Committee Reports > List of Committees > Joint > 1979 > Committee on Commercial State-Sponsored Bodies > Report No. 02 - British and Irish Steam Packet Company, Limited

APPENDIX 2

BACKGROUND TO FREIGHT TRANSPORT

1. Containerisation

1.1 Containerisation has often been described as the major development in the transport of general cargo since the second world war. It has had, and is still having profound effects, first of all on sea transport but also on road and rail, and to an increasing extent on air transport. The container itself is merely a box in which goods may be transported, and as such is obviously not new. What is relatively new is the use of standardised containers in integrated door-to-door delivery services, travelling with contents undisturbed from factory (or packer) to final destination, by any appropriate mode of transport, that is by container ship, lorry, railway wagon, aircraft or any combination of these.

1.2 For really effective use, containers are associated with the most up-to-date handling methods—purpose-built cranes and trucks activated by automatic electronic devices. Not all routes are suitable for container traffic. However, on suitable routes, where the flows of cargo are sufficiently dense, the benefits are marked by reductions in labour costs, due to the elimination of much handling, which otherwise would be necessary, and in time spent in port. Other benefits claimed include protection of goods from damage by weather or theft, and a generally lower level of transport and insurance costs.

2. Different Types of Container Services

2.1 Not all freight is containerisable. Traffic which is not containerisable includes coal, petroleum and fertilisers. As regards containerisable traffic, however, there are two basic methods of shipping—Lift-on/Lift-off [“Lo/Lo”] and Roll-on/Roll-off [Ro/Ro”].

—“Lo/Lo” Method: This embraces the shipment of containers and other standard unit load equipment such as Lancashire flats [a large platform made of steel—sometimes with collapsible sides] on modern cellular vessels.

—“Ro/Ro” Method: Loaded wheeled vehicles drive on and off car ferries with contents undisturbed. Such car ferry services usually provide for a full range of freight vehicles. Moreover, the vehicles may be accompanied by their drivers.

2.2 Customers can arrange to have their freight shipped in full containers. Alternatively small lots can be presented for shipment under the “groupage” services. The latter are re-assembled at depots into full container loads. In the case of the B+I Line a comprehensive network of depots in Ireland and Britain provides shippers and receivers with the benefit of back-up services on collections/deliveries, customs clearance, warehousing and distribution.