Rollbock
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Roll-block)
The Rollbock system allows a coupled train of standard gauge wagons to be automatically loaded or rolled onto pre-coupled narrow gauge transporter trucks or bogies so that the train can then continue through a change of gauge. The Rollbock bogies go underneath the standard gauge tracks and as the Rollbocktrain is pulled out of the Rollbock siding each bogie picks up one axle of a standard gauge wagon as it rises out of the Rollbock pit. Thus two Rollböcke are needed for a twin-axle wagon. They were a development of the transporter wagon (Rollwagen) designed to keep costs down by avoiding the need for a complete wagon.
Also known as the Langbein system, this method enables the Rollbock wagons to traverse curves as sharp as 15 m radius and, when fully loaded, they could be moved over narrow gauge tracks at a safe speed of 13 mph/21 km/h.[1]
They are used extensively in Switzerland and in Spain, in the latter country to transport standard gauge vehicles on broad gauge lines.
They are also still in use at Nordhausen on the Harz Narrow Gauge Railways to transport limestone wagons from the narrow gauge to the DB system.
Until the 1990s the Rollbock sidings at Wernigerode were used every day to transport goods to and from the various metallurgical factories attached to theHarz Narrow Gauge Railways in the immediate area. Similarly it was used extensively on the Saxon narrow gauge system west of Dresden to transport china clay to Meissen.
However, it means that the narrower gauge network must be built to a structure gauge large enough to accommodate the loading gauge of standard gauge wagons, negating one of the cost advantages of a narrower gauge construction.
[edit]
Rolling highway
A rolling highway (originating from the German: Rollende Autobahn, also known as Rollende Landstrasse (English: rolling country road), and abbreviated as RoLa) is a combined transport system to transport trucks by rail.Special wagons are used in a rolling highway to provide a driveable track along the entire train. These wagons are usually close coupled flatcars with small wheel diameters (380/360/335 mm).During a rolling highway journey, the truck drivers are accommodated in a passenger car with seats or beds. At both ends of the rail link there are purpose-built terminals that allow the train to be easily loaded and unloaded.
A rolling highway has both ecological and economical advantages: The freight forwarder saves fuel, toll, time losses due to traffic jams and vehicle operating hours, and the drivers can sleep in order to fulfill rest period regulations without interrupting the journey. Additionally, in some cases night driving or weekend driving prohibitions are not in effect for trucks coming from or going to end-points of rolling highways.[edit]Advantages
[edit]Criticism
The freight forwarders criticise, apart from the cost, the dependency on timetables and the time needed for loading and unloading. Another aspect is that a lot of dead weight is carried along, because the entire truck is transported and not just its cargo. However, this is counteracted by the fact that a train has much lower rolling resistance than a truck. An intermediate solution is intermodal freight transport or piggy-back, where only semi-trailers are put on the train and not the tractor itself.[edit]Examples of rolling highways
Rolling highways are mostly used for transit routes, e.g. through the Alps or from western to eastern Europe.[edit]Austria
In Austria, rolling highways exist from Bayern via Tyrol to Italy or to Eastern Europe. Traditionally, Austria is a transit country and therefore the rolling highway is of environmental importance. In 1999, the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) carried 254,000 trucks, which equals 8.5 million tons of freight (158,989 trucks in 1993). The rolling highway trains in Austria are operated by Ökombi GmbH, a daughter company of Rail Cargo Austria the cargo division of ÖBB. There is a direct rolling highway between Salzburg and the harbour of Trieste, where the trucks arrive on ferries from Turkey. In those cases, drivers arrive by plane via Ljubljana airport, to take over the truck.[edit]India
In 1999, the Konkan Railway Corporation introduced the Roll On Roll Off (RORO) service on the section between Kolad in Maharashtra and Verna in Goa,[1]which was extended up to Surathkal in Karnataka in 2004.[2][3] The RORO service, the first of its kind in India, allowed trucks to be transported on flatbedtrailers. It was highly popular,[4] carrying about 110,000 trucks and bringing in about Rs.740 million worth of earnings to the corporation till 2007.[5][edit]Switzerland
In Switzerland, rolling highways across the alps exist for both the Gotthard and Lötschberg - Simplon route. They are operated by Hupac AG, headquartered in Chiasso, and in the case of the Novara - Freiburg im Breisgau route by RAlpin AG headquartered in Olten.In 2004, a total of 330,929 trucks (or 5.5 million tons of freight) were transported through the Alps.[edit]
Container ship
FContainer ships are cargo ships that carry all of their load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. They form a common means of commercial intermodal freight transport.
