Shipping containers at the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal in New Jersey, USA

A container-freight train on the West Coast Main Line near Nuneaton, England

A container ship being loaded by a portainer crane in Copenhagen Harbour

Containerization or containerisation (see spelling differences) is a system of freight transport based on a range of steel intermodal containers (also "shipping containers", "ISO containers" etc.). Containers are built to standardised dimensions, and can be loaded and unloaded, stacked, transported efficiently over long distances, and transferred from one mode of transport to another—container ships, rail and semi-trailer trucks—without being opened. The system, developed after World War II, led to greatly reduced transport costs, and supported a vast increase in international trade.

History[link]

Origins[link]

Containerisation has its origins in early coal mining regions in England from the late 18th century on. In 1795, Bejamin Outram opened the Little Eaton Gangway upon which coal was carried in wagons built at his Butterley Ironworks. The horse-drawn wheeled wagons on the Gangway took the form of containers, which, loaded with coal, could be transhipped from canal barges on the Derby Canal which Outram had also promoted.^[1]

By the 1830s, railroads on several continents were carrying containers that could be transferred to other modes of transport. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway in the United Kingdom was one such. "Simple rectangular timber boxes, four to a wagon, they were used to convey coal from the Lancashire collieries to Liverpool, where they were transferred to horse drawn carts by crane."^[2] Originally used for moving coal on and off barges, "loose boxes" were used to containerize coal from the late 1780s, at places like the Bridgewater Canal. By the 1840s, iron boxes were in use as well as wooden ones. The early 1900s saw the adoption of closed container boxes designed for movement between road and rail.

In the United Kingdom, several railway companies were using similar containers by the beginning of the 20th century and in the 1920s the Railway Clearing House standardised the RCH container. Five- or ten-foot-long, wooden and non-stackable, these early standard containers were a great success, but the standard remained UK-specific.^{[citation needed]}

From 1926 to 1947 in the US, the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railway carried motor carrier vehicles and shippers' vehicles loaded on flatcars between Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Chicago, Illinois. Beginning in 1929, Seatrain Lines carried railroad boxcars on its sea vessels to transport goods between New York and Cuba.^[3] In the mid-1930s, the Chicago Great Western Railway and then the New Haven Railroad began "piggy-back" service (transporting highway freight trailers on flatcars) limited to their own railroads. By 1953, the CB&Q, the Chicago and Eastern Illinois and the Southern Pacific railroads had joined the innovation. Most cars were surplus flatcars equipped with new decks. By 1955, an additional 25 railroads had begun some form of piggy-back trailer service.

During World War II the Australian Army used containers to help overcome the various breaks of gauge. These non-stackable containers were about the size of the later 20 foot ISO container and perhaps made mainly of wood .^[4]

The break of gauge station at Kidatu in Tanzania is well suited to ISO containers.

In 1955, former trucking company owner Malcom McLean worked with engineer Keith Tantlinger to develop the modern intermodal container. The challenge was to design a shipping container that could efficiently be loaded onto ships and held securely on long sea voyages. The result was a 8 feet (2.4 m) tall by 8 ft (2.4 m) wide box in 10 ft (3.0 m)-long units constructed from 2.5 mm (0.098 in) thick corrugated steel. The design incorporated a twistlock mechanism atop each of the four corners, allowing the container to be easily secured and lifted using cranes. After helping McLean make the successful design, Tantlinger convinced him to give the patented designs to the industry; this began international standardization of shipping containers.^[5]

Toward the end of World War II, the United States Army used specialized containers to speed the loading and unloading of transport ships. The army used the term "transporters" to identify the containers, for shipping household goods of officers in the field. A "transporter" was a reusable container, 8.5 feet (2.6 m) long, 6.25 feet (1.91 m) wide, and 6.83 feet (2.08 m) high, made of rigid steel with a carrying capacity of 9,000 pounds. During the Korean War the transporter was evaluated for handling sensitive military equipment and, proving effective, was approved for broader use. Theft of material, damage to wooden crates, and prolonged handling time by longshoremen at the Port of Busan,^{[citation needed]} convinced the army that steel containers were needed. In 1952 the army began using the term CONEX, short for "Container Express". The first major shipment of CONEXes, containing engineering supplies and spare parts, was made by rail from the Columbus General Depot in Georgia to the Port of San Francisco, then by ship to Yokohama, Japan, and then to Korea, in late 1952; shipment times were almost halved. By the time of the Vietnam War the majority of supplies and materials were shipped with the CONEX. After the U.S. Department of Defense standardized an 8'×8' cross section container in multiples of 10' lengths for military use, it was rapidly adopted for shipping purposes.^[6][7]

