COFASTRANS is born from many years of industry experience and backed by research, with the aim to resolve the challenges and inefficiencies faced by port operators and shipping companies globally.

There has been no positively revolutionary development to ship-to-shore container handling since the start of containerisation in the 1960’s.

New and significantly larger container vessels are continuing to be introduced by shippers on the world’s main shipping routes, in attempts to increase efficiency and bring down costs.

Old solutions for modern challenges

Larger vessels need longer berths and bigger ship-to-shore cranes. The industry standard procedure for port expansion is to extend berth lengths with straight line additions – some over 5kms long – and ever larger cantilever cranes, which inevitably take longer to load and unload the larger vessels.

This approach has introduced inefficiencies for port operators and shippers alike.

To meet their profit targets, the shipping lines need reduced time in port and faster cargo handling. The crane trolleys must move faster to unload containers at the same rate from the wider ship, yet speeds of movement within modern cranes are already at levels that make it difficult to achieve any increase.

Extremely long lines of ship berths are inefficient in terms of traffic management and can be environmentally damaging.

The layout is not designed for the high volumes of containers that are unloaded from each vessel, causing congestion and handling delays in the stack management system.

Meanwhile, some ports are left behind as environmental sensitivity or constraining urban developments restrict the port from further expansion using typical design solutions.

The Solution →

London-based Beckett Rankine is a leading independent engineering consultancy specialising in the planning, design and project management of marine infrastructure in the UK and globally. Our history of engineering can be traced back over 100 years and includes many prominent, innovative port development projects.

We planned and designed the first two berths at the Port of Singapore in 1974, which has grown to become the world’s largest container port. We were commissioned to provide the Masterplan and design for Qatar’s Ras Laffan, another of the world’s largest ports. Our extensive knowledge spans ports of all sizes and complexities, with a highly specialised team of experts with the freedom to embody innovation.

V. Nevsimal-Weidenhoffer, Dipl. Eng. MIE Aust. CPEng. is inventor and patent holder of the innovative new STS portal crane. He is a senior engineer with 50 years of vast international experience in  design, inspection and rehabilitation of large container and gantry cranes and grab unloaders. He has worked either as a manager or as a consultant with some of the largest companies of the heavy industrial sector on three continents. He is equally inventor and owner of a patent for a 2nd generation shipyard goliath crane. This makes Mr Nevsimal one of the world’s most experienced engineers with hands-on practical knowledge of the large type of portal crane that initiated the COFASTRANS system.

He is authorized in the UK, Europe and all countries of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

Konecranes is a world-leading group serving a broad range of customers, including manufacturing and process industries, shipyards, ports and terminals. Port Solutions offers a full range of container handling equipment, shipyard handling equipment, mobile harbour cranes and heavy-duty lift trucks, backed by a complete range of services. Products are marketed under the Konecranes brand, with some product groups marketed under the labels Konecranes Gottwald, Konecranes Noell and Konecranes Liftace.

Konecranes have been working on development of the innovative new portal cranes that forms part of the COFASTRANS system.

Leonidas Tsaganos, MSc Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering (NTUA), Research Associate has been working on the correlation of the ship with the COFASTRANS concept. His contribution is focused on the calculation of loading/unloading times and the naval architecture background theory required for the design, construction and operation of ships in order to exploit the advantages of SSPC cranes as much as possible. He has worked in the Technical Department of a Shipping Company as a Junior Superintendent Engineer gaining experience in ship operation and maintenance. At the same time, he is involved in research on optimization problems in the analysis, synthesis and design of ship energy systems using new alternative fuels in order to reduce GHG emissions.

Would you like more information about COFASTRANS?

We would love to discuss how we can take the concept to the next level, together.

Get in touch

The challenge laid down in 2015 by Maersk Line’s CEO Soren Skou on their unexpected introduction of the much larger vessels called for a “step-change” increase to 250 container moves per hour at each berth (up from about 167 at present). While various ideas have been proposed, none have been close to achieving this aspiration.

However, COFASTRANS can exceed this, achieving 325 moves per hour if four cranes are deployed (based on the JOC2016 ULCV average of just 2,430 port moves). By using a more efficient layout, it can occupy a smaller amount of precious coastal strip land.

Bespoke design for unique ports

With container ports across the world having very different natural layouts, constraints and requirements, there are several ways in which COFASTRANS can be implemented.

It is an interconnected system that complements and upgrades conventional terminal design. As a result, COFASTRANS can be flexibly designed to provide the optimum benefit for any individual terminal, accounting for the terminal cargo profile, storage and traffic constraints, as well as the navigational and berthing requirements for vessels.

COFASTRANS can comprise a single-indented berth to enhance an existing, heavily invested terminal, or a multi-indented berth transhipment hub.

Future-ready terminals

Port designs should go hand-in-hand with vessel design. Mega container vessels are coming into operation, shippers are considering placing more orders and port operators are looking to gain an advantage over competitors. As a result, an in-depth discussion on the fundamentals of port layouts for these vessels is urgently needed.

Any logistical, mechanical or technological developments that can be applied to a conventional terminal can also be applied to COFASTRANS, with the new layout making it twice as effective.

The outcome is a transformational system that is

GREENER  FASTER  SAFER