Cargoshell: container for the 21st century
On Friday an entirely new container concept, known as Cargoshell, sees the light of day at the Cruise terminal.

A totally modernised container has been developed, based on an idea of businessman and commercial director René Giesbers. Cargoshell is an innovative concept that fits in with present-day requirements. In numerous respects the new collapsible lightweight container made of composite has an advantage over the steel container, which has existed in its present form for more than 50 years. The new-style container can be folded up in 30 seconds to a quarter of its original volume. Cargoshell offers significant benefits on terms of CO2 reduction, storage and transport of empty containers, safety and traceability.

The process of innovation from idea to initial model was carried out with the Rotterdam mentality of ‘actions speak louder than words’. Financed with available capital, it took two years of head scratching and toil, with many high and low points, to arrive at a full-scale prototype (a 20 ft container). Cargoshell is a true Rotterdam initiative.

Standardised containerisation has existed for more than 50 years. The steel container has barely changed in that half century. That is strange, because economics and the environment have different requirements than decades ago. And technology has not stood still either, so a modern container can now be developed that responds better to current demands. The fact that the trusted steel container has not evolved in half a century got René Giesbers thinking. It also surprised him that there were so few initiatives in the domain of sustainable development, while more and more pressure is coming from society and government to make progress in that regard. He was convinced that the container concept could be improved and had definite ideas about it too. Many people simply leave it like that, but René Giesbers persevered. With great enthusiasm and persuasiveness he put together a team of specialists to help him turn his ideas into reality. Just as he had suggested, this resulted – two years after his initial inspiration – in a working full-scale prototype (a 20 ft or 1 TEU container).

Source: Havenloods Zuid