CT company develops mobile clothing transporter

Can be rolled onto the production line at destination Ray Smuts ITÕS the simple concepts that succeed, says Nigel Paton, who is as surprised as everyone else that he was first to come up with a design for a mobile clothing transporter - said to be a world first. The patented MCT, says Paton, is a most efficient and cost-effective mechanism of transporting clothes and will be of considerable interest to the shipping and apparel industries in particular. The unit can be assembled by two people within 15 minutes, loaded at the manufacturerÕs premises and rolled directly into the container where locking pins engage to prevent movement during transit. One unit fits a 6-metre container. Paton explains that the standard unit has 11 top rails and allows for an intermediate set of rails to carry 6 000 garments, a capacity of approximately 4 000kg. The MCT is easily modifiable to carry other commodities, imported hanging vehicle dashboards, for instance. ÒIt is costing manufacturers an arm and a leg on boxes which either become matchwood or homes for the locals, but now they can simply load the MCT at one end and roll it right onto the production line at the other.Ó As to the MCTÕs benefits, these include easy loading, no delays for customs inspection, no demurrage on container time, clean and damage-free transit during shipping and labour saving. The MCT was demonstrated amid considerable interest to shippers and clothing manufacturers at Freight City in Cape Town recently and Paton is hopeful that leasing could soon become an alternative to outright purchase of around $700 per unit. Though only one prototype exists for now, Paton is optimistic that given the orders production could commence within six weeks for a monthly output of 500 MCTs.