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Issue 8 2020 - FBJNA


///RO-RO


Siem Confucius, the world’s first LNG-operated vehicle carrier of its size, berths at JAXPORT. The vessel can carry 7,500 cars and reduces emissions up to 100%. (JAXPORT photo.)


Roller Coaster for Ro-Ro Volumes at Nation’s Ports By Alexandra Walsh


Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are facing inventory shortages aſter losing months of production to the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, consumer demand has rebounded helping stoke optimism in the auto industry. These trends are affecting the nation’s ports that


traditionally


handle the highest level of heavy roll-on/roll-off (ro/ro) cargo. The impact on ro/ro cargo volume has been dramatically mixed, depending on the port. Here’s FBJNA’s latest take of


what has been happening at key ports around the country that handle ro/ro cargo.


Port of Baltimore


The Port of Baltimore handles the majority of the U.S. East Coast market share of ro/ro cargo annually and more autos/ light trucks than any other U.S. port and distinguishes itself by its ““Ro/Ro Rodeo” that teach labor the unique handling and operational requirements for each type of vehicle. Adjacent to the port’s facilities, the privately owned Chesapeake and Atlantic auto terminals also provide 250 acres for automobile processing and storage. The combined space auto handling terminals in the port offer a total of 608 acres for autos and ro/ro cargo. Despite the challenges the auto


industry has faced this year, the Port of Port of Baltimore has been able to maintain its top market share. “We have seen significant


jumps in our auto/light truck volumes. In fact, we just had our first year-over-year increase for autos/light trucks, with September figures 8% higher than September 2019,” says Richard Scher, Maryland Port Authority


spokesman. “September 2020


numbers were also 169% higher than May 2020, which was our lowest month for autos/light trucks.” Scher points out that while


import ro/ro has been impacted by a weak U.S. dollar, the port’s export ro/ro numbers were up 11% year over year in August. “This was our first key commodity that had year-over-year growth since the pandemic began,” says Scher. “Looking ahead, some of our key ro/ro customers have indicated to us that they are expecting increased volumes in 2021.” Scher adds that container


volumes have also been showing very positive trends over the last few months. “October is going to be our first year-over-year increase for containers since the start of COVID-19.” Scher notes the berths at


the port’s Dundalk Marine Terminal are being reinforced to accommodate the larger and heavier pieces of farm and construction machinery that the port handles. The Fairfield Marine Terminal auto berth is also being renovated. Tradepoint Atlantic, which


Scher describes as being a key partner at the port, recently added 110 acres for autos at their new facility at Sparrows Point.


Georgia Ports Authority Port of Jacksonville


With secure ro/ro facilities in Savannah and Brunswick, the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) is the second busiest in the nation for total ro/ro trade. In Savannah, Ocean Terminal


handles ro/ro, breakbulk and project cargo. The terminal features five deepwater berths served by a variety of carriers. As a dedicated ro/ro facility, the Colonel’s Island Terminal


The Port of Hueneme is dredging its south terminal berths and port entrance channel to 40 feet to accommodate larger vehicle carriers. (Port of Hueneme photo.)


growth. Since the early stages of


COVID-19 – when auto and machinery manufacturing plants were shut down along with international and domestic dealerships selling those products – import and export volumes are


plant was shut down for several months during the early stages of COVID-19 when much of the country was shut down,” notes the spokesperson. “Since reopening, export volumes are ramping back up as Kia balances supplying both its domestic and export markets.”


