Students report UK-China leg of the Box

School Reporters interview Scott Wu about the container port

Students from Norfolk and Shanghai went dockside for the latest news on the shipping container which the BBC are tracking around world.

Find out more about the BBC Box

Pupils from Neatherd High School and Nanyang Middle School interviewed sales manager Scott Wu from the NYK shipping line about the UK-China leg of the Box's global journey.

Report by Tony from Nanyang Middle School

More twinning details on the World Class website

Below is a report written by five students from Neatherd High School in Norfolk, who visited the Box in Shanghai's container port.

By Evie, Sam, Sarah, Courtenay and Sian from Neatherd High School, Dereham

The Box is here! Amidst the maze of towering blocks of containers, stacked seven containers up, and noticeable for its red and white livery, sat the BBC's container.

After spending at least a week crossing the British Isles from Scotland to Southampton, the Box spent a further four weeks crossing the waves to reach China's east coast - and we thought that our ten hour flight from Amsterdam was long and tiring.

Stacking up

The young reporters were excited to see the Box being moved

Frank Xu and Scott Wu, deputy general managers of NYK Logistics, an international container mega-carrier, welcomed us to their offices in central Shanghai, before we drove to their depot at the port.

The huge 1.95 kilometre-squared terminal, which is the largest in the world, is managed by a computer system to keep track of almost 40,000 containers' operations per day; that's approximately 28.5 million units of freight per year.

Keeping track

A forklift soon arrived to lower the Box, which stood amongst the sea of blue, green, black and white containers. Alas, the whisky had already gone and was being delivered around the city.

As we walked inside, we were intrigued by a GPS device welded to the inside corner, which is tracking the Box's travels. Every other container is identified by a code printed onto its side and must be identified, stacked and checked without any such technology.

Mr Scott said that containers are occasionally lost, both at sea and in the towering skyline at ports, but they that are always discovered after an immediate investigation, with support of a computer system, affectionately known as OSCAR (One System to Cover All Regions). He added that it's a rare occurrence.

Dangerous waters

Fortunately, the vessel didn't come under threat from pirates in the South China Sea. Nonetheless the ship is equipped with the latest technology in controlling piracy: a water cannon. "A very power water gun!" claims Scott Wu.

We sometimes hear of stowaways hiding in these large containers, but Shanghai is lucky enough to have an x-ray scanner, capable of searching any container in just five minutes.

Cultural exchange

School Reporters line up in front of the Box before it sets off again

As for our stay in Shanghai, we can only say that the difference between London and Shanghai is as great as the difference between Dereham and London. Our lives in Norfolk seem so far removed from this city and the students at Nanyang Middle School.

We know that while whisky is among the most common British exports to China, they send us so much. To see how closely bound we are, both economically and in our daily lives, is incredible.

Shanghai is only the first step on the Box's tour of the globe and its working schedule will carry it over 50,000 nautical miles (90,000km), or twice around the world. The next step? Los Angeles, in the USA, full of consumer goods from China.

More about the exchange visit in the school blog

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites