In the early hours of September 14, 2022, Tema Port received the Maersk Cunene vessel at Berth Number 19 at MPS Terminal 3.

Having a Fixed Berthing Window arrangement at MPS Terminal 3 and berthing on arrival, the Maersk Cunene became a sight to behold with the 6 cranes made available for its operations.

The MPS core operational team and support staff demonstrated their dexterity by working in good time to allow the vessel the shortest possible stay in the port and in less than a day, eventually the vessel’s operations were completed in 22 hours and 45 minutes. The nett crane productivity was in the range between 24 and 31 moves per hour and the overall nett vessel productivity was over 122 moves per hour while 6 STS cranes were simultaneously in operations and in due course the vessel was completed with an average 89.62 moves per hour.

Regarded for its foresight in promptly responding to changes in the world container market and striving to attain global standards, MPS is credited as the first Container Terminal to introduce the Berthing Window Scheme in the sub-region and continues to effectively operate it.

The Berthing Window is an arrangement in which shipping lines are allocated fixed weekly slot of time alongside the quay at MPS Terminal 3 with the requisite equipment for guaranteeing productivity and service levels for their vessels. This diminished the waiting time at anchorage and the associated congestion surcharges which still being applied on traffic at several ports, saving costs to the nation and increasing liner vessel utilization among many others.

Mr. Curtiss Dakpogan, COO of MPS, stated that the carrying capacity of Maersk Cunene is 4,496 TEU with 249m Length Over All and Beam of 38m. She arrived with 12.90m draft and had high Crane Density of 4.4 achieved by optimising the deployment of Ship to Shore gantry cranes to match her stowage plans where the MPS operations team started operations with 6 STS cranes, then geared down to 4 then 2 STS cranes to complete the discharge and loading of the 3,065 TEUs in in 1,922 crane moves. “Certainly, this is a top productivity record for such class of vessels” said the COO of MPS.

Speaking on the relevance of the berthing window agreement. “The benefits of the berthing window arrangement go far beyond the port’s status. On one hand it has made the operations more organized, reduced time spent at the anchorage and helped shipping lines to plan for a fixed time of arrival. In the end the customers benefit massively from this because the importers and exporters know when the goods are expected to depart or arrive, communicate that to their customers who can then plan to send/ receive the goods”, said the CEO of MPS, Mr. Mohamed Samara.