History
Cargo vessels contain a variety of dry goods items that are shipped all over the world, including foods, textiles, and electronics.Container vessels owe their existence to an American trucker by the name of Malcom McLean. In 1931, McLean purchased his first truck which was used to send and pick up loads to and from vessels in various ports. During this time, while he used to wait impatiently for the truck’s contents to be loaded on to the ship he kept thinking of a more efficient and quick way to load and unload vessels and thus save enormous time and labour.The earliest container ships were converted tankers, built up from surplus T2 tankers after World War II. In 1951 the first purpose-built container vessels began operating in Denmark, and betweenSeattle and Alaska.The first container ship in the United States was the Ideal-X,[1] a T2 tanker, owned by Malcom McLean, which carried 58 metal containers between Newark, New Jersey and Houston, Texas on its first voyage, in April 1956.In 1955, McLean built his company, McLean Trucking into one of USA’s biggest freighter fleets. All through the decades the idea stayed with him. It was in 1955, that he purchased a small tanker company called Pan Atlantic and adapted its ships to carry cargo in large uniform metal containers. On April 26, 1956, the first of his container vessels, the Ideal X, left the Port of Chicago and a new revolution in modern shipping resulted. Container vessels eliminate the individual hatches, holds and dividers of the traditional general cargo vessels. The hull of a typical container ship is a huge warehouse divided into cells by vertical guide rails. These cells are designed to hold cargo in pre-packed units – containers.Shipping containers are usually made of aluminium, but other materials like steel, fibreglass or plywood are also used. They are designed to be entirely transferred to and from trains, trucks or trailers to and from a ship. There are several types of containers and they are categorised according to their size and functions.Today, approximately 90% of non-bulk cargo worldwide is transported by container, and modern container ships can carry up to 15,000 Twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). As a class, container ships now rival crude oil tankers and bulk carriers as the largest commercial vessels on the ocean.Coming back to McLean’s invention, while it is a well established fact that containerisation caused a revolution in the world of shipping its introduction did not have an easy passage. Shipping lines, railway (railroad in the US) companies and trade unions vehemently opposed and tried to block the use of containerised ships. It took ten years of legal battles before container ships would be pressed into international service. In 1966, a container liner service from USA to the Dutch city of Rotterdam commenced.Containerisation changed not only the face of shipping but it also revolutionised world trade as well. A container ship can be loaded and unloaded in a few hours compared to days in a traditional cargo vessel. This, besides cutting labour costs, has reduced shipping times between points to a great extent, for example it takes a few weeks instead of months for a consignment to be delivered from India to Europe and vice versa. It has also resulted in less breakage due to less handling and there is less danger of cargo shifting during a voyage. As containers are sealed and only open at the destination, pilferage and theft levels have been greatly reduced.This is how containerization works:Exporters load (stuff) their merchandise in boxes which are provided by the shipping companies. They are then delivered to the docks by road, rail or a combination of both for loading on to container ships. Prior to containerisation, huge gangs of men would spend hours fitting various items of cargo into different holds.Gigantic cranes lift the containers and they are placed one on top of the other in their respective cells. Once the hull is loaded additional containers are stacked on the deck.The lower shipping costs and faster movements which resulted due to containerisation has helped global trade grow in leaps and bounds. It is now possible for Americans to eat apples grown in New Zealand and gherkins grown in India. Fresh cut flowers are available at the Amsterdam auction houses in the height of winter. Indians are able to own the latest iphones and laptops as soon as they hit the market. Europeans are able to wear jeans made in Hong Kong. Cargo that once arrived in boxes (cartons or crates), bails, barrels and bags, now comes in factory sealed containers, with no indication to the human eye of their contents, except for a product code that machines can scan and computers trace. This system of tracking has been so exact that a two week voyage can be timed for arrival with an accuracy of under fifteen minutes. It has resulted in such revolutions as, On Time Guaranteed Delivery and Just in Time manufacturing. Containers arrive in factories in sealed containers less than an hour before they are required in manufacture, resulting in huge savings in inventory costs.The larger container ships measure 210 metres long. They carry loads equal to the cargo carrying capacity of sixteen to seventeen pre WWII freighter ships. Today, every shipping line in the Globe has its fleet of container ships.[edit]Construction
Container ships are designed in a manner that optimizes space. Capacity is measured in Twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU), the number of standard 20-foot containers measuring 20 × 8.0 × 8.5 feet (6.1 × 2.4 × 2.6 metres) a vessel can carry. This notwithstanding, most containers used today measure 40 feet (12 metres) in length. Above a certain size, container ships do not carry their own loading gear, so loading and unloading can only be done at ports with the necessary cranes. However, smaller ships with capacities up to 2,900 TEU are often equipped with their own cranes.Informally known as "box boats," they carry the majority of the world's dry cargo, meaning manufactured goods. Cargoes like metal ores or coal or wheat are carried in bulk carriers. There are large main line vessels that ply the deep sea routes, then many small "feeder" ships that supply the large ships at centralized hub ports. Most container ships are propelled by diesel engines, and have crews of between 20 and 40 people. They generally have a large accommodation block at the stern, near the engine room. Container ships now carry up to 15,000 TEU (approximately equivalent to 35 100-car double-stack intermodal freight trains) on a voyage. The world's largest container ships, the M/V Emma Mærsk and her sisters, have a capacity of 15,200 containers.[2]In 2008 the South Korean shipbuilder STX announced plans to construct a container ship capable of carrying 22,000 TEU,[3] and with a proposed length of 450 metres and a beam of 60 metres.[4] If constructed, the container ship would become the largest seagoing vessel in the world.[5][edit]Shipyards
