Intermodal Containers
Introduction
The intermodal container is one of the most common sights in ports, harbors and docks. It is so common that its importance and significance to modern logistics is often overlooked. But despite the seemingly simple design of intermodal containers, its universal usefulness in transporting goods could not be undermined that it can be considered as one of the most important development in the field of transportation and logistics. Despite its importance in commerce and logistics, the intermodal container is also at risk of being utilized by the lawless elements of society. Without proper security, containers can be used by terrorists to transport contrabands and weapons of mass destruction undetected to their target country. As observed by experts, “Scenarios emerged in which terrorists placed bombs and other material for attacks in containers at inadequately secured ports. Terrorists would operate from insecure ports, using container transit to carry out attacks throughout the world” . It is, therefore, important to secure the containers from the point of origin, in transit and at the point of destination. The intermodal containers have become the most dominant way of transporting goods from one point to another. For the same reason, it is important to understand its design and utilization as well as its security risks.
The use of containers in transporting goods has evolved and developed over time. Ever since people have been transporting goods, their mode of containerization is also based on the materials and technology that is available. Prior to the discovery of intermodal containers, the conveyance of goods is done through break bulk shipping. Break bulk shipping refers to the practice of shipping goods in “loose or packaged in boxes, bags, barrels, or other relatively small containers that varied depending on the type of good” (Tomlinson, 2009, p.1). This practice is, however, laborious and time consuming. According to observers, the time required to load and unload the ship of its cargoes almost equal the time spent sailing (Tomlinson, 2009, p.1). Aside from being typically slow, break-bulk shipping also substantially increases the risk of cargo loss and damage due to improper handling. Moreover, it also increases the cost of shipping goods because of the amount of shipping space and labor required to load and unload cargoes. Nevertheless, the practice of break-bulk shipping continued until the 20th century. There were, however, gradual improvements in the containerization of goods, especially during the industrial revolution. Wooden crates, for instance, were used to transport products in England as early as the 18th century. At first, these crates are loaded on horse-drawn wagons, but were later loaded in steam-powered locomotives. Wooden crates, however, gets easily damaged and so they were replaced with steel boxes; the first of which were used by the United States military in shipping their supplies during World War 2 (Tomlinson, 2009, p.2). Such steel containers, however, were not standardized while break bulk shipping was still the primary means of transporting goods.
The creation of the modern intermodal container, however, can be attributed to the American trucker, Malcolm McLean. An owner of a small trucking firm, McLean observed that he had to wait for several days before cargoes can be loaded. As a result, his trucks have to spend more time in the port than they are on the road (Cudahy, 2006, p. 6). As observed, “a cargo ship typically would spend as much time in port being loaded and unloaded as it did sailing the seven seas (Cudahy, 2006, p. 6). The labor extensive loading and unloading of goods is not only time consuming, but also “increases the chance of damage, loss and pilferage” (Cudahy, 2006, p. 6). McLean believes that there has to be a better way of shipping cargoes and so he developed the concept of the intermodal container. Together with the engineer, Keith Tantlinge, McLean created a container that is 8’ x 8’ x 10’ long. The container is made of steel, purposefully, so it can be can be carried by a crane during loading and unloading and is designed so that it can be hoisted and detached from a truck. The containers are then sealed with locking mechanisms in order to ensure that they were never opened until they reach their final destination. The first of intermodal containers were loaded into the oil tanker, Ideal X, when it made its maiden voyage on April 26, 1956 from Perth to New Jersey (Cudahy, 2006, p.6). This voyage, according to scholars, marked the beginning of a new era in shipping (Cudahy, 2006, p.6).
