Reaching out into the Solent River, the south of England Port of Southampton sees some of the world’s biggest ships come alongside on a daily basis. DP World’s container terminal may have reached the limit of available quayside, but that’s not limiting the ambitions of the port.
On a tour of the Port of Southampton DP World’s Senior UK Commercial Analyst, Sarah Dougherty is keeping a trained eye on the spreaders beneath the STS cranes on berth five. And with good reason – there are no twistlock operations under the STS cranes and the port’s stevedores are not used to people being in this area.
The concern about personnel under a suspended load runs deep at DP World Southampton. In 2023 the terminal claimed a world first when it introduced a “remote pinning station” at its container terminal. Instead of handling twistlocks under the crane portal or in the backreach DP World is moving twistlock operations to a dedicated area in the yard.
“Traditionally in straddle carrier terminals, a lot of people are undoing the twist locks under the cranes,” points out colleague Andy Bowen, an Australian-born engineer who now serves as Chief Operating Officer, UK Ports & Terminals for DP World. “We came up with this new arrangement here in Southampton, where we’ve taken all the people out of the area where trucks and things are, which is obviously much safer.”
At the remote pinning station, straddle carriers place containers on concrete blocks that put the lower corner castings at working height for twistlock handling. A safety system featuring controlled access gates prevents stevedores from entering the working bay at the same time as a straddle carrier is present. Similar to an ASC block access control system, the gates are a controlled physical barrier that sets a very high safety standard, but this time for twistlock handling. The system does require setting aside a dedicated area in the container yard, but the safety benefit is commendable.
One business unit
DP World operates two container terminals in the south of the UK, Southampton and London Gateway on the Thames Estuary. The port operator has made a strategic decision to treat both ports as a single business unit, enabling it to manage services across the two facilities. The strength of the integration is highlighted by the five weekly transfer trains that take intermodal loads on the 120-mile (190km) rail route between the two.
Although both ports act as a single business unit, they are very different operations. At London Gateway, DP World is very much in control, as landlord and operator. Four berths are already in operation, a fifth is under construction, and the ground is being prepared for a sixth berth. The facilities are all owned by the company, including the large inland logistics park, and the two common-user rail terminals.
Southampton is somewhat different. The port is owned by Associated British Ports (ABP) and DP World leases the container terminal. Bulk cargo and passenger operations (mainly ocean-going cruise vessels) are handled in an adjacent, downstream complex. Container handling is the preserve of DP World. Rail facilities are split between an older terminal serving the bulk handling quays, and the much newer terminal at the western end of the complex, serving the container terminal. That’s managed by Freightliner – the UK rail operator recently acquired by French shipping line CMA-CGM.
Reefers and capacity
The radical shake-up in carrier alliances and trades has had remarkably little effect on the volume coming alongside at Southampton. The port finds itself at the forefront of Asian and Atlantic routes headed for the UK. However, there is one sector that’s still heating up, and that’s reefers. “We’ve just opened 300 additional reefer points, in the last week of August, taking us over 1500,” says Andy Bowen. “A bit of the reshuffle of shipping services in the UK. Reefer trade is a very big part of what DP World does. 75% of all reefer containers into the UK are handled by DP World across the two terminals. Our key point is we’ve invested £2.5 billion in the last ten years, and we’ve earmarked another £1 billion to be invested in both facilities in the next ten years.”
DP World has plans to grow its business at Southampton without expanding the terminal’s footprint. “There’s no ability to expand the quay here,” Bowen said. “What we’re doing is expanding the capability to handle product.” The centrepiece of this plan is four new STS cranes that are due to be delivered by ZPMC next year. Bowen expects the town to turn out to see them arrive. “It’s an amazing sight to see,” he said. “It’s a £60m investment. Under the hook, they’ll be the highest in Europe, and 26 containers wide,” he says, noting that there are no ships yet built with a beam that wide. “You’ve got to think of the future. Many people invested in new cranes, and only ten years later, they’re not big enough. So it’s very important that you have the foresight to invest in bigger cranes – which is what we do.”
The cranes will have a lift height under the spreader of 58m. DP World is also introducing tandem 40’ (and quad 20’) operations to the terminal. “London Gateway is the only container port in the UK that currently does tandem. So the two DP World ports will be the only ports in the UK that have this tandem quad lift capability, which is important in terms of productivity,” Bowen noted. The first pair are due in June or July next year, with the final batch later in the year.
The port intends to shuffle its existing crane fleet between the berths. “The four new cranes will go on SCT5,” says Sarah Dougherty. “We will relocate three of the existing quay cranes to SCT1 to SCT4, so that will increase our capacity from five to six overall on SCT5 and from seven to ten on SCT1 to SCT4, which will give us ability to operate at three ships with maximum cranes simultaneously.”
All that means increased activity at what is essentially a city-centre port. However, the team at Southampton prides itself on being good neighbours. They’re vigorously promoting a modal shift incentive that pays a rebate, currently £70, for each container moved off the port by rail. That has significantly moved the dial, taking rail-hauled traffic up from 30% to 40%. With the port operating near its 2m TEU capacity, that is more than a few trucks taken off the Southampton streets. “Air quality and environment are very important to us,” said Bowen.
