Boxes galore at Genoa
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Italy's International Container Show, described by David Lowe
• Genoa, Italy's major sea port, was host to the Fourth International Container Exhibition from October 7 to 12 and to the Third International Container Conference from October 8 to 10.
The exhibition was organized by Fiera Internationale di Genova and held in the magnificent new cylindrical amphitheatre of the city's permanent exhibition centre.
Sixty-two exhibitors took space both inside the exhibition arena and outside in the demonstration park and, while many of the exhibits were standard steel or aluminium dry freight 150 containers, there were a number of interesting variations on the container theme as well as other interesting items.
Two exhibits in particular caught my attention. One was a 40ft Nuova OMT skeletal semi-trailer on which were mounted eight Sit-long, 6ft-wide by 8ft high containers secured by twistlocks. The containers were steel-framed and panelled in Fiat plasto-block, a form of grp; they were insulated and fitted with S10 Cryogal Polarstream refrigeration units. The principal traffic for which these small containers are intended is perishable fruit and vegetables--among Italy's major exports, The other particularly interesting exhibit was by Vetroresina. This company was showing a standard steel type container inside which was fitted a grp cylinder for carrying bulk materials, particularly powders and granules. The grp material is translucent so the level of contents is easily checked; it is extremely light and is easily cleaned and it also acts as a thermal insulator against changes in outside temperature. A pump aperture is provided for loading and discharge.
On display in the demonstration park was a Belotti straddle carrier capable of
handling up to 50 tons weight and three-high stacking of containers. Also to be seen outside was a Battioni and Pagani side-loader fitted with a telescopic spreader for handling 20ft, 30ft and 40ft containers.
There were many skeletal trailers on display and as far as vehicles were concerned, Fiat appeared to have the monopoly. One of its exhibits which was attracting attention was a long wheelbase four-wheeler fitted with a fifth-wheel coupling either for directly picking up semi-trailers or for use with a draw-bar dolly, also fitted with a fifth-wheel, making a semi-trailer into a draw-bar trailer.
Carrozzeria Minerva exhibited linked semi-trailers. This is a system whereby individual 20ft skeletal trailers can be joined and their axles moved by a sliding arrangement to make a 40ft trailer. The surprising thing was the amount of rear overhang which was evident on a linked unit—unfortunately I was unable to understand the explanation of the Italian-speaking representatives on the stand.
Another interesting exhibit was on the stand of Piacenza, a semi-trailer manufacturer. This was a skeletal tipping semi-trailer with a rearward chassis extension carrying blower equipment for the discharge of bulk materials carried on the trailer by ISO container. The container was secured to the tipping sub-frame by its rear twistlocks and by a cross-member at the front of the subframe which located with the cross-members of the underside of the container. When the tipping subframe was lowered the container then mated with the front end twistlocks of the semi-trailer, which were secured.
A number of Italian port authorities, including Genoa, were among the exhibitors, so were some shipping lines, United States Lines being one of them. The Hungarian state ship and crane factory had a stand on which it showed its portable hydraulic container lifting legs.
Two Deutz terminal tractors were shown; one model, the 200 D19 was fitted with an hydraulically elevated fifth-wheel coupling. The other, a model D600C, was purely for towing purposes.
It was interesting to see the trend towards 8ft 6in. high units among the containers and also that quite a number were panelled in grp bonded on ply.
There were a number of demountable systems on view and these, like most of those found in this country, were predominantly van bodies.
Conference The conference, organized by Centro Italiano Studi Containers (CISCo, a centre for the study of problems relative to the containerizing of goods) to coincide with the Exhibition, was held in the Congress hall within the fair grounds.
The theme of the conference was "The container system: a comparison of world-wide experiences." Nineteen speakers from many European countries included Mr George Hollwey, managing director of Bell Line, Dublin, and Mr Peter Padget,
Tilbury Docks manager, Port of London Authority, four representatives from the USA, and one each from Bulgaria and Russia. The conference was opened by Mr Jack Clerici, chairman of CISCo and a member of the Genoa Chamber of Commerce.
Mr Hollwey, presenting his paper, said that a lot had happened since the previous conference in 1968 in the field of containerization. Many people continued to call it a thing of the future, he said, but it was not any more. It was a thing of the present. Mr Hollwey went on to confess to the delegates the ways in which he thought Bell Line had gone wrong and had perhaps occasionally gone right. "Our biggest problem.he said, "has been the building up of an organization to carry out all the functions which our new system created, on an international basis, at a speed sufficient to cope with our rather exceptional planned rate of growth." This growth involved an increase in turnover of 500 per cent in five years and the setting up of a number of terminals and offices in six different European countries.
'Diking of staff recruitment to meet the expansion, Mr Hollwey said that if a high standard in the calibre and skill of people was to be maintained there was always the danger of putting an excessively heavy workload on the shoulders of the chosen few.
Mr Hollwey thought that some of the new companies and groups now entering the field of containers would be controlled not so much by their ability to build ships, containers and gantries as by their ability to put together an international organization to manage and market them.
Getting to grips Another problem which Mr Hollwey had found was that, as a shipping man, he and many others like him from shipping backgrounds found it hard "to swallow the anchor and really get to grips with that part of our operation which matters far more than the sea crossing—the whole area of land transport".
