The Humble Shipping Container: An Unsung Hero of Global Trade

The standardised steel box that has become ubiquitous in global freight transport and logistics over the past 50 years did not capture much of the public imagination when it was first developed.

Shipping Containers Guide

The humble shipping container has had an enormous economic and social impact, enabling the rapid growth of international trade and transforming the nature of shipping and ports. Behind this simple rectangular prism lies an influential innovation story with unexpected beginnings.

Identifying Shipping Containers

Shipping containers come in various makes and types, each designed for specific cargo needs and handling requirements. Spotting them “in the wild” involves recognising their sizes, types, and sometimes the unique markings or colours that denote their specific uses or owners. Here’s a breakdown of the common makes and types of shipping containers:

1. Dry Storage Container

• Description: The most common type, used for a wide range of general cargo.
• Sizes: Typically 20ft, 40ft, and sometimes 10ft.
• Spotting Tips: Look for standard sizes and the absence of temperature control equipment.

2. Refrigerated ISO Containers (Reefers)

• Description: Equipped with refrigeration units to transport perishable goods.
• Sizes: Commonly 20ft and 40ft.
• Spotting Tips: Notice the refrigeration unit on one end and often marked with temperature-sensitive cargo stickers.

3. Open Top Container

• Description: Without a solid roof, allowing for cargo of any height.
• Sizes: Mainly 20ft and 40ft.
• Spotting Tips: Visible cargo, such as machinery or timber, sticking out the top.

4. Flat Rack Container

• Description: With collapsible sides that can be folded to make a flat rack for heavy loads.
• Sizes: Mostly 20ft and 40ft.
• Spotting Tips: Look for oversized cargo like heavy machinery or vehicles.

5. Tank Container

• Description: Cylindrical containers for liquids like chemicals or food-grade products.
• Sizes: Typically 20ft.
• Spotting Tips: Cylindrical tank within a frame; often marked with hazardous signs if carrying dangerous goods.

6. Open Side Storage Container

• Description: With doors that open on the side to accommodate wider cargo.
• Sizes: Commonly 20ft and 40ft.
• Spotting Tips: Side doors that can be fully opened, visible when the container is unloaded or doors are ajar.

7. Tunnel Container

• Description: Doors at both ends for easy loading and unloading.
• Sizes: Usually 20ft and 40ft.
• Spotting Tips: Look for containers with doors on both ends.

8. Special Purpose Containers

• Description: Customised for specific cargo, such as cars or weapons.
• Spotting Tips: Unique modifications or sizes not standard among other types.

9. High Cube Container

• Description: Taller than standard containers for more space.
• Sizes: Mainly 40ft but can be 45ft.
• Spotting Tips: Noticeably taller than standard containers, often marked with “High Cube” or “HC.”

10. Double Door Container

• Description: Doors on both ends for better access.
• Sizes: Typically 20ft and 40ft.
• Spotting Tips: Similar to tunnel containers, with doors that open on both ends.

Identifying Marks and Numbers

• ISO Code: A four-character code indicating the container type.
• Owner Code: Three letters indicating the owner or shipping line.
• Serial Number: A six-digit number unique to each container.
• Check Digit: A single-digit number for validation.

Spotting Containers in the Wild

To spot these containers in real life, pay attention to:

• Size and Shape: The overall dimensions and whether it has any unique features (e.g., open top, tank shape).
• Markings and Colours: Company logos, ISO codes, or special handling marks.
• Location: Where it’s found can also give clues; for example, reefers are often near power sources to keep the refrigeration unit running.

By familiarising yourself with these characteristics, you can start to identify the various types of shipping containers you might come across in transport hubs, on the road, or at ports.

History of Shipping Containers

The earliest forms of containerisation date back to the 1840s, with square boxes carrying coal on rail lines in England. However, it was in 1956 that trucking entrepreneur Malcom McLean launched the first full container shipping service between New Jersey and Texas, using refitted oil tankers with custom-built container cells.

McLean’s initial goal was to improve the efficiency of transporting goods via rail by standardising the loading units. This represented a shift from the labour-intensive breakbulk method of shipping, whereby loose cargo is loaded item by item.

At the time, American railroads were struggling financially and disinclined to take up this newfangled idea. Undeterred, McLean expanded his fledgling container business, SeaLand, into an international ocean carrier.

He ordered the Ideal-X, considered one of the first purpose-built container ships, to launch his new transatlantic service in 1956. The transformation of global shipping had begun.

Setting Global Standards

A key inflexion point providing momentum to container shipping was the standardisation of container sizes and handling systems. This enabled interoperability between shipping companies and smooth interfacing between sea and land transport.

The most common sizes today are 20-foot (6.1m) and 40-foot units (12.2m), conforming to International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) standards.

Standard-sized containers can be stacked securely on ships, trains and trucks specially designed for lifting and transporting containers via unique corner castings. Standard heights allow stable stacking of up to 7 containers high on boats.

Containers can be transferred seamlessly between different modes of transport using gantry cranes and other mechanical handlers. Agreeing on these critical standards internationally was crucial to achieving scale in container shipping.

Driving Globalisation

While containers represented an incremental shipping process innovation, the effects have been similarly disruptive to the telegraph and broadband internet – enabling complex global supply chains and tremendously boosting international trade.

