Increased efficiency
Although there have been few direct correlations made between containers and job losses, there are a number of texts associating job losses at least in part with containerization. A 1998 study of post-containerization employment at United States ports found that container cargo could be moved nearly twenty times faster than pre-container break bulk.[12] The new system of shipping also allowed for freight consolidating jobs to move from the waterfront to points far inland, which also decreased the number of waterfront jobs.
Additional fuel costs
Containerisation increases the fuel costs of transport and reduces the capacity of the transport as the container itself must be shipped around not just the goods. For certain bulk products this makes containerisation unattractive. For most goods the increased fuel costs and decreased transport efficiencies are currently more than offset by the handling savings.[citation needed] On railway the capacity of the container is far from its maximum weight capacity, and the weight of a railcar must be transported with not so much goods. In some areas (mostly USA and Canada) containers are double stacked, but this is usually not possible in other countries.
Hazards
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
Containers are intended to be used constantly, being loaded with new cargo for a new destination soon after having 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 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.
Loss at sea
Containers occasionally fall from the ships that carry them, usually during storms; it is estimated that over 10,000 containers are lost at sea each year.[13] For instance, on November 30, 2006, a container washed ashore on the Outer Banks of North Carolina USA, along with thousands of bags of its cargo of Doritos Chips. Containers lost at sea do not necessarily sink, but 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.[14]
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 and marking of containers and security for above-deck cargo in heavy swell.[15]
Double-stack containerization
Most flatcars cannot carry more than one standard 40-foot (12 m) container, but if the rail line has been built with sufficient vertical clearance, a double-stack car can accept a container and still leave enough clearance for another container on top. This usually precludes operation of double-stacked wagons on lines with overhead electric wiring. However, the Betuweroute, which was planned with overhead wiring from the start, has been built with tunnels that do accommodate double-stacked wagons so as to keep the option to economically rebuild the route for double stacking in the future. The overhead wiring would then have to be changed to allow double stacking.[16] Lower than standard size containers are run double stacked under overhead wire in China.[17]
History
United States/
Canada/
Mexico: Southern Pacific Railroad (SP), with Malcom McLean, came up with the idea of the first double-stack intermodal car in 1977.[5][18] SP then designed the first car with ACF Industries that same year.[19][20] At first it was slow to become an industry standard, then in 1984 American President Lines, started working with the SP and that same year, the first all "double stack" train left Los Angeles, California for South Kearny, New Jersey, under the name of "Stacktrain" rail service. Along the way the train transferred from the SP to Conrail. It saved shippers money and now accounts for almost 70 percent of intermodal freight transport shipments in the United States, in part due to the generous vertical clearances used by U.S. railroads. These lines are diesel operated with no overhead wiring.
Australia: Double stacking is also used in Australia between Adelaide, Parkes, Perth and Darwin. These are diesel only lines with no overhead wiring. Tunnels prevent extension of service to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
India: Double stacking in India is used for selected freight-only lines, on electrified lines with specially high overhead 25kV AC wiring.
China: using double stacked container trains under 25kV AC overhead lines.
Wagons
Railways have flat wagons and gondola (rail) wagons that can hold 40' ISO containers.
Narrow gauge railways of 610 mm (2 ft) gauge have smaller wagons that do not readily carry ISO containers, such as the 30' long and 7' wide wagons of the Kalka-Shimla Railway. Wider narrow gauge railways of e.g. 1,000 mm (3 ft 33⁄8 in) gauge can take ISO containers.
Other uses for containers
Shipping container architecture is the use of containers as the basis for housing and other functional buildings for people, either as temporary housing or permanent, 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. Sun Microsystems was one of the first to do this with their Sun Modular Datacenter; Hewlett-Packard introduced the HP Performance Optimized Datacenter (or POD).
Companies
Biggest ISO container companies
| Company | TEU capacity[21] | Number of ships |
|---|---|---|
| A.P. Moller-Maersk Group | 2,022,956 | 539 |
| Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. | 1,517,200 | 409 |
| CMA CGM | 1,023,208 | 365 |
| Evergreen Marine Corporation | 594,154 | 162 |
| American President Lines | 531,865 | 135 |
| Hapag-Lloyd | 475,282 | 120 |
| COSCO | 469,848 | 146 |
| China Shipping Container Lines | 449,469 | 139 |
| NYK Line | 412,711 | 109 |
| Hanjin Shipping | 406,462 | 90 |
Other container systems
Some other container systems are:
- PODS
- Haus-zu-Haus (Germany)
- RACE (Australia)
- SECU (Sweden, Finland, UK)
- ARKAS
International
Before the International Standard Container appeared, various countries had their own containers. These containers were generally small, and not able to be stacked one upon another. Clearly the idea of containerisation is not new, though the implementation of the ISO container was much better done.
Australia
- Less than Container Load (LCL) [22]
Germany
- Von Haus zu Haus (from House to House)
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