These standards were adopted in the United Kingdom for containers, and largely displaced wooden containers in the 1950s.^{[citation needed]} The railways of the USSR had their own small containers.^[8]

Purpose-built ships[link]

Containers waiting at the South Korean port of Busan.

The first vessels purpose-built to carry containers began operation in Denmark in 1951.^[9]:31 In the U.S., ships began carrying containers in 1951, between Seattle and Alaska.^[10] However, none of these services were particularly successful. Firstly, the containers were rather small, with 52% of them having a volume of less than 3 cubic metres (110 cu ft). Almost all European ones were made of wood and used canvas lids. Furthermore, they required additional loading into rail or truck bodies.^[9]:31–32

The world's first purpose-built container ship was the Clifford J. Rodgers, built in Montreal in 1955 and owned by the White Pass and Yukon Route. Its first trip carried 600 containers between North Vancouver, British Columbia and Skagway, Alaska, on November 26, 1955; in Skagway, the containers were unloaded to purpose-built railroad cars for transport north to the Yukon, in the first intermodal service using trucks, ships and railroad cars.^[11] Southbound containers were loaded by shippers in the Yukon and moved by rail, ship and truck to their consignees, without opening. This first intermodal system operated from November 1955 until 1982.^[12]

The first truly successful container shipping company dates to April 26, 1956, when American trucking entrepreneur McLean put 58 containers aboard a refitted tanker ship, the SS Ideal X, and sailed them from Newark to Houston.^[9]:1 McLean came up (independently of the events in Canada) with using large containers that were never opened in transit between shipper and consignee and that were transferable on an intermodal basis, among trucks, ships and railroad cars. McLean had initially favored the construction of "trailerships"—taking trailers from large trucks and stowing them in a ship’s cargo hold. This method of stowage, referred to as roll-on/roll-off, was not adopted because of the large waste in potential cargo space onboard the vessel, known as broken stowage. Instead, McLean modified his original concept into loading just the containers, not the chassis, onto the ships, hence the designation container ship or "box" ship.^[13][14] (See also pantechnicon van and trolley and lift van.)

Towards standards[link]

During containerization's first 20 years, many container sizes and corner fittings were used; there were dozens of incompatible container systems in the U.S. alone. Among the biggest operators, the Matson Navigation Company had a fleet of 24-foot (7.3 m) containers while Sea-Land Service, Inc used 35-foot (11 m) containers. The standard sizes and fitting and reinforcement norms that now exist evolved out of a series of compromises among international shipping companies, European railroads, U.S. railroads, and U.S. trucking companies. Four important ISO (International Organization for Standardization) recommendations standardized containerization globally:^[15]

• January 1968: R-668 defined the terminology, dimensions and ratings
• July 1968: R-790 defined the identification markings
• January 1970: R-1161 made recommendations about corner fittings
• October 1970: R-1897 set out the minimum internal dimensions of general purpose freight containers

In the United States, containerization and other advances in shipping were impeded by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), which was created in 1887 to keep railroads from using monopolist pricing and rate discrimination but fell victim to regulatory capture. By the 1960s, ICC approval was required before any shipper could carry different items in the same vehicle, or change rates. The United States' present fully integrated systems became possible only after the ICC's regulatory oversight was cut back (and abolished in 1995); trucking and rail were deregulated in the 1970s and maritime rates were deregulated in 1984.^[16]

Double-stack rail transport, where containers are stacked two high on railway cars, was introduced in 1984, with the first use in the United States.^{[citation needed]}

Effects[link]

Containerization greatly reduced the expense of international trade and increased its speed, especially of consumer goods and commodities. It also dramatically changed the character of port cities worldwide. Prior to highly mechanized container transfers, crews of 20-22 longshoremen would pack individual cargoes into the hold of a ship. After containerization, large crews of longshoremen were no longer necessary at port facilities and the profession changed drastically.

