Interesting Facts About Shipping Containers

Interesting Facts About Shipping Containers

Containers are the essence of any shipping business. And they aren’t any other boring metal box for you to know. We have curated some interesting Wow and Oh facts to change your thinking on how you look at them!

1. Malcolm McLean is the first creator of shipping containers. He started building them in 1955. McLean aimed for something that could be more efficient in handling shipments than the regular break-bulk style of that time. He gifted the patent to the world to recreate and innovate.

2. There are more than 200 million containers in the world, out of which more than 50% are owned, and the rest are leased.

3. A standard 20-foot container is the same as the size of an average swimming pool.

4. Containers have a lifespan the same as a Deer, and if taken care can live the same as a tiger.

4. Every commercial shipping container is tagged with a unique 4- digit prefix, where the first three signify the owner, and the fourth denotes the category, usually a ‘U’ to signify ‘unit freight container’ to help you track the container’s location as it travels across the world.

5. China manufactures about 97% of all shipping containers as it is the export hub of the world, and it would be senseless to produce containers somewhere else with high labour charges and export them (say empty) to where exports start.

6. Due to bad weather or accidents, more than 2000 containers are lost in the sea every year. Fun fact: These containers that fall off the ships don’t always sink! Most of them float. Unfortunately, they are just underneath the water and aren’t visible to the eyes above the surface.

7. ‘The biggest export is fresh air’ – Because the number of containers that come in full usually go out empty.

8. Only 2% to 10% of containers are inspected at all on the deck.

9. Containers only have two standard sizes – 20 feet (also known as a Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit, or a TEU) and 40 feet (two TEUs!).

10. Latest fact: COVID-19 has turned the use of containers from exporting and storing to temporary clinics for treating covid patients.

So there you go, here are some interesting facts about shipping containers. We hope that it helped you change the way you look at the containers.

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