The system approach

This may have been due to several factors. Traditionally, ports, as public infrastructure projects, were primarily thought of in terms of structural engineering - just piling lots of concrete. Operational issues were often secondary. But the container port industry has matured, and like all mature industries, growing productivity has become just as important as growing volumes.

So some equipment suppliers are seeing an increased opportunity to put their expertise to further use by getting involved much earlier in the process of port planning and design. Two companies which have gone some way down this road are Kalmar Industries and Gottwald.

Kalmar started offering added-value services in 2001. "Although we had been involved in areas such as layout planning long before then, it had usually been according to the particular product line, " explains Jari Prihonen, general manager, terminal development.

"We decided that this activity needed co-ordinating properly, such that the product line was not so much the issue as which particular handling system would work best for a particular customer. Obviously, we make our money from selling handling systems, but we see this as an added-value service to customers because it helps them choose which system will work best for them."

While Kalmar's sales executives are "very competent" in the technical aspects of handling systems, the company has also invested in training to help them better understand the operational side of the port business, and to see issues such as productivity from the customer point of view.

Gottwald sees the need for 'proactivity' in the client relationship.

"We often find that the customer is not too sure of what he really wants or needs and is glad to discuss his detailed requirements with experts in their particular field, " says Peter Klein, head of marketing at Gottwald. "We much prefer to talk with the client, to learn and understand his business, and from this we are able to create solutions. This ultimately allows us to stay ahead of the game, with on-going improvements and the design and manufacture of new equipment to meet the demand."

SMALLER PORTS BENEFIT MORE Customers can be any size, but Pirhonen says smaller ports probably benefit more, as the global port groups have their own extensive planning teams. "Individual ports might know their own operations very well, but they will not necessarily have reference points against which they can benchmark those operations. That is where Kalmar can offer real assistance. We have a global presence and get regular feedback from our customer network enabling us to compare data while, of course, preserving client confidentiality.

"For example, we can compare annual costs per move of alternative handling systems, test projections for storage capacity, volumes, dwell times, etc, and suggest to the customer which combination of systems will be the most effective in realising their goals. Obviously, we hope this early involvement will give us an advantage when it comes to choosing the handling equipment supplier.

One advantage for Kalmar, he adds, is that the company is not only getting involved at a much earlier stage, it is also meeting a bigger audience; not just operations staff but other management as well; in fact anyone who has a stake in the successful operation of the terminal.

ADDING SIMULATION TO THE MIX Simulation is an increasingly critical tool in port planning as it allows planners to test different operational scenarios and so shorten the overall development time and reduce the risk of choosing an inappropriate system.

Both Kalmar and Gottwald have allied themselves with companies specialising in this technology. In fact, following years of close cooperation, Gottwald acquired 70% of software company TBA Nederland BV in January this year. "This obviously fits well with our aim of providing a complete package solution, " adds Klein. "In line with the growing importance of using software in ports and terminals, not only for control and management but also for planning solutions, we have gradually extended the scope of our services in the field of semiautomated and fully automated systems, consulting, project management and software solutions.

"So for both large hub terminal operators and Gottwald's traditional smaller and medium-sized customers we can, in addition to handling equipment and automation, now offer customers advanced simulation modelling techniques. These are complemented by emulation tools that allow us to test and tune terminal software offline by emulating live terminal operations with real terminal data.

Customers benefit from better investment planning, improved risk management, short development times, detailed performance planning and assessment, and high quality software."

Kalmar works closely with, but independently from, CyberCube, a Finnish software company providing simulation and modelling for various industries. "We often work with them on terminal simulations. But obviously the customer can choose whether to employ us as the main contractor or CyberCube, " explains Pirhonen. "Through simulation we can better assist a port in selecting the best-functioning alternative and in testing the viability of the choice. Simulating alternatives will help find bottlenecks and pinpoint other problem areas before any changes are made or construction work is started."

"We can use the CyberCube application to make a more exact assessment of the machine capacity needed at a port and test the efficiency of various container handling systems in different situations."

For Kalmar the added service is not a profit centre. According to Pirhonen, the company does not pretend to know the customer's operational requirements better than they do, "but we can show that we have an understanding of these and can contribute to their planning". Charging for the additional services depends on how much the customer wants. For suggesting a terminal layout, for example, Kalmar makes no charge, but if the customer wants to construct a detailed simulation then this has to be paid for.

Naturally, the conventional port and civil engineering consultants might be expected to view this trend as unsettling. But Pirhonen for one does not see it like that. "We do not see ourselves as competing with the port consultants, in fact we want to complement the service they offer. In developing this service I made a point of identifying the major port consultants and introducing myself to them, keeping them up to date with developments on our side of the business, and allowing them easier access to information regarding equipment systems. We are now finding we can work with them where we have particular expertise; we don't get involved in detailed engineering, that is not our forte and it really would be eating someone else's bread.

"There is, of course, some competition between consultancy companies on the one hand and equipment suppliers with planning and simulation capabilities (like Gottwald) on the other hand, " Klein points out. "We claim to have a lot of experience with both software and hardware which gives us a unique position since we know both sides of the coin. And we can provide state-of-the-art simulation."