Glossary term
Container
A standardised steel box designed to be transferred between ship, rail and road without unpacking the goods inside.
A reusable steel unit built to international dimensions so that it can move between vessel, rail wagon and road chassis without the goods being handled.
That single property - the goods are packed once at origin and unpacked once at destination - is what reshaped world trade, by removing most of the labour and pilferage of piece-by-piece handling.
Common types include general purpose dry, high cube, refrigerated, open top, flat rack and tank containers. Capacity is counted in TEU.