Air pollution legal landmark pressures forklift users

In a new study* of forklift users by Calor some 38% of those surveyed said they were coming under increasing pressure to reduce carbon from their forklift (FLT) fleets. That pressure will now likely rise following a landmark legal ruling over the death of a nine-year old asthmatic London girl who is the first UK person, and possibly the world, to have "air pollution" listed on her death certificate as the cause of death. Such a ruling will undoubtedly galvanise insurance companies to pressure warehouse operators of diesel trucks who are already under a legal obligation to make the warehouse a safe place but what are the problems and remedies for users of all diesel and LPG forklifts, whether used inside or outside premises?

Although at 54% of those surveyed recognised that carbon reduction was a very important consideration when choosing how their FLT fleet should be fuelled, regardless they have to juggle with other operational and commercial priorities. Above carbon concerns were cost (65%), fuel efficiency (64%), machinery downtime (63%), security of supply (59%) and level of customer service from the fuel provider (57%) when it comes to FLT fuel selection. Surprisingly, only 51% of respondents rated cleanliness as a very important issue and only 8% of those surveyed in the retail, leisure and catering industries have said that their business had been very effective in lowering its carbon emissions over the last 12 months. 

The report shows that there are wide regional and industry differences over fuel choice which reflect tougher technological barriers to carbon reduction. In manufacturing and utilities, for example, they felt restrained over dumping diesel because of the energy required for their processes, the limitation of electric and battery technology and the grid's current inability to satisfy demand fully at peak times. 

Companies in manufacturing, utilities, retailing, catering and leisure need vehicles with enough torque to lift and shift heavier products which dissuades them from using electric trucks which they claim underperform in such circumstances. Users of outdoor fleets also find that electrics are not suitable for their needs as the damp conditions can case issues with wiring circuitry and electrical components. Another dissuader is that 62% of respondents felt that they don't have enough charging points for their electric forklift fleets, which have to be recharged daily and left to cool for hours before use. 

The great strides in electric chargers and batteries, however, have diminished these concerns, with claims by manufacturers of electric forklifts, particularly those powered by lithium-ion and iron-phosphate batteries, that recharging times are no longer a challenge and that they can equal the performance punch of diesel and LPG and perform well in outdoor conditions. 

There are, of course, other forklift fuels, like LPG, which though cleaner than diesel (no benzene) are still not squeaky clean at point of use, but they have made a big improvement lowering carbon emissions by offering a bio LPG fuel that cuts 20-32% of carbon compared with conventional LPG. 

Encouragingly, some 94% of respondents agree that more can be done to cut carbon emissions and this is one area where Government help can make a big difference, especially as it would be unfair to expect industry players, many struggling on wafer thin profit margins, to bear the entire cost burden of switching to electric. Government financial incentives can change end user behaviour. Cash grants could be made to companies which prove how much they have cut their carbon footprint. Financial help for UK companies has long been available through the Carbon Trust scheme. There are also operational methods companies could consider which would not only improve their efficiency but also their 'green' credentials. For example, the amount of truck distance travelled, including lifting and lowering, governs the amount of fuel consumed. Depending on one's operational set-up, there may be scope to reduce truck travel times by switching to articulated forklifts# which save up to 50% of warehouse space against conventional counterbalanced trucks and 30% compared with reach trucks. Adding RDTs to these artics could also save much time, which boosts productivity. 

*www.calor.co.uk/fltreport

#www.translift-bendi

 #www.flexi.co.uk

#www.aisle-master.com

Rethink on container ship sizes?

Economies of scale are one thing when it comes to ever-rising container ship sizes but should that outweigh the expected soaring rise in insurance costs and disruption to JIT deliveries if ship sizes continue ever upwards?

Already, 20,000 teu ship sizes are in the pipeline but container losses at sea show no signs of moderating. The latest disastrous loss is the ONE Apus, which lost 1,816 containers after hitting rough weather on November 30th, 1,600 nautical miles north-west of Hawaii on a voyage from China to Long Beach, California. The ship is a 14,000 teu vessel built only last year and operating under the Japanese flag. It looks like the worst loss in container ship history and comes only one month after another ONE Line-operated ship of 14,000 teu capacity, the ONE Aquila, also suffered collapsed containers in severe weather on a similar voyage. 

There are many reasons that contribute towards such losses at sea, namely poor internal packaging and load distribution and deliberate under declaring of cargo weights to save costs and freight duties, among others. When, for example, the MSC Napoli container ship was beached on the English Devon coast in 2007 MAIB found that one of the contributory causes for the total hull write-off was overloading of 20% of the containers, including one by as much as three tonnes. There is also the ever-present risk from rogue killer waves over 100ft high which can slice through both sides of a ship's hull and sink the largest of ships in  just a few minutes, with the loss of all hands. 

The IMO has toughened weighment rules since then to reduce such nefarious misdeclarations but there are still supply chain gaps and loopholes in weighing containers. If insurance companies don't call a halt on behemoth ships soon they will only have themselves to blame for the inevitable multi-billion pound losses ahead. Nature is a hard act to beat.

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