Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.

Get Adobe Flash player
 

  • Nederlands
  • Deutsch
Search in the Encyclopedia

Dieren en planten

Water en land

Mens en Milieu

Shipping by sort   Container ships   
Container ship, Foto Fitis, www.fotofitis.nl

Container ships

Merchandise that cannot be loaded in bulk (as loose, dry cargo) is called general cargo. Large amounts of cargo are generally transported over sea in large containers. The average container ship carries three or four layers of containers. Once in the harbour, the containers can be directly loaded onto a train or truck.

  • Giants
    Container trans-shipment, Photograph by Stephan Gollash

    The first container ship travelled from America to Europe with six hundred containers on board. Presently, each ship carries several thousands. At the large wharves in China, several ships with a capacity for 8000 standard containers took to water in 2003 and ships with a capacity for more than 9000 containers are under construction.
    Between 1998 and 2002, container transportation increased from 63 billion standard containers to more than 92 billion standard containers.

    The five most important West European harbours with extensive facilities for cargo handling are Le Harve and the North Sea harbours Antwerp, Rotterdam, Hamburg and Bremen. In Rotterdam, around 6500 million containers were trans-shipped in 2002. This makes Rotterdam the largest container harbour in Europe. The growing demand for container terminals is one of the reasons to expand the Maasvlakte. The construction of a container terminal in Vlissingen for 1.5 million containers per year was denied by the Council of State in 2003. The benefit and necessity were not evident and therefore there was no reason to damage nature.

  • Toxic gasses

    In 2005, a report on toxic gasses that were used in sea container to combat vermin caused a lot of commotion. Pesticides such as methylbromide and insectides as chloropicrin and phosphine were being used in particular. Harbour workers, customs employees and store personel became ill a number of times due to the gasses.
    Ships in Rotterdam were even sent to sea due to the danger for those living in the vicinity.