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ISSUE 2 2010


EqUIpMENT cORNER


The humble twistlock could be the answer to the problem of accurately weighing containers before they reach shipping terminals, experts told a conference in London on 29 June. Bromma Conquip’s vice-president Lars Meurling and Beat Zwygart, MD of container load sensor manufacturer Laststec explained to Dunelm’s Weighing Containers – is it really that difficult? event that sensors that engage on all types of equipment, including skeletal trailers and yard and handling equipment could quickly and accurately gauge the weight of any boxes they pick up and send the information directly into a shipping line or terminal


database. As outlined in the previous


issue of FBJ, the problem of incorrectly declared container weights is beginning to vex industry experts, who fear that a major catastrophe could result from boxes that are too heavy, or too light, being incorrectly positioned on board ships or in container stacks. The system works by


incorporating strain gauges that engage on the twistlocks on containers as they are loaded onto trucks or picked up by cranes and handling equipment. (Lasstec uses a slightly different fibreoptic system.) The system could be fitted to a container truck for around


€12-13,000, Lars Meurling told the conference. “The technology exists – there’s really no excuse not to do this,” he said. Paul Hines, general manager


of the UK’s largest weighing equipment manager Avery Weigh-Tronix added that it was now feasible to weigh boxes at almost any stage of their journey through the supply chain. It was also possible to accurately weigh containers on rail wagons moving at up to 50mph, he said. David Wilson, Felixstowe’s


head of safety agreed that overloaded containers could be a problem for ports. His own tests suggested that 20% of containers were significantly


Ignorance is not bliss


Information on how to safely stack containers on board ships is sadly lacking, a marine surveyor told the ‘Weighing Containers’ conference. Captain Peter King, managing director of Seden Clarke Ltd, said that modern-day manuals on safe loading of cargo contained little practical information and also were not updated in the light of experience. The rapid turnover in seafarers and widespread use of agency staff did not help matters either. He said that when he went to sea, “the cargo securing manual was a


bible and mandated on almost all ships. Sadly, that experience has all gone.” Modern-day versions contain little information on known problems, such as the stowage of 30’ and 45’ containers on board vessels. “The manual has to be a live document, otherwise users can’t do their jobs properly,” he told the conference.


Ever get that empty feeling?


inbalanced. Steve Cameron, of Cameron Maritime Resources, said that one shipping line found that the discrepancy between actual and declared rates on its ships could be up to 1500 tonnes. The TT Club’s risk management director, Peregrine Storrs-Fox concurred, saying that the MSC Napoli, wrecked off the Dorset coast in 2007, had 1250 tonnes of misdeclared cargo on its deck alone. The Marine Accident


Investigation Branch (MAIB) inspector of marine accidents, Captain Mike Evans said that there were also problems in the ro ro sector. The investigation into the Riverdance freight ferry,


grounded on Blackpool beach in January 2008, found that the ship’s officers had no accurate knowledge of their weight of the trailers on board. In fact, there was at the time no legal requirement for such information on freight-only ferries, although new legislation to bring them into line with passenger ro ro operations is coming, he said. In the case of the Husky Racer accident at Bremerhaven in November 2009, when 18 boxes tumbled off a shortsea vessel, a simple mix-up between kilos and tonnes led to boxes weighing over 30 tonnes being placed at the top of the vessel. Storrs-Fox added that the


27 There’s no excuse for not doing the twist


MAIB report on the Annabella container stack collapse that same year suggested that safety had been compromised by the overriding desire to maintain schedules and port turnaround times, leading to unwise stacking of light and empty boxes. Storrs-Fox said that the major accidents that had come to light on board ships and in terminals could be the tip of the iceberg. “If a container tips over on the road, does it reach the ears of the International Maritime Organisation?” he asked, adding that he personally always kept well clear of container trucks when driving through roundabouts.


DSV slashes delivery costs at the stroke of a digital pen


Global carrier DSV has streamlined its delivery process with a new Destiny digital pen across its UK depots. Delivery notes are printed at local depots on a unique embedded Anoto dot pattern, sourced online in seconds from Destiny’s servers. When the driver makes the delivery the customer signs the form using a digital pen, and adds any other written comments. The driver then ticks a ‘send’ box


to transmit the data on the form via a Bluetooth mobile phone back to Destiny’s servers. Here the job is identified via the unique pen ID and dot pattern, and the pen strokes are processed and married up with the consignment details to recreate


both a graphical image of the original form and a data file. It is fast enough to give depot management a near real-time view of forms processed, transport and consignments completed and deliveries still to be made. DSV says the new e-delivery system


has already slashed man hours and administration costs involved in consignment note-handling and replaces the traditional OCR (optical character recognition) process drivers used for consignment notes when they return to depots, which sometimes leads to delays in resolving delivery issues and problems with lost or incorrect data.


MD of DSV Road, Rene Falch Olesen, explains that this high-tech approach has helped win contracts from the likes of Marks & Spencer with a recent two-year agreement to carry the UK giant’s beer, wine and spirits from its suppliers to its Daventry distribution centre. DSV recently signed a €4 million pan-


European contract with wind energy specialist Gurit.to movet composite materials to customers throughout Europe from its Isle of Wight production plant. It has just also signed another energy


contract North Sea-based contractor GE Oil and Gas. The global carrier will use its chartering expertise to carry seagoing cargo from the UK and Norway to Angola.


Cargotec says that its latest empty container handler could be the solution to a pressing problem. Empty boxes are piling up a terminals all over Europe and dealing with them quickly and effectively is a major industry concern. The eight-tonne capacity Kalmar DCF70-40E offers a cleaner engine with better fuel efficiency; new hydraulic and electrical systems; longer maintenance intervals; a state-of-the-art diagnostic system and a more ergonomic cabin – all of which help to lower total cost of ownership.


Extreme automation


Siemens Industry Automation has developed a new line of products to protect automation systems from extreme temperatures, pollution and contamination. Moisture, heat, dust, vapours, chemical fumes, cold, oil, grease, and other problems can all lead to electrical and signal faults or even total failure of the system or plant. SIPLUS Extreme includes modules, CPUs, panels and housings and can operate in temperature ranges from -40/-25 °C to +60/+70 °C or in chlorous and sulphurous atmospheres as found in the paper recycling industry. They can also cope with dirty, dusty or wet conditions.


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