SCT targets European short-sea trade with fifth berth

SCT targets European short-sea trade with fifth berth    The United Kingdom’s Southampton Container Terminals Ltd. (SCT), owned jointly by DP World and Associated British Ports, said today that it plans to open a fifth berth to exclusively handle feeder ships.
   “It is our goal to attract feeder operators back to Southampton and thus increase the number of coastal services linking Southampton with the U.K.’s East and West coasts, Ireland and continental Europe,” said Patrick Walters, SCT’s managing director.
   Work is due to start October on Berth 203, adjacent to the current four deep-water berths at SCT. The new berth has been designed to accommodate feeder vessels of up to 150 meters (492 feet) in length and will feature a dedicated 100-ton mobile harbor crane that can be operated on a 24-hour, seven days a week basis.
   SCT said that the new facility will allow it to maximize the use of the deep-water berths for deep-sea vessels as well as allowing greater operational flexibility for handling feeder vessels.
   “The most notable improvement in using the additional berth is that we can provide a berth on arrival for feeder vessels and offer the level of service they need to run their operations efficiently and to schedule,” Walters said. “The days of conflicting priorities between mother vessel and feeder vessel will be over.”