Container Types & Shipping Equipment
Choosing the right container or equipment for your cargo: standard boxes, high cubes, reefers, flat racks, open tops, and tanks.
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Oversize Load Permits and Pilot Cars Explained
There is no national oversize load permit in the United States. Every state sets its own dimension thresholds, its own escort requirements, and its own process, and a coast-to-coast heavy haul means a separate application to nearly every one of them. Here is how the system actually works.
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LTL Freight Class and NMFC Explained
Freight class decides what an LTL shipment costs, and it is set by a private industry standard, not a government rule. Since July 2025 most commodities are classed by measured density rather than a fixed lookup, and the system is still being rewritten: a public comment period on the next round of changes closes in days.
RoRo vs Container Shipping for Vehicles and Machinery
RoRo and container shipping are priced differently, measured differently and regulated differently, and the choice is usually decided by height, weight and rating basis rather than by preference. Here are the real deck and door numbers, what the 2026 fire safety and dangerous goods rules actually changed, and the export and import compliance that catches vehicle shippers out.
Air Freight ULD Types: Which Unit Load Device Fits Your Cargo
Air cargo is built up on unit load devices before it ever reaches the aircraft. Choosing or accepting the wrong ULD type wastes chargeable space and can hold a shipment off a flight entirely.
Breakbulk and Project Cargo: When Your Freight Does Not Fit a Container
Breakbulk and project cargo cover the freight that containers were never designed for: oversized, overweight, or awkwardly shaped loads that need their own stowage plan, not a booking reference.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Transloading and Deconsolidation: What Happens to Your Cargo at the Port
Moving cargo from ocean containers into domestic trailers can cut inland cost sharply, or add a handling step you did not need.
Truck and Trailer Types: Dimensions, Pallet Counts and Weight Limits
European and North American trailer types side by side: internal dimensions, how many pallets fit, and the weight limit that binds first.
Air Cargo ULD Types and Dimensions: A Shipper's Reference
The container and pallet types used in aircraft holds, what fits each aircraft, and why your pallet height decides your air freight cost.
Project Cargo and Out-of-Gauge Shipping: What Changes
When cargo stops fitting a container, everything changes: equipment, pricing, route surveys, lifting plans and lead times.
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.
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.
Containers & Equipment FAQ
What are the standard shipping container sizes?
The two standards are 20ft and 40ft. A 20ft container holds roughly 33 cubic metres and a 40ft around 67, with the 40ft high cube offering about 76. Payload is typically around 28 tonnes for a 20ft and 26 tonnes for a 40ft, though limits vary by carrier and by road weight rules at each end.
Should I use a 40ft or a 40ft high cube?
Use a high cube unless there is a height constraint, since it offers about 13 percent more volume for little or no extra cost on most lanes and is the default 40ft equipment on many routes. The constraint is inland rather than at sea: road height limits, low bridges, and older warehouse docks can make a high cube undeliverable even where it ships without issue.
What container do I need for oversized cargo?
Use an open top if the cargo is too tall to load through the doors but stays within the container profile, and a flat rack if it exceeds the width or height envelope. Anything protruding beyond the container envelope is rated out of gauge, which means paying for the vessel slots the overhang blocks as well as the cargo itself.
Why can't I load a container to its maximum payload?
Because road weight limits usually bite before the container's rated payload does. The legal limit for the loaded truck combination at either end is frequently lower than the container's maximum, so the practical payload is set by the strictest road regulation on the route. Always plan against the actual tare weight stencilled on the door rather than a generic figure.
What is the difference between CY and CFS?
The container yard is where containers are stacked awaiting loading, collection, or return; the container freight station is where LCL cargo is consolidated into containers and stripped out again. A CY-to-CY booking means you deliver and collect full containers yourself, while CFS handling applies when your cargo shares a container with other shippers.
What is a tare weight and why does it matter?
Tare weight is the weight of the empty container, stencilled on its door. It matters because it is added to your cargo weight to produce the gross weight used for the mandatory VGM declaration and for road weight compliance. Reefers and tanks have a much higher tare than dry boxes, which meaningfully reduces the payload available.