Hamburg's Imports
Page 42
Page 43
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Go By Road
Handling Highly Mechanized in Free Port ; Docks Laid Out to Avoid Congestion By a Special Correspondent
IN contrast with pre-war days the carriage 04 goods by road vehicle is as important to the Free Port of Hamburg as rail traffic, and lorries handled a far greater proportion than the railways of the 19.8m.
tons imported in 1956. In 1938 imports totalled 18.2m. tons and the majority was distributed to inland centres in canal barges. Imparts for 1957 will probably exceed those of 1956 by a substantial margin. Germany is prospering.
Imparted products comprise mainly raw materials and foodstuffs, whilst heavy machines and finished industrial goods form the bulk of the loads for the expOrt market, which are normally transported to the docks in rail trucks. Exports increased from 7.5m. tons in 1938 to 7.6m. tons in 1956 after being reduced to 300,000 tons in 1945, when the tonnage imparted was 1.5m.
About 70 per cent. of imported goods are dispatched by road and the remainder by rail. The percentages are reversed in the case of exports.
The Free Port operating company, Hamburger Hafen-Und Lagerhaus Aktiengesellschaft, is owned by Hamburg municipality and controls all movements in the docks. By virtue of the " free " status of the docks, materials may be stored and processed M the area without incurring the payment of a duty, and this has greatly facilitated the flow of imports.
The total area of the Free Port n8 covers some 18,500 acres and the combined length of quay walls exceeds 20 miles. More than 900 cranes of the latest type are employed and can be easily transferred from one quay to another.
A measure of the saving in transport costs afforded by the free-port facilities is shown by the variety of industries within the area. These include factories or mills for the production of lubricating oils, cereals and feeding stuffs, refined metal and
pharmaceutical goods. In. many eases a large proportion of a shipload of raw 'materials is re-exported after processing without leaving the docks.
On average, the capacity of the docks is now surplus to requirements, and means are continually being studied to attract additional traffic. As the bulk of imported goods is distributed by road, this may be of particular significance to hauliers,
The import of grain represents a large part of the dock traffic. The harbour silos have a capacity of 315,350 tons, and the extent to which mechanized plant is used to reduce delays is indicated by the maximum discharge rate for a vessel, which may be as high-as 9,000 tons in IG hours.
Large air-conditioned insillated sheds are pr&iided for the storage of imported citrus and tropical fruits, the bulk of which is distributed by maximum-load vehicles equipped with insulated containers.
With the virtual collapse of the rail. way system at the end of the war, most of the dock traffic was diverted to available road vehicles, which were mainly ex-army machines comprising tractor-trailer outfits. The trailers were of the three-axle drawbar type. Such vehicles have been standardized by many haulage companies and are in the majority, •but manceuvring in confined spaces wastes time and necessitates side loading at the island sheds.
General use of articulated vehicles would be welcomed by the operating company, because they can be easily backed up to the deck for rear loading, and this saves space as well as reducing the amount of handling work involved.
As the name implies, the island sheds are located at a higher level than the quay aprons, which are reserved solely for rail traffic, the lines being laid on the apron without a flush roadway.
This layout is employed to eliminate road-rail congestion on the quay and promotes 'operational efficiency because it is combined with the use of portal-level luffing cranes of postwar design which can transfer heavy loads across the apron to the water side roadway of the shed. ,
Little Direct Unloading
Direct ship-to-lorry unloading is rarely employed, and road vehicles cannot be driven on to the waterside shed roadway except by special arrangement. Shed movements are, however, fully mechaniZed and goods can be rapidly transferred by fork truck or other mechanical means to lorries waiting on the offshore side of the shed. Freedom from congestion enables the advan'eed design of the cranes (up to three of which may be employed at the same time at one hatch) to be fully exploited.
The complete separation of road titles, is in contrast to the and rail traffic, which is made possible by the situation at Rotterdam docks, where the quay apron is flush and is used by both rail trucks and road vehicles. At this port the cranes unload cargo into barges, only a small proportion being transferred to the quay (using the ship's gear).
Paved-in rail tracks at Bremen also provide for the access of road and rail trucks to the quay apron, and, in the opinion of the Hamburg staff, this is prejudicial to the easy. flow of both types of traffic.
When I visited the Free Port last month,! was particularly interested in statements made by senior officials of the company regarding the attitude of dock workers to the introduction of the latest forms of mechanical handling equipment.
"Our men," said a director, "have never refused to work with new labour-saving appliances. Tn fact, they are always asking for improved equipment. We have never had any labour trouble."
Vehicle drivers are branch members of the union of which dock employees in every grade are also members. No ease of discrimination by the workers .against individual drivers or groups of drivers has been reported to .officials of the company, but as a normal " business routine" the larger haulage companies may be given special facilities in return for co-operative organization of vehicle movements which reduce handling difficulties.
One of the advantages of rail transport is that the delay of wagons in the docks area pending the arrival of vessel adds little to its overall cost: whereas the cost of waiting time in the case of drivers and road vehicles may represent a severe financial loss.
Means are constantly being sought to improve the liaison between vehicle operators and shed masters to obviate wastage of dock labour and to reduce vehicle turn-round time. Frequently the arrival of vehicles is out of phase with changes in loading potential, with the consequence that the shed workers are idle for a relatively long period or there are too many vehicles for the loads that are immediately available.
Regular Service Wanted
The timing of shed collections is not particularly critical, and in the company's view it should be possible for hauliers to make advance arrangements with shed masters and to give a more regular service. Some improvement with regard to this aspect of co-ordinated working has been recorded in recent months, and officials are confident that the overall efficiency of road services will progressively increase.
A change-over to articulated vehicles by the majority of hauliers would, it is claimed, be advantagedus to the hauliers as well as the dock supervisors. There is ample standing room in the area, and semi-trailers can be parkert at a large number of points without causing inconvenience to other operators