Why the Biggest Ships Made Ports Slower

A container ship doubled in size. Berth productivity didn't move at all — and that is why a one-day port call became two days. The efficiency of the mega ship is real: less steel, less fuel and less crew per box. But every one of those savings is booked on the water side, per box per mile, by the carrier that owns the hull. The berth, the yard, the cranes and the tractors are owned by somebody else. Using a port consultant's published vessel working plan, we walk the arithmetic out loud: 5,357 moves, seven cranes, 210 crane hours, 60 of them logged as lost. Berths still average 100 to 150 moves per hour when the mega ships imply 250 to 300. A yard stack longer than the ship it serves. A fleet of sixty terminal tractors bought for the peak and driving about half the time. Nothing is broken and nobody made a mistake — the shape of the arrival changed, and every link downstream got sized for a peak it does not work at. Watch next: "Why Longer Trains Can Carry Less Freight" — the same trade, made on rails. #logistics #ports #infrastructure Chapters: 0:00 The Benjamin Franklin 0:38 What We'll Cover 1:12 The Case for Big Ships 2:07 Fewer Ports, Taller Stacks 2:59 Moves Per Round Trip 3:35 Berth Productivity Didn't Move 4:50 The Two-Day Port Call 5:24 A Real Working Plan 6:01 Sixty Lost Hours 7:15 The Yard Behind the Berth 7:49 Sixty Tractors, Half Idle 8:34 Dwell at the Edge 9:17 The Land Side Is Improving 10:18 Who Chose the Ship Size 10:51 Sized by the Pulse