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THE CONTAINER AND THE USER

THE TWO-DAY conference held in conjunction with the International Freight Container and Container Handling Exhibition was opened on Tuesday by Mr. Anthony Wedgwood Benn, Minister of Technology.

Entitled "The Container and the User," the conference was addressed by specialists in many fields. Subjects covered included Future Trends in Handling, Consolidated Loads, Standardization, Container Pooling, Documentation, Insurance Problems, and Labour Problems.

The latter item was the one on which Mr. Wedgwood Benn placed most emphasis in his introductory remarks—not labour solely in terms of the actual loading or handling of containers, but the whole field of human involvement in the container revolution from the user onwards. The user found out the problems with modern technological advances and it was he who demanded new solutions to the problems, and containerization was no exception, he said.

Such is the explosive growth rate of the container industry that the Minister gave some figures to illustrate it more clearly. The number of containers manufactured in 1969 will reach 25,000 and in a further two years a total of some 40,000 is expected. Container traffic passing through British ports has increased from 1.8m tons in 1965 to nearly 5m tons and British Railways on their Freightliner system, which only started in 1965, are currently carrying about 8,000 containers per week. Freightliner terminals are to be increased in the next year from the present 50 to about 75.

Users' views

THE IMPACT of containerization on the motor industry was well ventilated in a presentation by two members of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Mr. E. T. Nevin, manager, manufacturing engineering, K. D. Vehicles Supply Operations, Ford Motor Co. Ltd., described the fast-rising trend in Ford's use of containers for overseas shipments. Ford's UK exports served 16 overseas markets in 1963, 23 markets today and the likelihood of more in the future. The number of units dispatched had increased from under 100,000 in 1963 to 150,000 in mid-1969. Currently 700 knocked-down vehicles were packed daily.

Mr. Nevi11 said that 2,500 containers were moved between Ford works in Britain and near-European locations on a closedcircuit system. Each contained four standard pallet loads, fork-lifted into the container.

Welcoming the OCL /ACT services to Australia, Mr. Nevill said the reduced packing and faster transit time was reducing inventory levels but overseas "customer" factories had additional problems in that they needed to provide under-cover storage facilities at delivery points. Ford was investigating this aspect as part of its phase 2 containerization programme. He felt sure teething problems would be resolved and looked forward to the introduction of services to other overseas destinations..

Mr. R. D. Hall, chief executive, overseas production, British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd., outlined the early use by BMC companies of rail containers. The incidence of damage through rail shunting shocks and cranage limiting loads to 5 or 6 tons were adverse factors but container transport was proved to be economic.

Since 1957 BMC had dispatched 1,000 vehicle sets by rail ferry wagons to Milan, but now ISO containers were used. Nonstandard containers were used for shipment to Spain. Timber pallets had not needed repairs in three years' operation, between the UK and Belgium.

British Leyland, said Mr. Hall, used ISO containers extensively to Italy and Australia and—for spares—to the USA. Within four years the Corporation expected 80 per cent of c.k.d. shipments to be sent overseas in containers—perhaps equal to 7,000 vehicles. There would also be scope for exporting commercial vehicles, and agricultural tractors in containers.

The problem of packing products of carrying weight to provide economic container loads was discussed by Mr. Hall. Engines alone were too heavy and body panels too light—hence the care taken to design economic loading modules, using either returnable or non-returnable racking. Research was called for to devise the most economic Loading plan for c.k.d. components for vari

ous overseas markets.

Mr. Hall criticized inadequate floor-loading strength of containers built under the B.S.3951 specification. It had been necessary to load two separate modules into containers instead of one, because of this factor.

Future trends

MR. COLIN HARDIE, managing director, Transport and Handling Services Ltd., started his paper, "Future trends in handling for containers" by reminding the delegates what the basic container is—a simple box.

If the essence of the container was simplicity, it followed, he said, that handling operations for container transport should also be kept as simple as operational circumstances allowed.

One of the oldest axioms in materials handling was that the most economical method of handling was to avoid it/ On this principle Mr. Hardie suggested that the best method of container handling at most users' premises was not handle them at all.

It followed then that the trend which most shippers and consignees can be expected to foster in the presentation and working of containers at users' premises is that they should be treated so far as possible as ordinary road vehicles being worked as quickly as possible rather than off-loaded from the vehicle on to the ground or to support legs or frame.

The viability of off-loading containers to ground level for loading or discharge depended on the volume of traffic handled by the crane or other equipment used, which must have adequate capacity to deal with full as well as empty containers.

Of the accepted ISO and BSI standard pallet sizes only the 1,000 X 1,200nun pallet was really suitable for effective loading in standard freight containers. It was important, he said, that there should be an effective modular relationship between the pallet and the internal dimensions of the container.

The BSI had advanced four new pallet sizes in the draft standard "Pallets for use in Freight Containers" (BS.2629 Part 2). This came soon after the reduction of the number of standard pallets for general through transit to four in BS.2629 Part 1, a reduction at least partly prompted by the realization that too many standard sizes were the negation of standardization.

One apparent justification for the new draft sizes was that the 1,100mm dimension common to them facilitated two-way entry whereas the 1.000 x 1,200mm size gave optimum loading in ISO containers only when four-way entry. This would appear to imply that the future trends for palletized traffic in containers would be towards the use of two-way entry pallets, he said.

Inland terminals

EXPORTERS and importers professed to be unconcerned with operating methods in marked contrast to the interest taken in supply lines by army generals during the war, said Mr. G. D. Osborne Bartram, managing director, West of England Freight Terminal Ltd. He was speaking on "Inland Clearance Terminals" with special reference to the consolidated loads problem from the aspect of customers and forwarding agents.

