PORTWORKERS at Britain’s top container terminal have today set a new record for the speed of loading and unloading a ship – with a container handled almost every minute.
Customers at the Port of Felixstowe are benefitting from the fast vessel turnarounds on the quayside as a result of a programme of continuous improvements.
The new record for the number of container moves in a 12-hour shift was set with the recent call of the Maersk Sarnia.
A total of 3,431 boxes were taken on and off the vessel, including 602 moves by an individual ship-to-shore crane, the equivalent of more than 50 moves per hour, with an overall speed of 182 moves per hour across the whole vessel.
Clemence Cheng, chief executive officer of Hutchison Ports (UK), which owns the Port of Felixstowe, said: “We have been working hard with all our stakeholders, including our customers, to raise the service level at Felixstowe and I am very pleased to see this continuous improvement.
“I would like to thank the excellent workforces responsible for making this phenomenal achievement possible.
“It is a reflection of the close collaboration between the port and its customers and a great deal of team work from everyone to make this happen.
“It is our commitment to our customers to continue to offer the best services available in the UK and to maintain our leadership position as the port of choice.”
In the past 12 months the port has achieved an overall improvement of 24pc in operational moves per hour on deep sea vessels.
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