Spring 2015 1

Welcome to the 2015 edition of Notes and Queries, the annual

newsletter of the GA Independent Schools Special Interest Group.

As in common with most years, many of the articles published

here have been written by members of the Geographical Associa-

tion’s Independent Schools Special Interest Group (GA ISSIG).

Others have been written by various other friends and colleagues

from the Independent sector.

The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Making an Impact’ and pro-

vides the opportunity to reflect on the geography young people

encounter and engage with and the relevance it has to their every-

day lives and experiences whatever their age or ethnicity back-

ground. President Mark Higginbottom feels that the time is right

to take stock, seek the views of young people and celebrate our

successes. We also have to ensure geography is seen by young

people to be so much more than just another school subject or

academic discipline?

As an Geographical Association interest group, ISSIG is always

looking for new members to widen our focus. We are well repre-

sented by HMC Schools, but anyone expressing an interest would

be welcome to join us as would representatives of girls and prep

schools. A list of current members can be found on the GA web-

site.

This newsletter has also published electronically as a PDF as well

as a paper version and can be found by going to the ISSIG page on

the GA website either by using this

link http://goo.gl/cGQHYL or

using a suitable QR Code reader app

on your smart device. Scan this QR

code will take you to the GA ISSIG

page on the GA website.

Have a good conference,

Rob Morris

Editorial:

Notes and Queries The Newsletter of the Geographical Association Independent Schools Special Interest Group

Contents:

Geography and the Aha

Effect—Andrew Lee

2

Technology and A

Level Geography—Alan

Parkinson

5

Rain Forests: Worth more

than a packet of crisps—Andrew Callander

10

Fieldwork in Morocco—

Charterhouse 6th form

Geographers

14

Containerisation: The

Unsung Hero of Globalisa-

tion –Rob Morris

19

Spring 2015 2

Geography and the Aha Effect

I started the conversation with him in the following way:

“Recently I have been working on a difficult problem, today I come here to do

battle against that problem with you” We discussed every aspect of this prob-

lem. Then suddenly I understood where the key to this problem lay. Next day I

came back to him again and said to him without even saying hello, "thank you.

I've completely solved the problem.”

—Albert Einstein, How I created the theory of relativity, 1922.

Geography is an exciting science because of the synergies that it ne-

cessitates between three entities: existing facts (including spatial un-

derstanding), a given conundrum and insight. Triangulating these

three points produces a gestalt moment and whereupon they lock

into a perspective where the total is greater than the sum of its

parts. The finding of this synergy constitutes the geographical ‘magic’

of the discipline.

The Aha Effect / Eureka moment

The Eureka moment is a valuable experience and educational teach-

ing tool because it contains a moment of revelation that the pupil or

practitioner owns. The dawning or the moment of realisation is

deeply satisfying in that something is added at the moment of dis-

covery which rewards the thinker with a great sense of achievement

in terms of making either a discovery, or at least the building of a

plausible theory that might be validated. Even if the Eureka moment

leads to debunking, this is not wasted effort because the debunking

of a highly plausible suggestion is in itself a useful discovery.

The exploration of a geographical conundrum shifts back to (1) the

need to marshal facts, i.e. knowing what one needs to know, and

knowing it; (2) clearly articulating a question and (3) searching for

insight. This is why the geographical mode of thinking or ‘thinking

like a geographer,’ both require higher level thinking skills and pro-

vides the exciting Eureka moment when understanding is gleaned.

Whether focusing on human or physical aspects of the discipline,

geographers are nomothetic, that is to say they are theory and

model builders in the first instance and speculative in nature.

Through their understanding of the world they attempt to under-

stand more of the world, whilst realising that any new understanding

might call into question the precepts from which they began. Ironi-

cally, initial understandings may compromise or obfuscate the com-

ing to know a consequent truth and so, insightful geographical think-

ing requires not only a degree of sagacity, but also a kind of wiliness,

subterfuge or irreverence in a Cartesian sense of mistrusting what

Dr Andrew Lee is cur-

rently Head of Geogra-

phy at Sussex House

School. He holds a

doctorate from the

University of Oxford

where he read social

geography. He is a Fel-

low of the Royal Geo-

graphical Society and a

Chartered Geographer.

He is the editor of

SATIPS Geography and

produces a website

called thinkingeogra-

phy.com.

Spring 2015 3

one knows in the event that orthodoxy hides truth. The geographical modus operan-

di then needs to be something of a ongoing dialectical process where discovery

shapes questioning and questioning shapes discovery.

But what does such an epistemology mean on the ground for geographical instruc-

tion and investigation?

Firstly, it means that geographical pedagogy needs to enable pupils to understand

that they are on a quest for eureka moments and that to arrive at these moments

requires them initially to be aware of what they know and what they don't (and

how to address their limits of knowledge) and indeed to be aware that there are

things they don’t know they don’t know!

Secondly, a clear line of enquiry is required. However, a question is both a posed

problem, and a problem in itself insofar as it there is always a difficulty in knowing

what the real question has to be until one grasps the nature and scale of an issue

itself. How does one know what to focus on, before the field is investigated? If

searching for real drivers of change in China, for example, how can there be head-

way until there is a grasp of Chinese geography, society, economic development and

history. For it might turn out, for example, that the overwhelming driver relates

something else, which should instead be the focus of the question. Indeed a line of

enquiry may need to change as a better understanding of the variables at stake,

emerges.

Thirdly, and this is perhaps the most interesting bit, how are pupils to be prepared

for Eureka moments? Whilst we may not expect all candidates to have Einsteinian

epiphanies, it is possible to get them to exercise their capacity to to ask questions

such as, “What if…” “Maybe….” or “I think there might be a relationship between

such and such, and such and such.”

Moving pupils into this speculative domain requires two things. It requires teachers

to create imaginative spaces where it’s OK to be wrong, and it requires teachers to

model this kind of thinking behaviour. Pupils need to see their teachers thinking

speculatively, being imaginative, being theoretical, adventurous and even intellectual-

ly subversive. It also needs them to model mistake making and recovery! Thinking

like a geographer is in part learnt through apprenticeship and exemplar. The pro-

cess is of course less getting it right and more about developing an attitude that

fosters the making of unexpected connections and nurtures heterodoxy. Educators

are able to operate in this way for their ‘trainees’ through talking through their

own theories and ideas and even writing essays in real time on a projected screen

whilst articulating, openly, the thought processes that are being undergone including

the backtracking, identifying error, avoidance of red herrings, corrections and cross-

ing out (or paragraph deleting). Whilst potentially a little confronting, pupils re-

spond well to this kind of immediacy and helps them to validate the processes that

they themselves are honing and they can see how the teacher struggles with pulling

a good answer together in the requisite amount of time. Not only does this have

Spring 2015 4

the advantage of demonstrating the active processes of thinking, connection making and

sagacity, it also has the capacity on a pragmatic level of showing pupils how they might

manage their time.

