The Effects of Containerization on Great Lakes Ports - Special Report No. 2

Abstract

Containers are a genuine revolution in handling waterborne cargo* The most attractive thing about the container is that it introduces economies where ocean transport costs have been increasing most rapidly—at the dock* Container shipments began on the U*S* inter - coastal routes, the Pacific-Coast Hawaii route, and between East Coast ports and Puerto Rico more than ten years ago. The success and steady growth of this traffic prompted the expansion of container service into the North Atlantic routes and, very recently, into the trans-Pacific routes,, The first regular container ship service over the Atlantic routes was inaugurated in April, 1966, when Sea Land began service between New York and Northern Europe.- Today, most of the major American lines serving the Eastern ports are beginning container service to Japan and the Philippines. Presently, 60 to 70 per cent of the cost of ocean transport is incurred while the ship is at the dock* It has been estimated that on the average, using regular break bulk procedures, exports are handled twenty six times between the manufacturer and the overseas customer* Door to door container delivery reduces this to four or five. The savings to the shipper are obvious,* His packing costs, handling charges, insurance costs, and losses from pilferage are significantly reduced* His products also arrive at their destination much faster* The use of containers can reduce the transit time for freight moving from Chicago to Birmingham, England, from 19 to 14 days.. A cost analysis of a containerized shipment of 56 electronic communications shelters shipped by the U*S* Army from Clifton, New Jersey, to Germany showed a savings of $31,746 and of four to twelve days time over regular handling* This was a fifty per cent reduction in the cost of the shipment*