SOUTHAMPTON\\\


Southampton is one of the biggest ports


in the UK for


trade cars. Local stevedore SCH, for example, loads around 350,000 cars a year, or 45 ships every month, along with high and heavy cargo, maafi trailers and all the other varied cargoes that these specialised ro ro vessels handle. SCH is a flexible company,


explains director Lee Davis. “Ro ro ships tend to move around a lot, so our employees tend to move with them,” he says. If a ship is coming on a different day of the week to that originally scheduled, SCH will ensure that the workforce is available to handle it. Car manufacturing is also


a fast-changing business. Manufacturers can and do switch production of a particular model from one side of the world to another at short notice. SCH staff need to be ready


for anything. As well as driving cars onto ships, to exacting standards, they also need to be able to deal with a whole range of high and heavy cargoes such as diggers or mobile cranes. Most of this cargo is new, but there is some second- hand equipment so SCH needs mechanics to ensure that everything can be started and driven onto the ship. Cargo also needs to be lashed - a physically demanding as well as skilled job, and SCH has a core of regular workers. SCH has a core of permanent


employees along with other workers that it recruits through its own in-house agency. It means, says Davis, “that there is steady work for those that want


it, but flexibility for those that prefer it.” Because SCH owns the ship handling contracts, it means that it can offer its part- timers – many of whom have been on the agency’s books for three or four years – reasonably regular work, while retaining a degree of flexibility. Many of the agency staff actually prefer the flexibility


export vehicles, SCH also runs a major pre-delivery inspection (PDI) operation for imported cars in Southampton. Vehicles are checked, cleaned, tested, numberplated, batteries topped up and generally got ready for the road. This can include modifications or even inspections where there are warranty issues, if requested.


of the UK.


Issue 1 2019 - Freight Business Journal


The car and cruise industries’ flexible friend in Southampton


As well as cars,


it also carries out PDI work on imported motorbikes in Northampton, unpacking them from containers and trailers, checking them and sending them out to dealers across the country – probably the first operation of its kind, says Davis. It also does PDI work for the domestic market on UK- produced cars in Oxford, as well loading export cars onto trains for transport to the port of Southampton. It recently started a vehicle


import handling operation in the port of Liverpool for North American produced vehicles arriving on ACL vessels. Davis adds: “We are also involved in other ports and we are keen to work in more.” SCH


also handles cruise


of this way of working, Davis adds, although often the pattern is for people to start working as agency part-timers before moving on to the full- time strength. Recruiting people in a full-


employment city is however pretty tough at the moment. Many of the hard-working East Europeans have gone home after the plunging Pound decimated their effective earning potential. However, SCH does not have too many problems in finding full-time or temporary workers, Davis says. As well as stevedoring


Some cars are shipped with electronic systems disabled and these need to be reactivated. Until a few years ago, this


type of work would have been done by car dealers, but a port-based PDI operation can be more effective. It works better from a logistics point of view and a PDI operation at the point of import can offer economies of scale compared with a smaller dealership-run operation. Although SCH has its roots in


Southampton, it has diversified into operations in other parts


liners in Southampton, Portsmouth and Liverpool. Sometimes seen as the ‘glamour’ side of the shipping business, it does in fact also involve a great deal of cargo handling, often in quite demanding circumstances. For starters, a typical ‘turnaround’ cruise call in Southampton may involve getting 12,000 suitcases off the ship and a similar number onto it. Then there are all the supplies for the cruise such as food and drink – perhaps 25 truckloads and five deepsea containers-full. There may also be mattress or sunlounger replacements to contend with. All this cargo has to be


unloaded, checked for security and got onto the ship, in a tightly-sequenced operation, there being only a limited amount of warehouse space


ABP finds room to grow


ABP is the statutory and competent harbour authority for the port of Southampton but it is, perhaps above all, the landlord and owner of the 740-acre estate covering the Eastern and Western docks. But despite the size of the dock estate, business has grown to such an extent that ABP has had to look at ways


of expanding its presence, sometimes by acquiring more land where it is available, but also by being more creative, explains head of commercial and property, Clive Thomas. “It’s to provide our port users a degree of comfort,” he explains. Recent developments


include the purchase 12 months ago of the 40-acre


Eling Wharf opposite the container terminal. This is an established industrial estate but ABP hopes, in time, to steer port related activity into the site, such as storage or haulage. And, about 18 months before that, ABP acquired the 120-acre Marchwood Industrial Estate, near the Marchwood Military Port, to ensure that this


important piece of real estate “continued to be safeguarded for port users” as Thomas says. he explains: “Businesses were telling us that it was really hard to establish things like haulage yards.” Residential property


developers tend to have their beady eyes on any pieces of likely waterfront land in this


21


available in the port. And while the more modern cruiseships have sophisticated handling systems – in the bowels of the vessel, which the passengers never see – some are less forgiving. Sometimes, a human chain of SCH people have had to hump supplies up flights of steps after the lifts have broken down. SCH has a very lean


business model. While it will, for example, manage car compounds on behalf of its customers, it generally doesn’t take on leases of large premises. In any case, Davis points out, Southampton is a hard place to find space in. He explains: “As a port, it doesn’t have a huge land base. Like all ports of a certain age, the city has grown up around it. Warehouses are available, but they are expensive” – perhaps double the cost of similar property in, say, Liverpool. The major supermarkets import large


quantities of goods


through the port, and tend to snap up any land and buildings that are available. Despite the scarcity of space, there are still compelling


part of the country. In the longer term, ABP has


a 1,000-acre strategic land reserve on the Hythe side of Southampton Water. This though is subject to the National Strategic Infrastructure Planning Regime and there would be many triggers and tests to pass before this could be developed. It’s also a very environmentally-sensitive area, so no date has yet been set on when, if ever, it might be put into port use. Meanwhile, Thomas


reasons for cargoes to move through Southampton, which is still one of the most diverse major ports in the country. It is naturally blessed with deepwater and it lies astride the main shipping lanes to and from the Continent. Often, it is the last European


port call outbound, which is something of a mixed blessing. On the one hand, shippers from Southampton enjoy fast transit times. On the other hand, a stevedore like SCH will find itself loading cargo onto ships where much of the space will have been taken up at previous port calls and they have the job of trying to squeeze everything in – and loading of vehicles is not always a precise process, as it is with containers. Space that should be free may not always be available if cargo has been parked slightly askew. One of SCH’s final tasks is to


provide a loading plan for the ship’s master, detailing not only where everything is stowed, but which way it is pointing – vital information to ensure that unloading at destination goes as quickly and smoothly as possible.


confirms what port users say: “Land that is available and that can be brought into use quickly is in short supply – which is why we took the steps that we have.”


ABP is also helping by


removing non-port related activity from the operational part of its estate and is intensifying usage, in particular by developing multi-storey storage areas for the booming trade car business. It has just broken ground on


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