Meanwhile the port facilities needed to support containerization changed. One effect was the decline of some ports and the rise of others. At the Port of San Francisco, the former piers used for loading and unloading were no longer required, but there was little room to build the vast holding lots needed for container transport. As a result the Port of San Francisco virtually ceased to function as a major commercial port, but the neighboring port of Oakland emerged as the second largest on the West Coast of America. A similar fate met the relation between the ports of Manhattan and New Jersey. In the UK, longshoremen's unions protested the change to containerization, resulting in the elimination of London and Liverpool as major ports. Meanwhile, Britain's Felixstowe and Rotterdam in the Netherlands emerged as major ports. In general, inland ports on waterways incapable of deep draft ship traffic also declined from containerization in favor of seaports. With intermodal containers, the job of sorting and packing containers could be performed far from the point of embarcation.

Twenty-first century[link]

A converted container used as an office at a building site

As of 2009^[update] approximately 90% of non-bulk cargo worldwide is moved by containers stacked on transport ships;^[17] 26% of all container transhipment is carried out in China.^[18] For example in 2009 there were 105,976,701 transhipments in China (both international and coastal; excluding Hong Kong), 21,040,096 in Hong Kong (which is listed separately), and only 34,299,572 in the United States. In 2005 some 18 million containers made over 200 million trips per year. Some ships can carry over 14,500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), for example the Emma Mærsk, 396 m long, launched August 2006. It has been predicted that, at some point, container ships will be constrained in size only by the depth of the Straits of Malacca, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, linking the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. This so-called Malaccamax size constrains a ship to dimensions of 470 m (1,540 ft) in length and 60 m (200 ft) wide.^[14]

However, few initially foresaw the extent of the influence of containerization on the shipping industry. In the 1950s Harvard University economist Benjamin Chinitz predicted that containerization would benefit New York by allowing it to ship its industrial goods more cheaply to the Southern United States than other areas, but did not anticipate that containerization might make it cheaper to import such goods from abroad. Most economic studies of containerization merely assumed that shipping companies would begin to replace older forms of transportation with containerization, but did not predict that the process of containerization itself would have a more direct influence on the choice of producers and increase the total volume of trade.^[14]

The widespread use of ISO standard containers has driven modifications in other freight-moving standards, gradually forcing removable truck bodies or swap bodies into standard sizes and shapes (though without the strength needed to be stacked), and changing completely the worldwide use of freight pallets that fit into ISO containers or into commercial vehicles.

Improved cargo security is also an important benefit of containerization. The cargo is not visible to the casual viewer and thus is less likely to be stolen; the doors of the containers are usually sealed so that tampering is more evident. Some containers are fitted with electronic monitoring devices and can be remotely monitored for changes in air pressure, which happens when the doors are opened. This reduced the thefts that had long plagued the shipping industry.

Use of the same basic sizes of containers across the globe has lessened the problems caused by incompatible rail gauge sizes in different countries. The majority of the rail networks in the world operate on a 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in) gauge track known as standard gauge, but many countries (such as Russia, India, Finland, and Lithuania) use broader gauges, while many others in Africa and South America use narrower gauges on their networks. The use of container trains in all these countries makes trans-shipment between different gauge trains easier.

Containers have become a popular way to ship private cars and other vehicles overseas using 20 or 40 ft containers. Unlike roll-on/roll-off vehicle shipping, personal effects can be loaded into the container with the vehicle, allowing for easy international relocation.^{[citation needed]}

Container standards[link]

ISO standard[link]

There are five common standard lengths, 20-ft (6.1 m), 40-ft (12.2 m), 45-ft (13.7 m), 48-ft (14.6 m), and 53-ft (16.2 m). United States domestic standard containers are generally 48 ft (15 m) and 53-ft (rail and truck). Container capacity is often expressed in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU, or sometimes teu). An equivalent unit is a measure of containerized cargo capacity equal to one standard 20 ft (length) × 8 ft (width) container. As this is an approximate measure, the height of the box is not considered, for instance the 9 ft 6 in (2.9 m) High cube and the 4-ft 3-in (1.3 m) half height 20 ft (6.1 m) containers are also called one TEU.

