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Issue 1 2017 - Freight Business Journal


///FREIGHT BREAK Air menace area.


Like any responsible port operator, ABP is alert to the potential menace of airborne ‘drones’ to the safety of its many installations up and down the country. Head of security for the Humber region, Martin Clark has been boning up on the subject, as he told the recent Transport Security conference in London. There is no lack of legislation


at ABP’s disposal. As with any other uninvited ‘vehicles’, ABP’s dockmasters are quite within their rights to take such action against any drones intruding on port premises, espeically if they get into an operational


While drones could be used


to launch a terrorist attack, the more everyday issues are hobbyists allowing their machines to stray into busy areas and causing a nasty accident. The only problem, as Mr Clark pointed out to his audience, is that drones are airborne and it is pretty hard to do much about them. One member of the audience did suggest that ABP buy its own drones – and arm them – but I’m not sure what the Health & Safety people would have to say about World War I style dogfights taking place in the skies above our ports. Could


Completely batty Canadian gateway sees sky high prospects


Edmonton International Airport seemed determined to end 2016 on a high, in its press release issued on 15 December. We say ‘high’ advisedly, because the Canadian air gateway has been selected as the site for Aurora Sky, billed as the world’s most advanced cannabis production facility. Yes, you read that correctly, someone is going to be producing


pot with the confines of one of the world’s international airports, on 30 acres of land. In fairness, Aurora Sky’s initial target will be the thoroughly respectable and rapidly growing medical end of the market although, chief brand officer, Neil Belot also has hopes of tapping into “the soon to be legalized recreational market”. The plant is described as the


Kinder surprising


I’d always imagined that a ‘Kinder Surprise’ was something you’d end up with if you were in the habit of using old East German contraceptives, but apparently they are a foil-covered chocolate egg filled with a plastic “yolk” that in turn reveals further kid-friendly treats. Made in Italy by the Ferrero


company (presumably the same firm that keeps ambassadors’ parties supplied with those little golden ball things) they are very popular in Germany and northern Europe, which is presumably why


a containerfull of them was on board a ship passing the island of Langeoog, near the Dutch border – only to be washed off the deck by a storm and ending up on the island’s beaches. Inevitably, this sparked a


juvenile version of the sorts of scenes we saw aſter the MSC Napoli wreck off the Devon coast a few years ago. What was probably the fastest clean-up in maritime history was achieved by letting occupants of the local kindergartens loose on the beaches for a few hours or so.


world’s most advanced cannabis facility and is envisioned as


becoming “an important


contributor to the local economy” – just like Liverpool and south London, then.


Here’s an issue that has gone back and forth across the table, says the Freight Transport Association – the vexed question of whether ping pong balls should be classified as dangerous goods. For years, the rule was that the


balls which are made of celluloid or


similar flammable plastics,


should be included on the ADR list because of the deadly fumes produced if they catch light. But now someone at the UN has


had the cojones to take them off the list, under amendments that come into force on 1 January. The only stipulation is that individual balls do not exceed 3g net weight


kestrels be trained to bring them down? Possibly, but there are again risks, not least to the birds themselves. A more practical solution, Mr Clark suggested, would be for ABP’s security drone to follow any intruder drones back to their owners, relay the numberplate details of their vehicle and any other information through their onboard camera, pass the information on to the Police and await results. Given that there would be


good grounds for a charge of Aggravated Trespass – a pretty serious matter - any irresponsible drone owners would do well to take heed.


and that and have a total net mass of 500g per package. Luckily the International Table Tennis Federation requires all balls used in official matches to be 2.7g. FTA’s new head of dangerous information, Nigel Pope


goods


(who is no doubt infallible in these matters) says that the old rule was a good illustration of how seemingly innocuous cargoes can be subject to the dangerous goods rules.


1/4 century of sarnie-slicing


The House of Commons may have had its Annie’s Bar but Europa Worldwide has paid tribute to one of its old employees by naming the caff at its Dartford base Annette’s Café.


Annette Lacey ran the


company’s canteen at its old headquarters in Erith for 25 years. She is now enjoying a


well-earned retirement


but, together with her son and daughter, attended the unveiling of the name at an event hosted by Europa managing director Andrew Baxter and attended by many of its 250-strong staff.


Tracey herself has worked


at Europa for 23 years, and wanted to find a way to thank Annette for her years of dedication to the company. She said: “Annette is a lovely lady who looked after us for many years.” Annette’s Café not only has


a contemporary look but it has been designed to offer a huge choice to cater for both staff and visitors, including pop-up street food stalls and a lunch- time loyalty scheme. Clearly, things have moved


The name was chosen


by Europa traffic desk administrator, Tracey Butler-


Jack who was presented with a prize by Andrew Baxter at the opening ceremony.


on a long way since the days of the lorry driver’s tea and a wedge...


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