Today, in the world of trade, the shipping industry holds a significant role for transportation of cargo in all forms. International shipping is fulfilling around 90% of the movement of commodities worldwide. More than 50,000 different types of merchant ships; like cargo ships, bulk carriers, tankers, LNG, LPG, and container ships are currently involved in the business transporting various types of cargos on daily basis as per the statistics of International Chamber of Shipping. Actually, the access of more container ships to the present shipping freight market has changed the pattern of international trade over the past few decades enormously.
Overview
Container ships are special type of the cargo ships that carry box type load in truck or lorry size intermodal containers. This is a technique called containerisation. It is a common means of commercial intermodal freight transport that carries most seagoing non bulk cargo today. An intermodal container is a large standardised shipping container designed and built for intermodal freight transport. A container can be used across different modes of transport, like ship, rail or truck without unloading and reloading cargo. Containerisation greatly reduced the expense of international trade and facilitates faster transport of consumer goods and commodities. It dramatically transformed the character of port cities worldwide. Today, container ships are known as the workhorses of global economy.
Container and containerisation
Intermodal containers have been primarily used to store and transport materials and products efficiently and securely around the globe. These containers are known by different names; container, freight container, ISO container, shipping or sea container or container van or box and sea can etc. Intermodal containers comes with many types and sizes. However, 90% of the global container fleet is dry freight or general-purpose containers. Those are durable, corrugated steel boxes and are usually 20ft or 40ft standard length. Well known standard ISO shipping containers are 8ft wide, 8.5ft high and come in two lengths; 20ft and 40ft. Special extra tall shipping containers or high cube containers are available with 9.5ft high. On the other hand, containerisation is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers. With standardised dimensions, those containers can be loaded and unloaded, stacked, transported efficiently over long distances, and transferred from one mode of transport to another without being opened. The containers handling system are completely mechanised, so that all handling is done with cranes and special forklift trucks.
History of containerisation
Containerisation originated several centuries ago. In the late 18th century, ships designed to carry standardised load units were used in England. Again in 1766, James Brindley designed a box boat named Starvationer with 10 wooden containers to transport coal from Worsley Delph to Manchester by Bridgewater Canal. Before the WW II, container ships were used to carry baggage of the luxury passenger train from London to Paris. However, it was not well developed or widely applied until after Second World War (WW II) when container ships dramatically reduced the costs of transport. Container ships supported the post war boom in global trade as well as globalisation. The first batch of purpose-built container vessels began operating in Denmark and between Seattle and Alaska in 1951. The first commercially successful container ship was Ideal X, a T2 tanker that carried 58 metal containers between Newark, New Jersey and Houston, Texas on its first voyage. Ultimately it displaced many thousands of dock workers who formerly handled break bulk cargo. At the same time, it has reduced congestion in ports, significantly shortened shipping time and has minimised losses from damage and theft.
Sizes and categories of container ships
There are seven usual size and categories of container ships: small feeder, feeder, feeder max, panama, post panama, new panama, and very or ultra large. Today there were 165 VLCS or Very Large Container Ships in the world which can carry more than 10,000 TEUs. Interestingly, 52 ports in the world can accommodate them. Panama Canal’s lock chambers limit the size of a Panamax vessel. Those lock chambers can accommodate ships with a beam of up to 32.31 m and a length overall of up to 294.13 m, and a draft of up to 12.04 m. The maximum size of new panama class container ship that can accommodate in Panama Canal is length overall 366 m and width 49 m and fresh water draft 15.2 m. So, new panama class container ships are wide enough to carry 19 rows of containers with a capacity of approximately 12,000 TEUs, which is comparable in size to a Capesize bulk carrier or a Suezmax tanker.
Modern container ship design
There are few key points to ponder in the design of modern container ships. Container ship hull is similar to bulk carriers and general cargo ships and is built around a strong keel. Container ship’s holds are usually topped by hatch covers where more containers can be stacked. Old container ships have cargo cranes installed on them. Modern container ships have specialised systems for securing containers onboard. Actually, efficiency is another key factor to design container ships. Cargo holds for dedicated container ships are specially constructed to increase speed of loading and unloading and to efficiently keep containers secure while at sea. Another key aspect of container ship specialisation is the design of the hatches; the openings from the main deck to the cargo hold. The hatch openings stretch the entire breadth of the cargo holds, and are surrounded by a raised steel structure or hatch coaming and top of the hatch coamings are the hatch covers. Modern hatch covers of a container ship are articulated mechanisms that are opened and closed using powerful hydraulic rams. One of the key components of dedicated container ship design is the use of cell guides and those are strong vertical structures constructed of metal installed into a ship’s cargo holds. Such special structures guide containers into well-defined rows during the loading process and provide some support for containers against the ship’s rolling at sea. Three dimensional systems are used for cargo plan to describe the position of a container onboard ship. First dimension or coordinate is the bay; which starts at the front of the ship and increases towards aft. Second coordinate is tier; the first tier at the bottom of the cargo holds and number increases towards top. Third dimension or coordinate is the row; starboard side is given odd numbers and port side is given even numbers and the rows nearest the centreline are given low numbers, and the numbers increase for slots further from the centreline.
Pollution and safety
There was estimation that container ships lose around 10,000 containers annually. Generally, container over boarded into the open sea during storms. However, there are some examples of whole ship being lost with all its containers. If any containers are dropped, it immediately becomes an environmental threat as marine debris. Again, threat of piracy cost container shipping company around USD 100 million per year mainly near East Africa. Today, there have been increased concerns that containers might be used to transport terrorist or explosive. The US government has advanced the container security initiative or CSI, intended to ensure that high risk cargos are examined or scanned at the port of departure.
Conclusion
Today, most of the cargos are now designed to fit precisely into containers. The reliability of containers also made faster manufacturing possible as component suppliers could deliver specific components on regular fixed schedules. Currently, approximately 90% of non-bulk cargo worldwide is moved by containers stacked on transport ships. Again, 26% of all container transhipment is carried out in China. 40ft containers are the primary container size, making up about 90% of all container shipping. Nowaday a converted container is used as an office at a building site. Actually, shipping container architecture is the use of containers as the basis for housing and other purposeful buildings. Containers can also be used as sheds or storage areas in industry, canteen, shop and even any commercial purpose. They are not only revolutionised the maritime shipping industry, but also fulfilling the demand of accommodation and industrial buildings.
