Page 22 - Port of Hamburg | Port of Hamburg Magazine 1.2022

■ CONTAINER WORLDS
Cargo securing is especially important for heavy goods that do not fill up the entire container.
22 | Port of Hamburg Magazine | June 2022
Skilled hands for extra safety
Whoever transports freight by sea needs to protect it, not just from accidents, but also from weather conditions, temperature fluctuations and shunting bumps. Not only on board the seagoing vessel but also when stowing it in a container, securing cargo by the rules is absolutely essential.
What exactly this should look like varies from time to time. Above all, it depends on the nature of the goods – after all, not every type of load fits on pallets or in boxes and can be stowed in a form-fit manner.
NO TWO CARGOES ARE THE SAME
The Port of Hamburg offers various specialists in se- curing cargo. PCH – Packing Center Hamburg is one of these. At its Wollkämmereistrasse site, every day containers are packed with all sorts of items for ex- port, and unloaded from others as imports. Apart from packing groupage, FCL and out-of-gauge con- tainers, the experts here also see to the seaworthy packing of freight.
In particular, any freight marked as hazardous naturally needs to be stored, packed and secured separately.
Yet even with normal freight, cargo security is of para- mount importance before it can proceed to further trans- port aboard seagoing vessels. As a rule, most of the freight has already been stowed on pallets or in wooden crates in such a way that the precise contents are neither known or of relevance for being secured in the contain- er. Such cargo belongs in the LCL – ‘Less than Contain- er Load’ – category. Here a whole variety of items from different shippers congregate in one container. These are delivered individually and then consolidated in the packing center.
A second variant of containerized cargo consists of complete shipments from one shipper. This can also consist of pallets and crates. Yet securing cargo for some objects – such as building elements, vehicles or machines – requires a special technique. On occasion,
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