EQUIPMENT CORNER\\\ Cargobeamer in service


Cargobeamer – the German- developed fast road-rail transfer system – has installed its first fully operational system at Volkswagen’s Wolfsburg plant, the manufacturer’s chief executive officer, Dr Hans- Jurgen Weidemann told a press conference in London on 17 April. At the moment, the Wolfsburg


terminal is handling trailers on trains arriving from conventional piggyback terminals but later in the year, Cargobeamer plans to open a second terminal in Calais. According to Dr Weidemann,


Cargobeamer will massively speed up transfer of trailer to rail wagons and vice-versa using special pallets. On arrival at the terminal, truck drivers position


their trailers on the pallets which are then moved onto the rail wagons. The system has the advantage over other types of ‘piggyback’ (trailer on flatcar) operation that the train does not have to be there when the truck arrives. It is also quicker and cheaper than cranes. Cargobeamer can also handle


containers or swapbodies as well as trailers and could also be used to transfer loads between trains at places where the rail track gauge changes – for example, between the Russian and the West European system. The market was hungry for


new, faster ways of handling intermodal freight, said Weidemann. “Customers will not


accept waiting times in terminals of 1-2 days especially in sectors like automotive, he said. Cargobeamer could do the job in only 15 minutes, he said. The technology would make


combined transport genuinely attractive from a commercial as well as a green point of view, he continued – rail has only about a quarter the carbon emissions and energy use of road transport. Another Cargobeamer terminal


at Dortmund is at the advanced planning stage. He envisaged that Calais, when in opens, would send trailer-trains to Germany as the first sector of a network of Cargobeamer rail routes criss- crossing Europe. Initially, services will operate


from Calais, via Berlin, to Legnica in Southern Poland and there will be a route into Southern Europe from 2014. With around 350 million truck


movements in Europe every year, even if only 5% of them converted to rail that would fill something like 220 trains a day. While Cargobeamer does have


long-term ambitions to operate trains into the UK, in the absence of any programme to increase the rail loading-gauge there, the system would not realise one of its prime advantages, namely the ability to use standard road trailers as clearances on the UK network (other than the High Speed 1 line from London to the Channel Tunnel) would not permit this.


Box-weighing could become law soon


Shippers could be required by law within three years to verify weight before containers are loaded on board ship, a seminar at April’s Multimodal conference in Birmingham was told on 24 April. Director of the International Cargo Handling Coordination Association (ICHCA), Richard Marks, told delegates that the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention had agreed an amendment in September 2012 stipulating that a container should either be weighed in its entirety, or its contents weighed separately and added to the tare weight of the box.


Marks said the International


Maritime Organization (IMO) would consider the amendment in September this year and would probably adopt it in December 2014, leading to an entry into force in July 2016. There are however many


questions that still need answers. The verified weight would need to be stated in the shipping document, though the fact that this was prepared before the vessel was loaded may raise practical difficulties. Marks said weighing containers


at the gatehouse on entry to the port was difficult and expensive. Verifying weight on the


liſting equipment itself was not guaranteed to be accurate, and self-geared ships oſten served terminals without dedicated equipment, he pointed out. Giving the freight forwarder’s


perspective, Robert Windsor, manager of trade services at the British International Freight Association (BIFA), said everyone in the supply chain had obligations and responsibilities, but if one person got it wrong, there were likely consequences for all the rest. “We must prevent bottlenecks in the supply chain,” he stressed. Forwarders loaded very


many seafreight containers but operated differently according to whether they were acting as agent, consolidator, intermediary or loader, Windsor said. He believed most BIFA members would prefer aggregating weights of cargoes rather than weighing laden boxes, and was pleased that this seemed to be acceptable to the IMO. Echoing Marks’s earlier


comments, Windsor said that verification at the port would create a pinch-point. However, targeted spot checks would be necessary as inaccurate container weights were part of a much wider problem involving Customs and other authorities. For the Freight Transport


Association (FTA), director of global and European policy, Chris Welsh added: “A small part of the market is not doing things correctly – not through malice, but ignorance of what’s required.” An FTA survey had suggested it was not weight, but inappropriately stowed and secured boxes that caused most problems. BIFA’s Robert Windsor added


that the requirement to weigh boxes could have as great an impact on the seafreight sector as security regulations had had in airfreight. There were other reasons not


to overload containers as well as the threat to ship stability, he pointed out. “Containers are also becoming physically weaker, and floor strength can be an issue. So you should never overload one.” Bill


Brampton, the instability of in many cases, ETS


Consulting also pointed out that,


it was of overloaded


containers in road transport that posed the most direct threat to the public. “Personally, I would never


overtake a container


truck while it is going through a motorway contraflow,” he told the audience.


Issue 4 2013


37


New straddles for Tilbury


The Port of Tilbury has taken delivery of 14 new Kalmar straddle carriers as part of a £20million investment programme at


the


Forth Ports-owned facility’s London Container Terminal. LCT’s bespoke IT equipment has now been fitted to the four-high


Brussels funding has helped Tilbury renew its box handling kit


machines. The investment has been aided by the Motorway of the Sea grant, awarded to the Tilbury and Port of Bilbao in 2012 to reduce congestion between the Iberian Peninsula and the UK – so far the only funding under the scheme for a British port.


Frankfurt handler goes for gas


Frankfurt air cargo handler LUG Aircargo is testing a hydrogen fuel cell powered forklift truck. Widely used in North America, but until recently rare in Europe due to the small size of the market and consequent high prices, hydrogen vehicles emit virtually no greenhouse gases, offer minimal down time and eliminate the need for a battery room, freeing up space and manpower for other activities, LUG says.


the


The project is sponsored by manufacturer,


STILL, and


the ministry of the environment and energy at the Hesse state government. In another initiative, LUG recently


installed an automated battery charging station which does not release the trucks until the batteries are fully charged for its existing fleet of 74 battery-operated trucks. The innovation helps extend equipment operating hours, says the handler.


On line system keeps track of trailers


Norwegian-owned Bring Cargo has switched to an online T card system to manage its trailers at its Stallingborough, North East Lincolnshire base. The system is used to track trailer locations and give an immediate at-a-glance overview of current loading and trailer position. Bring can have up to 300 ‘live’


trailer movements in the UK at any one time, and it is therefore imperative to capture, record and monitor


their position.


Tracking previously used a T Card board-based system which


gave office staff an at-a-glance overview of trailer locations, but the company wanted a more dynamic monitoring system. According to David Sumner, of


Bring Cargo, “the recent upgrade to the T Cards OnLine system is more


practical, easily


on-screen accessed


enabling


trailer status to be viewed and up-dated be


and can remotely


when required. It also offers more unique coloured cards for improving the sort and grading process.” The new online system also


allows access from virtually


any location where there is an internet connection, through authorised and protected passwords. Very much mirroring a spread-


sheet layout of rows and columns, the standard Work in Progress sheet comprises twelve columns and fiſty-two rows. T Cards Direct will initially assist in setting column headers and any other configuration. Virtual T-cards are used to


populate the planner; by clicking on the card icon in the main


menu selection bar a new card is immediately opened. Each card contains three basic fields - title, subtitle plus space to enter a description of specific task or activity. Once opened the user can select a specific card colour which helps simplify task management. There is also a document link


selector as well as a web link. A specific column can be allocated prior to saving the card content; once it appears on the planning chart, the cards can be re- positioned using a simple drag- and-drop technique.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40