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As shipping volumes have grown, so too has the demand to realise greater economies of scale. Improved design and build quality means the current and future fleet of container ships calling at the world's ports have a vastly greater capacity than those of just a decade ago.

The number of ships with 7500 TEUs or more is growing at an unprecedented rate, with some estimates claiming 49% a year. This means by 2009 more than 250 of such vessels will be ploughing trade routes, compared to just 49 in 2005.

The frenzy for building bigger ships is based on the assumption that the container shipping industry will continue to boom, especially on long-distance routes linking Northeast Asian exporters to the lucrative US, European and Middle Eastern markets. Bigger ships cut costs for shipping companies on long-distance hauls as long as they can fill them with cargo.

This poses great advantages for consumers and shippers in terms of lowering transportation costs, but poses a significant challenge for the ports and container handling sectors. The investment in upgrading container handling equipment is a hefty one, and ports often look to a quarter of a century lifespan to see returns on their outlay. The newest additions to the Maersk Line fleet, the PS Class vessels such as the Emma Maersk, are a massive 56 metres wide and can carry 11,000 full containers.

Whether the trend for bigger ships will continue or not, few of the world's ports are able to manage these new behemoths of the sea. However, any port wishing to bill itself as a hub, or even in the future, a reasonable feeder port, will need to be able to service vessels in the 9000 TEU range to remain competitve.

With unprecedented investment in every corner of the Middle East's marine infrastructure well underway, SFME met with leading industry experts to discuss the ramifications these development are having on the technology at the sharp end of the container handling business.

"In our experience in the Middle East customers coming to us looking for much larger cranes than ever before, it's very rare that we're asked to supply anything below super-post-panamax now," says Gerry Bunyan, sales and marketing manager, Liebherr Container Cranes.

The most important factor ports are forced to consider remains projected capacity, with an accurate impression given by the draft available. The largest container vessels in the current world fleet require a clear port depth of around 16 metres. "Essentially the alongside depth dictates the size of the vessels they can attract, so proposed dredging investment is certainly an important factor and is one of the first questions I ask when I meet with port operators," adds Bunyan.

The market leading ship to shore gantry cranes have adapted to meet the size of the ships that hub ports now service, but the reach is only one facet of how their development has changed in recent years.

The largest cranes working out of the new generation of container ports have to match that working scope with improved efficiencies in moving containers to awaiting trucks for deposit in the port. To do this, more is being asked of the gantries in terms of lifting capability, with the foremost manufacturers now delivering cranes with a safe working load (SWL) in the 80 to 90 tonne bracket.

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