411
1 INTRODUCTION
Figure1.PortFeederBarge(artistimpression)
TheinternationallypatentedPortFeederBargeisa
self‐propelled container pontoon with a capacity of
168 TEU (completely stowed on the weather deck),
equippedwithitsownstate‐of‐the‐artcontainercrane
mounted on a high column (Fig. 1). The crane is
equipped with an automatic spreader, extendable
from
20ft to 45ft, including a turning device. A
telescopicoverheightframeisalsocarriedonboard.
Thebargeisofdouble‐endedcon‐figuration,intended
to make it extremely flexible in connection with the
sideward mounted crane. Due to the wide beam of
the vesselno stabilityrestrictions for
the crane shall
occur.Thecranehasacapacityof40 tonsunderthe
spreader,atanoutreachof27m(maximumoutreach:
29 m). The unique vessel is equipped with 2
electrically driven rudder propellers at each end in
order to achieve excellent manoeuvrability and the
same speed in both
directions. Hence the vessel can
easily turn on the spot. While half of the containers
are secured by cell guides, the other half is not,
enablingthevesseltocarryalsocontainersinexcess
of40ftlengthaswellasanyover‐dimensionalboxes
or break bulk cargo. 14 reefer
plugs allow for the
overnightstowageof electrically driven temperature
controlledcontainers.
Port Feeder Barge: Advanced Waterborne Container
Logistics for Ports
U.Malchow
HochschuleBremen–UniversityofAppliedSciences, Bremen,Germany
ABSTRACT:ThePortFeederBargeasanewtypeofharbourvesselhas beendesigned–firstlyfortheoperation
within the port of Hamburg. Other major and even minor ports could benefit from the operation of this
innovative type of
vessel as well as it improves the efficiency and at the same time reduces the ecological
footprintofintra‐portcontainerhaulage.Additionallyitcanevenfacilitatecontainerhandlingatplaceswhich
arenotsuitedatallforthiskindofoperation.
http://www.transnav.eu
the International Journal
on Marine Navigation
and Safety of Sea Transportation
Volume 8
Number 3
September 2014
DOI:10.12716/1001.08.03.12
412
Table1.PortFeederBarge‐MainData
_______________________________________________
Type: selfpropelled,selfsustained,
double‐endedcontainerbarge
Lengtho.a.: 63.90m
Beamo.a.: 21.20m
Heighttomaindeck: 4.80m
Max.draft(asharbourvessel): 3.10m
Deadweight(asharbourvessel): 2,500t
Grosstonnage: approx.2,000BRZ
Powergeneration: diesel/gaselectric
Propulsion: 2x2electrical
rudderpropellerof4x280kW
Speed: 7knotsat3.1mdraft
Class: GL100A5K20Barge,
equippedforthecarriageofcontainers,
SolasII‐2,Rule19MCAut
Capacity: 168TEU(thereof50%incellguides),
14reeferplugs
Crane: LIEBHERRCBW49(39)/27(29)
Litronic
(49tat27moutreach)
Spreader: automatic,telescopic,6flippers,
turningdevice,overheightframe
Accommodation: 6persons(insinglecabins)
_______________________________________________
The vessel shall fulfil the highest environmental
standards.Adiesel‐orgas‐electricengineplantwith
very low emissions has been chosen to supply the
power either for propulsion or crane operation. The
vessel can be operated by a minimum crew of 3
whereas in total 6 persons can be accommodated
in
singlecabins.
Figure2.Turningcycleofcrane
Figure3.Outreachofcrane
The key element of the worldwide unique Port
FeederBargeconceptisitsownfullscaleheavyduty
containercrane. Allitsmechanicalcomponentshave
been especially designed for continuous operation –
unlikestandardshipboardcranes,whicharedesigned
foroperationonlyeveryfewweekswhenthevesselis
inport.
Duetoitsnaturetheloadcyclerequirements
of the Port Feeder Barge are even higher than for
many quayside cranes, which has significant
consequences on the layout of the mechanical
components.
