THE SHORTER THE VOYAGE THE MORE LIKELY THE VIABILITY

Its the familiar trickle-down effect. Trade grows. Ships get bigger to gain economies of scale. Hub ports order bigger quay cranes to work the bigger ships. Meanwhile smaller ports are growing and also have to accommodate bigger ships – either as feeders or direct callers – so they too need to replace their quay cranes. But where do they buy them and how do they get them home? Nick Elliott investigates.