Wars and W ayfaring
189
30 per
cent of the time et ship spends in port may be accounted for
by berthing manœuvres. The port costs for a general cargo can
almost equal the total running costs and, with larger ships coming
along, the situation can only deteriorate further if new schemes such
as containerization are not adopted.
Research by the Port of London suggests that, for the sea routes
serving the United Kingdom, container shipping costs (including
port costs) should be some 40 per cent below those of conventional
ships. The savings are not restricted to large cargo carriers; on short
coastal and cross—Channel services, British ships can spend well
over three—quarters of their working lives discharging and loading
cargo. Using container ships integrated with rail and road services
at either end of the ‘sea bridge’, small 4,000—t0n vessels can make a
round trip every 24 hours.
Some experts believe that the whole port procedure needs to be
re—thought. Professor Fernando Costa of Lisbon Technical
University argues that, with radar and modern communications
systems, the pilot should be able to operate from the shore. Working
from a central ofce akin to the control tower of an airport, pilots
would ‘talk—in’ their charges until they were close enough to be
taken in tow. The approach up the Thames to the London docks
already has the basis for such a system, with its complete radar
coverage established in 1968.
Other experts have questioned the need to spend thousands of
pounds (or dollars) bringing a large cargo ship into port when all
that is required is the cargo. In one experiment at Bridgeport,
Connecticut, a Sikorsky 564 helicopter was used to y containers
out to a waiting cargo ship. Lykes Lines have solved the problem by
carrying shallow draft barges (lighters) which are lowered down a
stem ramp into the sea in the vicinity of the port. One of the best
examples of this lighter—aboard—ship
_
(LASH) system is that
operated between New Orleans and Rotterdam, by the Central
Gulf Steamship Company. A 43,000—t0n ship carries 73 lighters
loaded with cargo across the Atlantic. At the American end of the
journey, the ship puts down lighters carrying general goods from
Europe in exchange for lighters loaded with cellulose and paper. At
Rotterdam, the lighters from America are exchanged once more for
those with general cargo. In this way, with three eets of lighters,
the mother ship need never linger long between its trans-Atlantic
journeys. However, in spite of the advent of these kangaroo ships,
189
30 per
cent of the time et ship spends in port may be accounted for
by berthing manœuvres. The port costs for a general cargo can
almost equal the total running costs and, with larger ships coming
along, the situation can only deteriorate further if new schemes such
as containerization are not adopted.
Research by the Port of London suggests that, for the sea routes
serving the United Kingdom, container shipping costs (including
port costs) should be some 40 per cent below those of conventional
ships. The savings are not restricted to large cargo carriers; on short
coastal and cross—Channel services, British ships can spend well
over three—quarters of their working lives discharging and loading
cargo. Using container ships integrated with rail and road services
at either end of the ‘sea bridge’, small 4,000—t0n vessels can make a
round trip every 24 hours.
Some experts believe that the whole port procedure needs to be
re—thought. Professor Fernando Costa of Lisbon Technical
University argues that, with radar and modern communications
systems, the pilot should be able to operate from the shore. Working
from a central ofce akin to the control tower of an airport, pilots
would ‘talk—in’ their charges until they were close enough to be
taken in tow. The approach up the Thames to the London docks
already has the basis for such a system, with its complete radar
coverage established in 1968.
Other experts have questioned the need to spend thousands of
pounds (or dollars) bringing a large cargo ship into port when all
that is required is the cargo. In one experiment at Bridgeport,
Connecticut, a Sikorsky 564 helicopter was used to y containers
out to a waiting cargo ship. Lykes Lines have solved the problem by
carrying shallow draft barges (lighters) which are lowered down a
stem ramp into the sea in the vicinity of the port. One of the best
examples of this lighter—aboard—ship
_
(LASH) system is that
operated between New Orleans and Rotterdam, by the Central
Gulf Steamship Company. A 43,000—t0n ship carries 73 lighters
loaded with cargo across the Atlantic. At the American end of the
journey, the ship puts down lighters carrying general goods from
Europe in exchange for lighters loaded with cellulose and paper. At
Rotterdam, the lighters from America are exchanged once more for
those with general cargo. In this way, with three eets of lighters,
the mother ship need never linger long between its trans-Atlantic
journeys. However, in spite of the advent of these kangaroo ships,