When berthed, the Port Feeder Barge is able,
without being shifted along the quay, to load or
discharge
84TEUinthreelayersbetweentherailsof
typical quayside gantry cranes (Fig. 2). This is more
than sufficient, with a total loading capacity of 168
TEU.Thatiswhythefulloutreachofthecraneisnot
alwaysneeded.Berthingthevesselwiththecraneon
the opposite side
of the quay (Fig. 3 and 4) would
speed up crane operation as the turning time of the
outriggerisreduced.Theheightofthecranecolumn
is sufficient to serve also high quays in open
tidewater ports even at low tide while stacking the
containersinseverallayers(or
toserveevendeepsea
vesselsdirectly,Fig.7).Duetoitsshortlengthof64m
thePortFeederBargeneedsonlyasmallgapbetween
twodeepseavesselsforselfsustainedoperation(Fig.
4).
The operation of the Port Feeder Barge is not
limited to inside seaports. As the
hull is classified
accordingtoDNV‐GL’sclassnotificationforseagoing
vessels the operation in (sheltered) open waters off
the coast is also possible which opens some
interestingopportunitiesforadditionalemployment.
The design of the vessel has been developed by
PORTFEEDERBARGEGmbH
5
incloseco‐operation
withTechnologGmbH,bothofHamburg.
5
PORTFEEDERBARGE,Gr.Elbstr.38,22767Ham‐
burg,Germany,T:+49(0)40/40167671in‐
fo@portfeederbarge.de,Web:www.portfeederbarge.de
413
Figure4.PortFeederBargeisworkingindependentlyfrom
quaysideequipmentatadeepseaterminalrequiringonlya
smallgapbetweentwodeepseavessels
WithinthePortofHamburgthePortFeederBarge
shall ply between all the major waterfront container
facilities,includingadedicatedberthtomeetwiththe
inlandwaterwayvessels.
2 BUSINESSFIELDS
2.1 Intra‐porthaulage
ThePortFeederBargeshallserveasaʹfloatingliner
truckʹ in the course of
its daily round voyage
throughouttheport,i.e.shuttlingcontainersbetween
thevariouscontainerfacilities.Hencecontainertruck‐
ingwithintheportcanbesubstantiallyreduced[1].
Figure 5. Split of intra‐port container haulage by truck
withinthePortofHamburg
Figures on portʹs internal box movements which
arepredominantly carried on the road are generally
difficulttoobtain.Itisestimatedthatin2011within
the port of Hamburg approx. 300,000 containers, i.e.
approx. 85% of the anticipated entire volume, have
been carried by truck (which is corresponding to
approx.
450,000 TEU).
6, 7
The remaining was carried
6
In Hamburg the average TEU ratio is approx. 1.5
onthewaterby ordinary barges. The reason for the
poor share of barge transport is very simple:
Conventionalinlandbargesorpontoonsemployedin
intra‐port container transportation are dependent
from the huge quayside gantry cranes for
loading/discharging.Howeveronemovebygantryis
alreadyexceedingthecostsof
theentireroadhaulage.
Naturallytwomovesareneededandthebargehasto
be paid as well. Hence in most cases intra‐port
barging of standard containers is not competitive
unless the liftings by the quayside gantries were
subsidisedbytheterminals.
According to industry sources
1
/3ofroad
haulageisofterminal‐to‐terminalnaturewhilemore
than half is between a terminal and an off dock
facility (depot, packing station, repair shop etc.) of
whichmanyinHamburghavetheirownwateraccess
(Fig.5).
7
HencethepresentcargopotentialforthePort
Feeder Barge is estimated to roughly 150,000
containers p.a. (corresponding to approx. 225,000
TEU). Approx. 50% (!) of all intra‐port container
trucking is presently passing the notoriously
congestedKoehlbrandbridge(Fig.6).HencethePort
Feeder Barge would offer a viable
and more
environmentally friendly alternative compared to
trucking.
