Self-geared vehicles facilitate off-loading in rural areas

IT'S WHEN you come up against the problem of delivering empty containers to rural destinations that the need is there for a self-service offloading operation. There are few places in the bush where a crane or sufficient manpower can be found to assist in this service, says Bruce Foord of P D Nixon Containers.
That dilemma encouraged his company to provide the only specialised service of its kind in the country, vehicles equipped with their own cranes.
Now all six vehicles in the fleet are equipped in this manner enabling them to reach any destination within the borders of the country and offload without difficulty. Over-border loads are handled by sub-contractors who either load these at the Nixon premises or collect a transhipment from a Nixon vehicle at the border post.
Containers being delivered are all refurbished, both conventional and refrigerated types. Refurbishing is undertaken at the company's premises, situated on a smallholding to the east of Centurion in Gauteng, where PD Nixon settled three years ago after moving from Benrose where crime was a problem, says Foord.
The market in second-hand containers is growing at a steady pace, he says, with calls from rural schools and clinics as well as private business enterprise. But this is placing a burden on supplies. "We have to work hard to find them to meet orders," says Foord.