Large container ships (over 7,000 TEU) have been built in the following shipyards:- Odense Steel Shipyard, Denmark
- Hyundai Heavy Industries, South Korea
- Samsung Heavy Industries, South Korea
- Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd, South Korea
- IHI, Kure, Japan
- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nagasaki, Japan
- Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, Shanghai, China
- Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering, Nantong, China
[edit]Risk
In March 2007, a London based container ship capsized in Antwerp, Belgium while loading.[6]Maneuvers in coastal waters and ports managed in the wheel house may be dangerous, as evidenced by a container ship hitting the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge on November 7, 2007.[7]It has been estimated that container ships lose over 10,000 containers at sea each year.[8] Most go overboard on the open sea during storms but there are some examples of whole ships being lost with their cargo.[9] When containers are dropped, they immediately become an environmental threat - termed "marine debris".[10]Modern loading instruments (like MACS3 with BELCO, SEALASH and DAGO modules) assist to reduce the risks, caused by incorrect stowage of container cargo.[edit]Specifications
Cargo too large to carry in containers can be handled using flat racks, open top containers and platforms. There are also container ships called roll-on/roll-off (RORO), which utilize shore-based ramp systems for loading and unloading. ROROs are usually associated with shorter trade routes, as they are unable to carry the volume of crane-based container vessels. However, due to their flexibility and high speed, ROROs are frequently used in today's container markets.[citation needed][edit]Future
Economies of scale have dictated an upward trend in sizes of container ships in order to reduce costs. However, there are certain limitations to the size of container ships. Primarily, these are the availability of sufficiently large main engines and the availability of a sufficient number of ports and terminals prepared and equipped to handle ultra-large container ships. Furthermore, the permissible maximum ship dimensions in some of the world's main waterways could present an upper limit in terms of vessel growth. This primarily concerns the Suez Canal and the Singapore Strait.Since even very large container ships are vessels with relatively low draft compared to large tankers and bulk carriers, there is still considerable room for vessel growth. Compared to today's largest container ships, Maersk Line's 15,200 teu Emma Mærsk type series, a +20,000 teu container ship would only be moderately larger in terms of exterior dimensions. According to a 2011 estimate, an ultra-large container ship of 20,250 would measure 440m x 59m, compared to 393 x 56.60m for the aforementioned Emma Mærsk type ship.[11]It would have an estimated deadweight of circa 220,000 tons. While such a vessel might be near the upper limit for a Suez Canal passage, the so-calledMalaccamax concept(for Straits of Malacca) does not apply for container ships, since the Malacca and Singapore Straits' draft limit of about 21 metres is still above that of any conceivable container ship design.In the present market situation, main engines will not be as much of a limiting factor for vessel growth either. The steadily rising cost of fuel oil has prompted most container lines to adapt a slower, more economical voyage speed, of about 21 knots, compared to earlier top speeds of 25 or more knots. Subsequently, new-built container ships can be fitted with a smaller main engine. Engine types fitted to today's ships of 14,000 teu are thus sufficiently large to propel future vessels of 20,000 teu or more.[edit]Largest ships
Main article: List of largest container shipsTen Biggest Container Ship Classes, listed by TEU capacity
Built
Name Sisterships Length o.a. Beam Maximum TEU GT Owners Flag 2006 Emma Mærsk 7 397.7 m 56.4 m 15,200[12][citation needed] 170,974 Maersk Line 
Denmark2009 MSC Danit 6[citation needed] 365.50 m 51.20 m 14,000[citation needed] 153,092 Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. 
Panama2009 MSC Beatrice 6[citation needed] 366 m 51 m 14,000[citation needed] 151,559 Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. Panama 2008 CMA CGM Thalassa 1 346.5 m 45.6 m 10,960[citation needed] 128,600 CMA CGM 
Cyprus2005 Gudrun Mærsk 5[13][citation needed] 367.3 m 42.8 m 10,150[citation needed] 97,933 Maersk Line Denmark 2002 CLEMENTINE MAERSK 6 348.7 42.6 m 9,600 [14] 96000 Maersk Line Denmark 2006 COSCO Guangzhou 4 350 m 42.8 m 9,450[15] 99,833 COSCO 
Greece2006 CMA CGM Medea 3 350 m 42.8 m 9,415[16] 99,500 CMA CGM 
France2003 Axel Mærsk 5 352.6 m 42.8 m 9,310[citation needed] 93,496 Maersk Line Denmark 2006 NYK Vega 2 338.2 m 45.6 m 9,200[citation needed] 97,825 Nippon Yusen Kaisha Panama
[edit]Busiest container ports
External images
Map of worldwide sea traffic
For more details on this topic, see List of world's busiest container ports.Container Traffic (in thousands TEU):
Rank Port Country 2009[17] 2008[18] 2007[19] 2006[20] 2005[21] 2004[22] 1 Singapore 
Singapore25,866 29,918 27,932 24,792 23,192 21,329 2 Shanghai 
People's Republic of China25,002 27,980 26,150 21,710 18,084 14,557 3 Hong Kong People's Republic of China 20,983 24,248 23,881 23,539 22,427 21,984 4 Shenzhen People's Republic of China 18,250 21,414 21,099 18,469 16,197 13,615 5 Busan 
South Korea11,954 13,425 13,270 12,039 11,843 11,430 6 Guangzhou People's Republic of China 11,190 11,001 9,200 6,600 4,685 3,308 7 Dubai 
United Arab Emirates11,124 11,827 10,653 8,923 7,619 6,429 8 Ningbo People's Republic of China 10,502 11,226 9,349 7,068 5,208 4,006 9 Qingdao People's Republic of China 10,260 10,320 9,462 7,702 6,307 5,140 10 Rotterdam 
Netherlands9,743 10,784 10,791 9,655 9,287 8,281
|-9,743||10,784||10,791||9,655||9,287||8,281|}
Rolling highway
A rolling highway (originating from the German: Rollende Autobahn, also known as Rollende Landstrasse (English: rolling country road), and abbreviated as RoLa) is a combined transport system to transport trucks by rail.
