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Mega-container ships require deeper drafts



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Mega-container ships require deeper drafts


Juda and Burroughs 04 -- professors in the Department of Marine Affairs, University of Rhode Island (Lawrence, Richard, "Dredging Navigational Channels in a Changing Scientific and Regulatory Environment," Journal of maritime Law & Commerce, Vol. 34, No. 2, April, 2004 http://www.uritc.org/media/finalreportspdf/536151.pdf) CS

Simply put. larger ships benefit from economies of scale. so that a larger container vessel has lower costs per container and a larger tanker lower costs per unit of crude oil or other cargo." DOT has noted the trend toward the use of mega-container ships. that is ships designed to carry over 4.500 boxes measured in terms of twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs)." The Regina Maersk. the first 6.000+ TEU containership. was delivered in early 1996. and in the period of 1997-1999 some thirty five new vessels were ordered with a TEU capacity ranging from 4.500 to 9.000 TEUs." Ships on order now include what will be the two largest containerships in the world. with a capacity of 9.800 TEUs (for the Chi11a Shipping Group to be operated between Hong Kong and Los Angeles)." Industry sources suggest that in the near future ships with up to 12.000 TEU capacity will enter into service." and DOT expects that. by 2010. almost one third of all general cargo tonnage will be transported on ships with more than 4.000 TEUs." But if larger vessels offer cost efficiencies for ship operators. they present new problems for port managers. As ships have become larger. they have acquired deeper drafts. demanding deeper water to accommodate their hulls. At the start of the twentieth century. navigational channels of thirty 30 feet in depth were sufficient to allow safe movement of almost all ships." but this is no longer the case. Since the introduction of container carrying ships in the 1950s. six generations of such ships have evolved. with successively deeper drafts (Figure 1)." It is believed that the drafts of the mega-containerships that will be coming online will not be greater than 14.5 meters. a figure that does not exceed the draft of the largest containerships now in service." Mega-container operations require a water depth of at least fifty feet in ship channels. turning basins. and ship berths." According to the Maritime Administration. in 1997 only four of the ten major U.S. container ports that collectively loaded and unloaded almost eighty per cent of container traffic had channel and berthing areas deep enough in draft for fully laden mega-container ships." (Table 2). It is not ship draft alone that must be considered i11 navigational dredging. Other factors. such as increased beam and windage. create maneuverability problems in narrow channels." A particular port`s lack of the clearances needed by these larger. deeper draft vessels undercuts its potential for commercial success. To maximize their attraction for very large containerships. ports must be able to offer easy entrance and departure. the capacity to entertain such vessels even with full loads (high load factors). efficient loading and lll1l0Rdl11g. and ready access to other forms of transportation as part of the desired seamless network of intermodal carriage. For ship operators. fast turnaround time is essential. as any time lost at ports lessens the time that ships can move cargoes and generate revenues. frustrates the expectations of shippers regarding delivery. and generally raises questions about the reliability of service. In this market. ports with channels or berthing facilities that do not provide needed clearance for these newer and larger vessels may be avoided altogether. Otherwise. they may be left to served only by smaller ships or those that are not fully loaded. In the port of Oakland. for example. deep draft vessels have had to key their arrival times to tidal schedules. and delays in unloading might then cost an additional 10.5-14 horns of waiting for the next high tide." Such scenarios have serious implications for the port. for businesses dependent on maritime transportation. and. ultimately. for the consumer. The needs of ports to accommodate larger vessels with deeper drafts. taken together with the natural process of sedimentation. create demands for the dredging of shipping lanes. As noted by a former DOT official. for ports "the competition to capture markets by having the deep channels required for mega-ships translates simply and inescapably into millions of tons of dredged materials."24

Light loaded ships kills the seaport industry


Weakley 08 --President of the Lake Carriers' Association (James H. I., Testimony Before the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, April 30, 2008, http://www.ramphmtf.org/speeches_043008.html) CS

