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Collapsible Containers
November 18, 2013 By Nick Akca 11 Comments
Usage of containers in ocean freight industry was invented in 1950s and it indeed started a new phase in international trade.
Containers were very convenient and fast especially for consumer goods and reduced the labor cost at loading and unloading of the
vessels highly. Today 70% of worlds commercial freight is transported on the oceans and containerized cargo makes up 14% of it
after tankers and bulk cargoes. Foldable/collapsible containers are new eye-catching invention of the liner industry. Before we draw
the benefits of this new invention lets look at why the world needs them.

This graph shows the historical percentage of empty containers carried by container vessels in world commercial sea trade and as it
explains itself almost 1 out of 4 container is carrying just plain air today without any profit to the vessel operator. Technical term for it
is empty container repositioning. Ocean carriers currently spend close to $100 billion per year operating their container assets and
approximately $15 billion of this directly related to cost of repositioning the empty equipment to its next exporting port.

Procurement of new containers and repositioning of empty containers are 2 subjects of general container management. If
containerized imports are more or less than containerized exports in a particular region it will result in surplus of empty containers or
shortage of empty containers. It doesnt only affect liner operators with additional repositioning cost but also affects the cargo
owners by decreasing the efficiency of commercial trade. Some cannot find the equipment available at a place and at a time they
want, while others cannot get their containers fast as the importing port is very busy, yards are full with empty containers and it
slows down the container availability.

Its a very natural consequence of unbalanced global trade. Countries with high capacity of production usually import their raw
materials in bulk vessels and the final products are exported to their markets in containers. Another subject we need to look at is the
ocean freight cost on loaded containers. As an example we can look at the ocean freight rates between China ports and US west
coast ports. While exporters can get their containers to China from west coast for just $500-600, importers can pay up to $2000 /40ft
at a slack season to get their cargoes to west coast from China. Considering the voyage distance is pretty much same, its quite a
difference.

Collapsible and foldable containers came as an innovation to the industry to cut the repositioning and terminal handling costs and
solve the space shortage problem of terminals and yards. The concept has been around for a while. Some of the designs were not
very practical for varying reasons such as long time spent folding the container and reassembling, higher manufacturing costs
compared to standard containers, and structural weaknesses. Very successful models are also introduced to shipping world by few
companies. These designs in its collapsed state can occupy as low as 1/5 of the volume of a normal container, they conform to ISO
standards for ocean containers. Some models can be folded just in 3 minutes with a help of a forklift and 2 men. Compared to the
standard containers the cost is 10% to 3 times higher than regular containers. Some models are made of composite materials which
can also cut the container maintenance cost as they do not corrode as steel container while some of the designs weight up to 25%
less than standard ones. Another benefit presented by innovators is environmental. According to the studies, by stacking as many
as 4-5 containers on a trailer its possible to cut many trips on highways and reduce carbon emissions.
I definitely agree that this would be the next big thing in shipping industry since the 1950s and it wouldnt be surprising to see these
smart ocean containers on streets in following years.
- See more at: http://morethanshipping.com/collapsible-containers/#sthash.eqwDoLZa.dpuf

A folding shipping container design by Dutch company Cargoshell. Cargoshell

DELFT, the NetherlandsInventors in the U.S., Netherlands and India are moving closer to easing a
headache that costs the shipping business billions of dollars a year.
Empty containers must be shuffled around the world to be refilled, requiring millions of ship, truck and rail
journeys that yield no revenue.
"It's a huge expense, a huge headache for the industry," says Neil Davidson of London-based Drewry
Shipping Consultants. The net cost of moving empties is around $7 billion a year, say analysts.
The possible solution: a mass-market foldable shipping container. Industry officials say trucks, trains,
barges and ships could carry four times as many containers if they were folded and stacked on top of
each other. That would cut the cost of moving empties by as much as 75%, saving billions of dollars, say
analysts and the makers of the foldable containers.
The world's biggest container shippers, including A.P. Moeller-Maersk AS, CMA-CGM SA, NYK Line and
Evergreen Group, say they are waiting for proof that foldable containers work and are affordable before
they will commit to investing.
Because of their complexity, foldable containers would cost at least $4,000 each, roughly double the cost
of normal containers. The boxes must be able to withstand the heat, cold and salt water of the high seas,
and the rough handling of dock cranes. On ships, containers are stacked up to 10 deep, so each one

