let Export Order (LEO) is issued, the tractor trailer is free to leave the CPP through the respective exit gates.

“JNPT is the only port in India which has planned for a facility of this scale and CPP is a key initiative to streamline the traffic movement and improve the port efficiencies using IT services, at the same time provide convenience facilities and amenities at very nominal rates to truck drivers who travel long distances to reach the Port. The Centralized Parking Plaza is an important part of our constant endeavour to provide the ease of doing business within the Port,’’ Sanjay Sethi, IAS, Chairman, JNPT said during a visit to the plaza today along with senior officials to oversee the functioning of the new facility.

The plaza system will ease the movement of container trucks on JNPT roads and will help respective terminals plan their tractor trailer movements in a better way. JNPT has appointed Nirmala Auto Care Centre for operation, management and Maintenance of Centralized Parking Plaza.

Three additional ship-to-shore cranes have been brought into operation at APM Terminals two joint venture terminals in Finland – Multi-Link Terminals in Kotka and Helsinki. The modernisation of the handling equipment will expand both terminals’ capacities and increase the competitiveness of their offering.

The equipment was purchased as part of Global Ports’ ongoing facility upgrade programme. Global Ports is a joint venture that combines the global expertise of APM Terminals (30.75%) with the local knowledge of Delo (30.75%), one of the largest private transportation and logistics holding companies in Russia. The terminals are a joint venture between Global Ports (75%) and CMA Terminals SAS (25%).

A new Konecranes ship-to-shore (STS) crane was brought into operation at Multi-Link Terminals Helsinki last month, replacing an older model. The new crane – measuring 40 metres in boom length, 31 metres in height and 70 tonnes in lifting capacity – is custom designed and developed specifically for the terminal.

Reduced operating costs

Combining the functionality of an STS and a Rail Mounted Gantry (RMG) crane, it enables the accumulation of a shipload under the crane in advance, thereby increasing the speed of vessel handling. It also reduces overall operating costs, as it reduces the amount of equipment and personnel required. The new crane is also capable of handling vessels carrying containers 14 wide on deck.

The next step in Multi-Link Terminals’ STS fleet upgrade will be the modernisation of the existing Liebherr crane, when the height will be increased from 21 to 26.5 metres and boom length will be increased from 30 to 32.5 metres. The Liebherr crane upgrade is expected to be completed this month. The crane upgrade programme in Helsinki has been a part of the ‘Door2Lng’ project headed by Containerships – CMA CGM GmbH and co-financed by the European Union from the Connecting Europe Facility.

Multi-Link Terminals in Kotka received two Ansaldo STS cranes relocated from Hamina port, which complement the existing STS and mobile harbour crane (MHC). The cranes both have a capacity of 40 tonnes under the spreader and an outreach of 32 metres and 38 metres respectively, the latter being the largest crane in Kotka by outreach.

Larger vessel handling

The equipment itself has completed testing and will be put into operation once the systems necessary to put the cranes into operation have completed testing. The operation of these higher capacity cranes will allow the Kotka terminal to handle higher tonnage vessels, carrying up to 14 container rows on deck.

Konecranes has secured a key contract in the delivery of Automated Port Equipment services. The Kuala Tanjung Multipurpose Terminal (KTMT) recently signed a 12-month automation services contract with Konecranes Indonesia. The port has 8 Automated Konecranes RTGs. The deal was signed in July 2020 and will run until June 2021. Local inverter and digital crane specialists are using Konecranes Augmented Reality apps to liaise with Finnish engineers, ensuring updates, repairs and knowledge transfer are uninterrupted during the COVID-19 travel bans.

The KTMT Terminal is in a remote area of Northern Sumatra, with the nearest town being four hours’ drive away. Konecranes is the leader in the provision of automated port equipment, not least because it has the skills, service footprint and communication tools that looking after advanced port equipment, in any part of the world, demands.

Jukka Tukia, Konecranes APAC Port Services Director, says, “Partnerships and commitment drive our business in the Asia-Pacific region. We have the technology, the training and the drive to ensure that no matter where your equipment is, we will find a way to make our customer’s uptime and operational efficiency our priority.”