Strong as steel but still fragile:
New solutions reduce cargo
damage in steel transports

Although the weather proof plate transportation cassette is wider than a standard container it may be handled with the same equipment or a heavy-duty fork lift. It is here being loaded onto a railway wagon.

The transport of highly processed steel puts great demands on the whole transport chain. By reducing the number of handling stages, cargo damage may also be reduced significantly. The Finnish shipping company Langh Ship has developed a series of new cargo solutions which may set a new standard in the shipment of steel.

The highly processed products of the steel industry are not just any general cargo. These valuable shipments must be handled with great care and also demand ideal circumstances on board the vessel. Although these products are well wrapped up in water-resistant packaging, damage is still possible. Even a small hole in the packing may allow moisture in, resulting in corrosion.Each movement of the cargo from one means of transport to another increases the risk of damage.
– During a normal transport chain for steel coils, the goods are handled about ten times before reaching the customer, explains Mr Hans Langh, shipowner and managing director of Langh Ship.
It goes without saying that a reduction in the number of handling steps reduces the risk of damage. The ideal transport is one in which the product is loaded directly into a cargo unit in the factory and the unit is sealed until it reaches the recipient.
For this kind of transport, Langh Ship has been developing several new cargo units of standard dimensions, specially intended for carrying highly processed steel products. This work has been carried out in co-operation with the steel manufacturer Rautaruukki. Their transport company, JIT-Trans, is the charterer of several of Langh Ship’s vessels.
– The units are dimensioned to fit the maximal lifting capacity in most ports, says Mr Langh.
Both special-purpose containers and plate transportation cassettes are already in use. They are designed for handling by standard equipment. The special containers may be shipped on all vessels with regular fittings for containers. So far, there is just a limited number of units in service. Langh Ship has been granted PACT-support to create this kind of intermodal transport of unitised steel products.
Mr Langh says that Langh Ship is now focusing on presenting its transport concept to the steel industries of other countries in Europe.

Three types of box
Langh Ship has developed three different types of special-purpose container and patented several of their key features.
There are two types of low container, designed with either cradle bottom for coils or flat bottom for plates. These boxes work in the same way as the cargo space in a truck or a railway wagon, enabling cargo handling either from the top or the side.
There is also a 20-ft container in which the long sides may be opened completely, enabling easier handling of heavy products. Inside the container, the cargo is secured by movable stanchions. The containers are intermodal and have been developed to enable an unbroken transport chain from factory to user.
– The concept is the same as in a truck, but it is much more ecofriendly to carry the products on vessels, says shipowner Hans Langh.
A plate transport cassette has also been designed for large and thin steel plates. With many different dimensions, handling damage was a major problem with such plates previously.

Tween decks for coils
Steel cargo is not always the most popular cargo among seafarers. The heavy cargo is usually stowed on tank top and gives the vessel extreme stability. The movements in heavy seas become violent with short rolling periods. For the cargo owner, a cargo of steel coils may not be optimal. It demands a large cargo hold area as nothing may be stowed upon it. Therefore the volume of the hold is poorly utilised.
An innovation which has already proved its efficiency is Langh Ship’s patented tween-deck pontoons for steel coils. About one third of the steel coil cargo may be stowed on these decks higher up in the vessel, giving a lower GM and thus smoother movement in heavy seas.
The tween decks are mainly intended for larger coils with a weight of 12 to 30 tonnes. Smaller coils may be shipped directly from factory to customer in the low container with cradle bottom.
As it is not generally possible to stow any other cargo above the steel coils in the same hold, the new tween decks also enable the loading of cargo underneath them.
When the tween deck is not in use, the pontoons are stowed in a position in the aft part of the hold, or on the weather deck fore of the superstructure.
– Even though we have converted existing vessels, the pontoons only use a minimal amount of the vessel’s cargo capacity, says Mr Langh.
He says that if a newbuilding is designed with such tween decks from the start, the concept may be even more rational.
So far, tween decks have been installed on four of Langh Ship’s seven vessels: “Aila”, “Sofia”, “Linda” and “Christina”. Longship’s experience with these vessels is very good, and their sea-keeping qualities have improved in a remarkable way.

// Pär-Henrik Sjöström

Back to SSG 8, Spetember 20

Latest update 18-10-2006 8:49

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