Containerisation significantly lowered freight transportation costs, with estimated global efficiency savings from 1990-2020 as high as 370 billion USD. Containers both facilitated existing trade growth and opened opportunities for new trade relationships.

Seaborne container trade expanded at an estimated annual growth rate of 8.7% between 1990 to 2020. The volume of global container trade is projected to triple between 2000 and 2030.

Over 80 per cent of non-bulk cargo worldwide is now transported by containers stacked neatly on unimaginably large container ships like the 24,000 TEU Ever Alot weighing 200,000 tonnes. Such megaliths plying today’s shipping lanes would astonish mid-20th-century observers if catapulted into the present.

Evolution of Port Infrastructure

Alongside getting container ships and containers to align, developing the ports and terminals to handle massive container volumes efficiently enabled increasing containerisation. Ports essentially reshaped themselves around containers.

Old multi-purpose ports gave way to new container-focused terminals with deeper channels, large dedicated container berths and extensive flat yard space for container stacks.

With containers never opening until their final inland destination, security-controlled loading and unloading zones replaced loose cargo wharves. Vast transit warehouses were replaced with more straightforward container stacking areas, though some warehousing functions shifted to off-port logistics zones.

Capital-intensive gantry cranes, rail-mounted cranes and yard tractor units have become ubiquitous for moving containers within terminals.

Computerised terminals with optimised design and automation now aim to minimise container dwell times and speed up vessel turnaround.

Modern synthetic container terminal layouts are far removed from the jumble of boxes, sacks and barrels scattered around old maritime docks and warehouses.

Unintended Impacts on Port Cities

Ironically, the efficiencies generating increased transhipment led declining ports facing containerisation initially to lose cargo volumes and associated waterfront jobs.

Some recovered by redeveloping container facilities or finding alternative niches. However, abrupt containerisation critically impacted the development trajectories of numerous port cities and their maritime communities.

Containerisation displaced dock labour force demands away from traditional port districts towards peripheral logistics zones.

Shipping companies relocated administrative offices away from historic maritime business districts, which fell into decline as maritime activities faded. Port operations increasingly shifted from centres of commerce to restricted marginal spaces screened from urban life.

Once thriving, multi-functional port areas commonly morphed into marginalised urban wastelands or dormitory suburbs filled with vacated warehouses. Redeveloping discontinued port zones into attractive new residential and commercial city districts has proven challenging – with examples like London Docklands taking decades.

Adaptation difficulties reflect complex economic shifts intertwined with urban planning and societal challenges.

Safety and Security Considerations

Despite the strong safety record of container transport, managing risks associated with carrying millions of steel boxes annually across oceans and over land is critical.

Containership fires onboard and at port grab headlines periodically. More frequently, containers are lost overboard in adverse weather, though strict regulations limit this today.

Heightened security precautions guard against narcotics smuggling, illegal immigration and potential terrorism. Cargo screening systems using X-ray scanners and radiation detectors continue to improve.

However, screening cargo without impeding the swift trade flow remains challenging, given vast container volumes. The occasional news story about stowaways inside containers attests to the difficulties of securing such ubiquitous transport infrastructure.

Environmental Impacts

Though low per item, global container transport’s sheer scale and fossil fuel dependency make reducing climate change impacts urgent.

Maritime shipping consumed over 250 million metric tons of fuel oil in 2018 – over 10% of global fuel oil demand. New mega-ships deploy energy efficiency advances like air lubrication, kite sails, and solar power to mitigate this.

With over 5,500 containers lost annually, plastic pollution from containers and cargo debris adrift at sea poses environmental risks to marine ecosystems.

In response to increasing the use of sustainably sourced packaging, alternative container materials like plywood and algae-based container coatings offer potential mitigations. Improved emergency response when containers are lost overboard further promotes reducing environmental damage.

Future Outlook

Incremental efficiencies in container shipping look set to continue – albeit constrained by physical, economic and environmental limits. Larger container vessels are mooted, though harbour access issues impose constraints.

Digitisation, automation and artificial intelligence offer further optimisation potential across logistics networks. 3D printing, drones, and self-driving trucks may transform the landside links of container transport.

However, revolutionary new paradigms look unlikely to supersede the mundane maritime container’s global trade dominance anytime soon.

The economic advantages and path dependencies built around international standards appear too entrenched. Ongoing innovation seems more likely to take the form of a gradual evolution towards more intelligent, swifter and greener container supply chains.

Conclusion

The shipping container’s transformative influence on global trade over the past 60 years contrasts starkly with its simple, almost self-effacing form. Yet rectilinear steel boxes conspicuously stacked up in ports and on ships comprise critical arteries powering today’s global flows of finished goods and commercial materials.

The cultural legacy of this unglamorous workhorse innovation deserves greater attention for the way it has interconnected the world’s societies more deeply. While containerisation helped lift global prosperity overall, have we focused too narrowly on efficiency and cost advantages at the expense of social impacts?

Perhaps the modular vessel carrying cheap imports also transported unintended societal changes needing more excellent reflection. Nevertheless, the ubiquitous shipping container appears destined to endure serving world trade for decades.