Efficient pallet loading is a major
advantage, writes Leonard Neill
THE PRUDENCE of Trencor's recent decision to close its dry-freight marine container manufacturing plant in KwazuluNatal in the face of lower-cost Chinese competition became apparent at a demonstration of Optima containers in Johannesburg last week.
At the time of the announcement, Trencor executive chairman Neil Jowell stressed that the aggressive pricing of the Chinese provided a major saving against local production, where salary scales, lower productivity patterns and general workplace instability had made continued operations uneconomical.
In addition, he said, the company had been unable to purchase steel locally at competitive prices.
It was then left to Gauteng-based Rent-a-Tainer, a member of the Trencor group, to unveil the Optima range, which provides an innovative combination of a cellular palletwide container (Cpc) and reusable, stackable packaging, which is claimed to offer marked savings to the industry.
These are the first of the variant form of container being manufactured by the Chinese to make their debut in South Africa.
There are about 40 000 of them drifting around in Europe, where they have been most successful, but they are completely new to this part of the world, says Keith Elliott, technical director of the British-based Cronos Containers, who was in South Africa last week to assist Rent-a-Tainer in the local launch.
The major attraction in the model displayed was the larger internal dimension which allowed for efficient pallet loading - two abreast in three-high stack levels - without the need for dunnage. This has been made possible by an 80mm greater internal width than the standard container allows.
What is described as a 'pinched end design to fit all cell guides', makes the container a fraction broader than the conventional item, but can still fit comfortably into seaboard slots on container vessels.
The Cpc has met and, in fact exceeded, all ISO strength tests, says Hennie Botes, Rent-a-Tainer project co-ordinator. It can be loaded and discharged easier and faster than others, with full intermodal operation exactly like a standard ISO container.
I think that the fact that there is no dunnage required with the pallet system used, and no loss of adjacent space on container ships, makes this a winner.
The cage pallet system consists of a single piece collapsible unit of high tensile chassis and frame construction, which has a unique number and logo identification, allowing full barcoding for tracking purposes.
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