Transport Engineering and Logistics Report number 2009.TL.7387
Summary
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Summary
The “standard” double girder container crane, produced by Kalmar, is too expensive from production and assembly point of view, while the current market focus is on the initial purchase price. At this moment Kalmar is in the process of designing a basic concept, with reduced cost price. This concept, named the Monomax concept, can be transported to the customer in components, semi or fully erected, figure 2. When shipping fully erected the crane is placed on a ship entirely assembled in China. When semi erected shipment is used the crane is left in two parts, the upper and lower structure. The upper structure is placed on the sill beams to make self erection at the customer possible.
Figure 2. Sea transportation methods a) component b) semi erected c) fully erected
For transportation in components the crane components are transported as large as economically possible to the customer‟s site, on which the final assembly will take place. The duration of the final assembly and commissioning needs to be minimal. Although much experience is gathered on semi and fully erected transport, the onsite assembly at the customer after component shipment is relatively new.
The purpose of this study is to develop an optimized onsite assembly method at the customer and compare the transportation in components with transportation methods used in practice. The assembly process is located on the customer‟s terminal 200m inland from the quay. Finally the component transportation concept is compared with fully and semi erected transportation.
The day planning is determined with a critical path method based on a work breakdown structure and dependency analysis, taking into account strict safety requirements and even distribution of the resources.
To design the layout of the assembly site it‟s modeled as a fixed position factory layout. On the assembly site dollies and forklifts are used to deliver the components from the preparation area to the hoisting area just in time. As a consequence the preparation area is a separate and independent area, which increases the efficiency, safety and available working area of the mobile cranes. Transportation routes are analyzed to determine the final component positioning within the areas. This includes crane positioning, SPMT routes and forklift routes. Furthermore lifting equipment,
Transport Engineering and Logistics Report number 2009.TL.7387
Summary
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hoisting plans, transportation equipment and unloading order are analyzed to optimize the assembly process.
The component transportation method is compared with transportation methods used in practice, based on three key project criteria: cost, duration and quality. To compare the different transportation methods on total cost, a bottom-up approach is used. Cost are determined at the lowest work breakdown level and accumulated to acquire the total cost per transportation method. Cost estimation is performed by analogy, expert judgment and parametric methods. First a case study is performed for three locations in low, mid and high wage countries. Finally a global interpretation is made to assess which transportation method is preferred based on the shipping distance. Risks are taken into account by a qualitative and quantitative risk assessment. The quantitative risk analysis is performed by a Monte Carlo simulation in a dedicated risk assessment program named PERTmaster.
Onsite component assembly planning can be optimized to be completed within 16 days, by combining three phase: transportation from quay to the assembly site, assembly onsite and placement on rails. Reducing the assembly duration with one day, assembly cost with 16% and surface area with 10%. It must be noted that this is determined by acquired data from assembly processes in Rotterdam, due to efficiency loss by untrained personnel in foreign countries the duration can be influenced negatively.
The minimum required area for the assembly area was determined to be 12,000m2.
The following conclusions are based on current transportation data, July 2009. It must be noted that fluctuating shipping cost, could impact these conclusions significantly. Figure 3 shows the economically preferred transportation method. Component, semi and fully erected transportation are economically preferred for respectively 18, 3 and 79 percent of the total container throughput in the top 50 container ports. It should be noted that semi erected shipment is preferred when fully erected transportation isn‟t possible due to low air draft.
Figure 3. Preferred transportation method based on cost a)
Fully erected transportation Semi erected transportation Components transportation
Economically preferred transportation method
Departure from Nantong Container port in top 50
Icon size depending on container throughput
Transport Engineering and Logistics Report number 2009.TL.7387
Summary
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It can be concluded that component transportation is favorable when shipping to Europe and the east coast of the United State. It must be noted that the extra duration of 10 to 20 days imposed by component transportation needs to be possible, without severe financial penalties. When component transportation is chosen special attention should be on quality control, since the risk on damage during hoisting activities and assembly is increased.
Fully erected transportation is still most favorable for the largest percentage of ports, due to lower duration, lower cost and higher quality. However, the shipping prices of semi and fully erected transport will increase in the future, due to increasing offshore demand.
With fluctuating and increasing shipping prices for semi and fully erected transport it is a large benefit to have the component transportation option. It is predicted that the favorability for component transportation will increase in the future.
