Once in a while, you will need something delivered across the city for someone receiving that item. It would be easy as express delivery services are now available everywhere. But how about businesses that require transporting various heavy and bulky goods? How about those goods which should be transported not anywhere near the city but across different countries and even continents?
It would be difficult to maintain the shipment’s safety and deliver the cargo effectively if there is no standard way of doing it. That is where shipping container transport comes in. Large and durable containers are needed to ship a variety of loads from anywhere in the world in the most systematic way possible.
What is Containerization?
Transporting goods has been made easier with the system of standardized transport called containerization. A shipping container transport uses a steel container, which is easily transferred between different transport modes. This transport system makes use of a cargo-moving technique, which is now accepted internationally.
It is also affordable, effective, and modifiable to suit the needs of the clients. So, you do not need to worry about shipping big loads of stuff across the continent. Most probably, you have seen a pile of these shipping containers in terminals or ports. And you kept wondering what should be inside those big boxes of steel.
Malcolm McLean – an American truck businessman – developed the idea of containerization in the 20th century. He realized that it would be hassle-free if only one large container carries loads of goods lifted between different vehicles without unloading every single content. This container could then be transferred easily between trucks, trains, and ships, which would make an efficient logistics process. McLean based his idea on the theory called “intermodalism” to improve the efficiency of transporting loads – the cargo in the container can be moved with minimum interruption through different modes of transport.
The Shipping Container
There are several types of shipping containers available in the market, depending on the type of goods that you are shipping. Some of the classes that shipping containers fall into are the general cargo, bulk shipping, liquid cargo, reefer shipping, tank shipping, flat rack shipping, car shipping, and livestock shipping containers. The weight limit for goods ranges up to a maximum of about 40,800 kilograms and a minimum from about 2,230 to 5,700 kilograms.
The sizes of such containers were also standardized to efficiently load them in ships, trucks, trains, and cranes at the port. This way, you would be sure if it fits all the modes of transport that the cargo should be in as the containers are built to a single size specification. The 20-foot and 40-foot length containers are the most commonly used sizes in the industry.
Container shipments are also categorized into full container load (FCL) and less than container load (LCL). FCL refers to shipments that have a single recipient, preferred by those with large quantities of cargo to be delivered. LCL is used for multiple recipients when the goods to be delivered are not enough to fit a standard shipping container.
Shipping and Transport Industry
The standardization of sizes and everything about the shipment of goods is necessary, most especially for international transport. The easy transportation of cargo is available to all shipping companies by using standardized shipping containers. With containerization, the efficiency of transport has increased dramatically, as well as the economy of trades and imports in different countries.
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