Containers – stuffing & stacking


Losses continue The Club is concerned at the continuing incidence of damage to containers and cargo fromwithin containers, and of damage to containers and contents from the collapse of containers in stack.


This article is a reminder and re-enforcement of earlier advices, and reference should be made to the following Carefully to Carry reports:


Report No.11 - July 1983, Report No.12 - December 1986, Report No.13 - April 1989.


Reference should also be made to such booklets as Stuffing & Stowage by ScanDutch, and to similar publications by Atlantic Container Lines and Hapag Lloyd, for example, with their excellent descriptive line drawings and practical advice, and to the catalogues of container securing components and securing systems available from all reputable manufacturers such as Coubro & Scrutton, Conver and Peck & Hale.


Stuffing


The stuffing of containers is not just a ship operator’s problem. Containers are often packed at places which may be many miles, and sometimes even several days’ journey, from the marine loading terminal. It is therefore important that everyone involved with the packing of containers, at whatever stage in transit, should be fully aware of the stresses that can be generated in the structure of the container itself and in and around the cargo within it, during transportation by


Photo 1


Fig. A


road, rail or ship. It is also, of course, essential that containers are in sound structural condition each time they are put into service, and that the containers themselves are suitable for the cargo to be carried.


It should always be borne in mind that the side panels, the end panels, and the roof panels of an ISO container are not normally strength members. Beneath the floor timbers there are metal cross-bearers and it is generally those bearers which provide the floor’s strength. Additionally, the corner posts, front and rear headers and front and rear sills provide the internal strength members. (See Fig. A). Whenever bracing is to be used in vertical, horizontal or diagonal form, it must act against those members and the floor bearers, and no others. Bracing and/or end chocking against side, end, and roof panels will surely result in disaster (photos 3 and 4).


The great problem is that, unlike break-bulk cargo, the ship’s master and his officers do not sight, nor do they have any control over, the contents of containers or the methods by which the contents have been packed and secured. Hence, whenever and wherever containers are being packed, management and supervisory personnel should be properly trained and be provided with copies of the many relevant excellent handbooks and leaflets available from shipping companies engaged and specialising in container carriage by sea.


If the contents of just one container are improperly packed or lack adequate securing arrangements or are inappropriate for container carriage and, as a result, break adrift when the ship encounters heavy weather, the safety of many other containers, their contents, and the safety of the ship itself could be at risk. For instance, round steel bars, inadequately secured, broke adrift within a container third in stack on deck, pierced and went through the container’s side panels,


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