Unit-load economies
Page 50
Page 51
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Road hauliers need to understand unit loading techniques; customers may need advice!
MOST professional road transport men need no exhortation on the merits of unit loads but newcomers to the industry may not yet have realized why the subject is of vital importance.
Containerization provides the most spectacular example of the relative economy of movement of standard-size boxes. The port costs with large conventional cargo ships a few years back were of the order of £1000 a day — and a ship could well be in port for a week or more. Container ships at an efficient terminal can be turned round in 48 hours or less, so that the ships are earning money for a larger proportion of the year than conventional cargo carriers.
Unit-loading ships capable of handling loads direct from lorry to cargo hold, thanks to the invention of the fork-lift truck, preceded containerization, and such ships, which utilize side-ports — large doors which enable the fork-lift trucks easy entry and exit — are still in use. A number of shipping lines has introduced combined unit-load/container ships, aiming to get the best of both worlds.
Customer's choice
The general haulier, and the transport manager of a large manufacturing company, must live with containerizatiOn and with unit-loading techniques. Whatever personal views the transport manager may have as to the merits of either system, the ultimate customer for the goods produced may have the last word as to the transport mode and form of packing used. Alternatively, for some export destinations, the sender of goods may have to use containers whether he wants to or not, unless he is prepared to accept a lower sailing frequency with conventional cargo ships.
The road transport professional should know the pros and cons of all possible methods of transporting goods so that he is in a position to advise his customer firm. Too many hauliers think the transport method chosen is purely the province of the customer: "professionalism" surely denotes the capacity and readiness of the road transport contractor to offer objective advice.
On the question of unit-loading techniques, detailed advice is available from the Unit Load Council, Aslakveien 14, Oslo 7, Norway. Although mainly composed of shipping lines, other firms and individuals concerned in transport may join for a modest fee as associate members.
A unit load means one or more packages secured to a pallet or skidded in such a manner that the entire unit may be received by the carrier, safely loaded, transported and delivered. The concept is based on the theory that shippers should pack their cargo in such a way that it can be moved and handled by mechanical equipment in all links of the transport chain."
Unit-loading techniques suit all means of transportation, sea, land and air. Pallet trucks, fork-lift trucks and all types of conventional cranes are in ample supply in most advanced countries. Since the technique is applicable to most raw materials and industrial products and is obviously attractive to road haulage men, it is a little surprising that more use is not made of the unit-loading concept in road hauliers' marketing plans. The unit-loading idea, of course, can be applied to packing, materials handling, warehousing, storage and "internal" transportation, ie within factccies or on factory sites.
Unit-loading methods have their place even in containerization. Since many containers are filled with multiple products, the greater use made of unit-loading the more easily can the container be stowed.
Despite years of propaganda by unit-loading enthusiasts there are still innumerable instances of stupidity in the packing and forwarding of goods. For example, wooden cases are constructed in such a way that then entrance for the forks of a fork-lift trt causing endless handling problems contents are heavy, in a long transit the world. The Unit Load Council fc possible to suggest simple ways to re wooden cases without increasing o adding weight or volume to fa mechanical handling. The addition simple battens beneath the case ctu endless aggravation, time and money.
In some trades individual piec material are often handled 15 or 20 tit route. Ingots, weighing between 10 a kilos, of aluminium, copper, manganese, tin and zinc can be cm bundled into units of 1 to 3 tons witt benefit to the chain of carriers. Tim now frequently strapped or bundled sawmills but there are still instances o planks being handled.
National pallet pool
Palletization is a subject in itself. efforts to organize a national pallet the UK using standard-size standard-quality pallets it has no possible to institute the compre scheme that was urged in the Art Little report a few years ago. H there is an effective scheme of interc pallets in sections of the food indust in Europe the various railway adm thins have operated a much-used ige for many years.
mcept of disposable pallets made of r synthetic material is attractive but culties are immense. To mention , when the pallets had outlived their how would they be disposed ause the sender of goods must the pallet it is normal for the possible pallets to be purchased. aders are unwilling to provide the I pallet that would help the chain of and the consignee. All too y, cheap pallets collapse after one nit Load Council favours pallets of
48in. (1000mm X 1200rnm) as ;st suited to lorries all over the Hauliers who can influence -s should urge the benefits of these ns. Full four-way-entry type pallets and pallet trucks to be used inside le and loading and unloading from )1. tail of the vehicle is facilitated.
cent saving Mit Load Council urges the use of le transit pallets but because it that returning empty pallets to is expensive it suggests that Land transit pallets should be into circulation. Regular importers niers who are willing to buy pallets e put into touch by shipping agents tillers. A contribution of 50 per cent tial cost is felt to be reasonable. antial savings have been shown to hale from the wide use of pallets. In ed States, to quote one example, a 2706 shipments moving from 422 turers to 10 major distribution showed a saving to the food of some 15.40 dollars per long ton.
billion cases of goods pass through food distribution annually in the rith a potential saving of 20 cents a saving of $3 billion per year is equal to three times the current net the total industry.
dream
izes of pallets in use are extremely ind worldwide standardizgion is r an illusory dream. Just as the ISO er dimensions have not been I by many countries, with pallets the ;nee of senders, tradition, sometimes eer cussedness, prevents some
rationalization. Twenty-two sepdiet sizes are in common use in countries, ranging in size from 96in. favoured by stevedores, to 6in. distribution pallets.
sence, unit-loading techniques go the drawing board where products ed. Intelligent draughtsmen design r goods in modules that fit pallets ainers efficiently. Objects which necessarily lend themselves to palletization — such as grand or lamp-posts! — can easily be platforms with suitable battens on . Handling is then an easy matter transport men, port operators and lines should find their operations re profitable.