The intermodal container may be called by other names such as a box, ISO Container, high-cube container, freight container, sea box, conex box, and container. These models are manufactured from standardized reusable steel. They provide effective and safe and secure storage for transporting supplies all over the globe via a international containerized intermodal freight system.
"Intermodal" is a word which refer to the container that could be moved between one type of transport to another. Intermodal could mean 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 distinctive ISO 6346 reporting mark on them range from 8-feet or 2.438 m to 56 feet or 17.07m. 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 approximately 17 million intermodal containers within the world of various kinds to suit a variety of cargoes.
Containers can 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 using container cranes. Normally a reach-stacker is used to transfer from a flat-bed truck to a rail car. These units are secured during transportation by a range of "twistlock" points located at every corner on the container.
In order to manage to containers tracking and identification, each container is equipped with a BIC code or bin identification code painted directly on the outside of the box. These models are capable of carrying objects ranging about 20 to 25 tonnes.
For transport on rails, the container could be carried on well cars or on flatcars. Well cars have been designed particularly for use by intermodal containers. They could efficiently and safely accommodate double-stacked containers. The loading gauge of a rail system may actually limit the particular modes of the shipment and the kinds of container shipment. Like for instance, the smaller loading gauges that are usually found in European railroads will only handle single-stacked containers. In certain countries like the UK, there are some sections of the rail network which cannot accommodate high-cube containers, unless they can utilize well cars only.
These containers are made strong enough to last through the numerous travels across extreme distances. These containers are reused by businesses and are able to transport huge amounts of cargo. These containers are responsible for transporting numerous of the items we depend on everyday all over the world.