The eight or nine strategically sited inland clearance terminals opened in .1969 in natural economic geographical regions in the UK offered a facility for Customs clearance of traffic into or out of the country, said Mr. Bartram.

The customers of inland clearance terminals could be classified as: the marine contamer lines; the container road trailer operators; specialist container operators and rail ferry operators. The Intercontainer organization set up by a number of European railway systems provided a valuable extension of UK transport services. Shipping and forwarding agents retailing the services of the major international providers of transport were also important users of inland terminals.

Summarizing the advantages of inland terminals, Mr. Bartram said they allowed close monitoring of freight movements from manufacturer to ships' side or in the reverse direction. Localized Customs control was possible and when used as a clearing house for small exporters, and indeed for many large firms with small export consignments regular unit loads could be made up.

By acting as a regional focus linking Freightliner container services with ports of exit the advantages of trainload inland haulage were achieved. But as regards road haulage it was obvious that road hauliers had to get their vehicles back to base: the present excessive use of road vehicles beyond a tight radius of either the marine or the inland terminal was imposing an expensive premium upon container movement inland which was neither efficient nor tolerable.

If all container movements were polarized in a collective way through the interchange from road to rail facilities at inland terminals, unit costs would come down substantially, especially on the overland freight content of an international movement. There was, too, great advantage in spreading seaport handling and documentation pressures to inland terminals.

Standardization

THE TREND towards non-standard containers was strongly attacked by Mr. J. N. A. Marshall, managing director, International Ferry Freight, when he spoke on "Standardization—the swing away from the ISO recommendation", on Wednesday. He warned purchasers of 8ft 6in. high containers that these were not acceptable on all land routes.

Enormous expense had been incurred by shipping lines, said Mr. Marshall, in building cellular container vessels designed for the standard ISO 20ft by 8ft by 8ft module. It made a mockery of this huge investment in ships and land-based handling equipment if some operators insisted on sending 8ft 6in. wide containers overseas.

At the moment the German Bundesbahn was planning to introduce non-standard containers 8ft 2+in. wide and these would not be compatible with present ISO standards. Although the Bundesbahn had said that the new containers would only be used internally, their "Freightliner" equivalent organization would be concerned with container movements within Europe and overseas.

In the speaker's view the argument used, i.e. that the new width would permit two full pallets to ride side by side was spurious. To build containers round pallets was as silly as to allow the size of a house to be determined by the size of bricks. He thought that the wise men who had decided upon the 8ft square module for the ISO standard would be justified by history.

At question time Mr. H. Jarvis suggested that advocates of containerization were trying to make customers conform to sizes and standards convenient to the container operators. Mr. Marshall. replying, said the industry in his view was not viciously twisting the arm of customers. Economic considerations were paramount. Although it might be inconvenient to some shippers if they conformed to the ISO standards, the system would be beneficial in the long run.

Mr. Jarvis suggested that the 10ft square module would provide substantially greater cubic capacity, particularly if four such containers were loaded end-to-end on a rail or road vehicle. Mr. Marshall agreed that many permutations were possible.

Documentation

WHAT WERE probably much better means of documentation than pieces of paper were on the way, said Mr. C. W. G. Wilson, director of the UK Freight Forwarders Container Association, in his paper "Documentation for cargo in containers".

The documents which Mr. Wilson mainly considered in his paper were those between the transport operator and the cargo owner in respect of his cargo.

What was needed was a strong and impartial third hand to hold the goods at the moment when ownership passed from buyer to seller.

The use of the container had developed mainly on routes where buyers and sellers were most closely connected and therefore had least need to use the document of title.

The purpose of a document, he said, would therefore be a receipt from the transport operator to the cargo owner setting out the terms of their contract.

The beginning of the journey would become the key point, particularly when advanced data transmission became widely used, because it was here that the goods had to be fully described and full instructions about their transit given.

For commerce a document of title might still be required for finance purposes; but this need not be a contract of carriage as was the traditional bill of lading. The transport operator could just as well produce a delivery order.

The straightforward answer to the problem of providing, when required, a combined transport document which was also a document of title. said Mr. Wilson, seemed to be to set down conditions for it and have it recognized by law as such, as proposed by the CMI Convention of April 1969.

Labour problems

THE FINAL SESSION of the conference was notable for a passionate exposition of the attitude of the International Longshoremen's Association by its famous president, Mr. T. W. Gleason. After the speech what might have been a dramatic confrontation between Mr. Gleason and Sir Andrew Crichton, chairman, Overseas Containers Ltd., lost much of its impact with a long and rather rambling statement by Sir Andrew. Ultimately Sir Andrew suggested that the number of men employed in Great Britain's docks was probably less than 50,000. He looked for a well-thought-out scheme for helping men of all ages out of the industry on fair terms, and he felt that the necessary reduction might amount to only 20,000 men.

Mr. Gleason favoured the early retirement of dockers on the basis of an adequate pension for life. Training schemes for displaced dockers, he said, had not proved successful in America, as there were no jobs available for the men who had been trained. It was much better to provide displaced workers with a pension.

Mr. Gleason said he had not come "to try around 1958 tried to persuade him that containerization would only apply to about 2 per cent of cargo moving through Atlantic coast ports. Times had now changed. Forecasts published recently predicted that from 40 to 75 per cent of many types of cargo would be containerized.

Mr. Gleason said he had not come "to wash the dirty linen of our labour relations". Container problems in the United States had not been completely solved—"We have only made significant progress."

Describing the pay settlement negotiated in New York in February following a prolonged strike, Mr. Gleason said the threeyear contract provided for a 51.60 per hour increase in wages and benefits, and employers' pension contributions, welfare and holiday benefits would also be substantially improved.