The Port of Jacksonville


(JAXPORT) is one of the nation’s busiest ports for total vehicle handling, moving more than 696,500 vehicles last year. Leading auto processors – AMPORTS, Wallenius Wilhelmsen Solutions and Southeast Toyota – combined account for more than 250 acres of open storage and 300,000 square feet of auto


in Brunswick features three on-terminal auto processors, including International Auto Processing, Mercedes-Benz USA, and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Solutions. The Port of Brunswick offers three modern ro/ro berths, served by nine steamship lines. Current annual capacity is more than 900,000 vehicles. A spokesperson says GPA ports


saw significant volume declines related to COVID-19 in April through June, when much of the world cycled through extended shutdowns


and closures. As


domestic and international production of autos restarted towards the end of June, volumes started to ramp back up. “By August, our Colonel’s Island


auto facility in Brunswick saw its first positive year-over-year results since March of 2020, just prior to all the shutdowns,” the port spokesperson says. “That trend continued with October 2020 seeing the largest import/ export month in more than two years, with 30% year-over-year


returning to more normalized levels. According to port executives,


it appears that the higher volume automobiles have recovered quicker than machinery, but they are also seeing positive trends on the machinery side. “At our ports, the container trade was more stable during the downturn and returned to positive territory much quicker than our ro/ro trade,” notes the spokesperson. “However, in October 2020, our auto volumes at Colonel’s Island hit a level not seen in the last few years and were 30% higher versus October 2019 volumes. Our container volumes were up almost 7% in October 2020 versus October 2019.” The Port of Brunswick serves


more than 20 automakers. Recent changes there are related to the different models that various OEMs ship through the terminal. In 2019, Kia Motors


Manufacturing Georgia began shipping Tellurides to global markets from the port. “Kia’s


Nine steamship lines call


on Colonel’s Island, including American RoRo Carriers, K-Line America, Inc., Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean, Eukor, Liberty Global Logistics, Glovis, MOL ACE, Hoegh Autoliners and NYK Line RoRo. The spokesperson reports schedules were adjusted to volumes and as volumes declined, so did vessel calls but as volumes moved back upwards, so did vessel calls. “Over the last several years, we have seen some larger vessels calling on Colonel’s Island and fortunately our berths were already constructed to handle these larger vessels,” the spokesperson adds. Regarding improvements to


port facilities, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has granted the GPA a permit for the addition of a fourth berth to serve ro/ro vessel traffic at Colonel’s Island Terminal. Ahead of completion, GPA has reconfigured Berth 2 at Colonel’s Island to better accommodate ro/ ro vessels. Forty new dockside acres


added to Brunswick’s ro/ro operation increased car storage by 6,000 spaces and provided a 9-acre staging area for high and heavy equipment. The expansion also adds 14,100 feet of track to the ro/ro operation. In addition, a new access road


to the island’s southside serves new and existing auto processing lots on that end of the terminal.


processing facilities on port terminals. Jacksonville’s port has auto processing facilities as close as 100 yards from ship berths. “We have seen ro/ro volumes


start to rebound during August and September, and expect the positive trends to continue, at least in the short-term, as automotive supply chain production catches up with consumer demand,” says Alberto Cabrera, JAXPORT Director of Automotive Accounts. “If the economy can safely remain open, we could see more of a lasting rebound. Like other U.S. ports, we did see our volumes dip during the height of the pandemic. Volumes have started to recover, which tells us consumer demand has remained reasonably stable.” JAXPORT offers service to


more than a dozen of the world’s leading auto manufacturers. JAXPORT processor AMPORTS recently expanded, adding an additional 22.4 of auto processing space. The company now leases more than 170 acres at JAXPORT. Volkswagen Group of America


recently signed an agreement with port partner AMPORTS to keep Volkswagen’s import facility and Southeastern distribution center in Jacksonville. Volkswagen operates


approximately 80 acres at JAXPORT in addition to a 260,000-square-foot parts distribution facility in Jacksonville. The facilities are used to import, export and process factory-new Volkswagen, Audi, Bentley and Porsche vehicles. The company expects to move 300,000 cars through Jacksonville over


the


next three years. This growth at the port is in


addition to more than 100 acres under lease to auto processors Wallenius Wilhelmsen Solutions and Southeast Toyota Distributors, which combine with AMPORTS to form one of the


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