The computer was a further problem which had confronted Bell Line. "Buying a computer and getting it to work effectively for you are two different things," he said. "We had, of course, made normal allowance for preliminary programming and initial teething troubles but we made the fundamental mistake of expecting our computer to do all its work from the commencement of the service. At one early stage, our computer turned out to be the most expensive adding machine we had ever had," he remarked.
Mr Padget talked of the development and achievements of Tilbury Container Port. He outlined the history of the dock and the events leading to the establishment of the deep-water berths at Tilbury following the 1962 Rochdale report.
During the programme of development, two major changes in traffic occurred: the container revolution and unit packaging in the timber trade.
After outlining details of the uses of each of the eight berths, Mr Padget made comments on the container system. The port, he said, had now had two and a half years' experience of handling containers and they were currently being handled at a rate of approximately 150,000 units per year. Mr Padget anticipated this would more than double in 1972. "Perhaps the most important achievement has been the outstanding increase in productivity," he said. He itemized some of the achievements: a reduction in the labour force to about 10 to 15 per cent of the number of men required under conventional break-bulk systems; a 1000 per cent increase in productivity; one container berth handling 10 times more cargo tonnage than a conventional berth: a reduction in ship turnround time comparable with the reduction of the labour force and the flexibility of working.
Simplified charging Another improvement had been the simplification of the Port Authority's charging system. "Under the container system five basic charges, river charges on vessels, dock charges on vessels, stevedoring charges to shipowners, port rates on goods to the merchant and dock rates on goods to the merchant, have been reduced to one single charge per container to the shipowner. This has proved to be a considerable saving of documentation," he said.
"The various exclusive-user berth agreements in Tilbury Docks, which differ from berth to berth, are based on this concept of a single unit charge with an annual minimum payment to cover a certain level of throughput.
"By this means, the Port Authority are more able to secure a viable return on capital investment, a commercial future and capital reserves for further development."
Concluding, Mr Padget said that two aspects were occupying much of the Port's energies at the present time. "First is the problem of ensuring the availability of facilities for future customers; it involves the all-important question of availability of capital, knowledge of customer requirements, the acquisition of operational land and the management expertise to decide at the right time when to embark on further development which will meet future demands, without the stagnation of capital investment by being too early, or too late, with the resultant loss of traffic." The other problem concerned the ideal container handling system to which no one, in Mr Padget's opinion, had yet produced an answer.
Mr Vincent Grey, engineering manager, of the Truck Trailer Manufacturers' Association, of Washington, presented a paper on "Road transport of freight containers". He outlined the improvements which container trailers have undergone since they were first introduced in America 14 years ago. Lighting was a subject which had received a great deal of attention as had load reaction points on the chassis.
"The coupling of 20ft containers still remains a technique of continuing interest in the United States," he said, "because of the resistance of motor carriers to carry a single 20ft container when road regulations permit their moving two simultaneously."
He commented on the trend of the introduction of containers in Europe of 8ft 2+in. width (2.5m) and the American trend of a ratio of five units to every one on board ship, compared with the early trend of two units to every one on ship.
As a final observation, he mentioned the trend of State authorities in the USA to regulate the overall length of tractor-trailer combinations rather than the length of semi-trailers, so enabling 40ft containers to be legally carried in many States where previously it was illegal.
He hoped "that as circumstances permit, the freedom to move all ISO containers will be improved".
Mr Giuseppe Dagnino, president of the Genoa Port Authority, presented a paper on "Container experience in the Port of Genoa" in which many traffic statistics were quoted.
Mr Mario Persia, director of transport techniques, Fiat, talked of "The container role in an inland terminal".
Mr A. T. Deribas, of Moscow Ministry of Railways, spoke on the "Problems of organization of container traffic on the basis of utilizing information and control systems".
"Choosing the path we must follow ahead" was the subject covered by Mr Thomas J. Kunz, of Arnexi Leasing Corporation, New York.
Container challenge
Mr Jean Van Leeuw, director of Compagnie Maritime Beige, Antwerp, presented a paper "Maritime terminal and sea conveyance" and "The Port of Antwerp's response to the container challenge" was Mr F. Suyken's paper. He is joint director general of the Port of Antwerp.
Mr B. E. Nutter, of the Port of Oakland, compared various container handling systems and Mr J. P. R. Bisschop, president of the International Container Bureau, talked of the work of the Bureau.
Mr C. Crisp°, president of the National Centre for Customs studies, Genoa, presented some of the Customs' problems of container transport and Mr Maglietta discussed container traffic in the Mediterranean Sea.
A paper on airfreight containers was presented by Mr A. Bienn, of Washington, and, finally, the summing up of the conference was made by Mr Luigi Fabiano, vice-president of CISCo, an acknowledged authority on containerization and a very active participant in discussions, conferences and the planning of container facilities.
Mr Fabiano summarized Italy's position and then said that "We need to think bigger. This means that all of us must realize that the cargo unit which may be raw material or the finished product has now taken on a new dimension—that of the container."
He said: "The container system has started on a headlong rush that cannot stop. Therefore, I wish to conclude with the hope that together we can find the right approach to its problems in the near future."