The intermodal container may be called by other names such as a box, high-cube container, ISO container, freight container, sea box, conex box, and container. These units are made from standardized reusable steel. They provide efficient and safe and secure storage for moving materials all over the world via a global containerized intermodal freight system.
"Intermodal" is a word that refer to the container which can be moved between one type of transport to another. Intermodal can refer from a ship to truck or ship to rail, without having to unload and reload the container's contents. Several of the container lengths that have a unique ISO 6346 reporting mark on them range from 2.438 m or 8-feet to 17.07m or 56 feet. These units are as high as 2.438 m or 8feet to 9 feet, 6 inches or 2.9 m. It is estimated that there are around 17 million intermodal containers within the world of different types to suit a variety of cargoes.
These containers can be transported by container ship, freight train and semi-truck trailer. They can also travel many distances without having to be unpacked. At container terminals, they are transferred between modes by container cranes. Often times a reach-stacker is employed to transfer from a flat-bed truck to a rail car. These models are secured during transportation by a range of "twistlock" points located at every corner on the container.
Every container is outfitted with a specific BIC code or bin identification code that is painted on the outside in order to take care of tracking and identification. These models are capable of carrying items ranging roughly 20 to 25 tonnes.
When using rail transport, the containers could be carried on well cars or on flatcars. Well cars are especially designed for transport by containers. They can efficiently and safely accommodate double-stacked containers. The loading gauge of a rail system could actually restrict the particular modes of the shipment and the kinds of container shipment. For instance, the smaller loading gauges that are normally found in European railroads will only handle single-stacked containers. In certain nations such as 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 huge amounts of cargo. These containers are responsible for transporting many of the stuff we rely on everyday around the globe.