ISO standard Container
Dimensions and payloads
There are five common standard lengths, 20-ft (6.1 m), 40-ft (12.2 m), 45-ft (13.7 m), 48-ft (14.6 m), and 53-ft (16.2 m). United States domestic standard containers are generally 48 ft (15 m) and 53-ft (rail and truck). Container capacity is often expressed in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU, or sometimes teu). An equivalent unit is a measure of containerized cargo capacity equal to one standard 20 ft (length) × 8 ft (width) container. As this is an approximate measure, the height of the box is not considered, for instance the 9 ft 6 in (2.9 m) High cube and the 4-ft 3-in (1.3 m) half height 20 ft (6.1 m) containers are also called one TEU. Similarly, the 45-ft (13.7 m) containers are also commonly designated as two TEU, although they are 45 and not 40 feet (12 m) long. Two TEU are equivalent to one forty-foot equivalent unit (FEU).
The use of Imperial measurements to describe container size (TEU, FEU) reflects the fact that US Department of Defense played a major part in the development of containers. The overwhelming need to have a standard size for containers, in order that they fit all ships, cranes, and trucks, and the length of time that the current container sizes have been in use, makes changing to an even metric size impractical.
The maximum gross mass for a 20 ft (6.1 m) dry cargo container is 24,000 kg, and for a 40-ft (including the 2.87 m (9 ft 6 in) high cube container), it is 30,480 kg. Allowing for the tare mass of the container, the maximum payload mass is therefore reduced to approximately 21,600 kg for 20 ft (6.1 m), and 26,500 kg for 40 ft (12 m) containers.
Since November 2007 48-ft and 53 ft (16 m) containers are used also for international ocean shipments. At the moment (April 2008) the only ocean company who offer such containers is APL[9]. However, APL containers have slightly different sizes and weights than standard 48 ft (15 m) and 53 ft (16 m) containers (that are used in the US by rail and truck services).
[edit] Standard containers
The 40 ft (12 m) container is the most popular container worldwide.[citation needed] Longer container types have become more common, especially in North America. Shorter containers (e.g. 10 ft (3.0 m) containers) are rare.[citation needed]
The following table shows the weights and dimensions of the three most common types of containers worldwide. The weights and dimensions quoted below are averages, different manufacture series of the same type of container may vary slightly in actual size and weight.
20′ container 40′ container 45′ high-cube container
imperial metric imperial metric imperial metric
external
dimensions length 20′ 0″ 6.096 m 40′ 0″ 12.192 m 45′ 0″ 13.716 m
width 8′ 0″ 2.438 m 8′ 0″ 2.438 m 8′ 0″ 2.438 m
height 8′ 6″ 2.591 m 8′ 6″ 2.591 m 9′ 6″ 2.896 m
interior
dimensions length 18′ 10 5⁄16″ 5.758 m 39′ 5 45⁄64″ 12.032 m 44′ 4″ 13.556 m
width 7′ 8 19⁄32″ 2.352 m 7′ 8 19⁄32″ 2.352 m 7′ 8 19⁄32″ 2.352 m
height 7′ 9 57⁄64″ 2.385 m 7′ 9 57⁄64″ 2.385 m 8′ 9 15⁄16″ 2.698 m
door aperture width 7′ 8 ⅛″ 2.343 m 7′ 8 ⅛″ 2.343 m 7′ 8 ⅛″ 2.343 m
height 7′ 5 ¾″ 2.280 m 7′ 5 ¾″ 2.280 m 8′ 5 49⁄64″ 2.585 m
volume 1,169 ft³ 33.1 m³ 2,385 ft³ 67.5 m³ 3,040 ft³ 86.1 m³
maximum
gross mass 66,139 lb 30,400 kg 66,139 lb 30,400 kg 66,139 lb 30,400 kg
empty weight 4,850 lb 2,200 kg 8,380 lb 3,800 kg 10,580 lb 4,800 kg
net load 61,289 lb 28,200 kg 57,759 lb 26,600 kg 55,559 lb 25,600 kg
20-ft, "heavy tested" containers are available for heavy goods (e.g. heavy machinery). These containers allow a maximum weight of 67,200 lb (30,480 kg), an empty weight of 5,290 lb (2,400 kg), and a net load of 61,910 lb (28,080 kg).
