Influence of Mega Ships Towards the Emergence of Hinterland Port and Dry Port

Abstract

The shipping industry plays a crucial role in global commerce in transit and still plays a major part in the past, present and future. The shipping industry has grown with the growth of innovation and technology and the size of the ships has grown, producing a new generation of container ships known as mega ships. The presence of mega vessels has already been shown to offer the maritime industry several benefits. Mega ships offered significant market benefits, economic advantages, and commercial advantages that exceed the inconveniences of liner operators. When the order for large vessels increases, other alliances like the inland port and the dry port are certainly being pressured. This is because mega ships need certain modifications to port infrastructure, load handling equipment, and create more variations in the container congestion of ports, with broad effects. It is sure that the growth of the liner shipping industry will have a major impact on the inland port and terminal operations. However, the strong services offered by the hinterland port and dry port may sustain and restrict the seaport. This paper will thus address potential future issues, benefits and disadvantages if these few services are once established in a country.

Keywords: mega ships, hinterland port, dry port, future issues, benefits, disadvantages

• INTRODUCTION

The aim of shipping is to ensure fairly distribution of the advantages of trade and business. In fact, no country is completely self-sufficient, and each nation depends on maritime trading to sell what it has and buy what it needs. Most of what we consume and need in our everyday lives was or would be sent to sea in the form of raw materials, components and finished goods. This has shown that maritime trade is the backbone of international trade and international economy. Over the decades, container vessels have been the accelerators of the globalized economy and have expanded rapidly. The developments in container vessel generations from the Ideal X in 1956 which can only carry up to 500 TEUs to the newest Ultra sized Large Container Ship, with a capacity of over 21,000 TEUs, demonstrate the increasing size of boats to achieve economies of scale in the transport of containers by sea. The desire to achieve economies of scale has been the main motivating reason driving vessel development in recent decades. Efficient manufacturing, risk dispersion, cheaper resources and minimum logistic costs are the key components of the economies of scale.

The intermodal maritime transport chain utilizes mega ships to cope with the growing demand for containerized shipments, making excellent use of economies of scale. At the same time, however, extraordinary operational restrictions were placed on seaports. With the size of boats increasing, they face a decline in the number of seaports which can handle vessels due to the strain on port facilities and equipment. Seaports are a component of the supply chain that provides a vital connection to encourage freight movement within the transport network. Seaports are key components of the supply chain support structure by offering added value services that enhance the competitive advantages of the transport chain. As freight cargo boats grow in size, seaports thus face difficulties relating to terminal capacity, fairway draughts, shelter facilities, and, in general, internal access issues. In spite of major expenditures on infrastructure, capacity and facilities for container terminals, big ships and high cargo volumes are putting a considerable strain on seaports, implying the need for seaports and backyard operations to meet this development.

It is essential that seaports and the whole supply chain be handled and distributed efficiently throughout the hinterland as a whole. Efficiency in the hinterland of transport networks has generally not been consistent with improvements at sea. The transport sector has thus been increasingly focused on environmental problems and on the role logistics networks may play in minimizing environmental effects. The hinterland port or dry port is a concept capable of minimizing environmental effects related to the maritime transit system. A dry port may be defined as an inland environment with carrier handling facilities which enable different tasks such as temporary storage, consolidation and distribution and the link between transport modes. It’s also referred to as an internal intermodal terminal with high capacity means of transport that connects seaports, where consumers may leave and take their units as if they are dealing directly with a seaport. The aim of this study is to assist seaport operations to improve its competitiveness, resilience in a complex system and facilitate the supply chain despite the continuous transformation of the global transport system. So, what are the possible issues with the establishment of services from a hinterland port and dry port in a nation.

1. PROBLEMS DRIVING THE EMERGENCE OF HINTERLAND AND DRYPORT
2. Port Congestion

A massive increase in the size of vessels has led to more cooperation between the port and the hinterland through the vast high-capacity transportation methods either by rail or by ferry, frequently including dry ports. It is essential to take a very short time to transport large amounts of containers from ships to the hinterland and vice versa to reduce demurrage, which unavoidably has an effect on seaport profits. It is thus necessary that the internal transport infrastructure be properly linked to and from seaports to reduce container residence periods. Moreover, as a consequence of increased internal and external traffic, seaports suffer from congestion and have a ‘knock-on’ effect. For example, a delay caused by port congestion causes the lay time to expire, which ultimately results in a delay in reaching the next call port. In addition, when trucks pick up containers when the container yard is filled to capacity, many moves occur within the container terminal that affect the production of the port and cause the boat on the berth to work hard, and the other ships to continue to add to the queue. Therefore, it is necessary to move from rad to other modes of transport to decrease port congestion and ensure seamless carriage.

