7 Fun Facts about Shipping Container
Do you know that first modern intermodal shipping container was developed in 1956
Malcolm Purcell McLean was an American businessman, who was a transport entrepreneur who developed the modern intermodal shipping container (8ft high and 8ft tall), which revolutionized transport and international trade in the second half of the twentieth century. Containerization led to a significant reduction in the cost of freight transportation by eliminating the need for repeated handling of individual pieces of cargo, and also improved reliability, reduced cargo theft, and cut inventory costs by shortening transit time. Later on, he founded Sea-Land Service.
McLean added many transpacific routes and in 1967 the US government asked him to start a container service to South Vietnam, which became 40% of the company’s turnover in 1968-69. McLean is the only person to found three companies that were later listed on the New York Stock Exchange (plus two others on the NASDAQ).
McLean was inducted into the North Carolina Transportation Hall of Fame in 2006.
China is the biggest manufacturer of shipping container in the world
China's container industry started in the late 1970s and early 1980s. After 20 years' of development the annual production capacity is approximately 5.8 million TEU which is 145 times as large as 20 years before, accounting for over 96% of world's production capacity. China's container industry has made three world's records since 1993.
As of 2008, almost 97 in every 100 shipping containers in the world were manufactured in China. Chinese container manufacturers have made the most of their proximity to massive export production zones and abundant supply of cheap labor, and combined these with ongoing product innovation to comprehensively out-compete their rivals and dominate the industry over the course of the last 15 years. The Global Financial Crisis more or less halted new container construction from October 2008 to late 2009, but production has been picking up sharply in 2010.
Towards the end of the year, factories could not keep up with demand from shipping liners and container leasing companies.
The amount you can store in one container is pretty incredible.
The cargo capacity of a storage container is measured in TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units). The volume of a standard 20-foot long container is 1 TEU. A 40-foot container equals 2 TEU (forty-foot equivalent unit). A 45-foot container equals 2.25 TEU.
A 20-foot long container can hold small machinery like skid steers, mini steam rollers or mini excavators and can stores 1-2 aisles of seasonal inventory or supplies. While 40-foot long container holds larger machinery such as front-end loaders or excavators, but will usually require some disassembly of parts in order to clear the height and width of the container.
A 40ft containers can even hold around 8,000 shoe boxes. Think about that the next time you bring home a new pair of shoes.
All shipping containers have a CSC plate affixed, which acts like a passport for a container
CSC, or the International Convention for Safe Containers, incorporates design requirements, minimum functionality requirements, and measurements of capacity, weight, and resistance to the forces containers are subjected to when they ship by sea or on land within ships, trains, or trucks. The goal of CSC is to formalize international safety requirements for structural design and consistent inspection and maintenance of cargo containers. Overall, CSC ensures containers are built safely and inspected on a consistent basis to keep workers as safe as possible.
CSC is an international agreement dating to the 1972 International Convention for Safe Containers. CSC sets international standards in design-type approval and safety inspections so that containers operate globally under one set of safety regulations. Once a container design meets all CSC and International Standardization Organization (ISO) standards, it is assigned a CSC number. The number appears on a safety approval plate, or CSC plate, that must be attached to the container.
Shipping containers lost at sea each year
An average of 1,390 containers have been lost at sea each year over the past three years, according to a new survey of the world’s ocean carriers by the World Shipping Council. The number of containers lost represents a 48% reduction in the average annual losses compared to the previous three-year period. The number includes containers that were lost during catastrophic events, i.e. those where more than 50 containers were lost during a single event. Excluding catastrophic events, the average number of containers lost each year was 612, which is about 16% less than the average of 733 units lost each year in 2011, 2012, and 2013.
The new figures were released this week in an updated survey of World Shipping Council members, who operate approximately 80 percent of the global containership fleet in terms of capacity.
Number of containers in the world
Shipping containers are everywhere! We see them on the back of trucks and trains and stacked high on container ships. They are used to transport many of the goods we import and export, and are commonly used for onsite storage, for offices, for homes and many other uses besides. Yet a question we are often asked (but not able to answer easily) is ‘how many shipping containers are there in the world’?
There are already a number of estimates suggesting the global container fleet is anywhere between 5 million and 170 million shipping containers. Approximately only half of all containers are owned by shipping lines. The rest are leased, which usually run from 1 to 10 years.
If you unloaded all of the containers from the largest container freight vessel in the world you’d end up with a train that is 44 miles (70.8 km) long.
Containers can last up to 20 years or more, provided they are taken care of with regular paint and maintenance
If you purchase a used container, it’s one that will have already been used in shipping service. The typical lifespan of a container (in shipping service) is 10-12 years. Once a container comes out of shipping service, many of them are sold in the aftermarket for storage or for alternative purposes. A used container can easily surpass another 10+ years of use. Of course, this timeframe can vary depending on how the container is used.
A “One Trip” container is the newest and nicest container you can get. “One Trip” containers are not utilized in shipping service. They are typically loaded with cargo only one time before being shipped to the US. They are then sold in the aftermarket for storage or for alternative purposes.
This type of container can easily surpass 25+ years of use.
Source :
https://www.ocean-insights.com/article/8-little-unknown-facts-about-shipping-containers/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcom_McLean
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Container_industry_in_China
https://www.360mobileoffice.com/storage-containers/how-much-can-a-storage-container-hold
http://containertech.com/about-containers/how-durable-are-shipping-containers/
https://www.mpofcinci.com/blog/what-is-csc-plate/
https://gcaptain.com/number-of-containers-lost-at-sea-falling-survey-shows/
https://www.gatewaycontainersales.com.au/20-facts-you-probably-didnt-know-about-shipping-containers/
https://www.budgetshippingcontainers.co.uk/info/how-many-shipping-containers-are-there-in-the-world/