Container Ships Remodeling and Design
After the maiden voyage of Ideal X, many shipping companies remodeled their vessels in order to accommodate intermodal containers. Among the earliest vessels to be thoroughly rebuilt with intermodal containers as one of the major design consideration is the cargo and C-2 class vessel, Gateway City (Cudahy, B., 2006, p. 6). Gateway City is specially designed to carry intermodal containers. As compared with Ideal X, Gateway City can carry up to 226 containers that are stacked on top of each other while Ideal X can only accommodate 50 (Cudahy, B., 2006, p. 6). The vessel’s stability is one of the major considerations in designing container vessels. At all times, a container vessel must be kept balanced. In order to achieve this important criterion, container ships create and follows a cargo plan in order to maintain the ship’s balance in the loading and unloading of containers. One of the basic considerations of a cargo plan is to stack containers evenly at the front and back and from side to side of the ship. Heavy containers are being loaded at the bottom to avoid being heavy on top. Containers are also stacked and grouped according to the order of their destination to avoid containers from being unnecessarily moved around during unloading. Container ships are installed with ballast tanks that helps regulate its balance. These tanks are filled or emptied with water to correct any imbalance of the ship as well as to keep the ship’s propeller below the waterline when the ship is empty. Modern container vessels have computerized ballast tank systems that automatically increase and decrease the water in the tanks for a precise ship balance. As shown in the image below, since 1960s, the carrying capacity of container ships has increased substantially.
Figure 1. The evolution of container ships .
The capacity of container ships is measured by twenty-foot equivalent units or TEUs. One TEU is equivalent to a standard 20 foot long container. According to the World Shipping Council, since 1968, the TEUs of container ships have increased by approximately more than 10 times and are still increasing in size and capacity. In the 1960s, for instance, containerships had a usual capacity of 500 to 800 TEU. Today, there are new generations of container ships can carry more than 11,000 TEU, which is equivalent to more than 11,000 standard sized containers.
Container Standardization
Early containers have no standard sizes. As observed by Tomlinson, “In the first few years of use, different companies had used containers suited to their particular industry or circumstances, with factors affecting container size including the ships they owned, the type of goods being transported, legal limits on the length or weight of loads carried on roads in the markets they served, and similar limits for rail travel” (Tomlinson, 2009, p. 3). Variations in the size and design of containers, however, present many problems, especially in the stacking and securing of containers in a vessel. It did not take long until a consensus was reached to standardize the size and design of containers. In order to help set the standards for intermodal containers, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), created the standardization of container sizes. The ISO standard fixed provided for a fixed width of the container at 8 feet with 8 feet and 8.5 feet as the standard heights. Lengths were also standardized by the ISO at 10, 20, 30 and 40 feet. In the United States, 48’ and 53’ long containers are also available as well as containers to a height of 9.5 feet. The 20 feet and 40 feet long containers, however, became the most widely used.
Containers also have standard designs in order to facilitate ease of hauling as well as ease of loading and unloading. All containers, for instance, have platforms at the bottom. These platforms have openings on the side to allow the forklift to carry the container for stacking. Container platforms are also made of hardened steel designed to sufficiently carry the maximum load of its contents. Container walls, on the other hand, are made of corrugated metal sheets. This sheet uniformly distributes the load on top of the container to its top and bottom rails while the corrugation helps increase the load bearing capacity of containers when stacked. Containers are designed to be stacked only in an upright position. It is also a standard design for containers to have steel framing. The framing is made up of four corner posts and braced with rails on the top and at the bottom. At the bottom of each corner post is a corner casting which serves as a locking mechanism to secure the container on any transport medium. By securing the container through its corner casting, it prevents the container from slipping or tipping over during a trip or a voyage.
Containers can be classified by size or by purpose. Aside from having different sizes, some containers are specifically designed to carry special cargoes. Examples of such are: bulk container, named cargo containers, thermal containers, open-top containers, platform containers, tank containers, air/surface containers and general purpose containers. Perishable goods, for instance, require thermal containers to maintain their freshness while non-perishable goods may be kept and loaded in general purpose containers. Liquids and gasses, on the other hand, need specialized tank containers for their safe transport. Some containers also require ventilation while others do not. Containers can also be classified as either ventilated or non-ventilated. Containers also differ on how they can be opened. There are containers, for instance, that have doors on the side wall while others can be opened on top for easy loading.
