The operator wants to revolutionise the way containers are handled in South Africa’s ports – ultimately leading to less road congestion and faster turnaround times for imports and exports.

“By introducing such type of vessel, midstream operation becomes much more efficient and cost effective to the operators. Collaboration and co-operation is the forefront of our organisation and we look forward to introducing this niche solution to all major ports worldwide,” said Suhaila Gobey, marketing officer at Sandock Austral Shipyards.

Logistic innovation

The German designed self-propelled and self-sustained port feeder barge could solve a host of challenges experienced by South African ports as it can be deployed at a moment’s notice to wherever it is needed and can operate easily in low water depth or high berth.

As experienced by Durban Port, the devastating April floods caused major disruption to operations due the container terminals being inaccessible to trucks. The port feeder barge could help avert similar problems in the future as it’s independent from quayside equipment and can be used to move containers from different handling facilities shifted from road to waterway.

A key element of the barge is that it’s equipped with its own full scale container crane.

“Durban, like Lagos or even Hamburg has a lot of container movement within the port from one terminal to another which requires the use of trucks. Furthermore containers need to be carried for stuffing and stripping activities to off-dock facilities which often have their own (shallow) water access, but no cranes, resulting in additional road haulage. The port feeder barge eliminates this so there is less traffic congestion and moreover reduces carbon emissions,” said Dr Malchow, whose company designed the port feeder barge.

Dr Malchow said the port feeder barge has myriad of uses as it can be deployed as a ‘Floating (and self-sustained) container truck’ for the haulage within ports or to nearby locations (e.g. container freight stations) or as a ‘Floating terminal’ for deep sea container vessels at anchorage, coastal shipping or inland navigation. It can be used even as a floating crane for non-containerised cargo.