zoomImage Courtesy: Port of Santander

The top three performing bulk terminals in the world are Santander and Bilbao in Spain and Quebec in Canada, according to a report released by BIMCO.

Santander was rated first in all four major categories, including terminal handling of loading/unloading; terminal mooring and berthing arrangements; information exchange between the ship and the terminal and terminal equipment.

This second issue of the report includes data during the period from January 2015 to December 2017; 115 ships, provided 598 reports, from 278 different terminals around the world.

“In general, we see a good standard across the world, but with some complaints, for example due to language problems. But even with an increase of 35% of reports coming in this year compared to 2016, we still need more data to make valid global statistical analysis,” Aron F. Sørensen, Head of Maritime Technology and Regulation at BIMCO, said.

Generally, the standard is good with over 93% of ports reviewed as average or better, with positive feedback coming from the communication between ship and terminal, the loading and unloading and the standard and maintenance of equipment.

At the other end of the spectrum, a number of ships complained of a lack of language skills when visiting certain ports; permanent pressure on ship/crew and master; unexpected claims; and unnecessary bureaucratic and offensive port authorities. In addition, ports rated badly when the cost of terminal services was either too expensive or the service was non-existent.

BIMCO’s future plans for the vetting of dry bulk terminals will be based on a two-step approach, with step one being to have at least 1000 ships participating in the survey in order to provide a robust annual report. Step two will follow up on the results by communicating with terminals and other stakeholders with the aim of improving procedures and best practices.