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 models are made from standardized reusable steel. They offer safe and secure and efficient storage for moving materials across the world via a international containerized intermodal freight system.
"Intermodal" is a term that means the container that can be moved between one type of transport to another. Intermodal may refer from a ship to truck or ship to rail, without having to unload and reload the contents of the container. Some of the container lengths that have a distinctive 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 8 feet or 2.438 m to 9 feet, 6 inches or 2.9 m. It is estimated that there are about 17 million intermodal containers of various types to suit a variety of cargoes within the globe.
Containers could be transported by freight train, semi-truck trailer and container ship. They can travel the distance of a single journey without being unpacked. At container terminals, they are transferred between modes utilizing container cranes. Often times 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 located at every corner on the container.
Each container is outfitted with a certain bin identification code or BIC code that is painted on the outside to be able to take care of identification and tracking. These models can lift objects ranging around 20 to 25 tonnes.
For transport on rails, the container could be carried on flatcars or on well cars. Well cars have been designed specifically for use by intermodal containers. They could efficiently and safely accommodate double-stacked containers. The loading gauge of a rail system may actually restrict the specific modes of the shipment and the types of container shipment. Like for example, the smaller loading gauges that are normally found in European railroads would just handle single-stacked containers. In some nations like the UK, there are some sections of the rail network that cannot accommodate high-cube containers, unless they can utilize well cars only.
These containers are made sturdy enough to last through the numerous travels across extreme distances. These containers are reused by businesses and are able to transport large amounts of cargo. These containers are responsible for transporting numerous of the items we depend on everyday around the globe.