Preservation of people and plant

“If an ’empty’ container actually has something in, then an empties fork truck trying to lift it can fall over – it does happen,” he says. “I have seen plenty of cases where a crane goes to lift a container that is meant to be 20 tonnes, but it is 30 or 40. Sometimes the bottom falls out of the container and cargo goes everywhere and you think of the people standing underneath.”

Mr Willis has seen straddle carrier chains and wires break as a result of an overloaded container – which, of course, comes crashing to the ground.

“Ports say nobody wants to weigh containers but it is in their interests, for the preservation of their own people and plant,” he says. “There is the excuse about slowing things down – but that is just what it is, an excuse. The problem is there and it can be solved. The technology is there to do this instantly. One of our (Jade-equipped) ports in New Zealand weighs every container that comes in through the gate, using a straddle carrier. It only takes a second if you have the right technology in the plant and the interface.”

Those running a port are relying on the person who loads the container giving an accurate declaration, he emphasises. Some less scrupulous operators will fill the container to the brim, so it is 10 tonnes overweight – and, incidentally, that means there are plenty of overweight trucks on the roads.

“But the shipper often doesn’t understand what the risks are to people in the container terminal or on the ship. I think container weighing will come. Unfortunately, it may only come when a ship sinks or someone gets killed when something comes out of a container.”