It’s also a useful process for the teacher to revisit the challenges his or her pupils are

having to go through and at the end he or she may even take critical comment on the

essay as well as offering his or her own in terms of what could have been better done.

It also models how there might be many different approaches to an essay question. The

teacher might even consider building multiple essay plans looking at different ways the

question might be addressed and show which one he or she might most prefer and why.

Not only is this approach one that might be profitably employed in the teaching of essay

writing, but is of course equally at home with supporting pupils with the construction of

fieldwork. Getting pupils to think about fieldwork with one eye to innovation gives can-

didates greater ownership of their work and is likely to not only make their results

more compelling, but also makes their fieldwork and research more interesting, driven

and memorable.

Such an approach is scaleable too insofar as it is applicable to relatively young pupils as

well as those sitting A levels. KS2 pupils can also be taught to ask ‘What if ’ questions

and indeed, if they have experience in doing so from such a tender age, they should be

all the better at it by the time they get to secondary schooling. Innovative geographical

thinking is best introduced in foundational years as it is so intrinsic to the discipline.

Less experienced teachers too need to be led towards this kind of confident

knowledge/experience transfer by more seasoned practitioners because it is this trans-

fer that has the capacity to transform geographical experience in the classroom.

Whilst educators don’t want to imbue candidates with an overconfidence such that

they supplant solid geographical thinking with naive, woolly or folk misconceptions, ge-

ographers do have a responsibility to show candidates the power of the discipline and

to get them to enjoy the creativity that characterises the very best geography. Very of-

ten the most profound geographical discoveries are derived from careful observation

and leaps of intellectual imagination rather than through the trawling of datascapes with

modelling tools (although this has its value too and is indeed often not too dissimilar a

proposition). The factorial ecologists of the Chicago School for example had an interest-

ing means of marrying statistical method along with leaps of faith which explored quali-

tative concepts in quantitive ways, revealing or exposing patterns and trends which in

turn could be further explored by other researchers using different investigative tech-

niques.

Creating a sense of the shared project, and the shared objectives of discovery creates a

much more democratic model of education, perhaps one that permits, to some extent

the notion of the teacher as facilitator and a degree of blended learning.

Spring 2015 5

All ‘A’ level Geography specifications require a great deal from the stu-

dents who are preparing for the associated examinations, and from

their teachers, who are planning engaging and topical lessons. When I

completed my Geography ‘A’ level back in 1982 (I got a ‘C’ by the way),

technology was limited. I owned a Sinclair ZX80, but it wasn’t exactly

an iMac, having just 1 kilobyte of memory! I had a couple of textbooks

(not specific to any awarding body) and a typewriter. The main resource

I relied on was my own folder of notes. 2014 is a long way from 1982 in

many ways. This article outlines how technology can be used to sup-

port students and teachers.

‘Pre-reading’

Once students have elected to study ‘A’ level Geography, they should

not start it ‘cold’ but be encouraged to prepare over the summer

break. One complication in the current system is that students are of-

ten no longer certain of a place in their preferred 6th form or college

before they receive their results. Suggested readings can be placed on a

departmental blog which students have access to. A QR code linking

to the address can be sent to students, or handed to them before they

complete GCSE studies. Blogger.com or Wordpress.com are appropri-

ate (and free) blogging tools to facilitate this. Why not involve students

eventually, by promoting them to administrator status for a week at a

time as a ‘guest editor’.

Getting organised

Departments will hopefully have access to digital mapping via some

means. This can be used to reinforce global awareness. Sixth form stu-

dents’ general geographical knowledge of countries can sometimes be

limited, so take the chance to locate all case studies on a map, and prac-

tise drawing sketch-maps for key case studies. They could even play

‘map quiz’ games such as GeoGuessr, LocateStreet, Earth-Picker or (my

favourite) http://www.mapcrunch.com/ to hone their location skills.

Research

Students should be introduced to research that is relevant to their

studies, which is particularly relevant for those who go on to under-

graduate studies. They should be able to give their opinions on it, or

even develop their own small-scale research suggestion.

Here are a few research-based projects to introduce students to:

Spatial inequality in cities: http://visualisingmillroad.com/

Follow the Things: http://www.followthethings.com - an Exeter

University project exploring consumption and globalisation.

Technology and ‘A’ Level Geography

Alan Parkinson

teaches at King’s

Ely, and works as a

freelance author

and consultant.

Current and recent

projects include

work with INTEL,

LondonMapper, EU

projects (I-USE

and GeoCapabili-

ties), CILT and the

RGS-IBG.

Spring 2015 6

Gapminder: http://www.gapminder.org/ - perfect for exploring inequalities on a

global scale (recently updated)

Getting organised

There is a wealth of information available, and students need to get organised. I use a

range of social media tools to curate and sort useful resources for later use.

Pinterest: a visual bookmarking tool. Download a browser extension, and any im-

age on a website can be quickly added to a ‘pin board’ and shared with others in

various ways. ( http://www.pinterest.com )

Name Features Cost

Digimap for Schools Streaming OS mapping at all scales,

along with a range of annotation tools,

and ability to create maps as PDF

downloads.

http://digimapforschools.edina.ac.uk

From £70-

£150 (excl.

VAT)

Digimap for Colleges FE version of DfS –includes free re-

sources

http://digimapforcolleges.edina.ac.uk/

Free (JISC

subscribers)

ArcGIS Online A range of free maps and further op-

tions for subscribers. https://

www.arcgis.com/home/ Try creating

some StoryMaps too, for key ideas:

http://storymaps.arcgis.com/en/

£100 / year

– StoryMaps

are free to

create

Luminocity and

Datashine

http://luminocity3d.org/ and http://

datashine.org.uk/ allow for the analysis

of 2011 UK Census Data – explore

issues related to demographics, em-

ployment and housing patterns.

