Episode 3 Sea City

SEAGULLS CALL

On the south coast of Britain lies a city within a city

that's fighting to keep the nation afloat.

The Port of Southampton is a gateway to the world.

It's the cruise capital of the UK.

Hi. Welcome on board.

Seafarers from across the globe pass through here every day.

In tough economic times,

the port is battling for its share of handling cargo.

This is how we and the shipping line make money.

Ready for the Christmas market. Batteries not included.

We are looking for Rolls-Royces which are hidden amongst, potentially, 100 Bentleys.

Commercial ships and weekend sailors

wrestle for space in crowded sea lanes.

ALARM SOUNDS Go that way!

It's not rocket science! A big ship's turning.

Passengers, ships and cargo,

shaping the lives of the people that run one of the busiest ports in the world.

This is Sea City.

Let's rock and roll.

In this episode, "C" team's cranes swing into action for a record attempt.

Looks like he's under a bit of pressure.

Fine dining, Southampton style.

Smells like chicken.

And how the wheels have come off for stolen car smugglers.

If they all come out like that I'll be very happy.

Seven am. It's shift change at the container port.

"C" team are clocking on for 12 hours of hard graft.

Come on, Christie.

The people who work here move nearly two million containers every year.

These anonymous boxes could be carrying any type of goods.

Goods that keep the wheels of British industry turning -

and retailers in business.

OK, a simple day today.

Hyundai together, cranes 29, 27, 26 and 25.

In old money, boys, that's your D, F, G and H.

This could be a momentous day for Top Gun crane operator Darren White.

He's been given the daunting target of unloading 500 containers from a ship in a single shift.

Let's go do some boxes.

I just want to do well all the time.

As you're getting older, you've got these young upstarts that are good up the crane.

They're trying to take you on. They look up to you. They're getting better and better.

As you're getting older it's more of a challenge.

We've got a potential of doing a 500 here today, plus.

Do what you do naturally, those numbers will tick over.

A record-breaking number like this is rarely ever reached,

and all the teams want to top the champions league of container shifting.

It gives you a bit of a buzz, especially when you see your team up on the board up there.

-To think you've broken this record.

-There's a lot of competition between teams.

It'll be nice if we come out on top, as it were.

The whole of "C" team are keen to get one up on the other shifts.

-A lot of rivalry.

-Loads.

-It's good, especially with the "A" team. They're rubbish.

It's a big day for "C" team, and the control room, too.

They plot the movement of containers on the quay, and keep Darren updated during his record attempt.

You start off a little tense, like anything,

and then it just starts to flow. It's like riding your bike.

Ian's on 413.

I reckon he's got a good chance of doing it today, yeah.

He's a good crane driver.

Darren's been operating these giant cranes for 14 years,

and he's one of the best in the business.

-Me and Darren have come through the top gate, ready to rock and roll.

-See you later on.

-See you in a bit.

Today is going to be tough,

and he can't afford to rest on his laurels.

They're some of the biggest in the world. There's a lot of pressure driving them. They're very fast.

You've got to concentrate like you never have before.

You've got to keep your eye on the ball.

As Darren heads for his operator's cab 50 metres up in the air,

on crane F, he knows his reputation, and the honour of "C" team,

are on the line.

Most of the two million containers unloaded every year

head out of the port by road and rail to their final destinations.

But they don't all make it out of the port straightaway.

The Border Force intercepts and searches containers that have caught their eye.

In the last year, they've found illegal goods and contraband, ranging from kung fu weapons

to knock-off clothes and shoes.

Sean Gigg is one of the Border Force team who are on the case.

That's a Boeing 787-400. I wouldn't want to throw it. It'd probably break.

A recognisable brand called Braun,

but they've spelt the name wrong. Brawn. They've out a W instead of a U but have used the same font.

Cyber Mission gun. I don't know if this is a genuine product. I've never heard of it before.

Ready for the Christmas market?

The team use a mobile scanner that produces an X-ray image of the contents of the container.