Special wagons are used in a rolling highway to provide a driveable track along the entire train. These wagons are usually close coupled flatcars with small wheel diameters (380/360/335 mm).
During a rolling highway journey, the truck drivers are accommodated in a passenger car with seats or beds. At both ends of the rail link there are purpose-built terminals that allow the train to be easily loaded and unloaded.
A rolling highway has both ecological and economical advantages: The freight forwarder saves fuel, toll, time losses due to traffic jams and vehicle operating hours, and the drivers can sleep in order to fulfill rest period regulations without interrupting the journey. Additionally, in some cases night driving or weekend driving prohibitions are not in effect for trucks coming from or going to end-points of rolling highways.[edit]Advantages
[edit]Criticism
The freight forwarders criticise, apart from the cost, the dependency on timetables and the time needed for loading and unloading. Another aspect is that a lot of dead weight is carried along, because the entire truck is transported and not just its cargo. However, this is counteracted by the fact that a train has much lower rolling resistance than a truck. An intermediate solution is intermodal freight transport or piggy-back, where only semi-trailers are put on the train and not the tractor itself.
[edit]Examples of rolling highways
Rolling highways are mostly used for transit routes, e.g. through the Alps or from western to eastern Europe.
[edit]Austria
In Austria, rolling highways exist from Bayern via Tyrol to Italy or to Eastern Europe. Traditionally, Austria is a transit country and therefore the rolling highway is of environmental importance. In 1999, the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) carried 254,000 trucks, which equals 8.5 million tons of freight (158,989 trucks in 1993). The rolling highway trains in Austria are operated by Ökombi GmbH, a daughter company of Rail Cargo Austria the cargo division of ÖBB. There is a direct rolling highway between Salzburg and the harbour of Trieste, where the trucks arrive on ferries from Turkey. In those cases, drivers arrive by plane via Ljubljana airport, to take over the truck.
[edit]India
In 1999, the Konkan Railway Corporation introduced the Roll On Roll Off (RORO) service on the section between Kolad in Maharashtra and Verna in Goa,[1]which was extended up to Surathkal in Karnataka in 2004.[2][3] The RORO service, the first of its kind in India, allowed trucks to be transported on flatbedtrailers. It was highly popular,[4] carrying about 110,000 trucks and bringing in about Rs.740 million worth of earnings to the corporation till 2007.[5]
[edit]Switzerland
In Switzerland, rolling highways across the alps exist for both the Gotthard and Lötschberg - Simplon route. They are operated by Hupac AG, headquartered in Chiasso, and in the case of the Novara - Freiburg im Breisgau route by RAlpin AG headquartered in Olten.
In 2004, a total of 330,929 trucks (or 5.5 million tons of freight) were transported through the Alps.
[edit]
Container ship
FContainer ships are cargo ships that carry all of their load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. They form a common means of commercial intermodal freight transport.
History
Cargo vessels contain a variety of dry goods items that are shipped all over the world, including foods, textiles, and electronics.Container vessels owe their existence to an American trucker by the name of Malcom McLean. In 1931, McLean purchased his first truck which was used to send and pick up loads to and from vessels in various ports. During this time, while he used to wait impatiently for the truck’s contents to be loaded on to the ship he kept thinking of a more efficient and quick way to load and unload vessels and thus save enormous time and labour.The earliest container ships were converted tankers, built up from surplus T2 tankers after World War II. In 1951 the first purpose-built container vessels began operating in Denmark, and betweenSeattle and Alaska.The first container ship in the United States was the Ideal-X,[1] a T2 tanker, owned by Malcom McLean, which carried 58 metal containers between Newark, New Jersey and Houston, Texas on its first voyage, in April 1956.In 1955, McLean built his company, McLean Trucking into one of USA’s biggest freighter fleets. All through the decades the idea stayed with him. It was in 1955, that he purchased a small tanker company called Pan Atlantic and adapted its ships to carry cargo in large uniform metal containers. On April 26, 1956, the first of his container vessels, the Ideal X, left the Port of Chicago and a new revolution in modern shipping resulted. Container vessels eliminate the individual hatches, holds and dividers of the traditional general cargo vessels. The hull of a typical container ship is a huge warehouse divided into cells by vertical guide rails. These cells are designed to hold cargo in pre-packed units – containers.Shipping containers are usually made of aluminium, but other materials like steel, fibreglass or plywood are also used. They are designed to be entirely transferred to and from trains, trucks or trailers to and from a ship. There are several types of containers and they are categorised according to their size and functions.Today, approximately 90% of non-bulk cargo worldwide is transported by container, and modern container ships can carry up to 15,000 Twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). As a class, container ships now rival crude oil tankers and bulk carriers as the largest commercial vessels on the ocean.Coming back to McLean’s invention, while it is a well established fact that containerisation caused a revolution in the world of shipping its introduction did not have an easy passage. Shipping lines, railway (railroad in the US) companies and trade unions vehemently opposed and tried to block the use of containerised ships. It took ten years of legal battles before container ships would be pressed into international