Free

Bing Maps Switch to an OS layer using the

‘Road’ drop-down menu. http://

www.bing.com/maps/

Free

LondonMapper This includes a range of new visualisa-

tions to encourage exploration of this

city, which features on most specifica-

tions in some way: http://

www.londonmapper.org.uk

Free

Spring 2015 7

Pearltrees / ScoopIt – similar tools for collating and storing web materials, and or-

ganising them visually.

Flipboard allows for the production of online magazines, which can be shared with

others, or produced collaboratively, and then ‘read’ in the same way as a physical mag-

azine if using a tablet. https://about.flipboard.com

Twitter

Twitter can be used as a method of communicating with students and also with experts, as

well as producing a personalised news feed. I tend to follow and unfollow relevant accounts

when teaching a topic, and direct questions to people who are ‘on location’. I recently con-

tacted ANI, who operate the ‘Union Glacier’ camp in Antarctica, and also took part in a

Skype Classroom link-up with a coral scientist in the Caribbean. Students can be asked to

prepare questions in advance of the talk.

‘A’ level studies involve students in more detailed and critical analysis of topics, so the

chance to connect with experts should be explored.

Some of my recent work has involved an exploration of what can be called ‘powerful

knowledge’. Use technology to stretch and challenge students.

Case Studies

Encourage students to ‘take case studies further’. They can be co-constructed by setting up

a Google Drive document, to which all students have editing rights. Populate this with

some initial information and questions, and provide time for them to add their ideas and

responses to open-ended, un-googleable questions.

Google Drive http://drive.google.com is free if you have a Google account.

If extreme weather is forecast, use the compelling http://earth.nullschool.net/ visualisation

tool to explore surface and high-level winds, or extreme temperatures.

The Royal Geographical Society has made a number of resources available through their

‘From the Field’ initiative with The Goldsmiths’ Company.

http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Schools/Teaching+resources/Key+Stage+5+resources/

Key+Stage+5+resources.htm

Journals

Encourage students to read suitable journals and newspapers, most of which (other than a

few with a paywall) have a website and Twitter feed.

‘The Economist’: http://www.economist.com/ - articles are available online for a short peri-

od after publication (@TheEconomist)

Most of the tools mentioned in this article will also work on a smartphone or tablet. The

number of apps grows by the week, but a useful list with some reviews is available on the

GA’s ICT special interest group blog https://gasigict.wordpress.com/

Spring 2015 8

‘Geography Review’: Nelson Thornes journal is essential reading, but also has additional ma-

terials on their e-Review page: http://www.hoddereducation.co.uk/Product-Landing-Pages/

Magazines/Magazines-extras/Geography-Review-extras (@GeogReview)

‘Geography’: selected articles from the GA’s journal could be made available – subscribers

have access to an archive of issues going back over 100 years: http://geography.org.uk/

journals/journals.asp

‘The Guardian’s DataStore offers a range of data-sets with some preliminary analysis and

some ‘big-questions’ that students can investigate further: http://www.theguardian.com/data

There are also two useful eBooks: one from Paul Turner https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/

teaching-geography-in-digital/id868932999?mt=11 , and one produced by myself and Rich-

ard Allaway on the theme of ‘Extreme Environments’: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/

extreme-environments/id552753230?mt=11

Revision

Encourage students to produce a range of Flipboard magazines for each of the main top-

ics, which they can revisit and flip through as the exam approaches. https://

about.flipboard.com . Add ‘articles’ using a browser extension or app. Students can also cre-

ate custom-made revision materials using flash cards, or recording a podcast which can be

shared using Audioboo or similar tools. This has recently changed its name to Audioboom:

http://audioboom.com and offers free recordings up to 3 minutes long (long enough to

summarise a case study or process)

References

http://www.geographical.co.uk/rgs/news/item/625-geography-student-numbers-increase

Visit the awarding body websites for relevant downloads. Some of them also have subject

communities for further teacher support. There are also the subject-specific NINGs: the

Edexcel one http://newedexcelgeog.ning.com/ has almost 4000 members.

Most of the tools mentioned in this article will also work on

a smartphone or tablet. The number of apps grows by the

week, but a useful list with some reviews is available on the

GA’s ICT special interest group blog https://

gasigict.wordpress.com/

Spring 2015 9

EARTHWATCH AND SCHOOLS

Transforming 16-19 students Education

Earthwatch is working with schools across the country to address environmental issues facing the

world today. Earthwatch is helping students to develop their knowledge, to improve their skills

and to enhance their learning prior to University. Through the Student Expeditions, Teach Earth

and Water Watch they allow teachers and students to help scientific research and develop a more

intimate relationship with our natural world.

Why Earthwatch?

Earthwatch is the largest environmental volunteer force in the world. We seek to engage volun-

teers as citizen scientists in working with world renowned scientists to help with research and to

promote the understanding and action necessary for a sustainable world in more than 55 countries

each year.

Earthwatch understands that environmental sustainability is the defining challenge and without en-

gagement of teachers and students in UK schools the challenge will be in the future more daunting.

Through hands-on, cross cultural work grounded through scientific research, we challenge stu-

dents to think critically about resource use, land stewardship, climate change and human interac-

tion within ecosystems.

The Advantages of the Field Experience.

Hands-on scientific and geographical experiences

Incorporating their experience in their Post 16 Curriculum

Sharing students adventures with their friend and educate a wider audience

Get involved in environmental stewardship

Develop their skills in research and leadership skills.

Experiential education combined within a scientific and environmental model with

multiple benefits.

In addition while in the field students can create lessons, set up blogs, take photo-

graphs and develop activities to broaden education in schools.

TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. WILL YOU JOIN

US?

Contact: ukstudentexped@earthwatch.org.uk

Spring 2015 10

An estimated 13 million hectares of tropical forests are disappearing

every year with 20% of this occurring in Brazil (United Nation’s Food

and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 2010). Each hectare of rainforest

destroyed releases between 100 and 500 tonnes of carbon back into

the atmosphere. Deforestation accounts for 12% of annual global car-

bon emissions while nearly 70% of Brazil’s total emissions are caused

by deforestation. This article will examine how the value of these for-

ests varies greatly and how valuable their destruction can be.

