Tag
#Containers
Container Tracking Explained: What the Box Number Can and Cannot Tell You
How container numbers are structured, what the check digit is for, why one container can hold several shipments, and where the real status lives.
Container Types and Dimensions: The Numbers That Decide Your Booking
Internal dimensions, nominal versus usable volume, and the payload limit that is almost never the container's own limit.
Cargo Securing Inside the Container: The Step Most Shippers Skip
Packing a container is not stacking boxes: weight distribution, void filling and lashing decide whether cargo arrives intact or becomes a claim.
How to Read a Container Number and CSC Plate
The eleven characters on the side of a container are a checkable code, not a serial number. Here is how to verify one yourself and what the safety plate on the door means.
Container Weight Limits, Payload and VGM
A container can legally hold far more than a truck can legally carry it. Loading to the plate figure is how shipments become undeliverable by road.
Reefer, Flat Rack, Open Top and Tank: Special Equipment
Special equipment is scarcer, dearer and slower to position than a standard box. Here is what each type is actually for and when a standard container will do.
Container Damage, Detention and Per Diem: Who Pays
The container is not yours. You are borrowing it, and the charges for holding it or returning it damaged are separate from the freight you agreed.
Segregation and Stowage of Dangerous Goods at Sea
Two containers that are each perfectly safe can be a serious hazard side by side. Segregation is why a dangerous goods booking takes longer and costs more.
High Cube vs Standard: When the Extra Foot Helps
The extra foot of height is nearly free at sea and occasionally impossible on the road. Whether it helps depends on your cargo height and your destination.
Shipper-Owned vs Carrier-Owned Containers (SOC vs COC)
A shipper-owned container stops the detention clock permanently. It also makes the empty your problem, which is the whole calculation.
Container Freight Indices Explained: SCFI, WCI, FBX and XSI
Every week a different headline says container rates rose or fell, and the numbers rarely match. This guide explains who publishes each major index, what it actually measures, and how to use one when you talk to a forwarder.
Inland Container Depots and Dry Ports: How Inland Clearance Works
An inland container depot (ICD) or dry port is a container terminal away from the coast, linked to a seaport by rail or road. This guide covers how the move works, who pays for what, and where the clocks and charges catch shippers out.
Reefer Container PTI and Cold Chain Monitoring: What Shippers Need to Know
A Pre-Trip Inspection tells you a reefer container can hold set point before you load it, nothing more. Here is what PTI actually checks, who is supposed to pay for it, and why it is not the same thing as watching the box during the voyage.
Container Leasing, Repositioning and Street Turns Explained
Avoiding detention on a box you already hold is one problem. The commercial supply of that box, who owns it, why one-way leasing exists, and how a street turn can skip a repositioning move, is a different one. Here is how the container-supply economics actually work.
Tank Containers and Flexitanks: Shipping Bulk Liquids Without Drums
An ISO tank container is a reusable stainless-steel vessel in a steel frame, and a flexitank is a single-use bladder inside an ordinary dry container. This guide compares cargo limits, fill rules, risks and what to check before you book.
Blank Sailings and Void Sailings Explained for Shippers
A blank sailing, also called a void sailing, is a scheduled voyage that the carrier cancels. This guide explains why carriers do it, how it differs from rolled cargo and skipped ports, and what to do when your sailing is blanked.
Panamax, Neopanamax and ULCV Container Ship Classes Explained
Container ships are grouped by size class (feeder, Panamax, Neopanamax, ULCV), and the class decides which canals and ports a ship can use. This guide gives the TEU ranges, the canal limits and what size means for a shipper in practice.
US Intermodal Rail Ramps, IPI and Container Moves Explained
An import container that is bound for Chicago or Dallas often lands at a West Coast port and finishes its journey on a train. This guide explains the routing terms, who controls the rail leg, what happens at the rail ramp, and where the charges and delays come from.
Container Fumigation: Certificates, Fumigants and the Rules for Fumigated Units
Container fumigation kills pests before cargo crosses a border, but it also turns a box into a gas hazard. This guide covers the fumigants, the certificate, the IMDG Code rules for UN 3359 units and the safety steps before anyone opens the doors.
Container Seals Explained: ISO 17712 Classes, Bolt Seals and Seal Numbers
A container seal is a numbered, tamper-evident lock on the door, and its number is a piece of evidence that follows the box from stuffing to unloading. Here is how ISO 17712 classes work, who applies the seal and what happens when the number does not match.
Shipping Cut-Off Times Explained: CY, SI, VGM and Customs Cut-Offs
A reference to the deadlines that decide whether cargo makes a sailing or a flight: what each cut-off is, who sets it, and which ones are fixed by law rather than by the carrier.
Transshipment in Container Shipping: Direct vs Transhipped Sailings
Transshipment moves your container from one ship to another at a hub port. Here is what that changes for transit time, rollover risk, cost and documents, how to spot it in a schedule, and why it never changes where your goods were made.
How a Container Terminal Works: Gate, Yard and Berth Explained for Shippers
A container terminal is three linked systems: the berth, the yard and the gate. Knowing what happens in each, and what the tracking statuses really mean, explains most port delays and most demurrage bills.