Box traffic to hit 1bn by 2020

Noting that ports are already responding to challenges brought about by the growth in traffic, Mr Penfold pointed out that the growing size of ships and the increase in demand will inevitably force ports to undertake additional infrastructure investment.

However, future containership growth may be stunted, according to Klaus Schmocker, managing director of Hamburg Port Consulting.

He believes that future containerships will be limited to 400 metres in length, drawing no more than 16 metres of water and conveying an upper limit of 15,000 teu – anything above this will present major handling problems for container terminals. Nevertheless, Mr Schmocker does not foresee a need for an upper limit on container terminal design and capacity.