Electrification
That leads nicely into electrification, something high on DP World’s agenda globally. “We’re pushing on that task,” Bowen said, “with a lot of joint work with ABP.” Eventually, Southampton will be electrified, but Sarah Dougherty explains that there’s a stage before it can follow London Gateway down a fully electrified operation. Southampton’s machinery, principally the straddles, runs on HVO (Hydro-Treated Vegetable Oil). “We made the jump in 2022. We reduced the emissions overall by 93 % over a five-year period between 2019 and 2024,” she explained. “That was almost entirely because we moved from using diesel to using HVO. “This year, we’ll be certified net zero. The first container port in the UK, and the second port in Europe after Rotterdam.” Bowen adds that although HVO is more expensive than diesel, the differential is narrowing. “We’ve taken a view that we’re prepared to wear that additional cost,” he adds.
As much as modal shift to rail achieves on the emissions front, the trains that leave the port are not electrified, although several rail freight operators in the UK, including Freightliner, who manage the rail terminal, have HVO and alternative fuel programmes of their own. DP World, along with many other logistics operators, point out that even a diesel train emits only a quarter of the emissions, weight for weight, of road haulage.
Road operators still lift the majority of containers from Southampton, but that sector is also decarbonising. That’s also been recognised at the port. “We have a new gate complex that opened in February, to optimise what we’re offering our customers,” explains Bowen. Among the 170 truck parking spaces, there are charging points for electric vehicles. Right now, DP World is making the facility available to truckers, even if they’re not directly serving the port. He explains that, while that’s advantageous for DP World, it’s also good for the neighbours – fewer trucks waiting on local roads thanks to two hours free parking. “Hauliers are very important in our industry,” he says. “Haulage is more and more challenging. The haulier facility has a new canteen, changing rooms, and showers. It lets us look after the hauliers.” It also lets DP World look after their guests too. It’s not just the port that has the healthy option on the menu. The food here is good, too.
Two approaches to electrification
DP World is taking contrasting approaches to equipment electrification at London Gateway and Southampton. London Gateway operates an ASC system with low height straddle carriers for the quay to stack transfer. Southampton, by contrast, is a traditional straddle carrier terminal, using the machines for horizontal transport, yard stacking and the truck interchange.
There are no plans to convert Southampton to a gantry crane operation. “It’s still very efficient and very cost-effective for us to run straddle carriers here,” said Andy Bowen. “We have, over time, changed the equipment at Southampton to be more environmentally friendly. Nearly all of the fleet here is currently hybrid straddle carriers, but we’re in the process of going to electrification,” he said.
That process, however, will be slower for Southampton, where DP World does not have as much freedom of operation as at London Gateway. DP World took over Southampton from Associated British Ports in 2015 (after a decade of joint ownership). It has inherited a fleet of hybrid and traditionally fuelled straddle carriers that are far from the end of their working lives. The port has, however, transitioned to be entirely diesel-free. All machinery runs on HVO or is electric. At this point, there are no electric straddles at the terminal.
“At London Gateway we do have electrified straddle carriers,” explained Bowen. WorldCargo News reported on the delivery of the eight-strong Kalmar fleet, back in April last year. The units, purchased for GB£12m, require just 45 minutes of charge to operate for up to four hours. DP World has installed both a CCS2 charger (350 kW) connected from the ground and Kalmar’s overhead pantograph system (operating at 400 kW). DP World says that berth four at London Gateway represents the world’s first all-electric berth, although terminals using battery AGVs or other equipment might dispute this.
12 more electric straddles to follow
“There are twelve more being delivered in December,” said Bowen. “That is the biggest fleet in the world of electric straddle carriers.” We were the first ones to take the industry lead in terms of electric straddle carriers, and it’s been very successful, no issues.”
While DP World is adding electric straddle carriers at London Gateway, as the terminal brings on new berths, Southampton will follow a different trajectory, moving from diesel to hybrid and HVO, and the next step will be fully electric. “So some of the hybrid carriers here are probably seven, eight years old,” says Bowen. “Obviously, straddle carrier life depends on all sorts of things, probably somewhere up to 15 years. We still have some non-hybrid here. Not many, but as we go through this phasing process, the next lot of non-hybrid will be replaced by electric straddle carriers. That’s similar to what we have at London Gateway.”
Power supply
Grid capacity has to be considered, and Bowen said that the port has planned ahead with this in mind. “We’ve got new PV panels coming everywhere on the buildings, so we’re not concerned about electricity supply. Electricity is a big UK issue in infrastructure across the UK, but we’re pretty comfortable here that we will have additional electricity to enable that to be done. That’s the aim.”
At London Gateway, DP World has responsibility for all the infrastructure. At Southampton, it’s a different arrangement. Infrastructure has to be planned with the landlord, who is ABP. Bowen said that, in collaboration with ABP, he believes the necessary investment will be made. “So Southampton will electrify their straddle carriers. We’re still working on the timing, but in the next few years you will see the straddle carriers in Southampton being electrified. From a DP World perspective and industry standard, we all need to be heading that way. We took the market lead at London Gateway and did that. Now, Southampton will follow using that proven technology. There’s no issue with the technology. The straddle carriers can run four or five hours without charging,” Bowen concluded.
*This story first appeared in the October print issue of WorldCargo News