I ■m» iiifcjuiiifaiiiffiiia estimate, although covered space appears to be in the region of 9,000 metres An additional external covered storage area of 13,000 metres2 is rented in the 's-Her- togenbosch district, but this is used for export and home stocking. Record container stuffing time by one loader using a fork-lift truck ats-Hertogen- bosch is nine minutes, and for palletised cartons loading time for a 35-box or 40-footer varies between 9 and 15 minutes. Because of the by now familiar problem of not being able to stack one pallet layer on top of another in containers, Heineken prefers to use 40-footers whenever possible. For the individual man-handling of unpalletised cartons into 20-footers five man working hours have to be allowed. Even so, the bulk of movements to the important Canadian market consists of 20-footers, for which a lump-sum-per-box freight rate applies. From 70 up to 100 cartons, each containing 24 cans or bottles, are stacked on a 100 x 120 cms standard pallet. For all deepsea destinations other than the US 21 pallets are loaded into a 40-footer, but for the US only, the pallet loading factor is restricted to 19, because of highway regulations. Stacked weight of a pallet is about 1,000 kilos. The weight factors achieved vary accor ding to the construction of any container, but Heineken reckons to load 20-footers with an average of 18 tonnes. It comes perhaps as something of a surprise to learn that on occasions reefers are used for winter shipments to Canada, to ensure that beer is kept above freezing point. Two brands of lager, Heineken and Amstel, are brewed in the Netherlands, and the company has a significant interest in breweries in Singapore, from where Heineken and Amstel are shipped to other areas of the Far and Mid-East. Container movements through Singapore are edging-up towards the 1,000 per year level, and Heineken reports little difficulty in obtaining box capacity from Singapore to the Mid-East. Container shipments from the Netherlands are made to all US ports, to the Canadian east and west coasts, to central and Latin America, the Caribbean, Australasia and Africa. Standing completely on its own forwar ding feet. Heineken deals direct with carriers and liner agents, and is so familiar with the beer shipping trade that it is quite capable of negotiating rates on the basis of its considerable expertise. Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Antwerp are Heineken's exit ports, according to the availability of sailings. Heineken prefers not to commit itself to signing conference contracts, but prefers to place most of its shipments with conference lines. Roll out the barrel At first sight an investigator into the beer shipping scene would probably not expect that a large-scale beer shipper such as Heineken would consider it worthwhile to ship the draught variety of the beverage in steel barrels across the North Atlantic, and to bear the cost of shipping them back empty to its Dutch breweries. This is exactly what Heineken does for the US market only. Notwithstanding the cost, the process is partly justified on marketing grounds because Heineken feels that its brands are so well known in the US that it is advantageous to consolidate its sales of bottled and canned lagers by ensuring that its own draught beer is also available to American consumers. The nationwide marketing and distribu tion system created by a Dutchman, Leo van Munching, who is the sole Heineken importer into the US, is so strong that it is capable of coping with tasks such as quality control and cleansing which arise when beer is delivered to retailers in barrels. Each full barrel weighs 65 kilos. Environmentalists please note, the old- fashioned barrel avoids the need for piles of throw-away packaging. Overall the container is playing a vital role in the distribution of beer, and the continuing upturn in the popularity throughout the world of Continental-type lager is certain to generate a rising graph of cargo for carriers. In the case of breweries such as Heineken, whose beers have taken the No 1 spot in imported beer into the US, there is little doubt that their achievement in introducing European-brewed beers into foreign markets rests to a large extent on the efficacy of distribution methods geared to large-scale container movements.

Jaarverslagen en Personeelsbladen Heineken

Heineken Contact | 1980 | | pagina 7