Innovative ‘Skiptainer’ puts bulk mine products back on rail

In line with its mission to address challenges around cost and logistical efficiency at all times, ICM Group has come up with an innovative solution for the movement of bulk products by rail – the new ‘Skiptainer’. Much as the name implies, this newly patented invention is a combination of a skip and a container that is easy to fill and empty, easy to load and offload and most importantly perfectly transportable on a flatbed rail wagon, says CEO Kiall Marsh. “We are heavily involved in the movement of minerals, but like many other companies found ourselves facing a major problem around the availability of bulk rail wagons. Also many of the mines don’t have their own railway sidings,” says Marsh. “In the past these two challenges have forced mines to move products by road. This not only takes place at a higher cost compared to rail, but also erodes margins and ultimately reduces how much export cargo leaves the country.” Much work went into the development of the Skiptainer. “Initially we had thought of using a normal container but after having to cut the top off and re-enforce it, we found it difficult to load and offload and the engineers had doubts about its durability. Further development led to the Skiptainer that is unique in its design and abilities.” According to Marsh the Skiptainer can easily be loaded onto a truck at a mine with no rail siding and taken to the nearest railway station where it is loaded onto a flatbed rail wagon. “While there is a shortage of bulk rail wagons, there is an excess of flatbed rail wagons that we can now utilise efficiently. Simply put this is a specially designed container for moving bulk products around the country on flatbed rail wagons effectively creating our own bulk wagons.” And, says Marsh, there is no doubt that the Skiptainer will play an important role in reducing the total supply chain cost, while also improving logistics. “It also addresses the major issue around moving too much bulk mine product by road, by putting it back on rail.” Marsh says the company has commissioned 500 Skiptainers. This will allow them to move some 60 000 tons of mining product per month using the Skiptainer.