Niche Logistics Containers

Niche Logistics containers started appearing around 6 months ago running primarily between Perth and Melbourne, with the some boxes running Perth to Sydney.  

It has taken me a while to get a shot, but finally, I scored FMHU 120232-1 on PS7 earlier this week.

The boxes are coded FMHU, with the FMH prefix representing the ownership of Niche by FMH Group.  Also within FMH group are large road transport companies like Bagtrans and Border Express. 

Based on sighting, there appears to be between 30-40 bright green general purpose 48ft containers with Niche, and 5 x curtain siders.  

Enjoy!

 

Wridgways

After going into liquidation in mid 2021, Wridgways containers quickly got rebranded to Royal Wolf after only being in service for about 24 months.  
From what I have seen, this batch was numbered from 401-750 or there abouts, with the WWRW code.  

Anyway, it is pretty rare to see a fully marked one still getting around as most have been rebranded with the Royal Wolf logo.  The below sightings are from May 2024. 

WWRW 000459 - In original condition

RWTU 000601 with the Royal Wolf logo

RWLU 000691 with the logo and HIRE ME panel.  I believe the 'L' stands for Wold Lock, which is a anti-theft design of door lock applied by Royal Wolf.

Prior to the green WWRW boxes, early Wridgways were a royal blue colour container and were coded WWTR and in the 990000 series.  There are also WWSF series which appear to be numbered pre 000400 series (probably 000001-000400), which were a light grey colour.  Many of these boxes were painted green prior to liquidation.

 

New Breeze Reefers - 10 Years on!

Its hard to believe that the little eskimo on Breeze Logistics (BRZC) containers started appearing 10 years ago.  I have documented the Breeze fleet here on my blog, and it is with great excitement to report new Breeze marked containers.  

During May (2024) a number of new SCFU 46'6 reefers have appears with the eskimo.  Similar to the last batch that appeared in 2020, these too have the SCFU markings rather than BRZC markings.  

Sighted so far are SCFU 823216-0, 823219-6, 823220-0, so possibly at least 5 units if they are sequential.  

These are fitted with a Carrier Vector refrigeration unit and stand out with the bright orange 40ft lifting posts.  

Enjoy!

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Classic SSR Combo

Due to a derailment in Cootamundra, the mainline loco was blocked in the yard, resulting in a whole bunch of branchliners continuing the train from Lake Cargelligo to Maldon.  

Here are a couple of quick shots in the Cullerin Ranges between Goulburn and Yass NSW.  

Enjoy!

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DHL Container

Never seen one of these before.  GLQU 101022-1 is a 22G1 type container painted for DHL.  Sticker on the side say 'Bulk Liquid Handle with Care".  

Enjoy!

Funky Load!

You don't get cool loads like this very often on the east coast.  I have seen photos of these same loads going to WA in recent months.

Here we have RQJW 60016 loaded with an Austrans special.  An SLZU 800000 series flatrack, carrying a VATN 48ft container skel trailer, carrying another SLZU flatrack, carrying another VATN skel trailer.  

Super cool load.  These two were likely headed to Brisbane, and another two were on a following MB4 service also.

Enjoy!

 

StraitLink Reefer Recodes

Noticed during March that some of the StraitLink 40+ reefers are being recoded and numbered to ISO standards.  It was only a few months ago that the newest units started getting logos as discussed in my post here.

Formerly TSHR (Toll Shipping), they are now coded SLHR (StraitLink), and have had a prefix added to the old number, plus a check letter.  I'm not entirely sure why the older unit has a 10 prefix and the new unit has a 40 prefix although maybe as more are converted the logic will become clear?

Newish unit TSHR 2201 is now SLHR 402201-9.

Former TSHR 1414 is now SLHR 101414-9.  

Enjoy!

Trigg Island SLSC

Scored this special box on PS7 the other morning.  Cronos box CXDU 112127-1 (45G1) painted up for Trigg Island SLSC WA.   

Enjoy!

Beacon Boxes

Following on from my previous post about the CAI and Beacon merger, I thought I would share a variety of Beacon container photos.  Most of these carry the BEAU code and all are 45G1 type.

Worth noting in my previous post, the brown BEAU container is sporting the most recent Beacon logo compared to the ones below.  

BEAU 420184-4 in the standard brown.  Seem there was a block of these around the 420 series.

BEAU 508988-9 is another stock standard brown container.

BEAU 537072-5 was a series of blue coloured containers which seemed to run in the 535-537 series.  Not sure if they were blue for a customer or just a colour change.  

Possibly built as BMOU 424829-7, this box was a former Hanjin container.  The markings suggest it was always a Beacon lease container.  

They even come in pink.  BEAU 525993-8 is marked for ONE and would no doubt be in a series.

I remember when I first saw these hybrid marked containers.  Obviously brown for Beacon but marked for CMA CGM (in the old style when the new logo was already appearing).  This style of marking is also very common for TS Lines who generally keep the leasing company colours but as TS Lines to the side of the box.  Anyway, a stack of these came out in the 400-413 series.  Here is the highest numbered one I have seen, being 413411-3.

Another brown CMA, this time BEAU 400043-4.

They came in blue also, and with the new logo.  There is a small Beacon logo on the end of this BEAU 467637-2.  The series appears to be 467-468.

Finishing with a strange one, this box is lettered for MSC and marked MSC, but has a Beacon logo on the end door.  MEDU 945044-4 is likely a lease box since it is in reverse MSC colours, being brown with yellow letter rather than yellow with black letters.  Ultimately not dissimilar to the CMA brown boxes.  

These are just a few shots I had at my finger tips.  Enjoy!

CAI and Beacon Merger

Despite being relatively old new, on 1st January 2023, Mitsubishi HC Capital announced that it was merging CAI International and Beacon Intermodal, both major shipping container leasing companies.  The end result is that Beacon will disappear and CAI will become the third largest container leasing company in the world (behind Triton and Textainer and moving ahead of Florens and Seaco). with more than 3.5m TEU in their fleet.

Only recently have I started noticing the new CAI logo which is clearly the Beacon logo but with CAI lettering.  Today I shot a couple of pre-merger containers and a new logo also.

This new logo container is Beacon brown but with CAAU lettering.  It isn't confirmed if the colour scheme will remain red or brown, as this may have been a container that was on order at the time of the merger so could be a hybrid.  Note the logo is very Beacon-ish but with CAI lettering.

An older BEAU 45G1 container with the recent Beacon logo.  It is worth noting that Beacon had similar containers but in a royal blue (CMA CGM blue), and also had plenty of BEAU containers marked for customers including CMA CGM (in both blue and brown livery), and ONE (pink livery).

A pretty recent CAAU 45G1 CAI red container.  Time will tell if CAI keep the red livery or of everything but the name will mimic the Beacon brand.   Pre CAAU code, CAIU was standard, with some being marked for TS Lines (Red with CAI logo and TS Lines logo) and marked for CMA CGM (blue).

Enjoy!