|
DUTCH
shipping consultancy Dynamar forecasts the
2015 intra-Mediterranean container volumes
will increase 4.6 per cent year on year
to 15.6 million TEU, and then rise 9.6 per
cent to 17.1 million TEU by 2017.
Intra-Mediterranean
(2014) Container Trades involve 170 services
operated by 40 different shipping companies
deploying 275 ships in the 400 to 3,000-TEU
range.
Through
nearly 100 ports in 24 countries, ships
and the ports serve 700 million people in
frequencies of between twice and many times
per month, carrying an average of 275,000
laden TEU.
In
terms of connectivity, the Aegean tops the
Med sub trades with 275 trade connections;
the Black Sea is at the bottom with just
71, said the new third edition Dynamar report.
"With
respect to individual port connectivity,
Piraeus is at the top with 54 connections,
but Alexandria is on its heels with 53,"
the report said.
Transshipment
ports, to be worthy of the same, says Dynamar
must have transshipment volumes that are
at least 50 per cent of throughput.
So
they included the ports of Italy's Gioia
Tauro and Tangier-Med Port - both with 95
per cent transshipments - though Algeciras,
while not in the 50 per cent or above bracket,
has the highest transshipment volume at
nearly four million TEU, ahead of Port Said's
3.8 million TEU.
The
Mediterranean trade is divided in two -
West-Med and East-Med. The West Med divided
in two: Western Europe and Maghreb North
Africa.
The
East Med encompasses the Adriatic, Aegean
(Greece and Turkey), Black Sea and Levant
(Turkey East Med through to Egypt) sub trades,
said the report.
"The
number of services and their annual capacity
operating to, from, between and within each
of those sub-trade areas varies greatly,"
said Dynamar.
Spain
handles the largest number of containers
(import and export, full and empty, including
transshipment) at more than 11 million TEU
in 2013. Croatia is the smallest country
in this respect with just 132,000 TEU.
Eight
global terminal operators are involved in
30 Mediterranean box facilities, also handling
intra-Med trade. With eight terminals, including
projects, APM Terminals is the largest,
followed by DP World with six and MSC-subsidiary
TIL (Terminal Investment Limited), with
five.
Intra-Mediterranean
shipping services calling ports in the European
sector of the West Mediterranean provide
an annual trade capacity of 2.7 million
TEU.
The
Adriatic, currently one of the smallest
trade areas, is considered to offer a large
potential for growth of intra-Mediterranean
shipping volumes.
It
will not come as a surprise that the Aegean,
comprising the waters between Greece and
Turkey, is the second largest intra-Mediterranean
trade area, providing a capacity of 2.45
million TEU.
In
terms of intra-Mediterranean connectivity,
the Aegean sub-trade area is first with
275 trade connections, that it the most
weekly sailings). The Black Sea is at the
bottom of this ranking with just 71 sailing.
The
Bosporus, connecting the East Med with the
Black Sea and flowing through Istanbul city-centre,
has a maximum vessel length restriction
of 300 metres. The largest ship passing
through this natural waterway is a 9,400
TEU CMA CGM newbuilding with a length-over-all
of 299.95 metres.
Israel
(2,539,000 TEU) and Lebanon (1,117,000 TEU)
are both among the Mediterranean throughput
country millionaires.
With
34 calls per week at eight of its ports,
Algeria is the largest Maghreb country in
terms of connectivity with other Mediterranean
countries.
Despite
the country risk in the Levant, with nearly
2.3 million TEU capacity Turkey/East Med,
Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Egypt
still form the third largest intra-Mediterranean
sub-trade area.
It
is also connected with all other sub-trade
regions. This is not in the last place due
to Egypt with its major transshipment centre
of Port Said (4.1 million TEU), gateway
Alexandria (1.5 million TEU) and hybrid
Damietta, together accounting for 6.3 million
TEU as a country.
MSC
is the largest intra-Mediterranean carrier
by annualised one-way capacity (1.5 million
TEU), ahead of CMA CGM (900,000 TEU). It
also operates the longest intra-Med service,
connecting four trade areas during a 4,900
nautical miles roundtrip, said Dynamar.
|