Intermodal Container Security
Security is one of the major concerns of containerization. In today’s world wherein acts of terrorism are rampant, the safety and legitimacy of cargoes that enters and leaves a port is of particular importance to national and local security. In the United States, in order to enhance the security of containers, the Department of Homeland Security (DHA) and law enforcement agencies under its umbrella have been tasked to monitor all container movement in every port and are also responsible for identifying any high-risk cargoes that arrive in the U.S. . The DHA acknowledges in the years to come, trade will increase, which would also increase the number of intermodal containers that is being transported. Currently, the DHA is faced with an enormous security challenge of keeping track with 5 million to 6 million containers that arrive and leave the United States on a daily basis. In Los Angeles alone, container traffic has significantly increased over the past three decades as seen in the graph below. Overall, China is the leading shipper of intermodal containers followed by the United States.
Figure 2. Container Traffic in Los Angeles (Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, 2014, p.3).
Figure 3. Container Traffic Shares by Country (Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, 2014, p.4).
The United States acknowledges that it is impossible to achieve the task of securing containers on its own. It is important that multilateral cooperation among countries is achieved for the common goal of securing intermodal containers . The DHS also believes that public and private sectors must cooperate in security intermodal containers. Shippers, for instance, are compelled by international regulations to the International Container Bureau before they are allowed to transport containers. Furthermore, shippers are also given a unique identification code and are required to mark their containers with these identifying codes that specify the owner, type of cargo and the registration number. These codes help identify the shipper whenever security problems arise. Part of the container’s security process is for the shipper to seal it before it is placed on transit. Once the containers are sealed, they should not be opened until they reach their final destination. A written report is also created after the container has been loaded and sealed. This report contains the information regarding the contents as well as the vessel and the crews responsible for transporting the container. The report must be presented to port authorities upon arrival of the cargoes. Port authorities may physically inspect the contents of the cargo as the case requires. Authorities can also board a ship if it believes that it carries a container that is a security risk. Some ports employ modern security inspection wherein containers pass through a radiation portal in order to detect any radioactive substance. A container is only allowed to leave port after all the standard security procedures have been accomplished.
Causes of Loss/Damage of Containers
There are many factors that contribute to the eventual damage or loss of intermodal containers. One of which is human error in handling containers. Some containers, for instance, can be destroyed from the inside when the cargoes are not properly packed and secured. Containers are also at risk of being damaged when they are not properly stacked and secured while on transit. There are certain conditions on board a ship that can cause damage to containers that are not properly secured. As observed by experts, containers may encounter a variety of weather conditions on board a ship which are likely to exert a combination of forces such as “pitching, rolling, heaving, surging, yawing or swaying or a combination of any two or more”. These forces impact the containers at prolonged period, which can cause substantial damage if the containers are not properly secured. The loss of containers can also occur because of unsecured or poorly secured containers. Extreme weather conditions at sea may cause these containers to tip overboard. As observed by scholars, around 10,000 containers are loss overboard annually, primarily because they were improperly stacked.
Figure 4. Ships and containers have locking mechanisms that helps secure containers.
Conclusion
The intermodal container is unarguably the most important innovation in the modern shipping industry. The use of intermodal containers revolutionized how people ship goods from one point to another, which is more secure and efficient than the traditional break bulk shipping. Since the creation of the first intermodal container in the 1960s, the number of containers in transit has substantially increased. Today, there are different kinds of intermodal containers that suit every type of cargo. However, most containers have a standard size and features to facilitate ease of handling and transport. In order to accommodate this growing container traffic, container ships has also been increasing their size in order to carry as much containers as possible in just one voyage. The world’s reliance to intermodal containers for its shipping needs also poses national security issues. Due to the growing traffic in container shipping, it is likely that containers will be utilized by criminal organizations and terrorists to ship contrabands undetected. For the same reason, national and international container safety regulations are imposed in order to increase the safety of containers. Most importantly, the cooperation of governments as well as private commercial institutions is necessary in maintaining the safe passage of goods through the intermodal container system.
References
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