A shipping container (also known as container, freight container, intermodal container, ISO container, hi-cube container, box, conex box and sea can) is a steel container, that can be used repeatedly in the safe, efficient movement of products within an intermodal freight transport system.

Shipping container sizes

There are a multitude of different sizes and options when it comes to container shipping, including specialist choices such as hanging garment containers, half height containers, bulk shift containers and tanks. Whilst these all have their uses, they are very niche and best served by another article, so for now we will concentrate on GP (general purpose) container shipping, and the more common special equipment such as reefer containers, Open Top containers and Flat Rack containers.