Production of shipping containers, their types and standards

A shipping container is transport equipment that can be used repeatedly and, due to its design, ensures the safety of goods during transportation by one or more modes of transport. This is possible due to the strength of sea containers, which are maintained throughout the entire established service life of the container. In this article, we will consider the different types of new shipping containers in Orlando and their standards.

Types of shipping containers

Regardless of the purpose of containers, they are standardized:

1. According to the connecting dimensions;
2. By dimensions;
3. By gross weight.

According to the design of connecting devices to the gripping bodies of loading and unloading machines, rolling stock of road or rail transport. Thanks to this, it is possible to carry out multimodal transportation with minimal labor and time costs, using different modes of transport, and implementing the “door-to-door” scheme.

All types of shipping containers are made of aluminum or ferrous metals and are mainly in the shape of a parallelepiped and are designed to transport or store bulk and piece cargo.

A big plus of shipping containers is the safety of the cargo, which is achieved due to:

• the container is almost impossible to open without leaving traces;
• it is locked and sealed;
• you can use a seal of reliable design and high quality.

In order to make it easy to identify containers, group codes were invented, including two Latin letters.

There are such types of shipping containers:

1. GPs are universal (standard, general purpose) containers;
2. RS, RT, RE are refrigerated containers used to transport flowers, perfumes, medicines, frozen or perishable products, as well as goods that require special temperature conditions during transportation;
3. HR, HI are insulated containers, used to maintain a certain temperature for a long time;
4. VH are containers, in the upper and lower parts of which there is no mechanical ventilation system.
5. PC, PS, PF are platform containers;
6. UT are open top containers;
7. BU are containers that are used for bulk cargo;
8. TD, TG, TN is a tank container;
9. HC are containers with an increased height, about a foot above the standard;
10. PW are containers with an increased width, almost 2.5 meters.

Production of shipping containers

For production, different materials are used, as well as component devices. The container is assembled from floor, side, and end walls, side and end doors, roof, corner fittings, hatch, frame units, and other elements.

The frame and base of the container are usually made of riveted and welded seams. Roof and wall cladding are made of corrugated steel sheets. The floor is flat-pressed mahogany plywood, which is impregnated with special compositions that protect against decay, fungi, and parasites.

The inner sheathing is made of polymer sheet and thin sheet metal materials. In order to ensure proper thermal insulation, the space is filled with an epoxy foam composition.

Rolled products from light aluminum alloys are often used as a structural material in containers.

The production of shipping containers has enabled the consumer to obtain a simple and reliable product. The metal sheets of corrugated steel used for the top and walls of containers are interconnected so that deformation is completely excluded.

The production of sea containers made it possible to transport goods accurately and without damage over any distance.

Container markings

Due to the fact that the container is transport equipment for the transportation of goods not only within one country but also between states, it must be not only standard in terms of size but also safe during transportation. This is achieved by its design, materials used, and durability. To confirm this, the container is affixed with a data plate in accordance with the Convention for Safe Containers (CSC), which is issued by the qualification and supervisory authority of the country of origin (if any) or another country. A container bearing this label is considered to be safety approved for countries that have signed the CSC.

The CSC Safety Approval is affixed to the left side of the container door, usually at the bottom of the door. The plate must contain the following information:

1. The country that granted the approval and the number of the approval (the country that granted the approval must be identified by the distinctive sign used to indicate the country of registration of motor vehicles in international traffic);
2. Date (month and year) of manufacture;
3. The identification number of the container assigned by the manufacturer, or for existing containers for which this number is unknown, the number assigned by the administration;
4. Maximum operating gross weight (kilograms and pounds);
5. Permissible stacking weight at 1.8 g (kilograms and pounds), where g is the acceleration due to gravity;
6. The magnitude of the load in the transverse test for structural rigidity (kilograms and pounds);
7. End wall strength (indicated on the plate only if the end walls are designed for a load less than or greater than 0.4 of the maximum allowable payload, i.e. 0.4 P);
8. Sidewall strength (indicated on the plate only if the side walls are designed for a load less than or greater than 0.6 of the maximum allowable payload, i.e. 0.6 P);
9. Date (month and year) of the first maintenance inspection of new containers and dates (month and year) of subsequent maintenance inspections if the plate is used for this purpose.

In order to ensure unhindered and safe transportation of goods in international traffic through border crossings, the container is supplied with a plate (Approved For Transport Under Customs Seal), indicating approval for transportation with customs seals. The plate confirms the compliance of the large-capacity container with the requirements of the Customs Convention regarding containers and is mandatory when transporting goods in large-capacity containers in international traffic.

The container may also contain plates with information about the manufacturer, owner, and operator of the container, and the terms (month and year) of the next overhaul (including on the sidewalls of the container).

Conclusion

For the optimal choice of container, it is necessary to take into account the requirements for a particular type of cargo, determine its dimensions, and methods of packaging. In this case, it will be possible to choose a container that will give a 100 percent reliability guarantee. All basic information about the container is placed on the surface on the side.

If you need to use sea freight, please contact Pelican Containers. We will give specific recommendations for choosing a container, we will advise what you should pay attention to. The packaging of the cargo is of great importance, as it provides ideal conditions for its storage throughout the journey to the final destination. This is especially true for multimodal cargo transportation when different modes of transport are used. Sea transportation is sometimes the only way to resolve the situation quickly and inexpensively.