[ APL to Expand North American Domestic Fleet by More Th... ]

APL to Expand North American Domestic Fleet by More Than 2,000 53-Foot
Containers

Customer demand within North America for the high capacity 53-foot con
tainer continues to climb, says APL, operator of the most extensive st
acktrain system in north America. So the company that first introduced
the big “domestic” box in the 1980s plans to bring on as 2,400 more
53-foot units this year, allong with matching chassis.
“APL, now part of the glonal NOL group, remains dedicated to the dome
stc stacktrain business in North America as one of our fastest-growing
, most successful business segments,” says Bob Papworth, vice preside
nt of staktrain services. “The 53-foot container is the size the cust
omer wants, and our strategy is to anticipate and meet that demand.”
The scheduled expansion will bring APL’s fleet of 53-foot containers
to 5,100 units, already the largest among North America stacktrain ope
rators. And Papworth says APL has additional plans to increase its fle
et of 53s to approximately 50% of its total domestic-container fleet b
y late in the year 2000.
By the end of this year, the company’s combined domestic fleet of 45-
, 48-, and 53-foot containers will consist of approximately 20,000 con
tainers. Its global feddt, including 20- and 40-foot containers used i
n international service, will consist of 253,000 units.
The appeal of the longer box, says Papworth, results from the fact tha
t it offers 8 to 10 per percent greater cubic capacity than the 48-foo
t container. “This means manufacturers and retailers of low-density,
cubic commodities can load more product to a single container, reducin
g overall loading and distribution costs.” Examples of products that
benefit include retail store merchandise such as garments and textiles
, electronics, appliances, and footwear, as well as carpeting, househo
ld goods and paper products, cereals and other food preparations, tire
s, etc.
He also noted that using the larger capacity box allows customers to m
ove product in a way that minimizes additional congestion in an alread
y heavily-utilized domestic railway system, helping to ensure the syst
em’s efficacy.
The company has taken delivery of the initial 500 units in recent days
in los Angeles. “This location was selected because of its large loc
al consumer market for Asian imports,” Papworth said. “For custimers
who distribute in this market and also need to deconsolidate and tran
sload here for inland distribution, the 53-foot container cna provide
maximum efficiency.”
With demand for domestic containers strong, Papworth explained that ex
panding the size of the equipment fleet is only one-half of the formul
a for satisfying customers. “Effective equipment management is also c
ritical, or the boxes cannot be dispatched to customers when needed,”
he said.
He noted that APL has managed container assets since the advent of con
tainerization and has developed effective global equipment-management
systems to ensure their availability. “We have decades of experience
in balancing container deployments in multiple traffic lanes, tracking
them electronically, repositioning them to customer locations, and ke
eping them in good condition for maximum utilization. this means we ca
n locate and dispatch the specific equipment type and size needed by t
he customer, ant the time and place it is needed.”