2. Port Capacity Problem

The introduction and growth of mega ships means that storage capacity expansion needs are rising to offer adequate room for additional containers. This is because fast economic development and the movement of commodities induce not only increasing road traffic but also heavier marine transport. Many ports thus face capacity shortages and lack of efficiency. The seaports are not expanding quickly enough to handle the rising volumes of containers that create increased congestion and delays in delivery. Some functions are not reliable, since the crowded port has very limited room, such as selection, which usually accounts for approximately half of all port movements. There are several transport chains that concentrate on one container vessel that makes container sorting complex and takes a long time to finish. However, it may be more efficient and time-consuming to execute the same job in the hinterland hub, where the containers are transported by rail.

3. Environmental Problems

For economic growth, an efficient and effective transport infrastructure is important, and is an advantage for worldwide competitiveness. However, transportation has significant adverse effects on many environmental issues. The considerable increase in transport demand, in particular for road transport, has made the industry a significant contributor to environmental issues. Without the development of a hinterland port and a dry port, cargo transit by road is considerably greater than on inland waterways or railways. Emissions of atmospheric pollutants such as SO2, HCs, VOCs, CO, NOX have an important effect on the ecosystem and also harm animal and vegetal health. The intense movement of trucks from and to the port through the cities is extremely unfavorable. Thus, the installation of electric trains for the transport of products to and from the port region may be an option. The least ecologically friendly method of road transport with regard to environmental performance parameters. Although the difference in road transport efficiency and shipping/rail transport is enormous, the use of road transport remains much better than that of transport by rail or shipping. Efforts should thus be made to balance the use of various transport modes, because modal choices have a significant influence on the environmental performance of the transport system.

III. ISSUES OF GLOBAL HINTELAND PORT AND DRY PORT FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

As mentioned previously, hinterland port and dry port services can overcome the problems created by the arriving and growing number of bigger ships. This indicates that the establishment of various port types for their services will contribute to maximizing all activities and lead to substantial economic development for the nation. Although inland ports and dry ports promise to provide a good contribution to an efficient operation at ports, problems may arise in the near future, if a government decides to set up such services in their country.

1. Limited accessibility and connectivity caused from insufficient transport infrastructure

Transport limitations impact the efficiency and mobility of dry port and hinterland port, and therefore decrease their ability to support seaport activities. Limited container delivery networks at these ports certainly lose their value and appeal in the container seaport sector and put additional pressure on seaports to achieve domestic regionalization. This demonstrates that the transport networks can decide whether or not these ports are in a strategic position. In addition, inadequate transport connections in container freight facilities may lead to a low volume of containers received owing to connectivity limitations. The change between the dry port and the hinterland port may thus be a fantastic approach for improving connectivity, since it also has cheaper costs compared to the construction of transport infrastructure, which consumes more time and money.

Besides, connectivity restrictions also include inadequate inland waterways, low rail connections between dry ports and seaports, and limited rail length. This will not satisfy the customer’s requirement for frequent rail services, especially cross-border rail services, allowing for higher freight delivery at a cheaper cost. The dry port customers require a logistics provider in order to grow their network and generate sufficient volumes in the dry port.

Therefore, dry ports and hinterland ports should improve the facilities, infrastructure, and services required for their customers to remain competitive and sustainable in the seaport system. The infrastructure includes extensive roadways and rail networks to boost the number of seaport containers generated. Furthermore, dry port and hinterland port customers require a sufficient transport infrastructure to deal with large volumes of containers from and to the seaports. This will thus also guarantee dry port users an increase in economies of scale, which eventually provides consumers with cost benefits.

2. Difficulty for short distance container delivery

The issues with short-distance container delivery may arise if carrier operators are unwilling to provide and pick up containers for short journeys at dry ports. This has meant that the operation and delivery of containers within a very short time is challenging owing to the majority of these transport companies, since they are not cost-effective or lucrative compared to long-distance operations. One of the methods for overcoming this problem is to organize a multi-group railway system to carry containers from various fields. This approach is carried out through the use of rail services to cover the whole delivery region of containers, bypass transport and limit damage to road infrastructure. The use of the railway network may be successful in the distribution and collection of containers and overcome the challenge of operating the delivery of containers over a small distance. The availability of various transport modes for container movement in dry ports would address many of these issues without costing the road infrastructure any additional maintenance costs. Monopolies of specific modes of freight transport may also be avoided and prevented. This is the primary reason why transport infrastructure has become the key operating needs of dry ports.

3. Competition with seaports

In certain cases, seaports and dry ports do not want to jeopardize and collaborate, but rather compete in the main and dominant markets for containers. This may happen and lead dry ports to confront significant seaport rivalry simply because the seaports seek to dominate the hinterland market. This competitive connection between dry ports and seaports caused issues during the transit of containers from seaports to dry ports. The tight connection will only restrict the performance of these dry ports. Dry ports must diversify services or operations and create additional services for manufacturers. This is the only way to resolve this issue. They may take advantage of their primary strengths: flexibility and a strategic position near domestic manufacturing centres. This may detect and fulfil customer needs appropriately. Through improved services, for example, the provision of fast customs clearance, reduced risk of cargo loss and damage, and more.