The maximum gross mass for a 20 ft (6.1 m) dry cargo container is 24,000 kg, and for a 40-ft (including the 2.87 m (9 ft 6 in) high cube container), it is 30,480 kg. Allowing for the tare mass of the container, the maximum payload mass is therefore reduced to approximately 22,000 kg for 20 ft (6.1 m), and 27,000 kg for 40 ft (12 m) containers.^[19]

The original choice of 8-foot (2.4 m) height for ISO containers was made in part to suit a large proportion of railway tunnels, though some had to be modified. With the arrival of even taller containers, further enlargement is proving necessary.^[20]

Air freight containers[link]

A number of LD-designation Unit Load Device containers

While major airlines use containers that are custom designed for their aircraft and associated ground handling equipment the IATA has created a set of standard aluminium container sizes of up to 11.52 m³ (407 cu ft) in volume.

Other container system standards[link]

Some other container systems (in date order) are:

• Haus-zu-Haus (house to house; Germany)^{[citation needed]}
• ARKAS -^{[citation needed]}
• (1922) NYC container^[21]
• Japanese railway containers: Containers used by the Japan Freight Railway Company^{[citation needed]}
• (1925) Mack^[22]
• (1927) English Railway container^[23][24][25]
• (1928) Victorian Railways - refrigerated container^[26]
• (1929) International Competition^[27]
• (1930) GWR Container ^[28]
• (1931) International Chamber of Commerce ^[29]
• (1933) International Container Bureau^[30]
• (1936) SAR Wolseley break of gauge^[31]
• (1946) Queensland Railways milk container, 2000 gallons, road-rail^[32]
• (1978) RACE (Australia) - slightly wider than ISO containers to fit slightly wide Australian Standard Pallets
• (1998) PODS
• (2005?) SECU (Sweden, Finland, UK) - big 95 t container.
• Pallet-wide containers are used in Europe and have length (40' or 20') and height like ISO-containers, but they are 2.484 m wide externally and 2.420 m internally to fit EUR-pallet better.^[33] They are meant for transport inside Europe and are often accepted in ships.

Container loading[link]

This section has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since November 2011. It may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. Tagged since October 2011.

Full container load[link]

A Full Container Load (FCL) is an ISO standard container that is loaded and unloaded under the risk and account of one shipper and only one consignee, in practice it means that the whole container is intended for one consignee. FCL container shipment attracts lower freight rates than an equivalent weight of cargo in bulk. Ideally FCL means the container is loaded to its allowable maximum weight or volume. In practice, the FCL in the ocean freight does not always mean packing a container to its full payload or full capacity.

Less than container load[link]

Less than container load (LCL) is a shipment that is not large enough to fill a standard cargo container. The abbreviation LCL formerly applied to "Less than (railway) Car Load" for quantities of material from different shippers or for delivery to different destinations which might be carried in a single railway car for efficiency. LCL freight was often sorted and redistributed into different railway cars at intermediate railway terminals en-route to the final destination.^[34]

Less Than Carload or Less Than Container Load is "a quantity of cargo less than that required for the application of a carload rate. A quantity of cargo less than that fills the visible or rated capacity of an inter-modal container."^{[citation needed]} It can also be defined as "a consignment of cargo which is inefficient to fill a shipping container. It is grouped with other consignments for the same destination in a container at a container freight station".^[35]

A system of transportation used in international trade, where various shippers pool their boxed goods in the same container.^{[citation needed]}

Issues[link]

Additional fuel costs[link]

A double stacked container train in Oklahoma, USA

Containerization increases the fuel costs and reduces the capacity of the transport as the container itself, in addition to its contents, must be transported; stackable standardised containers are usually heavier than packaging with less stringent requirements. For certain bulk products this makes containerization unattractive. However, for most goods the increased fuel costs and decreased transport efficiencies are as of 2011^[update] more than offset by the savings in handling costs. On railways the maximum weight of the container is far from the railcar's maximum weight capacity, and the ratio of goods to railcar is much lower than in a break-bulk situation. In some areas (mostly the USA, Canada and India) containers can be carried double stacked by rail, but this is usually not possible in other rail systems.

