THE IMPACT OF ROLL-ON/ROLL-OFF ON PORTS AND SHIPPING IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Roll-on/Roll-off for freight transport is a relatively recent development in maritime transport, and in its early stages emerged in a rather inconspicuous way from the traditional ferry services to become a pure freight transport concept. It is principally the introduction of large Roll-on/Roll-off ships on deep-sea routes which has emphasised the development of a new alternative to the conventional break-bulk vessel and the cellular container vessel. This occurred in 1967 when Atlantic Container Line inaugurated its North Atlantic service with the combination Roll-on/Roll-off, Lift-on/Lift-off ships. The potential of the pure Roll-on/Roll-off ship on deep-sea routes became however more strongly evident with the announcement in 1970 by the Pacific Australian Direct (PAD) service of its intention to use Roll-on/Roll-off ships with a ship-based angled stern ramp and multi-through decks on a long distance route such as the Pacific Coast of the United States to Australia. Since then the number of new orders for smaller or larger Roll-on/Roll-off ships has steadily increased, but as recent as the end of 1974 the UNCTAD report "Technological change in shipping and its effects on ports: the impact of unitisation on port operations" justifiably stated that "Roll-on/Roll-off ships have so far not penetrated deep-sea routes linking developed and developing countries on any language". This situation has changed dramatically within the last two years with the main factor responsible for this sudden reversion of the previous trend being the surge of port congestion in a number of developing countries, particularly in the Arabian Gulf and West Africa.

• 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

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  Rickmansworth, Herts WD3 1QP,   England 
• Authors:
  • de Monie, 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. 129-135

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Cargo handling; Cargo handling equipment; Freight transportation; Port congestion; Port operations; Roll on roll off ships
• Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Marine Transportation; Operations and Traffic Management; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00172104
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Business Meetings Limited
• Report/Paper Numbers: Proceeding
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 29 1978 12:00AM