Figure 6. Typical view on Hamburgʹs Koehlbrand bridge
linkingtheportʹseasternandwesternpart(photo:dpa)
2.2 Feederoperation
Inmultiterminalportscommonfeederserviceshave
to accept and deliver containers from/to all facilities
wheredeepseavesselsareberthing.Forthis reason
thefeedervesselshavetocallatallterminalswithin
theport–sometimesevenifonlyafewboxeshaveto
be
handled.E.g.inHamburgeachfeedervesselhasto
call in average at 4 different facilities (incl. waiting
berths)[2][3].Thatiswhythefeederlinesarealready
amajorcustomeroftheroadhauliers.Otherwisethe
numberofberthshiftingswithintheportwouldhave
beenevenhigher.
From the terminalʹs perspective all vessels with
lessthanapprox.100boxestohandlearecriticalwith
TEU/box
7
ExtrapolatedinformationprovidedbyCTDGmbH
(HHLA),November2009
414
respect to profitability anyhow. However, in
Hamburg almost
2
/3 of all terminal calls by feeder
vessels are below that figure! Smooth and efficient
feeder operation is essential for the portʹs economic
well‐beingasitsentirecontainerthroughputreliesto
morethan
1
/3ontranshipment.
As the feeders are already big customers of the
trucking companies for intra‐port haulage the Port
FeederBargecan alsoreplacetruckingforcollecting
and distributing their containers. The Port Feeder
Bargewill offer a more competitiveservice than the
trucks can do, especially for lots of
many or over‐
dimensional boxes (flats with overwidth/‐height).
Hence the Port Feeder Barge can be used by the
feeders more intensively than the trucks at present
enabling the feeders to concentrate on the major
terminals only, thus reducing the number of berth
shiftings,reducingtheirtimeinportandrelated
costs,
increasing terminal and berth efficiency as well as
improvingsafety(collisions).
2.3 Inlandnavigation
Inland navigation is facing a dilemma as far as the
hinterland transport of containers to and from
seaports is concerned. On the one hand there is a
common understanding that its share in hinterland
transport
has to be substantially increased – for
capacity and environmental reasons. On the other
hand in sea ports inland waterway vessels have to
berth at the facilities which are tailor made for the
biggest container vessels sailing on the seven seas
(withacapacityof14,000TEUandevenmore).Hence
the efficiency of the big gantry cranes is rather low
whenservingthesmallvessels.Notsurprisinglybut
most disadvantageous inland navigation enjoys the
lastprioritywhenitcomestoberthallocation.
Figure 6. The Port Feeder Barge is serving an inland
waterwayvesselmidstream(artistimpression)
Inland barges suffer more than feeder vessels as
they have to call at even more facilities. E.g.
Rotterdamhasapprox.30terminalsanddepotswhich
arefrequentlyservedbyinlandcontainerbarges.The
averagenumberofterminalcallspervesselisabout
10whereasinabout50%ofthecalls
onlylessthan6
containersarehandled[4]!Thiskindofinefficientand
not coordinatedʹterminal hoppingʹ is very time
consumingandeachdelayatasingleterminalresults
in incredible accumulated waiting time during the
entireportstay.Notsurprisinglyonly
1
/3ofthetime
inportisusedforproductiveloading/unloading[5].
InHamburgwhereinlandnavigationhasstillonly
apoorshareoflessthan2%(!)inhinterlandcontainer
transporttheinefficientoperationhasbeenidentified
asoneofthemajorreasons forsuchsmallshare[6].
Some
Dutch and German studies regarding the
problemsoftranshipmentproceduresbetweeninland
navigation and deep sea vessels have been already
published [4] [5] [6]. One common result is that
container handling for inland navigation and deep
sea vessels should be separated from each other. In
other words: Inland vessels should not
call at the
deepseafacilitiesanymore.
It is claimed that dedicated inland waterway
berths have to be introduced at deep sea terminals.