Apart from that, all of this is soft drinks.

Something may not add up, so we'll always have a double check

just to make sure that what's inside is what's inside,

there's nothing that shouldn't be coming into the UK hidden inside these containers.

Intelligence leads us to believe there may be something in there, probably counterfeit goods.

We're moving out a few of these boxes so we can have a look inside

and find out what's in here. It's a shipment from China.

It's... It's a blender.

It looks like it's unbranded as well.

It's just another way round. The counterfeiters create

an unbranded product that's identical to a genuine, well-recognised brand,

and then import it in as an unbranded product.

In the UK there may be a manufacturing plant somewhere else,

maybe a small warehouse, where they'd stick the stickers on, then it'll go back into the market.

In car boot sales and anywhere else.

Counterfeit is not a victimless crime.

It takes hard-earned money from those traders in the UK,

and it affects the importers. So it starts from the top and works all the way down.

Sean has found a stash of dairy-based products

hidden in the back of a container that has come from the United Arab Emirates.

We can even see egg-based products, so we've got custard powder. Again, stuff you can buy in the UK.

But being egg-based as well and from a non-EU country,

that's also restricted as well.

They could've been aware but decided to bury it in the back there, thinking we won't check.

We have a duty here to protect not only business in itself,

but also the consumer.

Back at the container terminal, Darren White's settling in to crane F.

He's preparing to shift a record number of containers - and put "C" team at the top of the pile.

500's a lot of boxes, but we've got the workforce that are capable of doing it, that's for sure.

These category D ships that are coming in at the moment are absolutely ginormous.

People see these boxes on top of ships

and they think that's what it's carrying.

But when they take the lids off, they don't realise there's treble more cargo under there.

"A" team hold the record at the moment, so if we can get one over on "A" team, that's good.

Darren's cab is finally in position for his first lift.

Like any keen golfer,

a good operator needs to perfect their swing.

The position and movement of the crane and its load are critical.

Swinging if really the be all and end all of the crane.

If you haven't got the swing, or you can't get the swing, you'll never be able to drive a crane.

It's very precise. People who are not in this industry don't realise.

Everybody thinks any old monkey can do it, but, yeah, it's a very precise job, yeah.

It's so ferocious that you're only out by a couple of inches,

you go about a foot in no time.

METALLIC CLUNKS

Ooh.

It only takes a little nick of that spreader

for the whole crane to become quite shaky.

We've got to be doing 40 moves an hour to achieve the record.

I don't see any reason why we can't do that today, with the way that the weather is and the ergonomics.

So that's the aim today.

Terminal supervisor Pete Barbier

comes from a long line of Southampton dockers.

I love my job. It's probably the best job I've ever had.

When I first come to work in the port I had long hair and wore flares,

so that'll give you an idea of how long I've been here. My father and grandfather were here,

my uncle. So through the whole of the century,

from the 1890s onwards, I've had family in the port.

Offloaded containers, known as boxes, are moved around the port

by giant inspect-like vehicles.

Round here they're called vans.

You get used to them. The worst thing is sat sideways all the time.

There's no rules of the road. You've just got to try and second-guess where they're going.

The problem is, when you don't see each other,

accidents can happen,

cos these weigh about 60 tonne. This'll carry 50 tonne quite easily.

So you don't want to be colliding with anyone.

Boxes, boxes, boxes. That's what we want.

This is how we make our money, and how the shipping line makes their money. This is how it all works.

And they want us to produce.

There it goes. He'll get it right, possibly the second time.

METALLIC CLUNK

I know, he should've gone to Specsavers.

Now he's got it, he's away. He won't lift it up too high because the centre of gravity.

They keep it quite low, drive a little bit faster.

Crane G's done 32, crane H, 40.

Basically, you're on course to doing 50 in an hour, something like that.

We've had a good start, but I don't want to tempt things.

Just got to keep that rhythm going.

Thousands of cars are exported from the Port of Southampton every week.

It's DC Nathan Rickett's job to make sure none of them have been nicked.