Tunnels
The original choice of 8 foot high for ISO containers was made in part to suit a large proportion of railway tunnels, though some had to be deepened. With the arrival of even taller container, further enlargement is proving necessary.
Types
Various container types are available for different needs:
* General purpose dry van for boxes, cartons, cases, sacks, bales, pallets, drums in standard, high or half height
* High cube palletwide containers for europallet compatibility
* Temperature controlled from −25 °C to +25 °C reefer
* Open top bulktainers for bulk minerals, heavy machinery
* Open side for loading oversize pallet
* Flushfolding flat-rack containers for heavy and bulky semi-finished goods, out of gauge cargo
* Platform or bolster for barrels and drums, crates, cable drums, out of gauge cargo, machinery, and processed timber
* Ventilated containers for organic products requiring ventilation
* Tank containers for bulk liquids and dangerous goods
* Rolling floor for difficult to handle cargo
* Gas bottle
* Generator
* Collapsible ISO
* Swapbody
Numbering
Main article: ISO 6346
Each container is allocated a reporting mark (ownership code) four characters long ending in the letter U, followed by 6 numbers and a check digit.
Containers on the Port of Singapore
Air freight containers
A number of LD-designation Unit Load Device containers.
Main article: Unit Load Device
While major airlines use containers that are custom designed for their aircraft and associated ground handling equipment the IATA has created a set of standard container sizes, the LD-designation sizes are shown below:
Designation Width (in) Height (in) Depth (in) Base (In) Max load (lb) Max load (kg) Shape
LD-1 92.0 64.0 60.4 61.5 3500 ~1588 Type A
LD-2 61.5 64.0 47.0 61.5 2700 ~1225 Type A
LD-3 79.0 64.0 60.4 61.5 3500 ~1588 Type A
LD-4 96.0 64.0 60.4 n/a 5400 ~2449 Rectangular
LD-5 125.0 64.0 60.4 n/a 7000 ~3175 Rectangular
LD-6 160.0 64.0 60.4 125.0 7000 ~3175 Type B
LD-7 125.0 64.0 80.0 n/a 13300 ~6033 Rect. or Contoured
LD-8 125.0 64.0 60.4 96.0 5400 ~2449 Type B
LD-9 125.0 64.0 80.0 n/a 13300 ~6033 Rect. or Contoured
LD-10 125.0 64.0 60.4 n/a 7000 ~3175 Contoured
LD-11 125.0 64.0 60.4 n/a 7000 ~3175 Rectangular
LD-29 186.0 64.0 88.0 125.0 13300 ~6033 Type B
LD-1, -2, -3, -4, and -8 are those most widely used, together with the rectangular M3 containers.
Issues
Increased efficiency
Although there have been few direct correlations made between containers and job losses, there are a number of texts associating job losses at least in part with containerization. A 1998 study of post-containerization employment at United States ports found that container cargo could be moved nearly twenty times faster than pre-container break bulk. The new system of shipping also allowed for freight consolidating jobs to move from the waterfront to points far inland, which also decreased the number of waterfront jobs.
Additional fuel costs
Containerisation increases the fuel costs of transport and reduces the capacity of the transport as the container itself must be shipped around not just the goods. For certain bulk products this makes containerisation unattractive. For most goods the increased fuel costs and decreased transport efficiencies are currently more than offset by the handling savings.[citation needed]
Hazards
Containers have been used to smuggle contraband. The vast majority of containers are never subjected to scrutiny due to the large number of containers in use. In recent years there have been increased concerns that containers might be used to transport terrorists or terrorist materials into a country undetected. The U.S. government has advanced the Container Security Initiative (CSI), intended to ensure that high-risk cargo is examined or scanned, preferably at the port of departure.
