Container, English name “container”, is a component tool that can carry packaged or unpackaged goods for transportation, and convenient for loading and unloading with mechanical equipment. The greatest success of container is the standardized products and a complete set of transportation systems established thereby. Apart from standardizing the giants with a load of dozens of tons, as one of the greatest miracles ever created, it also gradually realized the logistics system of ships, ports, routes, highways, transfer stations, bridges, tunnels, and multimodal transportation around the world.

Practical container knowledge:

1. What do large cube, small cube and double backs mean?

(1) Large cube generally refers to a 40-foot container, usually 40GP and 40HQ. 45-foot containers are considered to be special containers.

(2) Small cube indicates a 20-foot container, usually 20GP.

(3) Double backs are two 20-foot cabinets. For example, a trailer pulls two 20-foot containers at the same time, which are hoisted to the vessel at one time when hoisting in the port.

<p&gt2. What does LCL mean? What about the FCL?

(1) LCL (Less than Container Load) refers to the container containing goods from multiple owners. Small batches of goods that are not filled with one full container are LCL goods, and are operated according to LCL-LCL.

(2) FCL (Full Container Load) refers to the container containing goods from only one owner or manufacturer. Larger batches of goods that can be filled with one or more full containers are FCL goods, and are operated according to FCL-FCL.

3. What are the common specifications of containers?

(1) 40-foot-high container (40HC): 40 feet long, 9 feet 6 inches high; around 12.192 meters long, 2.9 meters high, 2.35 meters wide, generally with about 68CBM loaded.

(2) 40-foot general container (40GP): 40 feet long, 8 feet 6 inches high; around 12.192 meters long, 2.6 meters high, 2.35 meters wide, generally about 58CBM loaded.

(3) 20-foot general container (20GP): 20 feet long, 8 feet 6 inches high; around 6.096 meters long, 2.6 meters high, 2.35 meters wide, generally about 28CBM loaded.

(4) 45 feet high container (45HC): 45 feet long, 9 feet 6 inches high; around 13.716 meters long, 2.9 meters high, 2.35 meters wide, generally about 75CBM loaded.

4. What are the differences between high container (HC) and general purpose (GP)?

The HC is 1 foot taller than the GP (one foot is equal to 30.44cm), but they both are in the same length and width.

5. What is the self-weight of the container? What about the heavy container?

(1) Self-weight of container: the weight of the container itself. The self-weight of 20GP is around 1.7 tons, and the self-weight of 40GP is around 3.4 tons.

(2) Heavy container: refers to the container loaded with goods, as opposed to the empty container/auspicious container.

6. What is an empty container or an auspicious container?

An empty container is the container not loaded with goods. In southern China, especially Guangdong and Hong Kong, empty containers are usually called auspicious containers, because in Cantonese, “empty” and “fierce” are in the same pronunciation, which is unlucky, people in southern China call empty container as auspicious container. The so-called “taking empty for heavy” is to take the empty container, pull it to load, and then return the loaded heavy container.

7. What is a carrying weight container? Dropping heavy container?

(1) Carrying heavy container: refers to carrying heavy containers at the yard to the factory or logistics warehouse for unloading (generally refers to imports).

(2) Dropping heavy container: It refers to dropping the heavy container back to the station after loading in the factory or logistics warehouse (generally refers to exports).

8. What do carrying empty container and dropping empty container mean?

(1) Carrying empty container: refers to carry empty container at the yard to the manufacturer or logistics warehouse for loading (usually refers to exports).

(2) Dropping empty container: refers to drop the container after unloading the goods at the factory or logistics warehouse (usually refers to imports).

9. What type of container does DC stand for?

DC refers to dry container, such as 20GP, 40GP, 40HQ and others.

10. What type of container does OT stand for?

<p&gt OT is the abbreviation of Open Top, which refers to the container with open top, that is, the container without the top but only a tent.

11. What does a half door mean?

Containers with half-side doors.

