These are strange times indeed, when newspaper and other media front pages feature pictures of container ports with stacks of shipping containers and when the stories talk about the logistical challenges of managing these devices. Considering that these devices have been sitting in the background for the best part of 50 years, one can only wonder at their sudden rise to notoriety.
  Or maybe not, as whether one looks at the ocean shipping industry or the air cargo industry, the reality is that the management of these essential tools of the trade have been an accident waiting to happen for years, with under resourced and understaffed facilities and chasing dollars, keeping fingers crossed that the wheels will not fall off the bus.
  Well, on the ocean side, it appears the wheels have well and truly fallen off, one can only wonder how much worse it will get if the politicians try to get into the mix. On the air side, things are perhaps not quite so high profile but nevertheless it’s not a pretty sight; for the past 18 months airlines have been struggling to reposition empty units given their lower priority than revenue cargo on the limited number of available flights, and in many cases have had to turn to simply purchasing additional equipment to compensate for their assets being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It has actually been a golden 18 months for both manufacturers and the rental companies, with no sign of that changing anytime soon, as they respond to this mess.
  So what are the lessons to be learnt from this situation? It would be fair to say that taking ‘the head in the sand’ approach to managing these transportation assets whether they be for ocean shipping or airfreight will work some of the time but it absolutely will not work all of the time and when push comes to shove, the cracks will start to show very, very quickly. Perhaps, though I’m not very optimistic, in the aftermath of the current situation, greater attention will get paid to the manner in which transportation assets are treated! One can only hope.
Bob Rogers, Vice President & Treasurer
ULD CARE