Containerisation sparked the founding of FTW

FTW founder John Marsh decided to start a freight and container publication in 1973 when shipping lines and ports started planning for a switchover to containerisation four years later. According to the World Shipping Council, the birth of containerisation was on April 26, 1956, when Malcolm McLean’s converted World War II tanker, the Ideal X, made its maiden voyage from Port Newark to Houston in the USA. It had a reinforced deck carrying 58 metal container boxes as well as 15 000 tons of bulk petroleum. By the time the container ship docked at the Port of Houston six days later the company was already taking orders to ship goods back to Port Newark in containers. McLean’s enterprise later became known as Sea-Land Services, a company whose ships carried cargo-laden truck trailers between northern and southern ports in the USA. We reported on the introduction of containerisation to South Africa late in 1975 with the building of container terminals in the main ports, as well as in Johannesburg (City Deep). This was one of the first dry ports in Africa. July 11, 1977, is remembered in the industry as “C-Day” as it marked the official start of containerisation on the South African ocean trade. Safmarine vessels SA Morgenster and SA Constantia inaugurated the Cape Town and Durban container terminals on the day. Safmarine’s first cellular containership, the SA Langeberg, arrived in Cape Town on August 23, 1977 on her maiden voyage. A year later, the first of the four “Big Whites,” the 2420-TEU SA Helderberg docked in Cape Town on her maiden voyage under the command of Commodore Robin Thomson. At a global level, the expansion of containerisation both facilitated and was driven by the removal of trade barriers in the 1990s. In May 2002 the AP Møller Group, which had taken over Safmarine in 1999, sold the Big Whites to Monaco-based MC Shipping and promptly chartered them back on a bare-boat basis. The vessels – SA Helderberg, SA Winterberg, SA Sederberg and SA Waterberg (later Maersk Constantia) – were finally taken out of service in 2007/2008. The 1990s saw the introduction of Post-Panamax vessels capable of carrying up to 5 000-TEUs, followed by the fifth generation of 8 000-TEU vessels up to 2005, and today’s 18 000-TEU giants. As of writing, the largest vessel handled in South African ports was the 11 660-TEU MSC Sola, which called on Durban and Ngqura in July this year. Containerisation continues apace with the newest commodities being reefer cargo and ore. The containerised share of seaborne reefer shipments is expected to reach the 70% mark by 2015, according to Safmarine. With upgrades of ship-toshore cranes, gantries and other equipment in most South African ports – and those of our neighbours and other countries in Africa – the challenge now is to take full advantage of the intermodal capabilities of containers. At present it is cheaper to destuff containers at the port and transport the contents as road break bulk rather than keep the container safely locked until it reaches its destination. Shipping companies have responded by opening their own offices in land-locked countries in order to retain control of their containers. But Africa will only enjoy the full benefits of containerisation once the rail infrastructure is fully operational. CAPTION The 11660-TEU MSC Sola ... largest ship yet to dock at an SA port.