service. In 1966, a container liner service from USA to the Dutch city of Rotterdam commenced.Containerisation changed not only the face of shipping but it also revolutionised world trade as well. A container ship can be loaded and unloaded in a few hours compared to days in a traditional cargo vessel. This, besides cutting labour costs, has reduced shipping times between points to a great extent, for example it takes a few weeks instead of months for a consignment to be delivered from India to Europe and vice versa. It has also resulted in less breakage due to less handling and there is less danger of cargo shifting during a voyage. As containers are sealed and only open at the destination, pilferage and theft levels have been greatly reduced.This is how containerization works:Exporters load (stuff) their merchandise in boxes which are provided by the shipping companies. They are then delivered to the docks by road, rail or a combination of both for loading on to container ships. Prior to containerisation, huge gangs of men would spend hours fitting various items of cargo into different holds.Gigantic cranes lift the containers and they are placed one on top of the other in their respective cells. Once the hull is loaded additional containers are stacked on the deck.The lower shipping costs and faster movements which resulted due to containerisation has helped global trade grow in leaps and bounds. It is now possible for Americans to eat apples grown in New Zealand and gherkins grown in India. Fresh cut flowers are available at the Amsterdam auction houses in the height of winter. Indians are able to own the latest iphones and laptops as soon as they hit the market. Europeans are able to wear jeans made in Hong Kong. Cargo that once arrived in boxes (cartons or crates), bails, barrels and bags, now comes in factory sealed containers, with no indication to the human eye of their contents, except for a product code that machines can scan and computers trace. This system of tracking has been so exact that a two week voyage can be timed for arrival with an accuracy of under fifteen minutes. It has resulted in such revolutions as, On Time Guaranteed Delivery and Just in Time manufacturing. Containers arrive in factories in sealed containers less than an hour before they are required in manufacture, resulting in huge savings in inventory costs.The larger container ships measure 210 metres long. They carry loads equal to the cargo carrying capacity of sixteen to seventeen pre WWII freighter ships. Today, every shipping line in the Globe has its fleet of container ships.[edit]Construction
Container ships are designed in a manner that optimizes space. Capacity is measured in Twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU), the number of standard 20-foot containers measuring 20 × 8.0 × 8.5 feet (6.1 × 2.4 × 2.6 metres) a vessel can carry. This notwithstanding, most containers used today measure 40 feet (12 metres) in length. Above a certain size, container ships do not carry their own loading gear, so loading and unloading can only be done at ports with the necessary cranes. However, smaller ships with capacities up to 2,900 TEU are often equipped with their own cranes.Informally known as "box boats," they carry the majority of the world's dry cargo, meaning manufactured goods. Cargoes like metal ores or coal or wheat are carried in bulk carriers. There are large main line vessels that ply the deep sea routes, then many small "feeder" ships that supply the large ships at centralized hub ports. Most container ships are propelled by diesel engines, and have crews of between 20 and 40 people. They generally have a large accommodation block at the stern, near the engine room. Container ships now carry up to 15,000 TEU (approximately equivalent to 35 100-car double-stack intermodal freight trains) on a voyage. The world's largest container ships, the M/V Emma Mærsk and her sisters, have a capacity of 15,200 containers.[2]In 2008 the South Korean shipbuilder STX announced plans to construct a container ship capable of carrying 22,000 TEU,[3] and with a proposed length of 450 metres and a beam of 60 metres.[4] If constructed, the container ship would become the largest seagoing vessel in the world.[5][edit]Shipyards
Large container ships (over 7,000 TEU) have been built in the following shipyards:- Odense Steel Shipyard, Denmark
- Hyundai Heavy Industries, South Korea
- Samsung Heavy Industries, South Korea
- Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd, South Korea
- IHI, Kure, Japan
- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nagasaki, Japan
- Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, Shanghai, China
- Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering, Nantong, China
[edit]Risk
In March 2007, a London based container ship capsized in Antwerp, Belgium while loading.[6]Maneuvers in coastal waters and ports managed in the wheel house may be dangerous, as evidenced by a container ship hitting the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge on November 7, 2007.[7]It has been estimated that container ships lose over 10,000 containers at sea each year.[8] Most go overboard on the open sea during storms but there are some examples of whole ships being lost with their cargo.[9] When containers are dropped, they immediately become an environmental threat - termed "marine debris".[10]Modern loading instruments (like MACS3 with BELCO, SEALASH and DAGO modules) assist to reduce the risks, caused by incorrect stowage of container cargo.[edit]Specifications
Cargo too large to carry in containers can be handled using flat racks, open top containers and platforms. There are also container ships called roll-on/roll-off (RORO), which utilize shore-based ramp systems for loading and unloading. ROROs are usually associated with shorter trade routes, as they are unable to carry the volume of crane-based container vessels. However, due to their flexibility and high speed, ROROs are frequently used in today's container markets.[citation needed][edit]Future
