Container Transport
Page 33
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by Roger Howell
Increased USA service from Felixstowe
THE first operator to establish a US container service from the Transatlantic Container Terminal at Felixstowe, American Export, Isbrandtsen Lines Inc., has increased its service with the introduction of my Seawitch.
A purpose-built container ship, Seawitch is the largest vessel of the type handled at Felixstowe, and has a capacity for 928 20-ft containers. She joins the ss Container Forwarder and ss Container Despatcher and accordingly the frequency of the service has been increased from a fortnightly sailing to one sailing every 10 days. The port authorities anticipate a weekly sailing by the line early in 1969, when the Sea witch will be joined by two new sisterships.
Boss sideloader for Genoa Exhibition
PICTURED en route to Southampton docks behind a Scammell tractive unit of Hallett, Silbermana Ltd., Watford, is a Lancer 2500 series sideloader which will be shown on the stand of Lancer Boss Ltd. 's Italian distributors at the forthcoming Genoa International Container Exhibition (October 19-27).
The unit which is designed to handle 20ft. containers can lift up to 20 tons. Main feature is a fully traversing cab, the guide-rail of which is visible in the photograph. The new cab design ensures full visibility at all stages of the container handling cycle, hence reducing the amount of shunting necessary. As well as giving a claimed reduction in driver fatigue, the new machine should enable faster working cycles to be maintained without any corresponding increase in container damage.
Also on the move recently was another Lancer sideloader, this time a 3500 series designed for handling containers up to 40ft. in length. Ordered by the Dutch Stevedoring Co. of Heyplaat N.V., it commenced operations at that company's Rotterdam container terminal on September 30.
Freightliner demurrage
A LOOK through British Railways' Freightliner demurrage scales could prompt an operator to ask whether the turnround times are completely realistic for the haulier placing some of his own traffic on rail, taking into account the difficulties met on local distribution work.
Certainly the condition that containers arriving loaded at a terminal before noon on day A should be returned empty by midnight on clay A looks fine on paper, but unfortunately practical considerations may make a quick turnround impossible. Quite often containers may be four or five hours' running time from the terminal. What happens if a driver's time is up before he can get the container back to the terminal? More to the point, not every transport concern has late men and /or night men "on tap" who can return an empty container outside normal hours.
As for empty containers, which if collected before noon on day A should be returned for service that night if no demurrage is to be incurred, I can only state that the condition is fair enough in print. However, it inhibits the haulier who takes a bank of containers out for works loading. Taking steel as an example, who can judge the works' daily Freightliner tonnage to any one haulier? Similarly, at 9 p.m., when many of the Freightliner trains are starting their night run, some containers may still be loading in the works' bay, through no fault of the haulier. Let's remember that the train can't wait, as can the haulage trunker.
Certainly British Railways must make the tullest possible use of expensive capital equipment. However, haulage has always been a flexible industry and here it seems that the rail demurrage conditions counteract flexibility. If the free limits were extended there is no doubt that the efficient haulier would continue to turn round containers as quickly as he is doing now. Depending on the extension, the haulier who does frequently hold containers over the odds" would be in a far weaker bargaining position than he is at present.
ACT container ship launched
MRS. MARY McEWAN, wife of Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Export, launches ACT 1 in Bremen today. ACT 1 is the first of a fleet of three 24,000-ton vessels, which will help to inaugurate the OCL /ACT service to Australasia next February.