The Cargoshell, a collapsible container made of composite, is the solution for the crisis currently being experienced by Dutch ports, according to Bart Kuipers, port economist attached to the Erasmus University.

‘Ports have to innovate, especially in bad times,’ said alderman Lucas Bolsius. The Cargoshell is an innovative container that can be integrated in the current, standardised transport chain. It can be easily folded up and unfolded in 15 seconds.

Kuipers believes that the Cargoshell provides an answer to all the problems faced by the ports, such as transporting empty containers, CO2 emissions (Dutch ports are responsible for 20% of the national CO2 production) and competition. The use of composite (fibre reinforced plastic) means that the Cargoshell can make enormous energy savings (and therefore CO2 reductions) possible, said Erik de Ruijter, Managing Director of the Dutch Rubber & Plastics Federation.

On Monday the Rotterdam businessman Rene Giesbers presented a prototype of the Cargoshell. It is now up to industry, the government and financial parties to make the step from the initial planning and development phase to large-scale production.

Source: Telegraaf