World Rack-Build Record Set

Chris Beytes

Juan Corro, from McCorkle Nurseries in Georgia, shown on his way to what could be considered a world-record rack assembly time at the second annual Container Centralen Rack Build Final, held during TPIE in Ft. Lauderdale in January. Juan assembled a CC rack—four posts and three shelves—in a blistering 25.39 seconds. He beat last year’s winning time of 32.66.

Close behind in second place was Marquis Johnson from Flowerwood Nursery in Alabama, with a time of 26.07 seconds. Defending champion Josh Flikkema of Sawyer Nursery of Michigan was off his game and only managed 40.26.

Bennett Dudley from R.A. Dudley Nursery of Georgia struggled to get his shelves in straight and suffered several time faults, resulting in a disappointing 46.85 seconds and last place. He joked that his dad told him that if he came in worse than fourth to not bother coming home.

Jokes and laughter (thanks in part to a DJ and open bar) were a big part of the fun event. The contest serves two purposes, says CC Inc. President Sonny Costin: Give their customers something fun to do, and show how quick and easy CC racks are to assemble.

To qualify, CC customers were encouraged to submit videos of their fastest rack builders. The top three were flown to Ft. Lauderdale to compete in the national championship against defending champ Josh.

Container Centralen is headquartered in the Netherlands and has 50 depots and millions of racks throughout Europe. Might there eventually be a world championship?

“CC Europe has said they think an international competition is a great idea—they just weren’t ready to make it happen this year,” said Sonny. “They didn’t commit to next year, but that’s what we’re hoping for.” GT