Polyester lashings
1971-1984

From Master Mariner to entrepreneur

J Christer Ericsson started as a Master Mariner with the merchant navy and as a Naval Officer in the Royal Swedish Navy reserve. As a result of working at sea for several years, he came up with the idea of using polyester webbing to lash down trailers on board ships. Polyester webbing in itself was not new, but it had not been used for this specific purpose before. The basic idea was to use a modern light-weight material instead of the more heavy chains which were the customary solution at that time. Christer first tried to persuade his current employer at that time, the Swedish shipping company Stena, of the benefits of the idea, but was unsuccessful. Thus, in 1971, Christer went ashore to found the company Container Safe J C Ericsson AB with the intent of developing and marketing polyester lashings.

Lashings

Container Safe set out to develop a complete system for lashing trailers as well as containers at sea. In the beginning, the idea was in general met with skepticism, as people feared that polyester webbing would not have the strength necessary in rough waters. However, over time, the advantages proved to be numerous, including quicker and easier handling, and the concept quickly became accepted in the shipping industry.

Already in 1972, more than 60 percent of the Scandinavian ro-ro tonnage was equipped with the Container Safe lashing system. In parallel, the company extended the same concept to include lashing of land-based goods carriers such as trucks and rail cars.

Exit

As the basic concept was easy to copy, competition in the lashing segment grew quickly. In 1981, Christer thus decided to sell the lashing business to focus on his other business ventures.

Selected case studies