Empty containers
Containers are intended to be used constantly, being loaded with a new cargo for a new destination soon after being emptied of the previous cargo. This is not always possible, and in some cases the cost of transporting an empty container to a place where it can be used is considered to be higher than the worth of the used container. This can result in large areas in ports and warehouses being occupied by empty containers left abandoned. However, empty containers may also be recycled in the form of shipping container architecture, or the steel content salvaged.
Loss at sea
Containers occasionally fall from the ships that carry them, usually during storms; it is estimated that over 10,000 containers are lost at sea each year.[13] For instance, on November 30, 2006, a container washed ashore on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, along with thousands of bags of its cargo of Doritos Chips. Containers lost at sea do not necessarily sink, but seldom float very high out of the water, making them a shipping hazard that is difficult to detect. Freight from lost containers has provided oceanographers with unexpected opportunities to track global ocean currents, notably a cargo of Friendly Floatees.[14]
In 2007 the International Chamber of Shipping and the World Shipping Council began work on a code of practice for container storage, including crew training on parametric rolling, safer stacking and marking of containers and security for above-deck cargo in heavy swell.
Double-stack containerization
Part of a United States double-stack container train loaded with 53 ft (16.2 m) containers.
A railroad car with a 20' tank container and a conventional 20' container.
Most flatcars cannot carry more than one standard 40-foot (12 m) container, but if the rail line has been built with sufficient vertical clearance, a double-stack car can accept a container and still leave enough clearance for another container on top. This usually precludes operation of double-stacked wagons on lines with overhead electric wiring. However, the Betuweroute, which was planned with overhead wiring from the start, has been built with tunnels that do accommodate double-stacked wagons so as to keep the option to economically rebuild the route for double stacking in the future. The overhead wiring would then have to be changed to allow double stacking.[16] Lower than standard size containers are run double stacked under overhead wire in China.
History
* Flag of the United States/Flag of Canada/Flag of Mexico — Southern Pacific Railroad, with Malcom McLean, (SP) came up with the idea of the first double-stack intermodal car in 1977.[4][18] SP then designed the first car with ACF Industries that same year.[19][20] At first it was slow to become an industry standard, then in 1984 American President Lines, started working with the SP and that same year, the first all "double stack" train left Los Angeles, California for South Kearny, New Jersey, under the name of "Stacktrain" rail service. Along the way the train transferred from the SP to Conrail. It saved shippers money and now accounts for almost 70 percent of intermodal freight transport shipments in the United States, in part due to the generous vertical clearances used by U.S. railroads. These lines are diesel operated with no overhead wiring.
* Flag of Australia — Double stacking is also used in Australia between Adelaide, Parkes, Perth and Darwin. These are diesel only lines with no overhead wiring.
* Flag of India — Double stacking is proposed in India for selected freight-only lines. These would be electrified lines with specially high overhead wiring.
Other uses for containers
Shipping container architecture is the use of containers as the basis for housing and other functional buildings for people, either as temporary housing or permanent, and either as a main building or as a cabin or workshop. Containers can also be used as sheds or storage areas in industry and commerce.
Companies
Biggest ISO container companies
Top 10 container shipping companies in order of TEU capacity, first January 2006 Company TEU capacity[21] Market Share Number of ships
A.P. Moller-Maersk Group 1,665,272 18.2% 549
Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. 865,890 11.7% 376
CMA CGM 507,954 5.6% 256
Evergreen Marine Corporation 477,911 5.2% 153
Hapag-Lloyd 412,344 4.5% 140
China Shipping Container Lines 346,493 3.8% 111
American President Lines 331,437 3.6% 99
Hanjin-Senator 328,794 3.6% 145
COSCO 322,326 3.5% 118
NYK Line 302,213 3.3% 105
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