Follow that box!

[Kelvin Davies]

The BBC (British Broadcasting Corp) has come up with a project to follow a container for a year, to see what happens to the average container, where it goes, what it carries etc.
They painted a standard 20 foot container with the BBC logo, fitted a GPS and a transmitter and will track the box on its travels around the world as a working container.
The container industry's organisation, CSIS, and NYK have helped the BBC set up this project.
The container will start its journey from Southampton, although the BBC have not mentioned when this will be.
Full story here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7600180.stm

[David Harrison]

Having worked in the transport business using containers, hopefully we may see it inland as well as on ships! :lol:

[Guest]

kelvin wrote:
The BBC (British Broadcasting Corp) has come up with a project to follow a container for a year, to see what happens to the average container, where it goes, what it carries etc.
They painted a standard 20 foot container with the BBC logo, fitted a GPS and a transmitter and will track the box on its travels around the world as a working container.
The container industry's organisation, CSIS, and NYK have helped the BBC set up this project.
The container will start its journey from Southampton, although the BBC have not mentioned when this will be.
Full story here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7600180.stm

Hi Kelvin

Will it be a 'put up job' though - I mean, can you imagine if it makes one trip, say from Tyne to Felixstowe and ends up sitting in a storage area for 11 months - now that won't be much in the way of entertainment. I'll bet there is every attempt to have the container moving at all times during its 12 months coverage  :lol:

Regards

[Mike]

I had to smile this morning when on the TV's breakfast show  Declane proudly informed the nation the container was going to Scotland to be 'filled with Whiskey to the roof ' before returning to Southampton.
So all thieves watch out for a bright red container, and in case you see more than one red containers the one you want has BBC on the side,and it's full of whiskey!
Incase you can not find it, the BBC fitted a tracker so it can be found on the BBC web site!

Am I missing something!  :-)

[David Harrison]

As I mentioned before - I hope it goes by road - hic! 8-)

[Kelvin Davies]

It seems you may have got your wish; today it is in the Glasgow area.
Kelvin

[Alan Smillie]

Afternoon of the 28th Sept 2008.

The BBC Box already left Southampton on the 24th Sept with The Whisky on board and is at this moment off the Algerian coast bound for the Suez canal and onward to china, she is onboard the container vessel "Copenhagen Express"

[Bob Scott]

I suppose it was inevitable that a "glam" cargo would be found for this tv-star box. In my last three months as a trucker before I retired, I was hauling containers for OOCL that were coming from and going to China. Only once in that period did I take an export box that was not loaded with rubbish  - scrap metal and waste paper.
In tonnage (rather than value) terms rubbish must be the UKs biggest export to the Far East. I suppose it would not have made such good tv to have the box being loaded in a dirty, smelly waste recyling plant!

[David Harrison]

Hi Bob

I know what you mean.   The containers I dealt with had non-descript loads in them as well.

Now that the container is now far away from our shores, I guess I shall have to stop watching the container trains that travel along the Tyne Valley Line as they head south to Immingam and Lowestoft

[Bob Scott]

I would suggest that most of the southbound container trains you see on the ECML are heading for Felixstowe (for the attention of our webmaster Derek) and some for Tilbury, Thamesport or Southampton.
Immingham? Perhaps but I don't think many container trains (or ships) go to Lowestoft.

[David Harrison]

Hi Bob

You're right'

I've only recently returned from Lowestoft and it's still on my mind.

[Alan Smillie]

The BBC Box arrives Shanghai, China on board the  "Copenhagen Express"
wonder what she'll get this time, with the current world financial climate looking a bit dull to say the least and world trade taking a blow she might come home empty.   :-(  lets see.

Cheers, Alan.

[Kelvin Davies]

Finally, after just over a year, the BBC box has returned to London, having travelled by road from Southampton to London.

[Bob Scott]

Let me guess what was in it: cheap, plastic crap for Christmas presents. When I was driving container lorries, this, in the lead-up to Christmas, was a very busy time and, in my experience,cheap, plastic crap was the usual load (maybe they didn't trust me with the high-value stuff like computers and Nintendos!).
I would be most interested, though, to learn what is in that box when it leaves the UK and for where it is headed. But I suppose that, now the box is back in Blighty, the story ends.

[Kelvin Davies]

Bob,
Re where it will end up next.
In short, it is going to be someone's house.
The box is going by road today to Reading to be repainted and tarted up, then it is going to Africa (I think South Africa) as some sort of temporary accommodation.