Shipping Containers
Call me crazy or slow, but I think I was well into my twenties before I realized that the boxcars on the freight trains that I counted as a child and the backs of trailer trucks were one and the same. Not to mention that the colorful rectangular boxes on large container ships that I had seen in ports were also the same size and shape. Several years later, married to a Swede, I found myself watching all of my worldly belongings being loaded into such a container. As I write this article, another three and a half years have gone by, and a different container is somewhere between Germany and New York City filled with our household goods. Even if I did not have such a personal connection to the container shipping industry, I would still find it fascinating.
The widespread use of containers is a fairly recent phenomenon, and the modern container was developed in the 1960's. Container shipping is also referred to as a type of intermodalism, which means several different modes of transport can be used for the same cargo. A single Bill of Lading (almost like a ticket but for cargo) can be used for a shipment's entire journey. There are two basic sizes of containers, both 8 feet by 8.6 feet on the short ends, but varying in length. There is the 20 foot container, which we used in both of our transatlantic moves, and the 40 foot container, which seems to be more prevalent, judging from trucks and freight trains I have seen. Statistics show that about 2/3 of the shipping containers in use today are of the 40 foot type. Once the size and shape of containers were standardized, the entire freight shipping industry was revolutionized and shipping became much faster. Rather than readjusting for each shipment, machinery at ports and intermodal yards was set to the standard size and changing modes of transportation became much easier. The containers also fit together seamlessly, which permits stacking on trains and ships. It is almost like a giant-scale game of Tetris when they load up large container ships with cargo.
So, next time you see a train go by or pass a big rig hauling a container, marvel at this standardization and effeciency success story. Those metal boxes form the backbone of life as we know it, and most of them are not just hauling IKEA furniture like the one I am waiting on. Almost everything you can think of, from shoes to televisions, has spent some time inside four metal walls on its trip from the factory to your store shelves. Shipping containers are one of those things that most of us see everyday, but have never thought about.