That's our stolen car from Strathclyde.

It's had a long way down through the country and ended up in Southampton.

We'll seize it and send it back up for forensics.

He's only been on the job for a few months

but has developed a well-trained eye for dodgy cars.

At the port, Nathan's found a container that has aroused his suspicions.

So we've had a look in the container

and found it to be crammed with tyres, pushbikes and things like that.

As we've gone through, we've established there's some high-value cars which,

with the checks on the ones I can get to, turn out to be stolen, from London, in burglaries.

The cars have been ingeniously squeezed in so tightly

that getting them out without damaging them will be tricky.

It's probably one and half to two tonnes of vehicle on ratchet straps,

so it's quite involved to do that.

It does make it a bit of a problem for us to get them down safely.

The first, an expensive convertible BMW, slides out without a problem.

-If they all come out like that, I'll be very happy.

-A bit more.

The car thieves didn't take care of the interior.

They always root through, chuck stuff out of the glove box, in case there's a £10 note

or you keep money spare. They're not paying for the car.

They're not worried about the damage.

I didn't know if we release the front straps whether he'd pull back slightly.

The second car, a Toyota Avensis,

is resting on the rear window of a BMW X6.

If we were to lower it, it'll put pressure on that glass and you cause more damage to the X6,

which we want to try and avoid.

The Avensis is carefully teased out of the container,

where Nathan finds more evidence that it's a stolen car.

This number plate comes back to a Nissan Qashqai. It doesn't relate to this car.

Behind this is another number plate. You can't really see it, but that's the original one.

Any police officer knows, when he checks that, it's not a Nissan, so... It's a poor attempt.

The third car is stuffed behind a carpet.

It's a very nice BMW X6.

The front of the Toyota was actually pressed against that.

The only thing between them was that piece of carpet that we took out,

so to see it hasn't damaged it or scratched it is really good.

Had that have shipped, that Toyota, as the boat moved,

would've smashed into that, and that would've broken.

I've managed to pull the BMW X6 backwards,

obviously to reveal the vehicle in front.

The front end of it is pulled up against the top of the container.

We need to gently, again, lower that one down.

I'm fairly confident it is going to be another stolen vehicle.

If I pull up the car, you can just sort of see

roughly what it looks like,

and how much involved they are in trying to create as much room

as they possibly can to squeeze as many vehicles in as they can.

I reckon it's going to be 45, 50 grand's worth, easy.

I wasn't expecting to do this job at all, but I thoroughly love it.

It's really good. I miss chasing criminals and the good foot chases around Southampton,

but it's very rewarding to get people's cars back like this.

Can I have a chassis check, please?

With yet another BMW now accessible, Nathan is able to check out

who its rightful owners are.

They've just confirmed that one's stolen. It was taken from London.

It was stolen without the key, so it hasn't come from a burglary,

so I'd expect to see some damage to the doors or something similar.

Wow. There you go. That might be where they got into it,

or it could be where they've jacked it up.

I'm not sure about the interior on this one. Not my colour choice.

Nathan's plan is to allow the container

to continue to its destination in Africa.

The first thing the criminals will know about the seizure will be

when they open the box up and find nothing but old tyres.

I shouldn't imagine they'll be too happy.

I shouldn't imagine the people they stole the cars off were that chuffed,

so I'm not too worried about that. I'm happy to get the cars out of

the criminals' hands and back to the people that lawfully own them. Next stop, Tanzania.

They're more than welcome to have those tyres.

The container full of tyres did finally reach Tanzania,

and it's still sitting on a quay waiting to be collected.

Across the port from the inspection yard,

"C" team's record attempt at container shifting is in full swing.

The target's 500 moves by one crane.

I believe we've done about 110, 115 containers now, so it looks like we're well on target.

BURSTS OVER RADIO

I've just been told, over the radio, 155. It's good going. It's good.

That's put me right off my stroke.

When are you going to start a bit of encouragement?

Darren, you can't feel defeated already, mate.

