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C ommentary by Norman M Douglas
4 monthly intelligence report on container topics Vloving fast at Falmouth
\ CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT of publicity has ocused on the port of Falmouth recently, ollowing announcements earlier this year of )lans to turn this relatively quiet port, which or many years has specialized in .hip-repairing, into a giant transatlantic :ontainer terminal.
At first sight, the idea seemed to be a mere iipedream, particularly from the land ransport economics point of view, as any iperator land the railways, too) knows who as had to send. vehicles down to that area. 'et if the project becomes a reality, the whole iattern of container distribution in the UK :ould be changed.
Anyone who has followed the story, either -1 the financial Press, or in the shipping and reight Press, will very quickly have realized hat things are certainly moving fast on the elmouth front. Developments are taking ilace at such a rate that perhaps the time is ipe for a recap of what has happened since 'ebruary, when the Financial Times first arried the story under the heading "Plan for :10m Container Terminal".
The report mentioned the formation of a .ompany, Falmouth Container Terminals, vhich would operate a container terminal —subject to Government approval—in a vvo-phase project. This would call for the eclamation of some 80 acres of sea-bed, the .revision of quays with necessary handling quipment and the dredging of the pproaches and extensions to rail facilities. The idea was that the terminal could ccommodate giant third-generation conainerships to carry up to 3,000 containers ach. The first stage, the report said, would e in operation in 1972. On the face of it, a ipedream of no mean proportion.
A lot has happened since. Posford Pavry nd Partners, the consulting engineers who lanned and designed the Felixstowe ontainer complex, have produced a avourable feasibility study based on the linimum tonnages the port could hope to ttract and financial backing has come from le Fund of the Seven Seas (a member of the lighty International Investers Group). Also it iould seem that the project has the blessing f some pretty large organizations such as reightliners Ltd, Silley Cox (an off-shoot of P. i 0. who are already establised in Falmouth), giant computer company, etc.
'rivate Member's Bill
, Private Member's Bill, enabling the terminal ) be built, has had an unopposed second mding in Parliament, and tenders for four igh-speed, Rolls-Royce turbine-engined large eder vessels—forerunners of 24 such essels which will be used—are about to be ailed for,
I must deal with one aspect before asking: "What's in it for hauliers?" This is that there is already a school of thought in shipping circles which believes that possibly Southampton. Tilbury and even Felixstowe—to say nothing of Rotttirdam, Antwerp and other -up Channel" foreign container ports—may not be able to cope with the giant third-generation containerships mentioned earlier. These ships' owners, in any case, will not want to lose two, three or even seven days on a round trip from America navigating the Channel and North Sea.
This theory was first expounded several years ago by the head of a Dutch Container Association, who suggested that a West Coast port in England should be looked at as a sort of "maritime Clapham Junction" at which long-distance containerships could terminate, transferring the containers for other European destinations on to feeder ships. He said that this should be considered before a vast amount of capital was spent by the various port authorities mentioned earlier.
A look at the map will show that Falmouth is the nearest suitable port in Europe's -golden triangle", and it is reckoned that, using a fully automated container terminal, plus really fast, large feeder ships, savings in the the region of 10 per cent in transport costs could be achieved.
Haulage aspect
How will this project affect hauliers? Obviously, as in every major container operation, rail will be used to haul blocks of containers moving over long inland distances; and, if a Channel Tunnel ever comes into being, one will see rail distribution extending into northern France. But local hauliers could have a bonanza, too, since destinations in the Bristol, Cardiff, Birmingham and Southampton areas are well under the break-even point to favour road haulage.
In addition, as time goes by, with fewer ships calling at Tilbury, Felixstckve and Southampton, hauliers set up in those areas may begin to feel the pinch because the whole pattern of inland distribution may be changed. A re-vitalizing of the whole of south-west England will come about.
One other group of hauliers who could be in for a happy time are the tipper operators. Millions of tons of filling will be required to achieve the reclamation suggested in the early Press statements.
More tilts
LAST MONTH I forecast that more and more tilt-topped containers were coming into use in Britain due to their ease of loading and unloading--they can be tackled from all sides and above instead of through the doors only. This statement is confirmed by an announcement, issued last week, by container operator World Transport Agency Ltd. In a joint venture with its Dutch counterpart Leijs Ferry Services of Rotterdam, World Transport has now completed taking delivery of a fleet of 30 new tilt-tainers, 20and 30-footers. Commercial Coachbuilders, Hull, supplied them and they are now in regular use providing groupage services between Manchester, Birmingham and London, and Rotterdam.
World Transport gives several reasons for using this type of unit—"In common with other container operators we initially started building up a fleet of box containers. It has since been found that tilt containers, whilst more costly if maintained in peak condition, are much more versatile and generally preferred by clients, particularly for loading of pallets and other standard-size traffic which can be lifted in from both sides on pallets with fork-lift trucks".
Other big users of this type of container are Seavvheel, and Winns,
Road wins to Continent
PREDICTIONS, made several years ago by Jan Posner, who planned and runs BR's Seafreightliner container services between Harwich and Zeebrugge /Rotterdam, that eventually shippers and consignees will be able to know exactly where their container is and precisely the time it will arrive in, say. Cologne, or Milan, or anywhere in Europe, have just come to fruition.
European Railways have produced their first timetable for container trains Which, to quote one official, really allows the railways for the first time to offer an optimum customer service. But as far as can be elicited, it would seem that road services still have the edge on rail when it comes to moving cargoes between Britain and certain destinations on the Continent. For instance, a container leaving Madrid on day one at 4 pm will be in Birmingham at 7 am on day five and, according to my rail contact: "Traffic to and from Britain is subject to additional delays connected with the sea crossing. Because of this one cannot be sure".
Even the London-Paris service for a container can easily be beaten by hauliers. According to the railways, in "ideal conditions" a container leaving Paris at 10 pm on day one will not be in London until 2 pm on day three.
It would seem that only when the Channel Tunnel is built (if it ever is) will rail definitely beat road on these near-Continental operations.
One further point of interest to hauliers operating on the Continent—the timetable, which is known as the TEC (Trans Europe Containers) timetable, includes all piggyback services that operate across Europe and is available free from French Railways.