12. What is the bill of lading number?

Usually it is the number that the freight forwarder offered to carry the box, which may be either the order number of the ship owner’s bill (MBL) or the order number of the freight forwarding bill (HBL). Generally, the container can be carried according to the name of the ship/voyage and the bill of lading number, that is, to carry empty or heavy container.

13. What does the container number mean?

It refers to the number of the container, which is unique in the world and consists of four letters and seven numbers; the first three letters are the code of the container owner (shipping company or rental company), the fourth letter is U, and the next six letters are the serial number, and the last number is the check digit. The container number is usually sourced from the driver, because the driver only knows when he picks up the container. The container number will be used in customs declaration, document preparation, and warehouse receipt entry.

14. What does the seal number mean?

It refers to the number of the seal that locks the door of container, which is generally provided by the shipping company by paying RMB50.

15. What do exported goods mean?

That means carrying empty container on yard to the factory or logistics warehouse for loading, and then declaring at customs for export.

16. What do imported goods mean?

It is carrying heavy container on yard to the manufacturer or designated place after import customs clearance for unloading. 　　

17. What does empty driving mean?

It means that after the truck arrives at the manufacturer or the logistics warehouse, but pulls back the empty container to yard because of failing to load for various reasons.

18. What is container exchange?

It refers to pull container from one yard to another, or take the container by removing the upper containers rather than from top to bottom. This is more likely to occur when specifying a container number or during customs inspection.

19. What is the container yard?

It usually refers to the place where containers are stacked and managed on or nearby the dock. Drivers usually go to the yard to carry containers. Correspondingly, there is a thing called the yard receipt for handover between the yard and the driver.

20. What are the general contents on the bill of lading?

Include the bill of lading number, ship name and voyage, container weight, cargo description, number of pieces, gross weight, volume, number of boxes, issuer and signature, etc.

21. What matters need attention when shipping?

It is necessary to explain with the owner whether export or import, container type, container volume, cargo weight, location, yard, whether agreement is needed, time to the manufacturer, special requirements for containers, etc.

22. What problems should be paid attention to when writing a dispatch order?

It should be written as clearly as possible, because some drivers do not know English letters at all, specially the name of ship, the voyage, the bill of lading number, the yard, the time of arrival, the manufacturer’s address, the contact number, the special requirements of the containers and manufacturers.

Also, the invoice title should also be clearly written to avoid mistake. In addition, it is necessary to write down the issues that should be paid attention to, such as the explaining the strict requirements on the container to the driver, so as not to incur additional fee.

23. What is the equipment handover order?

When carrying export container, you must first make an order, and then get a multi-page Equipment Handover Order. The driver will take the container, leave the yard, enter the yard, and return the container accordingly.

24. What is the business time of the export container yard?

It is closes at usually 10 o’clock, but usually there is no personnel at 9 o’clock, so the dispatcher must come back around 8 o’clock, because the driver has to drop the container first.

25. What does overload mean? What about overweight?

(1) Overload: generally means that the tonnage of the goods loaded exceeds the weight limit of the vehicle;

(2) Overweight: generally means that the tonnage of the loaded goods exceeds the weight limit of the container.

26. What does loading and unloading mean?

(1) Loading is carrying an empty box container to load.

(2) Unloading means carrying a heavy container to the manufacturer to unload.

27. What does re-go and re-return mean?

It refers to pulling the goods to and then back, not returning or driving empty.

28. What does the toll-by-weight mean?

“Toll-by-weight” at expressway toll gates refers to collecting tolls according to the vehicle’s cargo weight and tonnage.

29. What is the damaged container fee?

It refers to the cost incurred when the imported container is found to be damaged after unloading.

30. What is the washing fee?

It means the cleaning fee incurred when the container is found dirty. The emergence of containers has dramatically dropped the cost of long-distance transportation and brought great changes to modern logistics. The convenient import and export of various commodities across the country and even the world is owing to containers—a major contributor to trade globalization.