Page 39: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (July 15, 1981)

APL Ready To Build 45-Foot

Production Unit Containers

American President Lines (APL) of Oak- land, Calif., has called for bids for construc- tion of an initial order of 733 forty-five-foot containers (prototype shown above), the world's first, according to Richard L. Hill, vice president for land operations and proj- ect manager. The new containers will have a cargo capacity of 3,035 cubic feet, some 27 percent more than the standard 40-foot container. Because handling and transporta- tion costs are largely determined on a unit basis rather than by the size of the con- tainer, the larger vans are expected to pro- vide significant savings, and to help hold the line on rapidly rising costs. Each container will be 9 feet 6 inches high.

The 45-foot container is not expected to replace the standard 20- and 40-foot lengths, and will initially be designated for on-deck stowage only. It is anticipated that APL's 45-footers will be deployed on selected inter- modal routes in order to increase operating efficiency. Initially, they will go into service to haul less-than-containerload (LCL) cargo between major Asian ports and Northeastern

U.S. destinations.

In March this year, the company an- nounced that it was building two prototype 45-foot containers. Those are being rigor- ously tested. One has commenced a series of trans-Pacific crossings so that the crew and land operations personnel can become familiar with it; the other is undergoing final structural tests by its manufacturer,

Fruehauf Corporation, in Detroit. The com- pany has also called for bids to construct several hundred 45-foot chassis, also the first of their kind.

The new containers have been designed to be accommodated on existing 89-foot 4-inch standard intermodal railcars, in both the container-on-flatcar (COFC) and trailer-on- flatcar (TOFC) modes, and can be lifted by standard 40-foot container-handling devices.

Dual post fittings on the underside of the container make it compatible with the inter- modal transportation concept.

The containers will be constructed of aluminum, with steel end frames. They are designed for a payload of 64,300 pounds, and are expected to operate on the inter- state highway system at 50,000 pounds.

The company has previously reported that its three C-9 class diesel-powered container- ships, presently under construction, have been designed with a structure that can be modified to accept the 45-foot containers under deck as well as the standard 20- and 40-foot lengths. Those vessels, with a cargo capacity of 2,500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), will be the largest of their kind ever built in the U.S. get get

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