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much ro-ro export from Asia, but
hardly any ro-ro import.”
China is the main player
throwing things out of kilter. A
good example is new auto maker
Geely Automobile. Geely currently
targets buyers in South East
Asia, the Middle East and Latin
America, but has plans to enter the
US and EU markets as well.
The company exports only a
small fraction of its cars, but chairman
Li Shufu says it expects to sell
1.3M cars abroad per year by 2015.
Van Doorslaer points out that
it is much faster to build tens of
thousands of cars than to build one
ro-ro vessel.“At present levels it will
take up to the year 2010 to catch
up. There should be more new
builds, but most of the shipyards are
now already overbooked, with long
waiting times,” He also notes it is
hard to reposition some ro-ro vessels
as it is expensive.“Ships would
have to ballast from South America,
the Persian Gulf and Europe.”
The shortage is worse for
larger-sized units.“It is still easier
to find ro-ro vessels for saloon cars,
but for trucks it is nearly impossible,”
said Van Doorslaer, with reference
to the limited deck heights
of most ships. ❏
ROLL-ON/ROLL-OFF/FOREST PRODUCTS
A hive of industry in forest products
Finland-based TTS Liftec Oy, part
of the port and materials handling
business unit of TTS Marine, recently
won an order for four more
4-axled 90t SWL LTH90 ro-ro
cassette translifters in connection
with new Transfennica services
from Finland. This model is the
de facto industry standard for normal
ro-ro cassette duties.
As peviously reported (World-
Cargo News, December 2005, p20),
in January this year Transfennica
Transfennica has invested in more Liftec 90t SWL translifters to provide ro-ro
fast-loading for its new ships
Rauma - Finland's leading paper port
!
introduced new general ro-ro
services, with capacity for high
container intake, from Hanko,
Hamina and Rauma to Rostock
and Gdynia, both of which are
new to cassette handling.
In both ports, the cargo handling
companies, Poland’s Idal
Group in Gdynia and Germany’s
MSB in Rostock, have each ordered
two translifters.
Over the years Liftec has already
supplied translifters to virtually
every port in Finland,
Gothenburg, including SECU
units (30), Lübeck (25 units),
Paldiski (2), DFDS Immingham
(11), DFDS Rotterdam (2)
Zeebrugge (12 units for handling
of SECU handling) Westerlund
(3), and Tilbury (10 units, eight of
which are for SECU handling).
One shot loading
The ACTIW product family from
another Finnish company,
Naaraharju Oy, includes the
LoadPlate system for “one shot”
loading of containers, trailers and
wagons. It has already shown its
efficiency in containerisation of
sawn timber, pallets, pulp bales and
project goods for Finland’s forest
products industry and ports.
Cusstomers include Kemi Shipping
and Hamina Multi Terminals.
Naaraharju is looking to extend
applications to other kinds
of products and unit loads, such
as crates, boxes, tubes and even
project goods of varying sizes and
lengths. LoadPlate was developed
to enable more rapid container fill
Multi-Container version of the LoadPlate “one shot” loader from Naaraharju
and to meet the customers’ requirements
of stuffing containers
with less damage for the cargo. In
addition, the loading system can
be integrated seamlessly with the
storage system, enabling an efficient
shipping entity.
LoadPlate can easily be moved
to different loading spots within
site. Load preparation can be done
in open space around the system,
which saves time and increases
productivity of FLTs. The cargo
space of the containers can be fully
utilised and the risk of product
damage caused by the loading
process is essentially reduced.
As well as the standard version.
the Multi-Container
LoadPlate was developed to
speed up the loading of several
containers positioned side by
side. It is moved along rails from
one container to another for
loading in the required order.
One Finnish forwarding and
transport company is already using
the multi-container LoadPlate
system. Load preparation and container
handling are now separate
operations and independent of
each other.
Space utilisation has been improved,
with more than 60 m 3
being achieved for 40ft containers.
Both the standard and Multi-
Container LoadPlate can load up
to 30t in 20, 40 or 45ft containers
and they can be adapted for loading
trailers and wagons.
Clamping up
Bolzoni Auramo recently delivered
three units of its latest
(third generation) “Intelligent”
paper roll clamp, type CTX G3,
to Norske Skog, in Halden,
Norway. The varying paper
quality, roll weight and diameter
means that clamping force often
has to be changed during
ship loading operations.
To solve this problem, Norske
Skog decided to invest in the three
3t rotating clamps, that adjust the
pressure completely to the roll
weight, to prevent overpressure
damage on the one hand and slippage
and edge damage on the
other.They are installed on new
H45, H50 and H80 Linde hydro-
static FLTs, delivered by Linde’s
Norwegian dealer Hesselberg.
Another leading paper shipper,
StoraEnso, uses Cascade tower
clamps with Adaptive Force Control
(AFC) at Swedish mills to load
product into SECUs without
damage to the rolls.
FLT ID
Although usually associated with
clamps and every other kind of
FLT attachment, Cascade Corp is
working with US software and
technology providers to create an
integrated radio frequency identification
(RFID) system for FLTs.
Cascade’s partner in this
project is Intermec, of Everett,
Washington, which supplies second-generation
RFID technology,
known as Gen 2, and related
equipment including computers.
Intermec has experience with
barcode technology that RFID
may replace.
The two companies are working
with Cisco Systems and
RedPrairie Corp to integrate a
mobile computer into any FLT’s
structure without the hardware
having to be a bolted, taped or
wired add-on.
Cascade’s product manager
Brad Vandehey in Portland, Oregon
said the company is focusing
on two concepts, an RFIDenabled
load backrest that is applicable
to any FLT platform and
an RFID-enabled carton clamp
force solution for palletless warehouse
handling of boxes.
A unified wireless real-time
location system from Cisco improves
a driver’s operational accuracy
and efficiency. Mobile resource
management software from
RedPrairie, of Waukesha,Wisconsin,
complements the Cisco system
or other software. RedPrairie
software provides the X and Y
coordinates of an RFID-enabled
FLT, reports its movements and
monitors the time it spends in
each location.
Chris Johnston, Intermec’s
principal product manager for
RFID marketing, said market introduction
of components for the
FLT RFID system would occur
over many months. ❏
New RFID-enabled concept truck from Cascade and Intermec
30
April 2006