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Class 66 and Felixstowe Intermodals.

38Cto15E

38Cto15E

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As a generalisation, do the Intermodals from Felixstowe weigh a lot more than the services going to Felixstowe?
I would have thought that trains from the port weighed a lot more because of imports coming from China etc, whilst the Intermodals going to Felixstowe would be carrying quite a lot of fresh air.
 
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Adrian Barr

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38Cto15E said:
As a generalisation, do the Intermodals from Felixstowe weigh a lot more than the services going to Felixstowe?
Click to expand...

Yes, there are often a lot of empty boxes on trains heading to the ports, although this is sometimes offset by some quite heavy loaded export containers filled with things like chemical products of various kinds (bulk industrial chemicals, pesticides, cleaning materials, coatings, paint, toiletries). I think it was previously common to fill export containers with material for recycling in China, until they placed restrictions on waste imports - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China's_waste_import_ban

Picking a random example from the past week (when all wagons were loaded), 4L45 to Felixstowe was 1063 tons including loco, 4E45 from Felixstowe 1438 tons including loco. Given that a lot of the weight is the actual train itself, that's quite a big difference in the contents.
 
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Peter0124

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Would each of those freight containers leaving Felixstowe have actually been in another part of the world (eg China)? Or are the goods repackaged into other container boxes then sent abroad (which would seem pointless)

Because if so, then those container boxes must get around the globe a lot!
 
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Numbskull100

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Adrian Barr said:
Yes, there are often a lot of empty boxes on trains heading to the ports, although this is sometimes offset by some quite heavy loaded export containers filled with things like chemical products of various kinds (bulk industrial chemicals, pesticides, cleaning materials, coatings, paint, toiletries). I think it was previously common to fill export containers with material for recycling in China, until they placed restrictions on waste imports - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China's_waste_import_ban

Picking a random example from the past week (when all wagons were loaded), 4L45 to Felixstowe was 1063 tons including loco, 4E45 from Felixstowe 1438 tons including loco. Given that a lot of the weight is the actual train itself, that's quite a big difference in the contents.
Click to expand...
Check out a 4L69, Lawley Street to Felixstowe.

Regularly (daily) 1800t +.

We assume it's containers full of scrap, but don't know for sure.
 
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sh24

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Peter0124 said:
Would each of those freight containers leaving Felixstowe have actually been in another part of the world (eg China)? Or are the goods repackaged into other container boxes then sent abroad (which would seem pointless)

Because if so, then those container boxes must get around the globe a lot!
Click to expand...

I've stood in a factory in China watching a container get loaded, and then seen it unloaded 8 weeks later in the UK. ISO containers can, and literally do, go almost anywhere.
 
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Class 170101

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Numbskull100 said:
Check out a 4L69, Lawley Street to Felixstowe.

Regularly (daily) 1800t +.

We assume it's containers full of scrap, but don't know for sure.
Click to expand...
Must be one of the few heading in that direction that loads to 1800 tonnes. In my limited experience its one of a small minority that do towards Felixstowe.
 
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Adrian Barr

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DimTim said:
BBC tracked a container some years ago
Click to expand...

Peter0124 said:
those container boxes must get around the globe a lot!
Click to expand...

I was surprised to stumble on a website that acts as a portal to various shipping websites, allowing you to track containers for some of the big shipping lines:
https://www.track-trace.com/container

Although you can't see the contents, customer or ultimate delivery origin / destination (which is hardly surprising), the ports of loading and discharge, vessels used and also some UK rail journeys are visible, giving an idea of how containers travel the world.

Containers used on domestic intermodal (e.g. from Daventry) or European traffic are less likely to be online, but for deep sea traffic through the major ports, as an example the commonly seen Maersk and MSC containers are online. I used that website a while back to look up some container numbers that were visible in photos I'd taken of passing trains.

For example, these are notes I made on a couple of containers seen on a train bound for London Gateway, after I checked them online a couple of weeks later to see where they'd gone:

22/07/21
4L00 16:47 Doncaster Railport - London Gateway

MSDU8102734 on FWA 7045202137 will be loaded aboard MSC Pina destined for HAZIRA PORT/SURAT, Gujurat, India

MSC box MSDU7891263 is loaded to FEA 650021. It will be loaded to the Marchen Maersk for Jebel Ali, Dubai.
As of 7th August, this vessel was in the red sea, having passed through the Suez canal, expected to call at Oman en-route to Dubai.

---------------

And the same for one of the import containers from Felixstowe:

26/07/21
66418 arrives at Doncaster Railport with 4E56 15:46 from Felixstowe North.
Maersk 40ft high cube box MRKU6141801 is the rear container on 4E56. It has arrived into Felixstowe after
a three-week journey from Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Container History:
Colombo (Colombo Intl Contr Tml) Gate in 02 Jul 2021 05:12
Load on MATZ MAERSK / 124W 04 Jul 2021 06:56
Felixstowe (FELIXSTOWE TRINITY TERMINAL) Discharge 25 Jul 2021 06:18
Felixstowe (FELIXSTOWE TRINITY TERMINAL) Gate out 26 Jul 2021 14:41
Doncaster (DONCASTER FREIGHTLINER) Gate in 26 Jul 2021 20:58
Doncaster (DONCASTER FREIGHTLINER) Gate out 29 Jul 2021 10:00

--------------

To expand the possibilities of tracking, you can take note of the ship which had the container loaded to it, and track that ship on the "Marine Traffic" website:

This link should bring up a live map of UK waters, where you can zoom in, hover over vessels to see what they are, and click for more details:
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-6.8/centery:54.5/zoom:5

For example this is the page for the MATZ MAERSK container ship mentioned above, currently en-route to Singapore (you can click a link on the page to view its current location on the live map (currently heading around the Cape of Good Hope):
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ai...mmsi:219019365/imo:9619983/vessel:MATZ_MAERSK

For the container tracking, these are some example numbers of containers used by MSC which can be tracked directly on their website:

MSDU8102734
MSDU7891263
CAIU7124031
MEDU6315435

https://www.msc.com/en/track-a-shipment

--------------

And some Maersk examples:

MRKU6141801
MRSU5013373
MRSU4441314

https://www.maersk.com/tracking/

-----------------------

For an insight into the kind of places where containers are collected and delivered in the UK, the YouTube trucking channel "Raul689" has some interesting videos about container work, visiting ports and sometimes rail container terminals, along with the end customers where containers are loaded and emptied:
https://www.youtube.com/@Raul689/search?query=containers

For Port operations, the YouTube channel for London Gateway has some good videos (including a speeded-up cab ride into the rail terminal, time-lapse footage of the gantry cranes in the rail terminal, and loading containers onto ships at the quayside).
https://www.youtube.com/@londongateway/videos

Their "Secret Life of London Gateway" playlist has some interesting short videos showing the operation of various equipment, including the rail terminal cranes, straddle carriers, and other machines that move boxes around the port: https://www.youtube.com/@londongateway/playlists
 
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