International discussion over ways to stop deforestation in tropical re-

gions remains highly contentious encompassing issues such as territo-

rial sovereignty, tribal disputes and the accusation of developed world

carbon colonialism. In 1992, at the Rio Earth Summit, any mention of

deforestation was omitted from the final communique, as it was in

1997 in Kyoto. In 2009, however, the Copenhagen Accord contained

references to REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and

Forest Degradation) throughout its provisions. The developed and de-

veloping world had finally reached a consensus of the importance of

curbing carbon emissions from forest loss (and the recognition that

the reduction in rates of deforestation represented one of the most

cost effective solutions to global warming

Rainforests are, however, national resources concentrated in develop-

ing countries such as Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indo-

nesia and Papua New Guinea. These countries need to alleviate pov-

erty through high economic growth – according to the World Bank

(2004) 1.6 billion people depend on forests to some degree, including

80% of

Rainforests: Worth more than a Packet of Crisps?

Andrew Callander

used to be a fund

manager for most of

his working life until

he saw the light and

went as a volunteer

to work for Earth-

watch in 2011.

He lead teams of

students to Borneo

for Earthwatch in

2013 and 2014 and

carried out various

other work as an

environmental con-

sultant.

He spent a year at

Oxford Brookes in

2011/ 2012 where

he studied for an

MA in Environmen-

tal Management.

Oil palm plantation and refinery within Sabah

Photo: A Callendar

Spring 2015 11

those living on less than on $1 per day. This produces many competing incentives for for-

est removal with often only the estimated 70 million indigenous people living in forests

worldwide seeing value in the preservation of standing forests and their sustainable use.

Large areas are converted to cattle grazing and agriculture though returns from basic

food crops can be as low as $25/hectare as the land is often unusable after just a few sea-

sons. But as rainforest destruction carries no cost, the process can be repeated so long

as forest is available for clearance. The estimate that as each hectare of intact rainforest

stored 500 tonnes of carbon, forest-clearing farmers were destroying a $10,000 asset to

create one worth $200.

Sustainable logging (i.e. the cutting of selected, high value trees) does not degrade the val-

ue of rainforests. But little timber extraction from rainforests is sustainable. In Brazilian

Amazonia, 80% of logging is illegal. In South East Asia, logging concessions accrue $10.4

billion annually, yet only 1% of these forests are certified as being sustainably managed by

the Forest Stewardship Council. In Indonesia, deforestation has accelerated to 2.7% per

annum (2000-2005) driven by unsustainable logging practices) and now conversion to in-

dustrial-scale agri-business. Sustainable logging simply makes no economic sense: rising

food prices and especially the huge growth in demand for palm oil, sugarcane and soy-

bean have changed the economics of rainforest destruction in SE Asia and Latin America.

Agriculture in SE Asia, predominantly palm oil and rubber, is worth over $17.8bn per year.

Palm oil in Indonesia and Malaysia accounts for 80.5% of global production – between

1990 and 2005, 56% of oil-palm plantation expansion in Indonesia occurred at the ex-

pense of natural forest cover. Palm oil is a very efficient crop yielding 4.25 tonnes/

hectare/year compared to rapeseed at 1.3 and soybean at 0.4. This produces a high eco-

nomic value per hectare, a value that has increased as demand has soared. Research in

2008 suggested that if palm oil prices maintained at the 2006-2008 average of $749, the

net present value (NPV) of a Sumatran 10,000 hectare plantation would be as high as

$9,630 per hectare. Taking into account start-up costs, often affrayed by the sale of tim-

ber, this would translate into nearly $100 million in operating profit over the accumulated

30 year life of the plantation The 15th November 2011 price was $1,018. Using this price,

current per hectare palm oil land values would be $13,000. Updating the World Bank cal-

culation to current voluntary carbon prices ($7.4/tonne) produces a carbon-derived val-

ue for conserved forests of $3,700/hectare.

Initiatives such as the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism already exist to

value the indirect service of carbon capture and storage from forests. However, they have

proven often unsuccessful because of limited scope (reforestation and afforestation

schemes only), poor governance and local community exclusion. Proposals in 2005 by

Papua New Guinea and Costa Rica (now termed REDD+) sought to expand the scope of

the forest carbon market to include financial incentives for reducing deforestation and

conserving intact rainforests. The basic idea remains simple: provide developing countries

at a national level with a carbon-priced payment to preserve forests intact. As with previ-

ous schemes, REDD+ faces clear challenges: it requires a country-specific rate of defor-

estation baseline (which may encourage countries to speed up short-term forest clear-

ance to create an easier hurdle); many perceive it as a cynical attempt by the developed

Spring 2015 12

world to avoid cutting carbon emissions, governance risks are potentially enormous, espe-

cially in monitoring and compliance and it rewards reforestation with monocultures de-

spite the recognised loss of carbon capacity and biodiversity.

This rainforest biodiversity is immense: a single tree in Amazonia was found to harbour

over 1700 species of ant and beetle while we are only just beginning to understand the im-

portance of these forests’ unique plant/animal associations. Yet it is being rapidly lost as the

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment reported that species extinction was running at “100

times greater than rates characteristic of species in the fossil record”. Valuation of biodi-

versity is complicated by our still limited knowledge of its complexity and interdependence:

estimates as to the cost of halting global biodiversity loss vary hugely from $1 billion to

$45 billion. But some of the criticism of the REDD+ scheme (especially its reward of mon-

oculture reforestation) could be ameliorated if biodiversity offsets could be attached. This

would address the real problem that the curbing deforestation and protecting biodiversity

are not always aligned: for example, degraded forest is

excluded from REDD+ yet such land often has both a

high biodiversity value and can be reforested over time.

Thus a premium could be paid for REDD+ projects

that met certain biodiversity thresholds promoting the

focus away from monoculture plantations.

The greatest challenge for REDD+, however, is ensur-

ing that local communities are not excluded from the

forests themselves. These communities have often lived

sustainably alongside/within forests for generations and

have a strong interest in ensuring forest preservation:

recent research highlights forest loss in protected are-

as on average of 1.47% per annum versus community-managed forests at 0.24%. Uncertain

or undocumented land tenure is a major impediment to REDD+ effectiveness and may ex-

acerbate rather than alleviate poverty. Indeed one reason given for deforestation is that

cleared land often results in more credible property rights The FAO suggests that land ten-

ure needs to be a starting point, rather than an afterthought if REDD+ is to succeed but

anticipated REDD+ payments make it less likely that governments will recognize communi-

ty tenure claims. What is clear is that without the inclusion of the local communities,

REDD+ will not succeed and forests will continue to be destroyed.