needs to be able to withstand 350 tons of weight. They also must work within the standardized systems
used world-wide in highly automated ports.
After decades of attempts, recent engineering developments, society's need for a greener product and
shippers' need to save fuel costs are bringing the foldable containers nearer to market.
Compounding the push has been the huge global trade boom of the 2000s, fueled by China joining the
World Trade Organization and boosting exports to $1.2 trillion in 2009 from $249.7 billion in 2000. The
number of shipping containers doubled as the industry grew at 10% a year, to roughly 16 million.

Cargoshell

The shipping containera steel, rectangular box usually 20 or 40 feet long (six to 12 meters)is the
building block of global trade, greatly raising the productivity and efficiency of shipping and port
operations since coming into use in 1957.
Ten thousand ships managed by a few hundred companies run over 100 million container movements
per year. But 20% of containers at any one time at sea are traveling empty, due to a fundamental
imbalance in global trade, since Asia exports more goods than it imports. More empties are moved by
trucks and trains back to ports after deliveries inland. The shipping industry has dedicated serious
resources to addressing the problem of the "empty," as it is known. Engineers write software to ship
empties to the right place at the right time, and ports expand terminal space to stack them.
Cutting the expense of moving empties would raise profit margins at a time when the shipping industry is
reeling from the financial crisisthe industry reported losses of about $20 billion last year, according to

Drewry. Shipping goods would get cheaper for major shipping customers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc.,WMT 0.54% Volkswagen AG VOW.XE -0.06% and Amazon.com. AMZN -0.24%

"It would solve a lot of problems," says Mr. Davidson. "But it comes down to economics and engineering:
Can you make it work?"
Since the 1970s, there have been several efforts to crack the puzzle. In the first, an Australian company
developed a container in which all the sides detached. But the sides kept getting separated from each
other, and the container never caught on. There were other unsuccessful attempts in the 1980s and
1990sthey were too heavy, or fell apart or took too long to put together.
Engineers say recent innovations, to make reinforced steel lighter and composite glass sturdier and more
flexible, as well as new design ideas, can meet the technical challenges.
Ren Giesbers, heir to a central-heating fortune in Rotterdam, in 2007 designed a composite fiberglass
container and started a company, Cargoshell. He is hoping for help from the Dutch government in the
form of a green label that would give companies buying his container tax breaks. "Everybody is talking
about carbon emissions this, carbon emissions that," says Mr. Giesbers. "Now is the right time to go into
business."
The container's vertical walls fold inwards, giving it an X shape as it collapses on itself. He says his
container saves 75% of the fuel needed to transport it, and says the material is as strong as steel but
won't rust and requires less maintenance.He says he has a contract with a manufacturer and plans on
selling the first containers by this summer.
Boston-based Compact Container Systems has also come up with a design for a container that also folds
by hinging at its side walls. It demonstrated its first prototype at a trade fair in November and is now
working on revisions. "The engineering challenge is like designing a jet engine," says Jim Williams, one of
the founders. The company has interested buyers but can't disclose their names, Mr. Williams says.
Simon Bosschieter, a 28-year-old engineer from the Netherlands, designed a container with folding walls
that slide into each other. He says his company, Holland Container Innovations in Delft, has a
manufacturing partner and is planning to put its first containers on the market by this summer. He says
the containers are made with a steel alloy and are sturdier than others.
Indian banker Avinder Bindra designed a container that, like HCI's, has sliding walls. But his folded
containers are stacked vertically instead of horizontally, which he says makes them more balanced and
makes it possible to use standard lifting equipment to move the stacks. His company, Simpri Investments,
is in the final stages of completing a prototype, he says.

The new containers will have to be certified by the shipping industry's regulatory bodies before they can
be legally sold. A spokesman for one of them, Lloyd's Register, said it would "wait and see, before making
any judgment on whether this is an idea whose time has come."