Known as containerization, cargo containers are a system of intermodal transport that can be loaded onto railroad cars, trucks, container ships and planes.
When containers were introduced it resulted in major improvements in the efficiency of port handling, it lowered the costs which in turn lowered freight charges resulting in boosted trade flows. If you think about it pretty much any product consumed by humans has spent some of its life in Containers.
It was around the 1830’s that several continents started carrying containers on their railroads, these containers could then be transferred to ships or trucks, however by today’s standards they were very small. Wooden Boxes were used for this process but by the 1940’s the production of Iron boxes were welcomed and used in conjunction with wooden ones.
It was in the 1900s we finally saw the adoption of closed cargo containers, these were designed for movement between rail and road.
In time the transportation of these progressed from rail to rail and sea, the first vessel that was purpose built for the transportation of containers began operating in 1951 on Denmark. 1951 was also when the United States started shipping containers between Alaska and Seattle.
Today
Now containers must conform to ISO Standards and they come in 5 standard common lengths:
1. 6.1 m (20 ft)
2. 12.2 m (40 ft)
3. 13.7 m (45 ft)
4. 14.6 m (49 ft)
5. 16.2 m (53 ft)
Approximately 90% of cargo worldwide today is moved on transport ships by stacked containers and 26% of the worlds Containers originate from China.
There are a lot of companies offering these services world wide, be sure to find the one that best suits your company needs.
If you are in need of this service check out our product pages, they contain many companies that specialize in this. Wesley Clarke writes about Cargo Containers. Visit the Businessmagnet product page for details and suppliers of Cargo Containers.
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