Mark
Supervisor sales
In today's logistics world, the shipping container is indispensable. This is remarkable considering that the first container ship, the MS Fairland, only arrived in Rotterdam in 1966, carrying 266 containers. Nowadays, the new standard for the largest container ships is an incredible 24,000 x 20' containers.
While this is a massive development, let's go back to the basics and delve deeper into these "black boxes," because not all containers are the same.
We have summarized the most common types in a simple illustration. The most frequently used containers are standard 20' and 40' containers, or TEU and FEU. You will probably come across other terms as well, like FCL and LCL. What do these mean?
FCL stands for Full Container Load, simply a full container.
LCL stands for Less Than Container Load, i.e. when you have loose pallets to ship.
TEU stands for "twenty-foot equivalent unit," meaning a container 20 feet long.
FEU is simply twice as long, at "fourty feet."
Additionally, there are 45' containers, which are 13.5 meters long but less common.
The height of standard 20' and 40' containers is 8'6" (8 feet, 6 inches), or 2.59 meters. However, the most common container of all is the 40' high cube container. This box is exactly 1 foot (30cm) higher and is widely used in international freight transport.
Apart from these standard containers, there are many other types, such as:
Reefer
For refrigerated and frozen cargo to maintain the correct temperature during transport.
Flat Racks
For cargo that extends beyond the sides.
Open toppers
For cargo that is taller than what fits inside a standard container “with a roof top”.
In this blog, we have explained the most important aspects of shipping containers. Want to know more about this topic and/or what Berkman Forwarding can do for you? Please contact us via our website, email, app, or give us a call.
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