The intermodal container may be referred to by other names such as a box, high-cube container, ISO container, sea can, freight container, conex box, and container. These units are manufactured from standardized reusable steel. They provide effective and safe and secure storage for moving supplies all over the world via a global containerized intermodal freight system.
The term "Intermodal" refers that the container is capable of being moved from one type of transport to another. For example, intermodal refers from ship to truck or ship to rail, without having to reload and unload the contents of the container. Some of the container lengths that have a distinctive ISO 6346 reporting mark on them range from 8-feet or 2.438 m to 56 feet or 17.07m. These units are as high as 8 feet or 2.438 m to 9 feet, 6 inches or 2.9 m. It is estimated that there are roughly 17 million intermodal containers in the world of various kinds to suit a range of cargoes.
These containers could be transported by semi-truck trailer, container ship and freight trains. They could also travel numerous distances without having to be unpacked. At container terminals, they are transferred between modes using container cranes. Normally a reach-stacker is utilized to transfer from a flat-bed truck to a rail car. These models are secured during transportation by a range of "twistlock" points situated at each corner on the container.
Every container is equipped with a specific BIC code or bin identification code that is painted on the outside to be able to take care of identification and tracking. These models could lift objects ranging about 20 to 25 tonnes.
When utilizing rail transport, the containers can be carried on well cars or on flatcars. Well cars are specifically designed for transport by containers. They could accommodate double-stacked containers safely and efficiently. The loading gauge of a rail system could actually restrict the particular modes of the shipment and the kinds of container shipment. Like for example, the smaller loading gauges which are typically found within European railroads will just handle single-stacked containers. In certain nations like the UK, there are certain sections of the rail network that cannot accommodate high-cube containers, unless they can utilize well cars only.
These containers are made strong enough to last through the many travels across extreme distances. These containers are reused by companies and are able to transport large amounts of cargo. These containers are responsible for transporting numerous of the stuff we rely on everyday all over the globe.