Page 38 - Port Of Hamburg Magazine 01.2018

■ 50 YEARS OF CONTAINERS IN HAMBURG
Steel containers for all purposes
Whether on Africa’s dusty roads, amid the picturesque Chinese landscape or in the colourful world of the Port of Hamburg – city and country landscapes are no longer conceivable without the familiar steel box. In recent decades the container has experienced a real boom – not confined to the transport sector.
The container’s success remains uninterrupted to this day. Since being invented in 1956, it has revolution- ized world trade and powered the success of an en- tire industry. Achim Bunke is somebody who has grasped the unrestricted use of containers in the transport industry. Along with his business partner Zheng Gong, in 1998 he set up iCON International Container Service. The company specializes in trad- ing and leasing sea containers. Among his customers are companies in trade and industry, including the transport business.
In developing and building special containers, iCON rapidly built up a second line of business. “Especially in the industrial field, containers are needed for meet- ing special requirements,” says Achim Bunke, Man- aging Partner of the Hamburg company. In this con- text, he’s happy to tell us about a major project: “To ensure power supply on Cuba, at the time we sup- plied around 800 specially modified containers to a re- nowned German plant constructor. These were fitted
MOST ICON CONTAINERS ARE USED BY TRADE, INDUSTRY AND THE TRANSPORT SECTOR, BUT THEY ALSO HAVE THEIR UNUSUAL USES, FOR EXAMPLE IN THIS CASE AS A MOBILE PLAYGROUND
with diesel engines.” The box’s contribution towards the ‘revolutión energetíca’ or ‘energy revolution’ can still be admired today on the reverse-side of a ten-pe- so banknote. “Containers have for some time no longer been used solely for traditional freight trans- port. We support numerous exciting projects, with these steel boxes deployed as noise barriers in the building industry, as transformer sheds in solar parks, or for post-catastrophe drinking water treatment plants.”
“As before, the great majority of containers that we have in circulation are used for transport and storage purposes,” adds Wulf Aufgebauer, Gener- al Manager for iCON. “Customers value us as reli- able and service-oriented partners. In addition, we gain points with an immense product portfolio plus the permanent availability of numerous very different containers in Europe and the Americas.” With intense competition on the market, such fac- tors are crucial. Barely a single product, after all, is
38 | Port of Hamburg Magazine | March 2018
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