Hazards[link]

Containers have been used to smuggle contraband. The vast majority of containers are never subjected to scrutiny due to the large number of containers in use. In recent years there have been increased concerns that containers might be used to transport terrorists or terrorist materials into a country undetected. The U.S. government has advanced the Container Security Initiative (CSI), intended to ensure that high-risk cargo is examined or scanned, preferably at the port of departure.

Empty containers[link]

Containers are intended to be used constantly, being loaded with new cargo for a new destination soon after having been emptied of previous cargo. This is not always possible, and in some cases, the cost of transporting an empty container to a place where it can be used is considered to be higher than the worth of the used container. Shipping lines and Container Leasing Companies have become expert at repositioning empty containers from areas of low or no demand, such as the US West Coast, to areas of high demand such as China. However, damaged or retired containers may also be recycled in the form of shipping container architecture, or the steel content salvaged. In the summer of 2010, a world wide shortage of containers developed as shipping increased post-recession, while new container production had largely ceased.^[36]

Loss at sea[link]

Containers occasionally fall from the ships, usually during storms; between 2,000^[37] and 10,000 containers are lost at sea each year.^[38] For instance, on November 30, 2006, a container washed ashore^[39] on the Outer Banks of North Carolina USA, along with thousands of bags of its cargo of Doritos Chips. Containers lost in rough waters are smashed by cargo and waves and often sink quickly.^[37] Although not all containers sink, they seldom float very high out of the water, making them a shipping hazard that is difficult to detect. Freight from lost containers has provided oceanographers with unexpected opportunities to track global ocean currents, notably a cargo of Friendly Floatees.^[40]

In 2007 the International Chamber of Shipping and the World Shipping Council began work on a code of practice for container storage, including crew training on parametric rolling, safer stacking, the marking of containers and security for above-deck cargo in heavy swell.^[41][42]

In 2011, the MV Rena ran aground off the coast of New Zealand. As the ship listed, some containers were lost, while others were held on board at a precarious angle.

Trade union challenges[link]

Some of the biggest battles in the container revolution were waged in Washington, D.C. Intermodal shipping got a huge boost in the early 1970s when carriers won permission to quote combined rail-ocean rates. Later, non-vessel-operating common carriers won a long court battle with a U.S. Supreme Court decision against contracts that attempted to require that union labor be used for stuffing and stripping containers at off-pier locations.^[43]

Other uses for containers[link]

Shipping container architecture is the use of containers as the basis for housing and other functional buildings for people, either as temporary or permanent housing, and either as a main building or as a cabin or workshop. Containers can also be used as sheds or storage areas in industry and commerce.

Containers are also beginning to be used to house computer data centers, although these are normally specialized containers.

BBC tracking project[link]

On September 5, 2008 the BBC embarked on a year-long project to study international trade and globalization by tracking a shipping container on its journey around the world.^[44][45]

See also[link]

• 2000s energy crisis
• List of world's busiest container ports
• Little Eaton Gangway
• Shipping portal
• Tanktainers
• Unit load

