What is Sea Containerization

admin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:30:22 +0000

Sea Containerization is a system of inter modal cargo transport using standard ISO containers which are loaded on container ships.

There are three common standard lengths:

20 ft (6.1 m),

40 ft (12.2 m) and

45 ft (13.7 m).

Container capacity is measured in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU, or sometimes teu). A twenty-foot equivalent unit is a measure of containerized cargo equal to one

standard 20 ft. (length) × 8 ft. (width) × 8.5 ft. (height) container (approximately 40.92 m³). Most containers today are of the 40-ft. variety and thus are 2 TEU. The 45 ft containers are also designated 2 TEU, two TEU are referred to as one FEU or Forty-foot equivalent unit. These two terms of measurement are used interchangeably.

High cube containers have a height of 9.5 ft. (2.9 m), while half-height containers, used for heavy loads, have a height of 4.25 ft (1.3 m).

Containerization revolutionized cargo today since approximately 90% of cargo moves by containers stacked on transport ships. Over 200 million containers per year are now moved between those ports. The widespread use of ISO standard containers influenced modifications in other freight moving standards, gradually forcing removable truck bodies or swap bodies into the same sizes and shapes and changing completely the worldwide use of freight pallet. A pallet is a flat transport structure made of wood or plastic (and in a few cases metal) which is meant to support a variety of goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by any mobile forklift device. The goods are placed on top of the pallet which fit into ISO containers or into commercial vehicles.