However most terminals do not have any shallow
draught waterfront left where such berths could be
meaningfully arranged. Transforming existing valu‐
able deep sea quays to
exclusive inland navigation
berths with dedicated (smaller) gantry cranes does
notpayofffortheterminalsassuchameasurewould
reducetheircorerevenueearningcapacity.
The erection of a central and dedicated inland
navigation terminal within a port, where all inland
bargescallonlyonce,hasalsobeenproposed
tospare
theinlandbargestheirinefficientʹterminalhoppingʹ.
However this would burden the most
environmentally friendly mode of hinterland
transportwiththecostsoftwofurtherquaysidecrane
moves and one additional transport within the port
(eitheronthewaterorevenbytruck).Theoppositeof
more
waterborne container hinterland transport
would be achieved. Hence increasing the share of
inland navigation in hinterland transport of
containersisreally facing adilemmainmanymajor
containerports.
The Port Feeder Barge could act as a dedicated
ʹfloating terminalʹ for inland navigation. During its
dailyroundvoyagethroughoutthe
portthevesselis
collecting and distributing the containers also for
inlandnavigation.Onceaday,thePortFeederBarge
willcallatadedicatedberthtomeetwiththeinland
bargeswherethecontainersshall beexchangedship‐
to‐shipbythevesselʹsowngear,independentlyfrom
any terminal
equipment (virtual terminal call). Not
even a quay is required but the transhipment
operationcantakeplacesomewheremidstreamatthe
dolphins(Fig.6).
Such kind of operation will strengthen the
competitivenessofinlandnavigationandcontributes
to increase the share of the most environmentally
friendlymodeofhinterlandtransport.
Employingone
ormorePortFeederBargesasa ʹfloatingterminalʹis
lesscostlyandmuchquickerandeasiertorealisethan
theerectionofadequatequaybased facilities(not to
mention that less parties have to be involved for
approval).
3 FURTHERAPPLICATIONS
3.1 Emergencyresponse
The Port Feeder Barge
can also help to keep
consequences of maritime averages at a minimum.
Whencontainervesselsaregroundedincoastalzones
415
they mostly have to be lightered very quickly to set
themafloatagaininordertoavoidfurtherdamageto
the vessel, the environment and in extreme cases to
sustain even the accessibility of the port at all.
However it has honestly to be conceded that most
container ports are
not prepared for such situation
and do not have suitable floating cranes (if any)
availabletoquicklylighterbigcontainervessels.
Unlikesome other heavy floating equipment, the
Port Feeder Barge can navigate in very shallow
waters due to its light ship draught of only 1.2 m.
Despite its small
size the Port Feeder Barge can
quicklylightergroundedcontainervesselswithmore
thanpanamaxbeambyworkingfrombothsides(Fig.
7).
3.2 HongKongstylemidstreamoperation
In Hong Kong approx. 1/3 of the huge portʹs con‐
tainer throughput, which is still more than the total
volumeof
Hamburg,reliesonfloatingunits serving
deepseavesselsdirectlywhilelayingatanchor(Fig.
8)!Thesetraditionalbutuniquemidstreambargesare
equippedwiththeirowncargogear,butthehandling
methodisfarfrombeingsophisticated.TheA‐frame
derrickshaveasinglebeamjustcontrolled by wires
and are not even fitted with a spreader, but instead
relyonly onsteelwiresbeingfittedmanuallytothe
comercastingsofthecontainers.Infactthisiscargo
handling technology from the 1950s and complies
hardly with inter‐national port labour safety
standards.Suchmid‐streambargesareonly
operating
inHongKong(exceptafewinAngolaandVietnam).
In average 4 fatal accidents are officially reported
each year. Quite apart from the health and safety
issues, they are not self‐propelled (not even pushed
but towed). A replacement by Port Feeder Barges
would significantly improve such operation
with
regardtosafety,efficiency,speedandaccessibleship
sizes.