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• William Gibson (August 2007). Spook Country. Putnam Publishing Group. ISBN 0-399-15430-2.  – Novel set in U.S., wherein mystery surrounding a containerized shipment serves as the MacGuffin
• Brian J. Cudahy (April 2006). Box Boats. Fordham University Press. ISBN 0-8232-2568-2. http://fordhampress.com/detail.html?isbn=9780823225682.  – How Container Ships Changed the World
• Frank Broeze (2002). The Globalisation of the Oceans. International Maritime Economic History Association. ISBN 0-9730073-3-8.  – Containerisation from the 1950s to the Present
• Stewart Taggart (October 1999). "The 20-Ton Packet". Wired Magazine. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.10/ports.html. 
• "Port Industry Statistics". American Association of Port Authorities. http://www.aapa-ports.org/Industry/content.cfm?ItemNumber=900. 
• Marc Levinson (2006). The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-12324-1. 
• Arthur Donovan & Joseph Bonney (2006). The Box that changed the world: Fifty years of Container Shipping - an illustrated history. Commopnwealth Business Media. ISBN 978-1-891131-95-0. 
• ASTM D 5728 Standard Practice for Securement of Cargo in Intermodal and Unimodal Surface Transport
• "Transport Information Service : containers". German Insurance Association. http://www.tis-gdv.de/tis_e/containe/inhalt1.htm.  – types, inspection, climate, stowage, securing, capacity
• "Container Handbook". German Insurance Association. 2006. http://www.containerhandbuch.de/chb_e/. 
• "Emergency Response Guidebook" (PDF). Transport Canada, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the Secretariat of Communications and Transport of Mexico. 2004. http://hazmat.dot.gov/pubs/erg/erg2004.pdf.  – a guidebook for first responders during the initial phase of a dangerous goods/hazardous materials incident
• "Container Dimensions and Capacity". Export 911. http://www.export911.com/e911/ship/dimen.htm. 
• "Introduction to Container Transportation". http://www.walshsurveyor.com/ships/articles/container-transportation/index.htm.  - A good pictorial introduction to containers

External links[link]

Look up containerization or isotainer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Containerization

v t e Intermodal containers Overview Containerization · Intermodal freight transport · International Container Bureau · ISO 6346 (BIC code) · Twenty-foot equivalent unit Transport Container ship · Double-stack · Well car Handling Container terminal · Container crane · Reach stacker · Rubber tyred gantry crane · Sidelifter · Straddle carrier · Twistlock Types Refrigerated container · SECU Other The Box · BBC Box · Container (board game) · Container Shipping Information Service · Shipping container architecture · Sun Modular Datacenter

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Cargo being unloaded from a ship using a cargo net at Haikou New Port, Haikou City, Hainan, China

Cargo (or freight) is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft,intermodal train, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal freight transpo long-haul cargo transport.

Transportation types[link]

Marine[link]

There is a wide range of maritime cargo handled at seaport terminals.

• Automobiles are handled at many ports and are usually carried on specialized roll-on/roll-off ships.
• Break bulk cargo is typically material stacked on pallets and lifted into and out of the hold of a vessel by cranes on the dock or aboard the ship itself. The volume of break bulk cargo has declined dramatically worldwide as containerization has grown. One way to secure break bulk and freight in intermodal containers is by using Dunnage Bags.
• Bulk cargo, such as salt, oil, tallow, and scrap metal, is usually defined as commodities that are neither on pallets nor in containers. Bulk cargoes are not handled as individual pieces, the way heavy-lift and project cargoes are. Alumina, grain, gypsum, logs and wood chips, for instance, are bulk cargoes.
• Neo-bulk cargo comprises individual units that are counted as they are loaded and unloaded, in contrast to bulk cargo that is not counted, but that are not containerized.^[1]
• Containers are the largest and fastest growing cargo category at most ports worldwide. Containerized cargo includes everything from auto parts, machinery and manufacturing components to shoes and toys to frozen meat and seafood.
• Project cargo and the heavy lift cargo include items like manufacturing equipment, air conditioners, factory components, generators, wind turbines, military equipment, and almost any other oversized or overweight cargo which is too big or too heavy to fit into a container.

Air[link]

Cargolux Boeing 747-400F with the nose loading door open

Air cargo, commonly known as air freight, is collected by firms from shippers and delivered to customers. Aircraft were first used for carrying mail as cargo in 1911. Eventually manufacturers started designing aircraft for other types of freight as well.

There are many commercial aircraft suitable for carrying cargo such as the Boeing 747 and the bigger An-124, which was purposely built for easy conversion into a cargo aircraft. Such large aircraft employ quick-loading containers known as Unit Load Devices (ULDs), much like containerized cargo ships. The ULDs are located in front section of the aircraft.

Most nations own and utilize large numbers of cargo aircraft such as the C-17 Globemaster III for airlift logistic needs.

