THE TARROS CONCEPT FOR RO-RO TONNAGE--DO WHEELS AND CELLS REALLY GO TOGETHER?

In 1965, when first faced with the problem of intermodal transport, the company dealt with trade which originated in Northern Italy and was bound for Sardinia Island. The need for a new transport system versus traditional breakbulk shipping lines was mainly related to insufficient ship's turnover. The average Genoa-Cagliari-Genoa round trip of 700 sea miles was completed in about 15 days of which 80% (i.e. 12 days) were lost in port operations. The first consequence was a rise in cost, due to such a poor utilization of ship. In addition the transit time was very long, much longer than the equivalent land transport time. No scale economy was possible because the ship's dimensions had to be kept very small (in the region of 1,000 cu m hold capacity). Last but not least, the "port mess" was responsible for all kinds of mishaps and bad service such as breakages, thefts, delays and so on. These kinds of problems were common to all operators who are now considered the container pioneers: the need to find a "transport unit" not to be opened in port is certainly the basis of the so called container era. What is pointed out is not the kind of problems they had in common with other operators but rather the specific types of problems they faced and the conclusions reached.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Presented at the Ro-Ro 77 Conference (International Conference on Marine Transport using Roll-on/Roll-off Methods), London, June 21-22, 1977. Cost of Proceedings is $70.00.
• Corporate Authors:

  Business Meetings Limited

  2 Station Road
  Rickmansworth, Herts WD3 1QP,   England 
• Authors:
  • Musso, G
• Conference:
  • Presented at the Ro-Ro 77 Conference (International Conference on Marine Transport using Roll-on/Roll-off Methods), London, June 21-22, 1977. Cost of Proceedings is $70.00.
• Publication Date: 1977

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 25-27

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Cargo handling; Cargo handling equipment; Containers; Costs; Economic analysis; Intermodal transportation; Marine terminals; Operations; Port structures; Ports; Roll on roll off ships
• Old TRIS Terms: Container operations
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Economics; Finance; Freight Transportation; Marine Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00172098
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Business Meetings Limited
• Report/Paper Numbers: Proceeding
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 29 1978 12:00AM