Figure8.TypicalmidstreamoperationinHongKong
At other places throughout the world where
terminalfacilitiesareinsufficientorcongestedand/or
waterdepthislimitedadvancedmidstreamoperation
byPortFeederBargescouldbeaviablealternativeto
theconstructionofcostlyterminalfacilities.
3.3 Floatingcrane
Withacapacityof49tunderthehook(40t
underthe
spreader)thePortFeederBargecanalsobeemployed
asaflexiblefloatingcranewithsufficientdeckspace
foranykindofcargootherthancontainers.
4 URBANISSUES
Operating Port Feeder Barges is also beneficially
affecting urban issues as ports can supersede with
heavy land based investments
to improve their
intermodal connectivity for inland navigation. With
respect to investment, availability of land reserves,
construction approval, flexibility and not to forget
environmental and townscape issues aʹfloating
terminalʹ is much smarter than any land based
facility.
Figure7,GroundedpanamaxcontainervesselonSchelderiverin2005andhowitcouldhavebeenquicklylightered
416
5 OPTION:LNGASFUEL
All costly measures to be taken to keep the exhaust
emissions of the diesel‐electric engine plant at an
envisaged minimum (e.g. exhaust scrubbers, urea
injection, filters etc.) could be saved when choosing
LNGasfuel.ThePortFeederBargewouldbeanideal
demonstrator
forLNGasshipfuel:
Asaharbourvesselitdoesnotrelyonanetwork
of bunkering stations. Only one facility is
sufficient.Attheinitialstagethevesselcouldeven
besuppliedoutofaLNGtanktruck(astandard50
m
3
truck load is sufficient for approx. 14 days of
operation).
Due to its pontoon type there is plenty of void
space below the weather deck. Hence the
accommodation of the voluminous LNG tanks
wouldnotbeaproblematallwhichisnotthecase
with all other types
of harbour vessels. Approx.
500 m³ of tank capacity could be theoretically
installedwhichisbyfarmorethansufficient(Fig.
9).
Figure9.LNGtankarrangement
6 CONCLUSION
As there is no doubt that container volumes will
certainlycontinuetoincreaseportshavetoprepareto
easealreadyexperiencedbottlenecksituationsandto
reduce the environmental impact of container
transhipmentprocedures.
ThePortFeederBargeconceptisaʹgreenlogistic
innovationʹ for sea ports (whose inherent beneficia l
effects to the environment can even be further
increasedbyusingLNGasfuel)thathelpsto…
shiftcontainertruckingwithinseaportsfromroad
towaterway,
ease feeder and transhipment operation within
multiterminalports,
improve the intermodal connectivity of inland
navigationwithinseaports,
bepreparedforgroundedcontainervessels.
At places with insufficient or congested terminal
facilities and/or shallow water restrictions the Port
FeederBargecouldfacilitatethehandlingofdeepsea
containervesselsatall.
REFERENCES
[1]Malchow, U.,ʺPort Feeder Barge – Intermodaler
Anschluß fiir die Binnenschifffahrtʺ (conference
presentation),2. DVWG‐Binnenschifffahrtsforum, Duis‐
burg,4.September2007
[2]Nordsee‐Zeitung,June28,2008
[3]DeutscheVerkehrs‐Zeitung,August16,2008
[4]Konings,R.,ʺOpportunities toimprovecontainer barge
handling in the port of Rotterdam from a
transport
networkperspectiveʺ, Journal ofTransport Geography,
Vol.15(2007),ElsevierLtd.
[5]Konings, R.,ʺSmart collection and distribution of
containers on barges in the port of Rotterdamʺ,
NECTAR cluster meeting, 12‐13 November 2004,
Lugano
[6]Beyer,H.andPistol,B.ʺKonzeptstudiezurVerlagerung
vom Lkw auf Binnenschiffe
und zur Stärkung der
Hinterlandverkehreʺ, Uniconsult GmbH, Hamburg, 14.
Januar2009