The tense competition between these two systems will only enhance their individual performance since dry port and marina are part of the container seaport system. Thus, if seaports are interested in working with their subsidiary terminals, the advantages of dry ports, seaports, and indeed the whole freight system will be reduced. For example, dry ports need to design a strategy to build cooperative links with seaports to help with container space.

1. BENEFITS OF EFFICIENT HINTERLAND PORT AND DRY PORT
2. Environmental-Friendly Society

Dry port as elements of hinterland distribution network encourages modal shifts, reduce traffic and pollution at seaport doors and cities and reduce undesired gas emissions. Congestion contributes significantly to the issue of the environment because crowded transport generates more air pollution than a smooth flow. It is thus an increasing issue and presently focuses on reducing the problem of congestion. The movement of trucks from and to seaports typically takes place in towns which only exacerbate the issue. Thus, an effective dry port will certainly assist to decrease traffic by moving container transit from road to rail. Moreover, it would help reduce CO2 emissions using electrically driven train.

2. Economic Impact

Since dry port and hinterland port are to be an effective internal gateway to the port, relocating ports to a domestic region would create growth and produce new jobs and jobs. It will also affect competitiveness favorable by improving the efficiency of the existing resources and boosting the amount of trade that leads to regional development.

Furthermore, the operation of these ports may improve profitability as it can lead to the whole reduction of the cost of a country’s transport if a maximum number of infrastructures are implemented at key places. In Finland, for example, it has been shown that the greatest cost reductions may be achieved via a strategic number of dry ports.

3. A platform for integrity supply chain and industries development

The development of inland and dry ports would speed up economic structural improvements and enhance industrial structures, and eventually settle the gap between the coastal and inland regions. The upstream and downstream supply chain businesses in the inland region will be greatly encouraged when the dry port is operational. For instance, the integration of direct industries with dry ports and inland ports, including loading and unloading, containerization, and transport. In addition, warehousing, storage, and others are also indirect businesses. Other allied sectors, including goods, custom clearance, insurance and trade, are also involved. It thus demonstrates that the construction of dry ports and inland ports would also encourage the development of those industries which have a major beneficial effect on the growth and economic development of the nation.

4. Increase seaport competitiveness

The rise in the size of cargo ships leads to large container volumes at seaports. This requires an effective transportation network for the quick transfer of incoming containers at seaports. The use of the dry port and hinterland port services will thus reduce the congestion of seaports and enhance the flow of containers. In addition, multi-transportation for fast movement of containers may reduce transport costs. High flexibility and shorter container transit times tend to attract more boats into the marina.

Furthermore, each seaport customer expects a strong and dependable reputation from seaports, operating 365 days a year, excellent connections to inland transport providers and rapid answers to logistical requests. The great dependability of services will enable the seaport user to decrease turnaround times that obviously reflect cost considerations. With a dry port and the back port in the seaport system, adequate seaport connectivity to this intermodal terminal will make the seaport more efficient and reliable. It removes road congestion, overcomes restrictions on space and provides a highly secured container distribution system.

• DISADVANTAGE OF EFFICIENT HINTER LAND PORT AND DRY PORT
• Congestion in hinterland port and dry port

The primary purpose of both ports is to help ease the congestion issue at seaports. However, certain urban dry ports are confronted with congestion issues due to lack of transit capacity and availability of space. The inland ports of Virginia, for example, were facing congestion because of a rising number of containers at the ports of Virginia, which extended across large state roads and impacted international traffic over the same network. This has shown that additional development of transport infrastructure is critical to assist dry ports to minimize congestion.

• Lack of data handling procedure

The exchange of information is essential to promote efficiency inland freight distribution. However, if there is any issue of information exchange, the efficiency of dry port and the backland port and the competitiveness of container seaports would definitely affect it. A lack of information sharing across all ports placed a major disadvantage on the container distribution system. This is because the methodical process of cargo handling may reduce a huge quantity of paperwork and improve the profitability of ports. Complicated data processing in the container port system may still impact the whole performance and create numerous problems in integrating various customers and administering information along the chain. It will also create delays and impair the performance of all participants in the ports container system. This will lead to a bad reputation for the ports system of a nation.

• CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the growth and rise of the ordering sites for big cargo ships has several benefits, particularly in terms of economies of scale. It demonstrates the rise of containerization and worldwide commerce. However, this growth places limitations on existing seaports since they have to meet present demand. This has resulted in several problems, such as increased port congestion, detrimental effects on the environment, and the need to expand the container yard and more. Therefore, the function of the dry port and the inland port is shown since it may help seaports to increase their competitiveness and preserve their reputation. But future problems still need to be considered if a country decides to develop those few services offered by the inland port and dry port. A variety of measures need to be adopted in order to prevent ineffective and inefficient backyard ports and dry ports in order to guarantee the sustainability and capacity of ports to support the operation of seaports. With a lot of planned measures to ensure an effective rear and dry port, it clearly provides a range of advantages for the container seaport system and national development.