REDD+ is the only initiative for valuing the continued existence of rainforests that cur-

rently has any international momentum. Yet the carbon price, driven by developed world

economic growth expectations and standing at an all-time low hardly seems an appropriate

measure for valuing irreplaceable rainforest ecosystems. Indeed there is a dangerous para-

dox in valuing rainforest assets off a commodity (carbon emissions) that are targeted for

elimination. However, until the TEV of rainforests can be better articulated, REDD+ offers

the best chance of buying rainforests a stay of destruction in the face of the immense prof-

itability of palm oil.

A Palm Kernel Photo: A Callander

Spring 2015 13

ISSIG GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS DAY

AT CHARTERHOUSE

WEDNESDAY 24TH JUNE

9.30 TO 4PM

FIELDWORK FOR THE NEW EXAMS

Cost £70 per delegate (including lunch)

How are you going to cope with new A Level requirements for Fieldwork?

Such as the ability to write a coherent analysis of fieldwork findings in order to an-

swer a specific geographical question.

Ensure that each student undertakes one independent investigation that involves, but

need not be restricted to, fieldwork, based on a question or issue defined and devel-

oped by the student individually to address aims, questions and/or hypotheses relating

to any of the core or non-core content

OR with new GCSE requirements

Such as strengthened content requirements for fieldwork: students must be offered

“different approaches to fieldwork undertaken in at least two contrasting environ-

ments”

an end to controlled assessment in favour of terminal exams, meaning geography

teachers will need to develop new approaches to fieldwork post Controlled Assess-

ment.

JOIN US FOR A FULL DAY WITH JOHN WIDDOWSON,

NICK LAPTHORN AND JASON LOCK.

For more details and an application forms please email Paul Baker (chair of

the ISSIG of GA) bakerpabs@gmail.com;

Spring 2015 14

Day 1

We left school in the middle of a storm and power cut to fly to Casa-

blanca. It was three and a half hours there and we stopped off on our

way to Ouazarzate, a frontier

town on the edge of the desert

in Morocco. We got to

Ouazarzate quite late and spent

our first night in the very au-

thentic Hotel les Jardins.

Day 2

After an uncomfortably early

start (which we soon discov-

ered would be the first of

many) and a four-hour bus ride

with Mustafa, our friendly Moroccan driver, who we would get to know

well over the course of the following week, we arrived at Zagora to

“meet our camels”, as it was described in the itinerary. To some mem-

bers of the group’s dismay “meeting” them was a euphemism for riding

them, and after much debate over who would get the large and calm-

looking camels at the front and who would be stuck on the scrawnier

and somewhat rebellious ones, we set off on a two hour trek into the

desert. Despite the huge variations in camel quality - including one

which lay down and refused to move a short while in - we all eventually

reached the Tuareg camp. Our expectations of sleeping out under the

stars weren’t quite fulfilled as a dust storm blew up over the course of

the evening, and although at the time we were disappointed about this,

with hindsight the move to a more substantial camp a short walk away

was a good one. We discovered this the next morning when we rode

past our original camp and saw that it had been totally flattened by the

wind and had been enveloped by a

sand dune. In the new camp, we

were offered a delicious traditional

Moroccan tagine supper then we

witnessed a demonstration of Tuareg

singing and drumming. Although we

would not consider it to be particu-

larly tuneful, it is integral to their

culture and I doubt that they

thought much of the performance of

Jerusalem with which we reciprocat-

ed. We were all given the chance to try the drumming ourselves and

although some clearly had more of a natural talent for it than others, it

Fieldwork in Morocco

Morocco has

proved to be an

excellent location

for Geography

Fieldwork in recent

years.

In this article, 6th

formers from

Charterhouse

School describe

their experiences

from a recent trip.

Photos © Rob

Morris

Hotel les Jardins,

Ouazarzate

A traditional Moroccan tagine

Spring 2015 15

was hugely enjoyable and the accompanying dancing made for an extremely memorable

evening.

Day 3

Lying in a large, metal-framed tent hut in the middle of the desert, a severe sandstorm be-

gan to strike. At 2.50am, the tent hut began to rattle, as it was battered from every angle by

this whirling current. I lay awake for several hours, as the wind rattled and ricocheted

through the entire tent! The sound was unbearable, as all of us sat together fearful of the

tent collapsing!! Nevertheless, eventually the wind died down, allowing for a mere 5/6

hours sleep. Awoken early by our team leader, Sam, those who were willing, chose to do a

trek up the sand dunes to look out over the vast desert landscape. Despite a very hazy

view (due to the dust accumulated after the sandstorm), it was refreshing to get up early

and have a brisk walk to stretch our legs before

breakfast. Following breakfast, the group got back on

our camels and headed back to the outskirts of Zago-

ra, where we started. Being able to guide your camel

alone, with no guide assistance was a bizarre experi-

ence. It is incredible how the camel’s instinct tells

them to follow the others back home. On arriving

back to the bus, it was a short journey to Tinfou, a

small village which is suffering from extreme desertifi-

cation - meaning the sand dunes are enclosing on the

buildings. We met some locals, and watched how they

farm and go about their daily lives. We also observed different methods of protection to

obstruct these sand dunes from encircling the village any more. In particular, we saw some

very precarious asbestos fencing. Following this, we went to a pottery co-operative, where

we met seven families, who together since the 16th century have made pottery, using the

clay from the local river beds. We watched a demonstration and then visited their shop -

their main source of income, and purchased gifts to take home, our first experience of bar-

tering. After lunch, we arrived at our new hotel in Zagora. Here, we met a jeweller, who

demonstrated how he melts the silver and then with very little protection places the silver

into moulds to create elaborate and decorative jewellery. It was incredible to see his way

of living and observe the basic resources they have to form such beautiful, ornate jewellery!

After a few card games, the group had a traditional Moroccan tagine and sat down to talk

about the Moroccan history and culture. We then headed off to bed, after a long and ex-

hausting, but unbelievable day

Day 4

After a late breakfast we were shown the 4x4’s in which we would go into the Sahara sand

dunes near M’hammid. Three Toyota Land Cruisers with excellent drivers at the wheel

were primed and raring to go. The start was all we needed to know that these had power

and the excitement grew. After driving through small villages on varying terrain we saw

melons growing in the middle of the desert. These are very labour-intensively harvested

early for the western market. In the next village we were able to buy some fresh local

bread. This marked the last village before M’hammid and the start of the dunes. This was

incredibly fun feeling the car slip and slide underneath us as we drove through the dunes.