Economies of scale have dictated an upward trend in sizes of container ships in order to reduce costs. However, there are certain limitations to the size of container ships. Primarily, these are the availability of sufficiently large main engines and the availability of a sufficient number of ports and terminals prepared and equipped to handle ultra-large container ships. Furthermore, the permissible maximum ship dimensions in some of the world's main waterways could present an upper limit in terms of vessel growth. This primarily concerns the Suez Canal and the Singapore Strait.Since even very large container ships are vessels with relatively low draft compared to large tankers and bulk carriers, there is still considerable room for vessel growth. Compared to today's largest container ships, Maersk Line's 15,200 teu Emma Mærsk type series, a +20,000 teu container ship would only be moderately larger in terms of exterior dimensions. According to a 2011 estimate, an ultra-large container ship of 20,250 would measure 440m x 59m, compared to 393 x 56.60m for the aforementioned Emma Mærsk type ship.[11]It would have an estimated deadweight of circa 220,000 tons. While such a vessel might be near the upper limit for a Suez Canal passage, the so-calledMalaccamax concept(for Straits of Malacca) does not apply for container ships, since the Malacca and Singapore Straits' draft limit of about 21 metres is still above that of any conceivable container ship design.In the present market situation, main engines will not be as much of a limiting factor for vessel growth either. The steadily rising cost of fuel oil has prompted most container lines to adapt a slower, more economical voyage speed, of about 21 knots, compared to earlier top speeds of 25 or more knots. Subsequently, new-built container ships can be fitted with a smaller main engine. Engine types fitted to today's ships of 14,000 teu are thus sufficiently large to propel future vessels of 20,000 teu or more.[edit]Largest ships
Main article: List of largest container shipsTen Biggest Container Ship Classes, listed by TEU capacity
Built Name Sisterships Length o.a. Beam Maximum TEU GT Owners Flag 2006 Emma Mærsk 7 397.7 m 56.4 m 15,200[12][citation needed] 170,974 Maersk Line Denmark 2009 MSC Danit 6[citation needed] 365.50 m 51.20 m 14,000[citation needed] 153,092 Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. Panama 2009 MSC Beatrice 6[citation needed] 366 m 51 m 14,000[citation needed] 151,559 Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. Panama 2008 CMA CGM Thalassa 1 346.5 m 45.6 m 10,960[citation needed] 128,600 CMA CGM Cyprus 2005 Gudrun Mærsk 5[13][citation needed] 367.3 m 42.8 m 10,150[citation needed] 97,933 Maersk Line Denmark 2002 CLEMENTINE MAERSK 6 348.7 42.6 m 9,600 [14] 96000 Maersk Line Denmark 2006 COSCO Guangzhou 4 350 m 42.8 m 9,450[15] 99,833 COSCO Greece 2006 CMA CGM Medea 3 350 m 42.8 m 9,415[16] 99,500 CMA CGM France 2003 Axel Mærsk 5 352.6 m 42.8 m 9,310[citation needed] 93,496 Maersk Line Denmark 2006 NYK Vega 2 338.2 m 45.6 m 9,200[citation needed] 97,825 Nippon Yusen Kaisha Panama
[edit]Busiest container ports
External images Map of worldwide sea traffic
For more details on this topic, see List of world's busiest container ports.Container Traffic (in thousands TEU):
Rank Port Country 2009[17] 2008[18] 2007[19] 2006[20] 2005[21] 2004[22] 1 Singapore Singapore 25,866 29,918 27,932 24,792 23,192 21,329 2 Shanghai People's Republic of China 25,002 27,980 26,150 21,710 18,084 14,557 3 Hong Kong People's Republic of China 20,983 24,248 23,881 23,539 22,427 21,984 4 Shenzhen People's Republic of China 18,250 21,414 21,099 18,469 16,197 13,615 5 Busan South Korea 11,954 13,425 13,270 12,039 11,843 11,430 6 Guangzhou People's Republic of China 11,190 11,001 9,200 6,600 4,685 3,308 7 Dubai United Arab Emirates 11,124 11,827 10,653 8,923 7,619 6,429 8 Ningbo People's Republic of China 10,502 11,226 9,349 7,068 5,208 4,006 9 Qingdao People's Republic of China 10,260 10,320 9,462 7,702 6,307 5,140 10 Rotterdam Netherlands 9,743 10,784 10,791 9,655 9,287 8,281
|-9,743||10,784||10,791||9,655||9,287||8,281|}
Container ship
F
Container ships are cargo ships that carry all of their load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. They form a common means of commercial intermodal freight transport.
History
Cargo vessels contain a variety of dry goods items that are shipped all over the world, including foods, textiles, and electronics.
Container vessels owe their existence to an American trucker by the name of Malcom McLean. In 1931, McLean purchased his first truck which was used to send and pick up loads to and from vessels in various ports. During this time, while he used to wait impatiently for the truck’s contents to be loaded on to the ship he kept thinking of a more efficient and quick way to load and unload vessels and thus save enormous time and labour.
The earliest container ships were converted tankers, built up from surplus T2 tankers after World War II. In 1951 the first purpose-built container vessels began operating in Denmark, and betweenSeattle and Alaska.
The first container ship in the United States was the Ideal-X,[1] a T2 tanker, owned by Malcom McLean, which carried 58 metal containers between Newark, New Jersey and Houston, Texas on its first voyage, in April 1956.
In 1955, McLean built his company, McLean Trucking into one of USA’s biggest freighter fleets. All through the decades the idea stayed with him. It was in 1955, that he purchased a small tanker company called Pan Atlantic and adapted its ships to carry cargo in large uniform metal containers. On April 26, 1956, the first of his container vessels, the Ideal X, left the Port of Chicago and a new revolution in modern shipping resulted. Container vessels eliminate the individual hatches, holds and dividers of the traditional general cargo vessels. The hull of a typical container ship is a huge warehouse divided into cells by vertical guide rails. These cells are designed to hold cargo in pre-packed units – containers.