Four vans. I'm sure you can keep up with them.

He's very passionate about his job. Very passionate.

I don't think there's anyone else in this port that's as passionate as Darren.

He's APB Southampton through and through. He's got it in his blood, I think.

Yeah, crane lever on.

I do love. Yeah, it's brilliant. A hell of a buzz.

I love the docks, I love Southampton.

We spend half your life here. It's like having a second family.

We spend more time here with the lads

than what we do at home with the wife and kids.

Good camaraderie between all of us, yes. It's good.

Go!

If you've got a nickname in the port, you're in.

You're trusted. You're a real person, a team player.

If you haven't got a nickname, I'd be worried.

You've got Topper, who's the father, obviously.

You've got Tipper, which is Glenn.

And then you've got Tapper, which is Darren.

Topper, Tipper and Tapper. Yeah.

He's 6'7" tall and 20-odd stone.

His nickname's Growbag.

-That where I keeps all my lovin'. It's my love pouch.

-Be warned.

Anyone on internet dating, he's on the quay down there. Chris Sparks.

-00 Heaven he calls himself.

-HE LAUGHS

He thinks he's God's gift to all women.

Thinks.

00 Heaven, of course. You've got to be nice to the ladies, haven't you?

You've got Blakey, who's in one of our vans, spitting image of Eddie the Eagle.

You can see the resemblance, can't you? Can you see it?

He's good at skiing.

-Don't ask what they call me, please.

-MAN LAUGHS

BURSTS OVER RADIO

Can you give me the full readout, please?

Despite all the jokes, "C" team are really cracking on.

Darren's on course to go beyond the original target of moving 500 containers.

He's heading for the highest number of box moves ever

in a 12-hour shift at Southampton.

That's what we're aiming for now, 600.

Another crane, a few months ago, did 600 boxes in 12 hours,

but now we've done as well as we have we're hoping to go past that.

But Darren's got some niggling problems with his crane,

and it all costs him time -

and possibly his new record target of 600 boxes.

When you go down to land on a box, you get your white and green that you've landed.

then you go to lock it on to get your blue and green.

It's not having it. It's staying on green and white.

You have to take the weight again and come back down on it.

It's landing on the box too sharp, really. It's done it again. Look? Damn it. It won't lock on.

-Darren, he's under a bit of pressure up there.

-He'll get over it.

Yeah. This is where it gets me, the legs. It's uncomfortable.

Ah, you idiot.

Get him to work. Squeaky bum time now, ain't it?

-We'll do it. We're going to do it.

-We're going to do it.

A lot of the cargo coming into Southampton is food,

and it's the job of the Port Health Team to make sure it's safe.

This container of prawns, is this down for a physical check?

Sandra Westlecot and her colleagues have to be sure that products imported from outside the EU

meet stringent food safety standards.

The majority of food that comes into this country is perfectly safe.

The majority is good, legitimate trade.

What we're trying to do is to find the products that could cause danger.

Defrosted prawns, but it's the colour,

the texture and the smell is all good.

So things like fish, meat, prawns,

products of animal origin, it's an obligatory 100 percent inspection.

Smells like chicken.

Now you really must come and see what's in this room.

This is our haul of shame.

These are examples of consignments

which we've had really bad problems with.

Most of things in Southampton are absolutely fine. It's good routine.

But in here we have the things that have been a real problem.

They've been rejections, they've been dangerous.

We have a product here which claims to cure all sorts of things,

including piles and sexual weakness,

habitual headaches, constipation,

waist pains and all other irritable symptoms.

Presumably it's used in traditional medicines in Africa,

but there's no instructions about how it should be used.

Somebody could well take too much of it and become really quite ill.

Bugs and micro-organisms on dodgy food can make people seriously ill.

Even apparently safe products are tested.

So here we have some sundried bananas.

Don't see bananas like this

other than at the bottom of my son's lunchbox.

They've probably been dried out in the open.