Train[link]

A picture of a P&O Nedlloyd inter-modal freight well car at Banbury station in the year 2001

Trains are capable of transporting large numbers of containers that come from shipping ports. Trains are also used for the transportation of steel, wood and coal. They are used because they can carry a large amount and generally have a direct route to the destination. Under the right circumstances, freight transport by rail is more economic and energy efficient than by road, especially when carried in bulk or over long distances.

The main disadvantage of rail freight is its lack of flexibility. For this reason, rail has lost much of the freight business to road transport. Rail freight is often subject to transshipment costs, since it must be transferred from one mode of transportation to another. Practices such as containerization aim at minimizing these costs.

Many governments are currently trying to encourage shippers to use trains more often because of the environmental benefits.

Road[link]

Many firms, like Parcelforce, FedEx, R+L Carriers and u-haul transport all types of cargo by road. Delivering everything from letters to houses to cargo containers, these firms offer fast, sometimes same-day, delivery.

A good example of road cargo is food, as supermarkets require deliveries every day to keep their shelves stocked with goods. Retailers of all kinds rely upon delivery trucks, be they full size semi trucks or smaller delivery vans.

Shipment categories[link]

Freight is usually organized into various shipment categories before it is transported. An item's category is determined by:

• the type of item being carried. For example, a kettle could fit into the category 'household goods'.
• how large the shipment is, in terms of both item size and quantity.
• how long the item for delivery will be in transit.

Shipments are typically categorized as household goods, express, parcel, and freight shipments:

• Household goods (HHG) include furniture, art and similar items.

• Very small business or personal items like envelopes are considered overnight express or express letter shipments. These shipments are rarely over a few kilograms or pounds and almost always travel in the carrier’s own packaging. Express shipments almost always travel some distance by air. An envelope may go coast to coast in the United States overnight or it may take several days, depending on the service options and prices chosen by the shipper.

• Larger items like small boxes are considered parcels or ground shipments. These shipments are rarely over 50 kg (110 lb), with no single piece of the shipment weighing more than about 70 kg (154 lb). Parcel shipments are always boxed, sometimes in the shipper’s packaging and sometimes in carrier-provided packaging. Service levels are again variable but most ground shipments will move about 800 to 1,100 kilometres (497 to 684 mi) per day. Depending on the origin of the package, it can travel from coast to coast in the United States in about four days. Parcel shipments rarely travel by air and typically move via road and rail. Parcels represent the majority of business-to-consumer (B2C) shipments.

• Beyond HHG, express, and parcel shipments, movements are termed freight shipments.

Less-than-truckload freight[link]

Less than truckload (LTL) cargo is the first category of freight shipment, which represents the majority of freight shipments and the majority of business-to-business (B2B) shipments. LTL shipments are also often referred to as motor freight and the carriers involved are referred to as motor carriers.

LTL shipments range from 50 to 7,000 kg (110 to 15,000 lb), being less than 2.5 to 8.5 m (8 ft 2.4 in to 27 ft 10.6 in) the majority of times. The average single piece of LTL freight is 600 kg (1,323 lb) and the size of a standard pallet. Long freight and/or large freight are subject to extreme length and cubic capacity surcharges.

Trailers used in LTL can range from 28 to 53 ft (8.53 to 16.15 m). The standard for city deliveries is usually 48 ft (14.63 m). In tight and residential environments the 28 ft (8.53 m) trailer is used the most.

The shipments are usually palletized, stretch [shrink]-wrapped and packaged for a mixed-freight environment. Unlike express or parcel, LTL shippers must provide their own packaging, as carriers do not provide any packaging supplies or assistance. However, circumstances may require crating or other substantial packaging.

Air freight[link]

Air freight shipments are very similar to LTL shipments in terms of size and packaging requirements. However, air freight or air cargo shipments typically need to move at much faster speeds than 800 km or 497 mi per day. Air shipments may be booked directly with the carriers, through brokers or with online marketplace services. While shipments move faster than standard LTL, air shipments don’t always actually move by air.

Truckload freight[link]

In the United States, shipments larger than about 7,000 kg (15,432 lb) are typically classified as truckload (TL) freight. This is because it is more efficient and economical for a large shipment to have exclusive use of one larger trailer rather than share space on a smaller LTL trailer.