Shipping containers are usually made of aluminium, but other materials like steel, fibreglass or plywood are also used. They are designed to be entirely transferred to and from trains, trucks or trailers to and from a ship. There are several types of containers and they are categorised according to their size and functions.
Today, approximately 90% of non-bulk cargo worldwide is transported by container, and modern container ships can carry up to 15,000 Twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). As a class, container ships now rival crude oil tankers and bulk carriers as the largest commercial vessels on the ocean.
Coming back to McLean’s invention, while it is a well established fact that containerisation caused a revolution in the world of shipping its introduction did not have an easy passage. Shipping lines, railway (railroad in the US) companies and trade unions vehemently opposed and tried to block the use of containerised ships. It took ten years of legal battles before container ships would be pressed into international service. In 1966, a container liner service from USA to the Dutch city of Rotterdam commenced.
Containerisation changed not only the face of shipping but it also revolutionised world trade as well. A container ship can be loaded and unloaded in a few hours compared to days in a traditional cargo vessel. This, besides cutting labour costs, has reduced shipping times between points to a great extent, for example it takes a few weeks instead of months for a consignment to be delivered from India to Europe and vice versa. It has also resulted in less breakage due to less handling and there is less danger of cargo shifting during a voyage. As containers are sealed and only open at the destination, pilferage and theft levels have been greatly reduced.
This is how containerization works:
Exporters load (stuff) their merchandise in boxes which are provided by the shipping companies. They are then delivered to the docks by road, rail or a combination of both for loading on to container ships. Prior to containerisation, huge gangs of men would spend hours fitting various items of cargo into different holds.
Gigantic cranes lift the containers and they are placed one on top of the other in their respective cells. Once the hull is loaded additional containers are stacked on the deck.
The lower shipping costs and faster movements which resulted due to containerisation has helped global trade grow in leaps and bounds. It is now possible for Americans to eat apples grown in New Zealand and gherkins grown in India. Fresh cut flowers are available at the Amsterdam auction houses in the height of winter. Indians are able to own the latest iphones and laptops as soon as they hit the market. Europeans are able to wear jeans made in Hong Kong. Cargo that once arrived in boxes (cartons or crates), bails, barrels and bags, now comes in factory sealed containers, with no indication to the human eye of their contents, except for a product code that machines can scan and computers trace. This system of tracking has been so exact that a two week voyage can be timed for arrival with an accuracy of under fifteen minutes. It has resulted in such revolutions as, On Time Guaranteed Delivery and Just in Time manufacturing. Containers arrive in factories in sealed containers less than an hour before they are required in manufacture, resulting in huge savings in inventory costs.
The larger container ships measure 210 metres long. They carry loads equal to the cargo carrying capacity of sixteen to seventeen pre WWII freighter ships. Today, every shipping line in the Globe has its fleet of container ships.
[edit]Construction
Container ships are designed in a manner that optimizes space. Capacity is measured in Twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU), the number of standard 20-foot containers measuring 20 × 8.0 × 8.5 feet (6.1 × 2.4 × 2.6 metres) a vessel can carry. This notwithstanding, most containers used today measure 40 feet (12 metres) in length. Above a certain size, container ships do not carry their own loading gear, so loading and unloading can only be done at ports with the necessary cranes. However, smaller ships with capacities up to 2,900 TEU are often equipped with their own cranes.
Informally known as "box boats," they carry the majority of the world's dry cargo, meaning manufactured goods. Cargoes like metal ores or coal or wheat are carried in bulk carriers. There are large main line vessels that ply the deep sea routes, then many small "feeder" ships that supply the large ships at centralized hub ports. Most container ships are propelled by diesel engines, and have crews of between 20 and 40 people. They generally have a large accommodation block at the stern, near the engine room. Container ships now carry up to 15,000 TEU (approximately equivalent to 35 100-car double-stack intermodal freight trains) on a voyage. The world's largest container ships, the M/V Emma Mærsk and her sisters, have a capacity of 15,200 containers.[2]
In 2008 the South Korean shipbuilder STX announced plans to construct a container ship capable of carrying 22,000 TEU,[3] and with a proposed length of 450 metres and a beam of 60 metres.[4] If constructed, the container ship would become the largest seagoing vessel in the world.[5]
[edit]Shipyards
Large container ships (over 7,000 TEU) have been built in the following shipyards:
- Odense Steel Shipyard, Denmark
- Hyundai Heavy Industries, South Korea
- Samsung Heavy Industries, South Korea
- Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd, South Korea
- IHI, Kure, Japan
- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nagasaki, Japan
- Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, Shanghai, China
- Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering, Nantong, China
[edit]Risk
In March 2007, a London based container ship capsized in Antwerp, Belgium while loading.[6]
Maneuvers in coastal waters and ports managed in the wheel house may be dangerous, as evidenced by a container ship hitting the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge on November 7, 2007.[7]
It has been estimated that container ships lose over 10,000 containers at sea each year.[8] Most go overboard on the open sea during storms but there are some examples of whole ships being lost with their cargo.[9] When containers are dropped, they immediately become an environmental threat - termed "marine debris".[10]
Modern loading instruments (like MACS3 with BELCO, SEALASH and DAGO modules) assist to reduce the risks, caused by incorrect stowage of container cargo.
