Decentralised expansion counters rising EU container congestion

AS Asian exports make ever greater increases, and as American retail import growth slackens into a fourth consecutive month, Europe takes up much of the slack - a situation that now threatens to clog ports, roads and railways on the continent and the UK, reports London's Financial Times.

In a multi-page section, "Doing Business in the North Sea Region", the newspaper outlined problems and solutions, saying how the throughput of Britain's greatest container port, Felixstowe, was creating havoc on the roads and rails needed to disperse the cargo throughout the realm.

The big challenge, said the newspaper, was moving containers from the sleepy Suffolk countryside to - and through - London's vastness, and on to the south of England where much of UK retail is done.

Congestion, said the FT, was building on the Caledonian Road and North London Line. "The freight uses the route which links Stratford in east London with Richmond in southwest London because it is the only route with enough space under bridges and in the tunnels where containers can travel on ordinary wagons," said the newspaper.

The continent faces similar problems: the Belgian port of Zeebrugge offers severe navigational challenges for today's unwieldy mega-ships. And coping with the higher volumes, roads are clogged with trucks, which result in increasingly controversial noise and air pollution in one of the most cramped countries in the world.

One solution that is gaining wider acceptance, said the newspaper, is reducing truck routes by opening ports nearer to the point of retail sales, thus old ports which had been relegated to oblivion or to secondary status like Southampton are being expanded to take in containers so cargo can move directly to the south of England where more retail is done. Shipping lines are responding with more direct calls, the newspaper said.

On the continent, greater advantages have been made of the short-sea routes. Taking the lead in this is Icelandic ocean carrier Sankimp, which deploys 45-foot containers that fit trailer-less Euro truck lengths in a service, which has been helped by an EU-wide customs agreement to scrap port-to-port inspections on traffic between harbours within the community.

Rotterdam has managed to get planning permission - an increasingly difficult problem - to expand its Euromax terminals and by January 2009 once the area is properly dredged and connected to roads. "Until then," said the Financial Times, "the port's container operations - its fastest growing and most valuable business - are likely to struggle to keep up with the break neck demand growth."