5 minute read
Containerisation
A sailor’s lament
Half a century ago, the maritime world changed forever with the introduction of the now-ubiquitous 20-foot container, recalls Peter Hay.
Author Peter Hay spent three happy years crewing aboard Australian Venture, seen here entering Sydney Harbour. Image J Y Freeman – R A Priest/ NAA Collection When I signed up, travel was one of the main incentives to go to sea
IN 1969, AT LUNCHTIME on a lovely spring day, I was in the garden of the Watson’s Bay Hotel, overlooking Sydney Harbour. A new ship came around South Head, and it looked a picture. It was one of the first Overseas Container Line ships – Endeavour Bay, I think. The accommodation and funnel still had a few curves, and the containers were only stacked four high, which give it a balanced look. Its green hull really set off the ship’s good lines. It was discussed for a couple of minutes and then the conversation reverted to the forthcoming cricket season. The Americans had invented shipping containers and Australia launched the world’s first purpose-built cellular container ship, Kooringa, in 1965. However, the concept really took off once overseas vessels began carrying the now-ubiquitous 20-foot (6-metre) containers. Containerisation arguably marks the biggest shift in capital and labour since the industrial revolution nearly three centuries ago. Until containers arrived in Australia, comparatively small bulk carriers brought iron ore from the west and south coasts to the steel mills on the east coast. We made our own steel and then built our own ships, rolling stock and most of our heavy industrial equipment. Likewise, we made most of our consumer goods, cars, whitegoods and clothes. Since Australian tankers also brought Australian oil to and from Australian refineries, the nation was largely self-sufficient – only luxury goods or specialised equipment were imported. These days, thanks to the cost efficiencies of containerisation, it is cheaper to ship all the raw materials overseas to where the labour costs are lowest, then bring the finished goods back in containers. The fact that this process is not good for the environment is only just beginning to be recognised.
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01 Loading cargo ‘BC’ (Before Containers): Wharfies positioning wool bales in the cargo hold of the Magdalene Vinnen, Samuel J Hood Studio, 1933. ANMM Collection 00035586
02 Loading cargo ‘AD’ (After Derricks): The first container ship to visit Australia was Encounter Bay, which arrived at Fremantle, WA, on 28 March 1969. Image courtesy Fremantle Port Authority
Containers have also reshaped the geography of our cities. With the highly artificial exception of Canberra, all our major cities were built around ports. The wharves came first and the towns radiated outwards. With the large areas and extra depth needed for container terminals, the older wharves became too small. Many of the terminals have moved to ‘greenfield’ sites, sometimes on reclaimed land outside the city. The once-numerous wharfies have now been largely replaced by mechanisation. Their harbourside cottages and terraces have been snapped up as waterfront homes, while the derelict city wharves became prime real estate.
The rollicking, roistering dockside boozers have now been sterilised, sanitised and gentrified. The Rock and Roll Hotel in Woolloomooloo (now the Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel) and Monty’s in Pyrmont (now the Pyrmont Bridge Hotel, close to the museum) are not what they used to be. At least they are still going – Covid-19 restrictions notwithstanding. Jim Buckley’s Newcastle Hotel, among others which I used to visit, has long since gone. It should have earned a heritage listing on account of the people who drank there – among them Arthur Streeton, Clive James, Germaine Greer, Robert Hughes, Norman Lindsay, Richard Walsh and Richard Neville. Perhaps I rubbed shoulders with them – I may even have spilled beer over their shoes! Back at sea, in 1959 my first circumnavigation in the Saxon Star took eight months. Even though it made only 11 knots, it still gave us many happy weeks in ports on four continents. When every crate or bale had to be manually handled into the centre of a hatch, then hooked onto a wire which was hoisted by the derricks, it proved to be a lengthy process. In some countries the work ethic of the wharfies greatly lengthened the process. Fast forward 20 years and my next circumnavigation was on a ‘box’ boat, the Australian Venture. It took only 86 days. Even at nearly 23 knots, we still spent the majority of time at sea. We did 15 ports, and a second night in any city was a rarity. With a schedule like that, the ‘young bloods’ on board never had a chance to sample local harbourside ‘culture’. At about the same time as 20-foot containers started going round the world, the first Boeing 707 – followed soon after by the first 747 – trundled down the runway in Seattle. Until then, air transport was very expensive and most business passengers and immigrants went by sea in passenger liners. With the growing economies of scale, it became cheaper to fly for business and increasingly for pleasure. The last Ashes team to travel to England by ship was captained by Richie Benaud – in 1961. To stay in business, the passenger liners had to become cruise liners.
When I signed up, travel was one of the main incentives to go to sea. There was very little overseas tourism and apart from other sailors, we enjoyed many ports largely to ourselves. You had to learn to speak a bit of the local language, because not many of the residents spoke English. You had to eat their food and drink their grog because that’s all there was. ‘Abroad’ used to be different; now it just seems to be the next suburb in the Global Village. I would love to go back to the Antarctic, but I wonder about the changes. Port Lockroy, an old British base, has been restored as a museum. Great idea, but with two tourist ships a day at the height of the season – plus a souvenir shop – it will not be the same. It’s not often that a seemingly insignificant fact can mark a turning point in your life. That green-hulled ship in 1969 certainly signalled a new era of seafaring. In my time at sea, the first 13 years BC (Before Containers) turned out to be much more interesting and varied than my subsequent 41 years AD (After Derricks). Still, I count myself lucky that I had that baker’s dozen of adventurous years.
Peter Hay is a retired merchant mariner and pilot. The original version of this article was published in The Log, quarterly magazine of the Nautical Association of Australia, Volume 50, Number 3 (2017).