The Sahara near Merzouga

Spring 2015 16

Around 20km into the dunes we stopped where some locals had set up a camp. We had

a lovely tagine with fresh juicy oranges for afters. We were then allowed to go and ex-

plore the dunes. We soon found that walking on the dunes was not the easiest thing to

do. With shoes saturated with sand we saw an incredible uninterrupted 360o panoramic

view into Algeria. After around half an hour it was back into the 4x4’s for more sliding

and fun. It was then back to Zagorra where we had a short break before the local ham-

mam. This lead to two completely different experiences for the men and women: the

women were scrubbed down and had their hair washed while the men had their rub

down and massage. The clap and sharp intake of breath by the masseur told us all we

needed to know. Necks were jerked, backs pushed into crescent shapes the wrong way

and there were nervous faces all around. Although there were lots of nerves, everybody

reported a great improvement in various ailments which had been picked up on the

camels. All feeling clean we returned to the hotel for couscous and salad, followed by

games of Uno and cards.

Day 5

We woke up early at 5.30 and left the hotel in Zagora to drive to Ouazarzate. On the

journey we stopped for breakfast at a café, a place we

had been on the first day of arriving in Morocco. After

breakfast we carried on the minibus journey for a cou-

ple of hours to a kasbah called Ait Ben Haddou. We

were shown around by a guide who lived there and we

walked into and around the village. It was really inter-

esting to see because so many films had been made

here, such as Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator, The Mum-

my, Prince of Persia and part of Game of Thrones. We

then stopped for lunch in a restaurant nearby and con-

tinued our journey until we reached Col du Tichka, the

highest point on the road in North Africa at 2260m,

where we stopped to take photos. We crossed over to

the north side of the High Atlas and arrived at Imlil,

where we were met with mules to carry our luggage

and guides to show us to the hotel.

Day 6

We woke up in Imlil in the Kasbah Du Toubkal to beautiful views. We were situated in

the middle of three valleys and the views of the mountains were fantastic. Following a

substantial breakfast we set off on our hike into the mountains. This was the first day we

had been out in the sun with clear blue skies and we were wary of the sun's strength.

Although the temperatures at this altitude were not particularly high, the sun made it

feel very warm. The first 20 minutes of the hike were a challenge as our bodies began to

adjust to exercise at this height, but as the walk went on we began to adjust. We walked

for a few hours along a mountain pass, coming across hikers and also skiers who were

making their way back down from the higher areas. We had lunch next to a stream over-

looking Mount Toubkal, the highest.

A wadi near Col du Tichka

Spring 2015 17

Our guides provided a huge lunch which was carried up to us by a mule and cooked on

site. After lunch, a part of the group went up to the local village and got swamped by ven-

dors trying to earn their living from tourists like us. The rest of the group stayed by the

stream and sunbathed! Most of our descent was along the same route we had come, but

towards the end we went into Imlil and got a feel for local life. Once we got back to the

Kasbah we went for another hammam, but this time were left to wash ourselves. Dinner

was very nice and welcome after a long day hiking in the mountains!

Day 7

This was the second day of our trekking through the High Atlas Mountains. This was a

much longer trek and one that took a significantly longer period of time. We left the Kas-

bah early in the morning for the last time and started to walk up the Imlil valley. The views

looking back over the valley, which we were walking up, were some of the most amazing

views I have seen. Once we reached a high plateau we stopped to have lunch looking over

the snowy mountains. The lunch was similar to the day before, but it was just as good and it

almost tasted different to how it was down by the river. After lunch, the majority of the

group decided that we were going to just trek back the way we came with one of the

guides, which was a much shorter route that would take less time, but some members of

our group decided that they would go on the longer route which would take 5 hours to

complete and trekked off to be seen later on in the evening. Once we got back down into

the valley, we had moved to a different hotel, which was in a central location in the village

of Imlil. In the afternoon, we were able to walk around the village and do a bit of shopping

and haggling. We soon found out that Damisola and Serena were some of the best around

when it came to getting prices down. That evening was calm - we sat around playing Scrab-

ble and cards before having dinner and after some more stargazing slowly and slowly peo-

ple started to wonder off back to their rooms to prepare themselves for the journey to

Marrakech the next day.

Day 8

The group departed at 9 am to begin the 2-hour drive from the High Atlas Moun-

tains to Marrakech (our last destination before returning to England). At the end of our

journey, we stopped on the outskirts of Marrakech to go to a supermarket. Here we

looked at the globalisation of brands in the Marrakech food and other products market.

The supermarket was vast in size and after replenishing our food supplies half the group

went to McDonalds for the much needed home comforts of chicken McNuggets and chips.

After this stop we headed for the city centre and had a tour on the bus of the city of Mar-

rakech seeing the old and new part of town. We then reached our hotel, which was in a

prime location just across the road from the main marketplace, and headed out to the city

for the first time. Our Marrakech experience began with a horse-drawn carriage tour of

the old part of town it was a new and exciting way to experience the city and was some-

thing many of us had never done before. At the end of the tour, our guide walked us

through a traditional leather tannery, which brought with it a pungent smell. However, they

did provide mint to try to detract from this. After that brief stop, we continued to walk

through the backstreets of Marrakech until we reached the souks – these are traditional

Arabic marketplaces that contain stalls selling anything and everything.

Spring 2015 18

The range of products on offer included: shoes,

bags including fake designer bags, clothes as well as

lots of traditional items such as lamps and souve-

nirs carved out of wood. There were also lots of

food and drink stands including: traditional food

products like dates (Morocco’s main export prod-

uct), spices and drinks, especially freshly squeezed

orange juice. After a tour of the

Djemaa el Fna , once we had our bearings of this

packed space, we were allowed to go exploring

and to shop. Once our shopping time was up, we

went to have a drink on the terrace of a café where we watched the sun set over Marra-

kech, the views were breath-taking and something we will remember for a long time! After

dinner back at the hotel, we returned to the main square to experience the hustle and bus-

tle of the night! The main difference between night and day was that it was much busier

when we went in the evening and there were far more food stands serving meals to many

local people and a few tourists brave enough to try Moroccan foods. The menu included

sheep head, tongues and, much more familiar to us, chips. There is also much more enter-

tainment in the evening, some such displays included traditional Moroccan music, monkeys,

male belly dancers, hook the fizzy drink, as well as numerous snake charmers. When we had

had enough of the bustle of the square, we returned to the hush of the hotel, where we

instead enjoyed the city from the quiet of the roof terrace.