The total weight of a loaded truck (tractor and trailer, 5-axle rig) cannot exceed 36,000 kg (79,366 lb) in the United States{fact}. In ordinary circumstances, long-haul equipment will weigh about 15,000 kg (33,069 lb), leaving about 20,000 kg (44,092 lb) of freight capacity. Similarly a load is limited to the space available in the trailer, normally 48 ft (14.63 m) or 53 ft (16.15 m) long, 2.6 m (102.4 in) wide, 2.7 m (8 ft 10.3 in) high and 13 ft 6 in/4.11 m high over all.

While express, parcel and LTL shipments are always intermingled with other shipments on a single piece of equipment and are typically reloaded across multiple pieces of equipment during their transport, TL shipments usually travel as the only shipment on a trailer. In fact, TL shipments usually deliver on exactly the same trailer as they are picked up on.

Shipping costs[link]

Often, an LTL shipper may realize savings by utilizing a freight broker, online marketplace or other intermediary, instead of contracting directly with a trucking company. Brokers can shop the marketplace and obtain lower rates than most smaller shippers can obtain directly. In the LTL marketplace, intermediaries typically receive 50% to 80% discounts from published rates, where a small shipper may only be offered a 5% to 30% discount by the carrier. Intermediaries are licensed by the DOT and have requirements to provide proof of insurance.

Truckload (TL) carriers usually charge a rate per kilometre or mile. The rate varies depending on the distance, geographic location of the delivery, items being shipped, equipment type required, and service times required. TL shipments usually receive a variety of surcharges very similar to those described for LTL shipments above. In the TL market, there are thousands more small carriers than in the LTL market. Therefore, the use of transportation intermediaries or brokers is extremely common.

Another cost-saving method is facilitating pickups or deliveries at the carrier’s terminals. By doing this, shippers avoid any accessorial fees that might normally be charged for liftgate, residential pickup/delivery, inside pickup/delivery, or notifications/appointments. Carriers or intermediaries can provide shippers with the address and phone number for the closest shipping terminal to the origin and/or destination.

Shipping experts optimize their service and costs by sampling rates from several carriers, brokers and online marketplaces. When obtaining rates from different providers, shippers may find quite a wide range in the pricing offered. If a shipper uses a broker, freight forwarder or other transportation intermediary, it is common for the shipper to receive a copy of the carrier's Federal Operating Authority. Freight brokers and intermediaries are also required by Federal Law to be licensed by the Federal Highway Administration. Experienced shippers avoid unlicensed brokers and forwarders because if brokers are working outside the law by not having a Federal Operating License, the shipper has no protection in the event of a problem. Also, shippers normally ask for a copy of the broker's insurance certificate and any specific insurance that applies to the shipment.

Security concerns[link]

Governments are very concerned with the shipment of cargo, as it may bring security risks to a country. Therefore, many governments have enacted rules and regulations, administered by a customs agency, to the handling of cargo to minimize risks of terrorism and other crime. Of particular concern is cargo entering through a country's borders.

The United States has been one of the leaders in securing cargo. They see cargo as a concern to national security. After the terrorist attacks of September 11th, the security of this magnitude of cargo has become highlighted on the over 6 million cargo containers enter the United States ports each year.^[2] The latest US Government response to this threat is the CSI: Container Security Initiative. CSI is a program intended to help increase security for containerized cargo shipped to the United States from around the world.^[3]

Stabilization[link]

There are many different ways and materials available to stabilize and secure cargo in the various modes of transportation. Conventional load securing methods and materials such as steel strapping and plastic/wood blocking & bracing have been used for decades and are still widely used. Present load securing methods offer several other options including polyester strapping and lashing, synthetic webbings and dunnage bags, also known as air bags or inflatable bags.

See also[link]

References[link]

1. ^ CambridgeSystematics 1998, pp. 79.
2. ^ Murray Unveils First-in-the-Nation Port Security Demonstration
3. ^ CSI: Container Security Initiative

Reference bibliography[link]

• * Cambridge Systematics (1998). Multimodal corridor and capacity analysis manual. Transportation Research Board. ISBN 978-0-309-06072-1. 

External links[link]

Look up cargo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• The Gallery of Transport Loss -- Photos & Lessons of Disaster