At the time of writing, it is not known whether a ship carrying new ZPMC cranes and RTGs will be allowed to dock at the new container berth
Yuzhniy, Ukraine port operator TransInvest Service (TIS) could be holding its breath. The Russian-backed company is due to receive three fully-erect quayside gantry cranes and 10 RTGs from ZHEN HUA 11 this coming Wednesday, 26 August, but if its ongoing dispute with the Yuzhniy Seaport Administration runs true to form, the ship may not be allowed to dock.
Last year Schleif Transport shipped two used cranes and two straddle carriers to Yuzhniy, apparently without incident, but that was before the row between TIS and the seaport authority broke out.
In July TIS was due to receive a coal stockyard machine, shipped in pieces from Spain on board Oldendorff Express Lines' SCAN OCEAN, but the port authority refused to accept the legitimacy of the berth selected by TIS to unload the machine, and as a result the ship was not allowed to dock at the "phantom berth."
TIS staged a public protest, mocking the port authority over the "berth which isn't," but the port dug its heels in and the ship had to wait in the roads for two weeks before being given permission to offload the equipment at another berth.
The "phantom berth" is the new container berth and is the only one where the new ZPMC cranes can be offloaded.
The background to the dispute between the Port of Yuzhny and TIS and the perhaps even more bitter row between the Port of Ilyichevsk and Russia's National Container Company, is examined in the August 2009 edition of WorldCargo News see also http://www.worldcargonews.com/htm/w20090801.758382.htm
