“Training of staff, parts availability and overall cost are far better with standardisation”, says the Port of Los Angeles Tim Clark.
For its part, Montreal Gateway Terminals has opted for Liebherr cranes across the board. “We’re a river port and because equipment delivery has to contend with obstacles such as electric cables, the cranes have to arrive knocked-down. ZPMC can’t really compete on that score,” says chief executive Kevin Doherty.
Jeannie Beckett, principal of the Beckett Group, notes: “Standardisation is important within a terminal and within an organisation, to ensure maintenance standards and productivity gains. Training can be reduced for both maintenance crews and the operators. Fewer mistakes are made when each piece of a certain type of equipment is the same.”
Meanwhile, where it comes to equipment purchasing, automation and computerised operations are no longer the factor they were 15 years ago. As financial consultant Martin Blaiklock says: “All ports are now heavily computerised and that is taken into account from the beginning.”
Instead, in the last five to 10 years, the biggest change in equipment buying has been the need to consider the environmental costs. Los Angeles is trying to lead the world and its fleet of 350 on-road vehicles is being switched to hybrids and compressed natural gas, with half of the programme now completed.
There is a cost premium over gasoline, but pollution reduction is significant. (Police vehicles are staying with petrol because of the greater power). “We are now also looking more seriously at electric vehicles, because the technology is improving all the time,” says Mr Clark, “to the point where a single charge can last a full day.”
