Shipping containers - Steel boxes that have transformed logistics

Everybody has actually seen them and questioned what is inside them, and even if there is anything inside at all. Shipping Containers, or just plain containers.

Shipping containers were invented in 1956 and changed dockyards from labor-intensive to capital-intensive organizations practically overnight.

Shipping containers are big steel boxes that were initially developed to decrease the time a ship invested in port. Cash was saved in port charges, as well as allowing a ship to make more round trips each year. A container ship can dock, unload and reload, if needed, all in a portion of the time it would have taken to discharge a ship in the pre-container period.

Shipping containers are 40 feet long and have a plethora of uses. We see them accumulated in freight lawns and on ships. we see them on trains and trucks and we see them outside factories being packed or simply utilized as momentary storage.

Container ships and for that reason shipping containers were developed to speed loading time at the dockside and to lower theft by dock employees. Before containers were presented, countless individual packing cases needed to be packed by hand, time consuming and therefore pricey. Dock workers went on strike as they saw their tasks disappearing and the endless stream of pilfered items too.

Container ports were constructed to handle the new container ships, with enormous gantry cranes to manipulate the shipping containers quickly from train to backyard and then from yard to ship.

The time savings at the port are just the start, as the shipping container is quickly transferred to a truck and on to its last location, without any risk of theft. Transit time is reduced and more perishable freights can be carried.

There are non-standard containers too. They are all the exact same size outside, however some have hangers to allow clothing to be transferred and unloaded directly to the store flooring. There are pack n ship long beach aerated containers for crops like coffee and cocoa and there are containers with extra-wide doors or lashing bars for extra load security.