By Jonathan Ferrini, Founder and CEO of Ferrini Corporation
In this blog, Jonathan Ferrini explains why the collapsible container could be the future of container shipping.
The Problem:
According to Drewry Shipping Consultants, $31.5 billion is spent annually on repositioning empty containers. Recent news reports and practical applications have shown that there are container shortages developing. It is becoming too expensive to move empty containers to where they are needed. The shipping industry is also under significant environmental and political pressure to decrease its carbon footprint and infrastructure costs. Transporting a single empty container on a truck, train, or vessel is a waste of fuel, labour hours, and equipment wear and tear. Furthermore, current containers create bottlenecks at both loading/unloading and inspection points as they can only be accessed through one door.
The Solution: Create a smarter container!
So what is the future? I believe it lies in the creation of a collapsible container. Its development would permit three collapsed containers to be placed within the footprint of one standard container. Current containers are capable of being stacked 9 containers high. A collapsible container could permit stacking of 27 containers.
The collapsible container would enable the trucking, shipping and rail industry to move three collapsed containers on the back of a truck, ship or rail car in the same footprint where they are currently able to move only one. It is estimated that 50% of the life of a container is spent empty, so the result would be significant savings in fuel, labour and container yard rents.
In addition, a collapsible container would have access points from doors at both ends of the container, the roof, and the side panels, and would be capable of complete disassembly into six components consisting of two doors, roof, floor, and two side panels permitting assembly where needed and easy replacement of damaged components. There could be significant financial savings in repositioning costs per container per round trip with a potential $18.6 billion worldwide savings from a 3:1 consolidation. By collapsing the container, you can place more containers within the footprint of a standard container, decreasing the container yard space required to store containers and reducing rents paid.
There have been few significant changes to the staple of international shipping since the shipping container was invented in 1955 by Malcolm McLean. The collapsible container should be the next stage in the evolution of container shipping. According to Len R. Hering, RADM, US Navy (ret) a collapsible container “represents a new and innovative approach to one of the most challenging problems faced by military logisticians both at sea, in the air and ashore. It will allow the Commander the flexibility to maximise space and adjust operations knowing the shipping container can be collapsed, stacked and reused at a third of the footprint and half the weight. It can save time, money and brings options to the war fighting space that today are simply not possible.”
Benefits:
The collapsible container can be a potential enhancement to the ever shrinking profit margins encountered by transportation firms, container owners, lessors, a valuable solution to Homeland Security and green initiative programs of governments. Bottlenecks at unloading/loading/inspections points are minimised with multiple entry points from two doors at both ends of the container in addition to the roof and side panels. The end users of a collapsible container such as large retailers and manufacturers reliant on rapid movement through inspection/customs and loading/unloading of their merchandise will find valuable savings in both time and manpower.
The Future of Intermodalism 