Day 9

It was our final day in Morocco, our last minutes in

the sun. We woke up already nostalgic, reminiscing

of the good times and the fun we shared. Today,

however, wasn’t just our last day in Morocco, it was

also the day we got our challenge. Our challenge

was a role play. We were spilt into three groups

each addressing key themes in Moroccan develop-

ment: agriculture, tourism and global interaction. In

each group, each member represented someone in

the Moroccan government. We were then sent out

alone into the souks to find out all the information

we could to aid the presentation we would later

give. I can’t speak for other groups but I know for

mine it was a struggle! Why?…French! After having

done our research we returned to the hotel to give

our presentations which were all amazing! After a

busy morning, we settled down for our last Moroc-

can lunch and afterwards made our way to the air-

port, said our goodbyes to our very friendly driver

Mustapha and began our journey back to England.

A Date stall in the Djemaa el Fna

The Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakesh that

dominates the skyline.

Spring 2015 19

Globalisation is covered in most current AS and A2 specifications

and students are required to learn how trade in particular has influ-

enced the growth of linkages between countries. World trade, in

particular, as risen over twenty-seven fold since 1950 and has been

both a primary cause and effect of globalisation. This has been due

to a number of factors - the liberalisation of world trade through

the formation of the World Trade Organisation and the global shift

in manufacturing to newly emerging economies. Central to this

growth in trade has been the use of the humble shipping container.

Every day, huge ships leave ports all over the world laden with

goods ranging from frozen meat to consumer electronics. It has

been one of the primary agents of globalisation, yet its impact is of-

ten ignored.

The History of the Container

The modern shipping container

owes its origins to an American

truck driver called Malcolm McLean.

In the years before the Second

World War, he wasted many hours

waiting at docks waiting for his

truck to be unloaded and the goods

loaded on to ships. In the 1950's, he

owned his own shipping company

and in order to improve efficiency,

worked with engineer Keith

Tantlinger to develop the modern

container. They designed a shipping

container that could efficiently be

carried by trucks or trains and be

loaded onto ships as well as being

secure on long sea voyages. The de-

sign incorporated a locking mecha-

nism on each of the four corners,

allowing the container to be easily

secured and lifted using cranes. Af-

ter helping McLean make the suc-

cessful design, Tantlinger convinced

him to give the patented designs to

industry; this began international

standardisation of shipping contain-

ers.

Containerisation: The Unsung Hero of Globalisation

Rob Morris teaches

Geography at Shrews-

bury School. He has

been examining A lev-

el Geography for 30

years, mainly for

Edexcel.

He also writes for Ox-

ford University Press,

HarperCollins and

Philip Allan Updates.

He is also chairman

of the Shropshire

Branch of the GA and

a member of ISSIG.

Containers by Number

There are 17 million shipping con-

tainers in the world. At any one

time, between 5 and 6 million are

in transit on ships, trucks an

trains.

In total, containers make around

200 million trips a year.

There are 90,000 ocean-going

cargo ships.

Each ship expects to operate

24hrs a day for about 280 days a

year.

The world's biggest container ships

have 109,000 horsepower engines

which weigh 2,300 tons.

Shipping is responsible for 18-30%

of all the world's nitrogen oxide

(NOx) pollution and 9% of the

global sulphur oxide (SOx) pollu-

tion.

One large ship can generate about

5,000 tonnes of sulphur oxide

(SOx) pollution in a year

70% of all ship emissions are with-

in 400km of land.

85% of all ship pollution is in the

northern hemisphere.

Shipping is responsible for 3.5% to

4% of all climate change emissions

Spring 2015 20

Container Ports

Malcolm McLean introduced the first container-ship in to service in 1956, when he used a

converted oil tanker to ship 58 containers from Newark, New Jersey to Houston, Texas.

Originally, McLean intended that containers would remain with their trucks and trailers and

they would roll on and roll off (ro-ro) rather like the many ferries that link mainland Europe

and Britain and Ireland. Instead, he modified his design so the containers were lifted on and

lifted off (lo-lo) and this resulted in the redesign of ports, the infrastructure used such as

cranes and the ships themselves.

In the first 15 years of containerisation, many companies copied McLean's ideas but not his

standardised measurements, hence there were many different incompatible systems in op-

eration. In the late 1960's, the International Organization for Standardisation (ISO) intro-

duced standardised dimensions for shipping containers including the 20 ft and 40 ft con-

tainers. The impact of these changes did much to greatly reduce the expense of interna-

tional trade and increased its speed, especially of consumer goods and commodities. It also

dramatically changed the port cities worldwide. Prior to containerisation, teams of dockers

would manually individual cargoes into the hold of ships. After containerisation, large num-

bers of dockers were no longer needed in port facilities and many were forced to find

work in other areas of the economy.

Meanwhile, the port facilities

needed to support containerisa-

tion changed. One effect was the

decline of some ports and the

rise of others. In Liverpool, the

docks used for loading and un-

loading were no longer fit for pur-

pose as there was little room for

the space needed for container

storage and transport as well as

the size of ships had increased

dramatically.

In 1965, dock labour could move only 1.7 tonnes per hour onto a cargo ship that may have

remained in port for a week or more. By 1970, 30 tonnes per hour could be loaded on to

a ship. This allowed bigger ships to be used and ships could leave port the same day. This

slashed journey time from door to door by half and became more reliable because con-

tainers could be packed and sealed at the factory, losses to theft (and insurance rates)

plummeted. It is now possible to shift $500,000 worth of consumer electronics from

Shanghai to Felixstowe for about £2, 000, while the cost of transporting a similar value of

Scotch Whiskey from Liverpool to Tokyo would be around £1,400.

London Gateway Port

Photo: DP World

Spring 2015 21

Meanwhile, Felixstowe has become the UKs most important container port handling nearly

2 million containers a year - 3.4 million TEU (40% of the UKs container trade) from some

4000 ships that travel to and from 365 ports around the world. Felixstowe is situated 90

miles north east of London on the North Sea coast of Suffolk and has good (but often con-

gested) road links with London and the Midlands via the A12 and A14. The port has been

dredged to make it a very deep water

port and as a result can accommodate

the largest container ships in the

world, with a draft (depth of ship be-

low water) of nearly 16 metres. Yet

Felixstowe was only the 36th largest

container port in the world in terms

of volume of containers handled in

2012 and 7th largest in the EU. How-

ever, much of Britain’s trade is with its

EU partners and much of this trade

comes via ro-ro ferries from the Euro-

pean mainland through ports like Do-

ver, Harwich, Hull and Portsmouth. In

2011, around 46% of the 15.4 million

TEUs imported into Britain entered by

ro-ro ferry on the back of trucks from

elsewhere in Europe.

