UNITIZATION & CONTAINERIZATION
In the past, a substantial cost of shipping went into paying
the dock workers for loading and unloading of the cargo.
Unitization is essentially grouped or bundled cargo, wrapped
into packages and loaded onto or inside a bigger unit. These
bigger units can then be handled by forklifts and cranes. The
focus of unitization was standardization of the shipment as it
would make the work of mechanical machinery more
efficient and frugal.
Some of the benefits of unitization are as follows:
1. The efficiency of cargo handling increases as heavier
units can combine many smaller packages into one large
package.
2. As the number of lifts decrease, the safety of cargo
increases.
3. The labour required is reduced drastically, thus resulting
in substantial cost savings.
4. The loading and unloading time reduces. The time
spent by ships at ports is reduced to a great extent,
making voyages shorter. Also the carrying of such
unitized parcels, makes the operation commercially
viable.
The disadvantage is that many unskilled and semi-skilled
labourers lost their jobs.
The most common form of unitization is palletization. The
forklifts and cranes are designed to handle certain
dimensions of package. The pallet is made to this dimension
and acts as a platform for cartons, bags, drums, etc to be
stacked on top of it. The entire pallet then becomes a single
unit with the cargo secured tightly onto the pallet base. The
materials for pallets can be made of wood, steel, plastic, etc.
depending on the reusability.
A Four-way Pallet (lifting can be done from all 4 sides)
Since the use of pallets is so handy, they are used all over the
world. Hence, pallets also have regulations that set the
standards for its size, durability and load carrying capacity.
Provided below are a few typical dimensions of pallets as per
ISO Standards (ISO 6780):
1200mm x 1200mm;
1200 x 800mm;
1100 x 1100mm.
Another form of unitization is the pre-slinging of individual
units of certain cargoes such as pipes and tubes. The entire
cargo is shipped, along with slings from the port of origin. At
the port of delivery, the cargo can be directly offloaded
without the hassle of lifting it manually to get a sling passed
underneath.
The next big step in unitization was containerization.
Containerization brought about a paradigm shift in shipping
logistics. There are two standard lengths of containers largely
used worldwide. The 20 feet and 40 feet containers also
called TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) and FEUs (Forty-
foot Equivalent Units) respectively. These containers referred
to as freight or shipping containers are intermodal in nature,
i.e., they can be transported via rail, truck and ships with
equal ease without intermediate reloading.
The whole process of packing and unpacking the product is
carried out by the manufacturer or shipper at their premises
or at container freight stations (CFS), leaving the port
authorities and the ship to simply handle the containers and
transport them.
Advantages of containerization are as follows:
1. Containerization offers door-to-door delivery on an
international scale.
2. The cargo remains safe inside a case (steel, aluminium
or GRP) and the prospect of damage during cargo
handling is minimized.
3. Savings in packaging costs as opposed to palletizing.
4. Faster turnaround time for ships due to mechanization
of container handling resulting in cost savings. The ships
leave the ports within hours of arrival which was not
possible in the era before containerization.
5. A single ship can carry thousands of such freight
containers thus benefitting from economies of scale.
6. The ports became more advanced in handling of such
containers lending to their overall development.
7. Less prospects of pilferage.
8. Preserves cargoes from taint by other cargoes.
Disadvantages of containerization:
1. Highly capital intensive.
2. High degree of training necessary for smooth
operations.
3. Repositioning of containers often required after
discharge.
4. Infrastructure development (roads, bridges, etc.)
needed for successful carriage.