First flat rail operation in the Philippines
Subic operation Subic Bay International Terminal (Sbitc), a unit of the Philippines-headquartered International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI), operating at the Subic Bay Freeport, recently handled the first flat rail operation in the Philippines with the loading of a new catamaran onto a CMA CGM vessel.
Sbitc, the operator of the new container terminals 1 and 2 at Cubi Point, performed the carefully planned operation in collaboration with Peters & May, an international freight forwarder, and Bespoke Load Solutions, patent owner of the flat rail system used to load the cargo onto the ship. The flat rail system uses a simple and innovative solution that enables the shipping of out-of-gauge cargo.
Chris Steibelt, Bespoke Load solutions development manager, said: “Typically, a flat rail shipment will be in the range of 12 to 15.5 m long and the width blocks the corner castings. The system can safely accommodate payloads of up to 44 t.” This shipment was the first of ten catamarans commissioned by an exclusive resort group operating in six continents. (fd)