Over time the use of containers has

reshaped global trade. Ports have big-

ger and their number smaller as more

types of goods can be traded. Speed and reliability of shipping have enabled ‘just-in-time’

production, which in turn allowed firms to grow leaner and more responsive to markets as

even distant suppliers could now provide components quickly and on schedule.

International supply chains have become more intricate

and inclusive. This helped accelerate industrialisation in

emerging economies such as China, Trade links have en-

abled developing economies simply to join existing sup-

ply chains rather than build an entire industry from the

ground up.

Given the growth of world trade and the global shift of

manufacturing to South-East Asia, it comes as no sur-

prise that China dominates container traffic. It is esti-

mated that around 26% of container traffic originates in

China, while 97% of all containers are made in China.

Table 1: World’s Busiest Container Ports (2012)

Rank Port Millions of TEU

1 Shanghai, China 34.5

2 Singapore 31.7

3 Hong Kong 23.1

4 Shenzhen, China 22.9

5 Guangzou, China 17.7

6 Busan, S. Korea 17.0

7 Ningbo-

Zhoushan, China

16.8

8 Qingdao, China 14.5

9 Dubai, UAE 13.3

10 Tianjin, China 12.3

Spring 2015 22

Container Ships

Container ships are measured by the number of containers they can carry. As containers

come in two sizes, it is normal to count them by the number of twenty foot containers

they can carry or Twenty Foot Equivalents (TEU). The largest ships are known as Ultra

Large Container Vessels (ULCV) and are up to 400 m in length (the length of over 3 foot-

ball pitches) and can carry over 15,000 TEUs. However, there are a number of places in

the world where these largest ships cannot sail.

The Panama

Canal for

many years

has been an

obstacle for

large shipping

as the maxi-

mum size of a

ship able to

use the canal

has been re-

stricted to a

length of 965

ft (294 m), a

width of 106

ft (32 m) and draft of 39 ft (12 m). This meant that ships that carry a maximum of 5,000

TEU can only currently use the canal. Ships that are too large and cannot transit the canal

are known as Post-Panamax. In 2006, the people of Panama voted to expand the capacity

of the Panama Canal by widening sections and expanding the lock sections. The cost of this

development is in excess of $5 billion but is expected to increase the earnings of the Pana-

manian nation. Ships of up to 1200 ft (366 m) in length, a width of 161 ft (49 m), a draft of

50 ft (15 m) and a capacity of around 15,000 TEU.

In the future, container ships will only be constrained by the Mallacamax dimensions - the

maximum size of ships that can safely pass through the Straits of Mallaca, between the Indi-

an and Pacific Oceans past the port of Singapore, the world’s second largest container

port. This means ships will have a maximum length of 1540 ft (470m) and a width of 200 ft

(60m).

There are concerns that the world’s merchant fleet that also contains oil tankers and bulk

carriers (that carry goods such as coal and metal ores) are responsible for adding green-

house gases into the atmosphere and contributing to climate change. Large ships such as

those carrying containers use ‘bunker fuel’ - the dirtiest liquid fuel around. It's frequently so

viscous that it barely flows. Bunker fuel has up to 2000 times the sulphur permitted in the

diesel fuel that's used for road vehicles and therefore a major polluter of the atmosphere.

MSC Oscar, the world’s largest container ship

arriving in Rotterdam in 2014.

Photo by Kees Torn

Spring 2015 23

Notes and Queries is published by the Geographical Association Independent Schools Special Interest Group

Edited by Rob Morris, Geography Faculty, Shrewsbury School and printed by Shrewsbury School Reprographics Department

All articles are the copyright of the individual authors and should not be used with out their permission

© GAISSIG 2015

Conclusion

The most profound impact of the container is on the global economy as a whole. World-

wide, in 2012, 560 million TEUs were shipped, with over a quarter of those shipments

coming from China.

Globalisation and container shipping enjoy

a reciprocal relationship. There is no

doubt that the expansion of international

trade and the global shift of manufacturing

systems would have been impossible with-

out the efficiencies and economies of

scale that containerisation has brought.

Containerisation has been a facilitator of

globalisation, like the development of the

internet and introduction of long haul

flights. Globalisation has resulted in shift-

ing of employment among cities, regions

and countries. It has also lowered costs to

consumers and enabled delivery of a

much wider varieties of goods to many

markets. Globalisation has affected not

only economies but the environment, poli-

tics, and culture. The shipping container, a

simple technology intended to speed the

loading/unloading of goods, has played an

important part in those changes.

Further references

In 2008, the BBC tracked a shipping con-tainer for a year. More details can be found here

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/

business/2008/the_box/default.stm

The Box that Changed Britian - video from BBC - first can be found here http://

vimeo.com/21395880 but is available on Clickview and is regularly shown on BBC4

London Gateway

London Gateway is a new port facility being built on

the north shore of the Thames Estuary on the site of a

former oil refinery. The new port has been funded by

a company from the UAE - Dubai Ports World (DP

World) and is of a similar to design to the Jebel Ali

port in the UAE. DP World own and operate 60 ports

all over the world including many in the BRICS coun-

tries and have 11 more in development.

London Gateway will provide 2,700 metres of quay,

six deep-water berths with depth alongside of 17 me-

tres, 24 giant quay cranes and an annual capacity of 3.5

million TEU- similar to that of Felixstowe. It will make

London a hub for international trade once again as

warehouses and new roads and railways will be built

to make it a “multi-modal hub.”

London Gateway provides excellent accessibility, with

the UK’s best tidal access; road connections to the

North, South, East and West via an eight-lane high-

way; and the UK’s largest port rail terminal with ac-

cess to the country’s major rail hubs. More than 30%

of London Gateway port traffic is expected to go by

rail.

In addition, shippers will have access to London Gate-

way’s 9 million square foot logistics park, Europe’s

largest consumer market and existing distribution

hubs in the UK’s Midlands.

Spring 2015 24