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Roadways Container Logistics
Page 54
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Roadways Container Logistics is involved in the road-to-rail container sector and as we head towards its Tamworth site, the towering shapes of gantry cranes come into view. This is lifting capability on a very impressive scale it doesn't get much bigger than this.
We meet Bob Ingram, general manager of UK rail strategy, and marketing manager Clive Branford, who mention that this is no Johnny-come-lately operation the firm can trace its roots back to 1854. It is now part of the giant Maersk shipping group.
Infrastructure
Roadways has its own railway branch line which links up with the national rail network. From this depot it dispatches containers by rail to all the major southern ports. 'At the moment, two trains come in a day," Branford reports. "There should be four coming in and four going out each day by the middle of next year."
Each train has 24 wagons, and each of these is 24m long. Roadways has 250 tractor units, and a fleet of 1,000 skeletal trailers. Its trucks, and those of other operators, pick up and deposit containers to be transferred on to and off of the trains.
As well as Tamworth, the company has sites in Barking, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Felixstowe and Southampton. It turns over 260m, employs 620 personnel and has been involved in container work for 35 years.
Roadways fields a large fleet, and its activities in the container sector also depend on heavy lifting apparatus.
There are two rail-mounted gantry cranes (RMGs) at the Tamworth site and at 24m high they are truly majestic. Other lifting machinery includes a pair of ECH container lifters, costing £135,000 apiece.
When a train enters the siding, the Konecrane RMGs swiftly move above the line of wagons, picking up containers as they go. The RMGs are plated to handle 40-tonne containers. They are faster than the ones with rubber wheels, plus they do not have to be steered," says Ingram. The Konecranes are electrically powered with energy supplied via an on-site substation.
The gantry cranes can unload an entire train within an hour. "This would take three hours with a side lifter," Ingram remarks.
Each RMG costs £1.5m and has a projected lifespan of 25 years.
Gantries can drop a container onto a skeletal trailer, but other machinery is needed to juggle containers around a site. One of Ingram's flagship mobile container movers towers above a set of boxes. It is an 18m-high Kalmar container straddler; one of two on the site. With two 182hp engines, they can stack containers four high.
"It's a bit like sitting on the chimney and driving the house," says Ingram. "We also have container tugs with fifth wheels that can be lowered and heightened, which means much quicker container movements."
During our visit, Roadways staff are being taught to use this equipment. The training programme means all personnel can use all manner of machinery.
Brian Abrahams, who is Road Transport Industry Training Board qualified, is Roadways' in-house company trainer. Dave Sutton, health and safety and quality manager, explains that good working practices must be scrutinised in every depot, rather than just being treated as a general company policy: "Clearly, it is critical that the correct level of training is provided, and that health and safety is managed on site."
Risk assessments
Health and safety is paramount on a site as busy as this. "The potential for things to go wrong is very clear," says Ingram. "So we have an HSE manager who carries out risk assessments with our site managers."
Clearly marked walkways denote safe paths and there is extensive floodlighting to ensure this level of safety is matched during the night shifts. Operators are trained in how to enter and exit machines safely, and trains are checked before departure, to ensure weight is distributed correctly.
Hazardous goods are stowed in a specified section of each train.