Southampton Container Terminals

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Owned 51% by the P & O Ports Group and 49% by Associated British Ports Group, Southampton Container Terminals or S.C.T., as it is commonly known, is the United Kingdom's second largest container terminal.

[edit] Core business

Attracting the mainline container operating consortia, the likes of the Grand Alliance, Global Alliance and the New World Alliance, in 2003 the terminal's throughput was around 1,370,000 TEU. Each container movement, costing around £100, allowed the company to amass around £13 million in profit throughout the year 2003 for P&O and ABP stakeholders.

[edit] New managing director

After the "quiet" removal of the then managing director, Jerry Rickord, the new MD, John Buckley, an expert in gaining maximum efficiency for container terminals across Australasia and the Far East, was brought in during 2004. According to Lloyds List (23 Feb 2005), Buckley is under orders from the group's directors to undertake major management re-structuring in anticipation for new developments.

[edit] New developments

By June, 2005, development is expected to commence on the construction of a new yard stacking system, in the form of Rubber Tyre Gantry systems, under complete control of an automated system allowing SCT to reduce the workforce by up to 65%, according to the P&O Port's statement from the board of directors (2004). Despite the issue of the redundancy of a number of dockers, "the new system will reduce operating costs by up to 74% after the initial capital is paid back" said a representative of ABPorts who went on to say that "usually we look for an internal rate of return of at least 15% for any major project such as this, the RTGs will give us a projected 25% IRR on our investment and the collateral effect it may have on the port community must therefore be overlooked"

==WITH EFFICIENCY COMES NEW BUSINESS SUCCESS FOR SOUTHAMPTON CONTAINER TERMINALS LTD (SCT)==

Southampton Container Terminals Ltd (SCT) has successfully won a further six weekly services to the port, starting in September 2006. The new services linking Southampton to Canada, USA East and West Coast, Mexico, South America and the Mediterranean are SLCS, GAX, PAX, GMX, MedPaC and EEX and will result in a total of 11 European services, operated by Grand Alliance member lines, being handled at the terminal each week. On the back of this business win, SCT plans to invest circa £15 million in two new quayside gantry cranes and eight new straddle carriers. In addition to this investment will come the creation of further jobs at SCT to accommodate the new services. Commenting on the good news, Patrick Walters, Managing Director, SCT said: “We are delighted to see a long established customer such as the Grand Alliance consolidate their business here in Southampton. Everyone involved in the operation at SCT has worked hard in the past 18 months to improve the terminal’s efficiency levels and this move by the Grand Alliance highlights this success. I am confident that we will continue to deliver a high level of performance across all service areas.” SCT introduced a range of measures to improve efficiency during 2005 with continued improvement during 2006, including a mandatory vehicle booking system which with a new gate process that has lead to consistent sub 30 minute vehicle turn around. Vessel productivity has also significantly improved and capacity increased to 2.0M TEU.

These developments highlight a remarkable turnaround for SCT. Despite its co-owners P&O Ports and ABPorts both being taken over within a matter of months of each other, the terminals has secured new business that will increase volumes significantly and demonstrate whether the port has resolved the congestion problems that have plagued it in recent years.

Worries about SCT not being able to handle the largest contanierships have proved unfounded and every week several 8000teu plus vessels call at the port. Further developments may include creating new berths from existing port land.

[edit] RECORD THROUGHPUT 2006

During 2006, SCT handled a total throughput of just over 1,500,000 TEU, this figure represents a 9% increase compared to the total throughput handled during 2005 (1,375,000).

A total of 693 deep-sea vessels called at SCT during the year, which is an increase of 21% compared to 571 deep-sea vessels that called in 2005. A total of 211 feeder vessels were handled during the year, with 49 feeder vessels being serviced on berth 203 by the dedicated mobile harbour crane.

Landside operations handled a total of 429,097 lorries throughout the year, which is an increase of almost 13% compared to the 381,132 lorries that were serviced in 2005. The number of boxes handled via rail during 2006 accounted for 26% of total throughput.