[edit]Specifications
Cargo too large to carry in containers can be handled using flat racks, open top containers and platforms. There are also container ships called roll-on/roll-off (RORO), which utilize shore-based ramp systems for loading and unloading. ROROs are usually associated with shorter trade routes, as they are unable to carry the volume of crane-based container vessels. However, due to their flexibility and high speed, ROROs are frequently used in today's container markets.[citation needed]
[edit]Future
Economies of scale have dictated an upward trend in sizes of container ships in order to reduce costs. However, there are certain limitations to the size of container ships. Primarily, these are the availability of sufficiently large main engines and the availability of a sufficient number of ports and terminals prepared and equipped to handle ultra-large container ships. Furthermore, the permissible maximum ship dimensions in some of the world's main waterways could present an upper limit in terms of vessel growth. This primarily concerns the Suez Canal and the Singapore Strait.
Since even very large container ships are vessels with relatively low draft compared to large tankers and bulk carriers, there is still considerable room for vessel growth. Compared to today's largest container ships, Maersk Line's 15,200 teu Emma Mærsk type series, a +20,000 teu container ship would only be moderately larger in terms of exterior dimensions. According to a 2011 estimate, an ultra-large container ship of 20,250 would measure 440m x 59m, compared to 393 x 56.60m for the aforementioned Emma Mærsk type ship.[11]It would have an estimated deadweight of circa 220,000 tons. While such a vessel might be near the upper limit for a Suez Canal passage, the so-calledMalaccamax concept(for Straits of Malacca) does not apply for container ships, since the Malacca and Singapore Straits' draft limit of about 21 metres is still above that of any conceivable container ship design.
In the present market situation, main engines will not be as much of a limiting factor for vessel growth either. The steadily rising cost of fuel oil has prompted most container lines to adapt a slower, more economical voyage speed, of about 21 knots, compared to earlier top speeds of 25 or more knots. Subsequently, new-built container ships can be fitted with a smaller main engine. Engine types fitted to today's ships of 14,000 teu are thus sufficiently large to propel future vessels of 20,000 teu or more.
[edit]Largest ships
Main article: List of largest container ships
| Built | Name | Sisterships | Length o.a. | Beam | Maximum TEU | GT | Owners | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Emma Mærsk | 7 | 397.7 m | 56.4 m | 15,200[12][citation needed] | 170,974 | Maersk Line | Denmark |
| 2009 | MSC Danit | 6[citation needed] | 365.50 m | 51.20 m | 14,000[citation needed] | 153,092 | Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. | Panama |
| 2009 | MSC Beatrice | 6[citation needed] | 366 m | 51 m | 14,000[citation needed] | 151,559 | Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. | Panama |
| 2008 | CMA CGM Thalassa | 1 | 346.5 m | 45.6 m | 10,960[citation needed] | 128,600 | CMA CGM | Cyprus |
| 2005 | Gudrun Mærsk | 5[13][citation needed] | 367.3 m | 42.8 m | 10,150[citation needed] | 97,933 | Maersk Line | Denmark |
| 2002 | CLEMENTINE MAERSK | 6 | 348.7 | 42.6 m | 9,600 [14] | 96000 | Maersk Line | Denmark |
| 2006 | COSCO Guangzhou | 4 | 350 m | 42.8 m | 9,450[15] | 99,833 | COSCO | Greece |
| 2006 | CMA CGM Medea | 3 | 350 m | 42.8 m | 9,415[16] | 99,500 | CMA CGM | France |
| 2003 | Axel Mærsk | 5 | 352.6 m | 42.8 m | 9,310[citation needed] | 93,496 | Maersk Line | Denmark |
| 2006 | NYK Vega | 2 | 338.2 m | 45.6 m | 9,200[citation needed] | 97,825 | Nippon Yusen Kaisha | Panama |
[edit]Busiest container ports
| External images | |
|---|---|
| Map of worldwide sea traffic |
For more details on this topic, see List of world's busiest container ports.
| Rank | Port | Country | 2009[17] | 2008[18] | 2007[19] | 2006[20] | 2005[21] | 2004[22] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Singapore | Singapore | 25,866 | 29,918 | 27,932 | 24,792 | 23,192 | 21,329 |
| 2 | Shanghai | People's Republic of China | 25,002 | 27,980 | 26,150 | 21,710 | 18,084 | 14,557 |
| 3 | Hong Kong | People's Republic of China | 20,983 | 24,248 | 23,881 | 23,539 | 22,427 | 21,984 |
| 4 | Shenzhen | People's Republic of China | 18,250 | 21,414 | 21,099 | 18,469 | 16,197 | 13,615 |
| 5 | Busan | South Korea | 11,954 | 13,425 | 13,270 | 12,039 | 11,843 | 11,430 |
| 6 | Guangzhou | People's Republic of China | 11,190 | 11,001 | 9,200 | 6,600 | 4,685 | 3,308 |
| 7 | Dubai | United Arab Emirates | 11,124 | 11,827 | 10,653 | 8,923 | 7,619 | 6,429 |
| 8 | Ningbo | People's Republic of China | 10,502 | 11,226 | 9,349 | 7,068 | 5,208 | 4,006 |
| 9 | Qingdao | People's Republic of China | 10,260 | 10,320 | 9,462 | 7,702 | 6,307 | 5,140 |
| 10 | Rotterdam | Netherlands | 9,743 | 10,784 | 10,791 | 9,655 | 9,287 | 8,281 |
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