Port 2000's new terminal at Le Havre unloads first ship

THE newly-opened Terminal Porte Oceane (TPO), the second container terminal to be built at Le Havre's Port 2000, has welcomed its first merchant vessel, the Taasinge Maersk.

The containership, deployed on Maersk's weekly WAF6 service, links ports of West Africa with Europe. It arrived at TPO on November 29 to load and unload 300 TEU.

Two of the new terminal's four ZPMC gantry cranes were put to work to handle the containers, a statement from Le Havre port authorities said. The other two super post-panamax cranes are scheduled to come on stream before the end of the year. The terminal also has a large yard with 468 reefer plugs.

"After the running-in period, the terminal should rapidly reach its cruising speed and accommodate a growing number of calls and higher capacity vessels," the release said.

TPO opened for business on November 19 when its first batch of export containers arrived at the terminal by road and rail. The operator took this opportunity to check that the terminal's Optical Character Recognition (OCR) system was working properly, as well as a tunnel equipped with cameras to digitally collect data from trucks taking cargo to the terminal such as registration plates and container numbers.

With the opening of its second terminal, Port 2000 is now focussing on its second phase of development which commenced last summer and involves the construction of 2,100 metres of quay, the statement added.

ICTSI appoints new finance officers

GLOBAL port operator with a flagship facility in Manila, International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI), has appointed Rommel Samson as financial planning and management manager and Arnie Tablante as finance assistant manager for ICTSI's corporate group.

Before joining ICTSI, Mr Samson was the financial controller at Syngenta Philippines from 2005 to 2007. He has also filled financial roles at Pharmacia Inc and Pfizer Inc. Mr Samson graduated with a degree in accounting from the University of the East in 1995 and is a Certified Public Accountant, a group statement said.

With regard to the ICTSI's other appointment, Mr Tablante previously worked for Stratexport Philippines as general manager and managing consultant from 2000. He holds a degree in industrial management engineering from De La Salle University and a master's in business management, majoring in finance, from the Asian Institute of Management.