The Importance of Dredging Our ports and harbors are gateways to domestic and international trade, connecting the United States to the world. Because of the Nation´s port system, food grown by Iowa farmers reaches tables in Japan and Russia. Manufacturers in Texas can sell goods and services profitably to foreign countries and supply food for peace. Appalachian and Midwest coal moves through coastal ports to power plants domestically and around the world, providing the fuel to heat and light homes, businesses, and cities. Whether products are arriving at our shores or departing for foreign sale, trade relies on an efficiently operating U.S. port system. Without exception, ports are critical to every State in the Nation. On average, each of our 50 States relies on 13 to 15 ports to handle its imports and exports, which add up to more than $5.5 billion worth of goods moving in and out of U.S. ports every day. Responsible for moving more than 99 percent of the country´s overseas cargo, U.S. ports and waterways handle more than 2.5 billion tons of domestic and international trade annually, and that volume is projected to double within the next 15 years - particularly after the expansion of the Panama Canal. International trade is responsible for 25 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Along with meeting the demands of international trade, ports are busy with a sustained surge in cruise travel. Cruises depart from 43 ports in North America with a positive economic impact in all 50 States, since over 79 percent of cruise industry expenditures are made with U.S. businesses, including airlines, travel agents, food and beverage, and ship maintenance and refurbishing. On the Great Lakes, enormous quantities of raw materials that move by vessel are used to power major cities, make steel, and build roads. Equally, or more important is the National Defense support that our Nation´s ports provide. The U.S. military depends on numerous ports that have agreements with the Federal Government to serve as bases of operation and to deploy troops and equipment during national emergencies. Today this role is more evident than ever and more important than ever, given the current climate of persistent threats around the globe coupled with the closure in recent years of U.S. military ports. Port-related jobs are critical to augment our economy. Direct and indirect jobs generated by ports result in the employment of more than 8 million Americans who earned and spent $314.5 billion in 2006. Every $1 billion in exports alone creates an estimated 15, 000 new jobs. In Texas alone one in every four jobs is linked to trade. America´s deep-draft navigation system is at a crossroads, with a future that can be bright or bleak. Our waterways´ ability to support the Nation's continuing growth in trade and in the defense of our Nation, hinges on much-needed Federal attention to unresolved funding needs that are derailing critical channel maintenance and deep-draft construction projects of the water highways to our ports. Because most ports do not have naturally deep harbors, they must be regularly dredged to allow ships to move safely through Federal navigation channels. Also, as modern vessels increase in size, navigation channel depths must increase accordingly, if we are to continue to be a player on the international marketplace. A recent U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study reports that almost 30 percent of the 95, 550 vessel calls at U.S. ports are constrained due to inadequate channel depths. Ladies and gentlemen, these are the things that cause port directors nightmares. Without a channel dredged to its authorized depth, nothing else comes into play. Attracting new customers, dealing with labor issues, environmental concerns, and the public - all go away - because without a properly-dredged channel, business goes away. Public ports are at a critical state in keeping their channels open for business. We are losing existing business and potential new business to ports outside of the United States and once lost, it is rarely regained. Dredging can literally make or break our industry, and a lack of dredging is an issue throughout the United States. In fact, it is not an overstatement to say that in many parts of the United States, we face a dredging crisis. On the Great Lakes, as Chairman James L. Oberstar of this Committee and Chairman David R. Obey of the Appropriations Committee well know, decades of inadequate funding for dredging have left a backlog of 18 million cubic yards of sediment. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates removing the backlog will cost more than $230 million on the Great Lakes alone. In some cases, ports on the Great Lakes have actually shutdown due to inadequate dredging. There are similar examples of dredging problems in ports and harbors on all coasts of our Nation. In many cases, vessels must load light because of dredging shortfalls. The economic implications of light loading are enormous. On the Great Lakes, for example, vessels lose between 50 to 270 tons of cargo for each inch they must reduce their draft and, in some areas, the lost draft is measured in feet, not inches. Light loading because of inadequate dredging impacts everyone. A ship that is light-loaded reduces its efficiencies in the same way that a commercial airplane that is required to set aside seats with no passengers would quickly lose its efficiencies.



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