Recent dramatic events in the shipping world have highlighted the vulnerability of cargo stored unsecured on-deck. While these incidents are thankfully rare, it does raise the issue of containerisation to protect valuable finished automotive units.
Rather than write off millions in damaged vehicles, it makes sense to consider shipping smaller fleets in the safety and security of a container, the capacity of which can be maximised with a robust steel-construction vehicle racking system.
Indeed, a recent study: Evaluation of Shipping Finished Automotive in Multimodal Containers,* investigates the benefits of protecting particularly high-value cars with Trans-Rak's removable racking system R-Raks inside standard containers.
Not only does containerisation reduce the human handling element of each vehicle to prevent minor damage, in the event of trouble at sea it could make all the difference in recovering intact vehicles.
By carefully weighing the pros and cons as well as costs and risks, the study shows how containerisation is becoming an increasingly attractive option, depending on where cars are being shipped.
*An academic dissertation to the World Maritime University in Malmӧ, Sweden, by Xu Xuan