There's birds flying overhead, rats coming in underneath,

helping themselves. A sample for microbiology. Looking for pathogens,

Salmonella, Campylobacter from the birds.

Now you wouldn't think we'd be interested in Falcon diesel oil.

But this is what came in, in a container,

and it's actually ghee for Indian cooking. Now the problem is,

is that the container would contain residues of diesel

and very unpleasant products, which would then go into the ghee,

which would then go into cooking. It's amazing what people will use

to transport products.

What exactly have we got in this container from Thailand?

We've got a selection of stuff.

The team try to keep any delays to legitimate products as small as possible.

But a container from the Far East has been singled out.

The packing list doesn't seem to match up with what's in it.

We're starting to find things in here as well

that there's no information on the packaging at all

that tells us what they are.

This is all in the country of origin language,

so I've no way of knowing what's in there. If it's a product of animal origin.

The work here will never stop.

It will change in time,

but when people find a new method of making advantage in foods,

they will do it.

Top Gun crane driver Darren White, and "C" team, are trying to get

in the record books for the highest number of containers moved by a crane in a 12-hour shift.

This is the one that takes us into the 500s.

After going past their initial target of 500,

they're now going for an all-time record of over 600.

And things are getting tense.

I think we're going to do it. It'll be very close, but, um,

when "C" team's on the job we should do it.

We're into the final hour now.

We're about 540,

so we've got 60 containers to do to hit the 600.

It's do-able in the hour, and hopefully they'll come in with big smiles on their faces.

Three more on 40, then you go back.

We can be under pressure. All ports are under pressure.

We're always under pressure. It's how you handle that pressure.

Trying to throw over 600 boxes in a 12-hour period,

for the crane drivers it would be very intense.

The van drivers as well, they'll be really flying at it.

For control staff it can be mentally draining.

It's OK, mate. Take it up to Charlie 30 with that one. I'll clear it through, OK?

-OVER RADIO:

-"Charlie, you drive like a demon. Smash that 600."

It's where the tiredness starts to creep in.

Just keep plodding on, that's all you can do.

Drive safe and as quick as you can.

Let's see what we've got here.

Take the under jack out. It leaves ten twin pick off-deck,

which should be five moves, hopefully.

I reckon the "C" team's going to do it. We are definitely going to do it.

This is how busy and hard working we are in C-10.

I've got some lunch there, look. I haven't even opened it.

There's a snag. Containers brought off the ship in pairs

are too heavy to be taken away by a single-straddle van.

So there's a log jam of boxes building up under the crane.

They've got to take them away singularly, or else it causes problems. It's not safe.

Again, that'll slow us down a bit.

Instead of doing one move for two boxes, we're now doing two moves.

In the control room, Adrian Spencer is now taking matters into his own hands.

I'm pre-planning the boxes into a row, basically right behind the crane. I'm over-riding the system

just to keep the job going a bit faster.

It's ten boxes and that's it.

-How many more lifts?

-Three lifts.

Oh.

Last one out there.

With just minutes to go until shift change, "C" team need one more lift for the record.

When you push through, that's going to be it. You've done over 600.

Thanks for your help. Cheers.

We beat the target. We've done it, we've completed it.

-Thanks. Cheers. Good stuff, mate.

-No worries.

I wanted this badly. I didn't think we'd get it.

HE LAUGHS

-Well done.

-They want a Mexican wave of us all.

-Yeah? Is that right?

To get a Mexican wave out of me, the only way is to wave when I'm going out the gate in a minute.

-Well done, Lee, boy.

-Yeah.

-Terrific job.

I had faith.

Whey! Well done. Top man. Well done, boys.

Brilliant.

The record's back with the "C" team, boys.

THEY CHEER

We are top league. We are top league!

-Well done, mate.

-Good team effort.

We've got a great team, a great bunch of lads. A brilliant job.

As the next shift starts and work carries on unloading the ship,

Darren and "C" team have earned themselves a night out at the company's expense,

and the satisfaction of knowing, for the time being at least,

they're record breakers.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd