In today’s society, it is necessary to be incredibly vigilant in terms of national security and also the potentially illegal goods which may enter the country. This, of course is particularly relevant within the shipping industry where high amounts of goods are imported every single day.

Ideally, every shipping container which enters the country should be searched and it’s contents verified. However, in practice this is impossible, due to the sheer number of containers which are received each day and the fact that it would be incredibly expensive to hire the required number of people to search these in a quick and effective manner.

Over recent times, there has been a growing fear that shipping containers could be utilised to smuggle drugs, terrorist devices and illegal immigrants into the country, which are not being picked up. As a result of this, the measures which govern the shipping industry are being tightened all the time to ensure that the amount of illegal products entering the country are heavily minimised.

One of the leading set of objectives which has been proposed to this end, is the American Container Security Initiative. This implores that all containers which are deemed to be of high risk, are thoroughly searched, either by manual or electronic means, ideally before the transportation has been made.

The movement of illegal products cannot be totally eradicated, but the shipping industry is evolving at a remarkably quick pace to ensure that the procedures are implemented for this to be minimised.

The merchant shipping industry is one of the largest and most lucrative in the world. We all rely on this industry to provide us with many of the products which play a pivotal role in our day to day lives.

As we have previously explored, products are stored within large shipping containers and transported around the world until they reach their destination. But what happens when the size of the cargo which requires to be shipped, is larger than the actual container? Obviously the size and weight constrictions within the shipping industry are much more lenient in comparison to transportation via land or air, yet there are some situations where even this are not enough.

In these circumstances, then the products can be transported via platforms, open top containers and flat racks which maximise the area available. Additionally, there are certain types of merchant ships termed “roll-on / roll-off” vessels which employ ramp systems and easily allow the containers to be placed onboard the ship and unloaded following the journey. These are most commonly utilised during fairly short distances of transportation, due to the fact that they are not able to hold the high volumes of containers which can be accommodated on crane based ships.

RORO’s place at the heart of the merchant shipping industry is assured, as their high speeds and adaptability render them indispensable.

Shipping containers which are used to transport cargo throughout the world are design to withhold a high magnitude of wear and tear. This relates to both the transportation of goods and the forces of nature which affect them when left out in the open. To this end, all shipping containers are created to withstand constant usage – as soon as one shipment has arrived at it’s destination, the container should be ready to progress with another job.

Such is the durability of modern shipping containers, they should last almost an infinite amount of time, if the process of transportation is conducted within suitable guidelines.

However, this is not always possible. In certain situations the amount of money which is involved in moving a used container from it’s previous destination, to the location of a new consignment, is actually greater than the value of the container itself. As a result therefore, it is common for new containers to be purchased and therefore minimising the cost of transporting the structure to the required starting destination.

This has meant that there are vast areas in some ports, which are flooded with empty shipping containers that have been left there after their last transportation. Sometimes these are utilised within the architecture of other container structures, or the steel from them is recycled for use in unrelated products.

Very rarely, shipping containers have been known to slip off the ships which are carrying them. This usually happens during very inclement weather and in particular during storms and high winds which create the conditions where the containers are most likely to become unstable and fall overboard. According to statisticians, it is thought that over ten thousand containers are affected by this each year and are therefore considered to be lost at sea.

In one incident during November 2006, a shipping container became dislodged and was carried to an area near North Carolina. The container was transporting thousands of packets of tortilla crisps, and once locals heard about the event, made their way to the scene and tried to hoard the products.

The shipping containers which do fall victim to the elements are not guaranteed to sink and many such items float for many miles at a time. However, it is uncommon that the containers float on the surface of the water which is blessing as this would make them a potential danger which is incredibly hard to detect.

Following on from this, it is an interesting fact that the cargo which has been lost as part of this process, does provide oceanographers with much empirical information in their quest to track worldwide ocean currents.

Last year, the World Shipping Council, together with the International Chamber of Shipping started to compile a standardised code of practice relating to shipping containers. As part of this, the issues surrounding stacking methods, educating crew with regard to parametric rolling, security of cargo held above-deck and container marking were all considered.

Today, the ships which are used to carry shipping containers are some of the most lavish and expensive vessels in the world. Yet, the first purpose built ships for this job were developed in Denmark over fifty years ago.

These ships started off by transporting containers between Alaska and Seattle back in 1951 and four years later, the first intermodal container system employed the grand ship “Clifford J Rogers”. The maiden trip transported six hundred containers from British Columbia to Alaska. On reaching their destination, the containers were all removed from the ship and were transported to Yukon via railroad cars.

The American shipping container industry also began in the 1950s and owes much to the exploits of Malcolm McLean. He transported fifty eight containers from Newark to Houston in a renovated taker ship back in 1956. The idea of employing large containers which were not entered during transportation, and transferred on an intermodal basis with ships, truck and railroad cars was an innovative one at that time.

It is thought that McLean preferred the building of “trailerships” at first – these would transport trailers from large lorries and stow them within the cargo hold of the ship. This stowage method, known as “roll on / roll off” was rejected however, due to the fact that there would be a great amount of waste in available cargo space – known as “broken stowage”. As an alternative, McLean amended is original idea to loading the containers on to the ship but not the chassis.

“Shipping” refers to the process of physically transporting cargo and goods – usually contained within shipping containers. The influence which the shipping industry has on our day to day lives is almost infinite as the vast majority of products which we rely on are in some way affected by this process.

All products are shipped in one of three ways – either by land, by sea or by air.

If transporting products by land, then this is usually conducted either by lorry or train. The preferred method is trucking, and even sea and air shipments will require a certain amount of land transportation in order for the products to be moved from their origin to relevant internal locations. Transportation via land is generally cheaper than air shipping and is heavily utilised within Britain for domestic trips.

Land transportation is also the primary method of moving goods from the shipper to the required destination in a direct manner – this is known as “door to door shipment”.

Yet, with Britain representing an island nation, it is easily comprehendible that there will be a heavy reliance on shipping conducted via sea. Further to this, the merchant shipping industry is a major contributor to the world economy, due to the fact that this is the primary method in which trade is conducted internationally. Some of the ships which are utilised in this manner represent the most lavishly expensive vehicles currently in operation, as well as highlighting the most cost effective way to ship cargo overseas. Their sheer size means that the amount of shipping containers which can be accommodated within the vehicles is of great advantage to many suppliers, as well as the fact that weight constraints are substantially reduced compared to other methods of shipping.

The only real drawback in employing this method of transportation is time – transporting cargo by sea generally takes longer than by air for example, and this is a factor which you will need to consider before deciding which method to utilise.

Transportation via air is generally confined to products which rely on reaching their destination quickly. However, there are numerous constraints which are associated with this type of shipping, these include weight, size and quantity. As a result therefore, the type of products which can be shipped in this manner is restricted.

There are many uses for storage containers and in many ways, this is only constrained by the powers of the imagination.

Over recent years, trends have indicated that containers are increasingly being used as portable accommodation devices. This has been particularly exemplified within North America where the structures are ideal for temporary accommodation, due to the fact that they are movable, stackable, durable, strong and perhaps most importantly, relatively inexpensive.

It is therefore understandable that these containers have been used for an eclectic range of functions as diverse as offices, emergency shelters, schools as well as standard living quarters.

To highlight the multitude of ways which storage containers can be used, it is useful to consider the Gulf War of the early 1990s. Here, containers were used in many inventive manners which had not previously been explored. Initially they were converted into temporary shelters, yet they were to evolve into large scale facilities to aid the movement of captured Iraqi troops. Air vent were cut into the structures to aid the air flow within the container and there were no cases of ill health as a result of this.

Due to North American reliance on importing many items which they are dependent on, there is a great abundance of storage containers within the area. The main reason for this is that it is incredibly expensive to return empty containers back to their origins. As a result, innovative ways of utilising the containers are being employed and in many ways are providing an example to the rest of the world.

Much research has been conducted into the varying designs of refrigerated contains, but essentially there are two standard types which are commonly in use today.

The first are Conair containers which are also known as Porthold Refrigerated Containers or simply Insulated Containers . These are without their own specific refrigeration facility and are dependant on streams of cool air entering the container from its surroundings. External refrigeration units therefore have to be employed with these containers and these could be permanently situated in within the ship, added to the terminal or manually attached to the required container.

The second type are commonly known as integral refrigerated containers – these do have an internal cooling system built into them which are supported by a three phrase electricity supply.

The vast majority of statistical data which refers to these types of containers makes reference to the term “TEU”. This represents “twenty foot equivalent unit” and represent a container which is 20’. It is logical therefore that the unit 2 TEUs highlights a container which is 40’ – although you should be aware that the term FEU is used to represent this.

Insulated Containers have many functions within the commercial world, and as a result there are a multitude of different designs to accommodate this.

Their designs are fundamentally based around two areas – the goods which will be stored within them, and also the amount of time which the goods will be present in the container.

In this blog we will explore insulated shipping containers and their characteristics.

Some insulated shipping containers are designed purely for single use, whilst others are built in a way which allows them to be used time and time again.

Although each container must be designed around the exact specifications of the job in hand, there are some common similarities between them –

1. They employ vacuum flasks

2. Reflective materials are used to aid the conservation of heat

3. Layers of foamed plastic are added to the sides of the containers

4. In many cases other foams which have been shaped to exact specifications are also used – these include polyethylene and polyurethane.

5. Small amounts of polystyrene are also commonly found within insulated containers of this sort as they act as a coolant.

Finally, some insulated containers which are used for shipping are permanent structures whilst the more user-friendly versions can be disassembled which makes the return shipment process much easier.

Insulated Containers and Refrigerated Containers are perfect for transporting a high volume of food from one location to another. They help to ensure that your food is kept at the optimum temperature levels required to make them look and taste as if they had just been made.

One of the most common questions relating to these type of containers relates to how the food maintains the desired temperature. Obviously this is a very broad question to answer and is dependent on the type of food involved and also to a lesser extent, the time of year it is.

There are however some tips we can give you in terms of maximising the temperature retention in insulated and refrigerated containers –

First of all, try to make sure that there are no large areas of open space within the container. The food should ideally be packed relatively tightly and you should aim to use the smallest container possible in storing the food.

Secondly, try to make sure that you organise your food so that items which tend to lose heat fairly quickly (e.g. oatcakes) are packed with items which conserve their heat for longer (e.g. gravy or soup). What will then happen is that the heat from the thicker, fattier foods will keep the less dense foods such as oatcakes warm.

Finally, if there are spaces within the container which are unfilled then it is a good idea to employ something along the lines of ice packs for refrigerated containers and hot energy cells for insulated containers – this also helps to preserve your food at the desired temperature levels.