CARIBBEAN TODAY


~ A Caribbean Today advertising feature


KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC -
Controversy has erupted over
a decision by the Jamaica gov-
ernment to import low-cost
fertilizer from the United
States, which Agriculture
Minister Dr. Chris Tufton
has revealed is made with
human waste.
 The matter, which was the
subject of heated debate in
the Parliament recently, has
spilled out of the chamber,
with Opposition Leader Portia
Simpson Miller demanding
that Prime Minister Bruce
Golding provide answers to
the country.
 Simpson-Miller, speaking
at a People's National Party
(PNP) workers mrn L l i said
she was extremely concerned
that the fertilizer, containing
human excrement, had


 T Simpson Miller

Tuftton

tor.?Her statement came
hours after Roger Clarke,
Opposition spokesman on
agriculture, sought answers
from Tufton during debate in
the House.
 "Human faeces (import-


 ed) to Jamaica,
 I am asking out
 of the interests
 of not just the
 Jamaican
 farmer but the
 Jamaican peo-
 ple, what is the
 protocol in
 place with the
 use of it?" asked
 Clarke.
 Tufton stout-
 ly defended the
imports and insisted that the
product, made primarily from
domestic sludge and waste
water, has been tested by the
U.S. authorities.
 Clarke called for tests to
be conducted locally on the
fertilizer.
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Jamaica importing fertilizer with

 human waste ~ minister


(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13)

COMPATIBILITY
 The concept also had to be
compatible with existing equip-
ment for intermodal trans-
port.?Speed was another con-
cern.
 "We wanted to keep the
folding and unfolding time to
within three to four minutes,"
he said. The watertight con-
tainer, which is fabricated from
Corten steel like the standard
container and equals its
strength, opens upward to
allow top loading of commodi-
ties.? A system to collapse and
erect the container also had to
be conceptualized.
 "We designed a base sta-
tion or special platform to fold
and unfold the container hori-
zontally within the target time
of three to four minutes,"
Chawla said. "The system,
 which could be
 hydraulic-based, helps
 collapse the container
 automatically."
 It takes a


Edited from an article
written by Kathlyn
Horibe and published
recently on Caribbean
Shipping Inc's website.
p


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semi-skilled person half a day
to one day to be trained on the
base station, said Avinder
Bindra of Simpri Investments
Ltd., who financed the contain-
er project. A former banker,
Bindra approached IIT, one of
India's best engineering
schools, about taking on the
challenge. He felt collapsible
containers could improve the
logistics and decrease the cost
of backhauling empty contain-
ers.
 The shipping industry
spends a great deal of time and
money repositioning empty con-
tainers. If trade were balanced,
there would be no empties. But
trade imbalance has resulted in
approximately 2.5 million TEUs
of empty boxes stored in yards
worldwide with empties com-
prising 20 percent to 23 percent
of the movement of containers
around the world.
 According to research con-
ducted by International Asset
Systems, the average container
is idle or undergoing reposi-
tioning for more than 50 per-
cent of its lifespan. It also
 determined shipping
 companies spend $16
 billion in repositioning
 empties. To compen-
 sate for these costs, car-
 riers add surcharges to
S freight rates. These
 range between $100
 and $1,000 per TEU.
 It is estimated that if
 75 percent of empty
 containers were folded
 by 2010, the result
 would be a yearly sav-
 ing in shipping of 25
 million TEUs, or 50
 percent of the total vol-
 ume of empty contain-
 68 cl ers shipped.


Collapsible shipping container

could transform cargo trade


 OWEN TAYLOR
 Principal Agent

4004 Al ,1. C, a D^nA 0fl d -Qi


lou via vuter oa %uMe 4m
 Palmetto Bay, Florida 33157
 305.232.8222
 Fax: 305.232.9334
 Cell: 786.512.0174
 otaylor@bellsouth.net


March 2009


 ................ ........ -
i p p i n G