Transporters, CONEX (Container Express),
RCH Container (Railway Clearing House,
Trailerships, Box, TEU (twenty-foot
equivalent units), ITU (Intermodel Transport
Units)
| In the late 1780's, the need global standardization of container equipment became important for handling equipment. 1830's, the railroads used 'loose boxes' containers from trucks or ships for their coal loads. Both, iron boxes and wooden boxes were used, and by the 1900 the need for closed containers were designed. The United Kingdom's Railway Clearing House set early standards in 1920's, and later in the US, the army began using specialized containers, or reusable "transporters" for shipping goods and military equipment. Due to theft of the wooden transporters, steel were used known as CONEX, short for "Container Express" in the 1950's. The first vessels to carry containers started in Denmark in 1951. Malcom McLean developed the idea of using containers that were never opened during transit, and transferable on a intermodel basis between truck, ships and railroad cars, hence the design of the container ship or "box' ship. The standardization process took many shapes, sizes incompatibility. After a series of compromises among International shipping companies, European and USA railways and trucking company, five ISO recommenda-tions were made. Today, approximately 90% of non-bulk cargo move worldwide by containers stacked on transport ships. By 2005, some 18 million total containers are in service. Containers were intended to be used constantly, but transporting empty containers are often not economical. This resulted in large areas at ports and warehouse of large volume of storage of containers. Recycling began, and 21st Century Homes & Structures had the foresight to engineer affordable homes for the working families of today using containers as their shell. Thus lowering the cost while providing strength in all of its product lines. This includes for emergency housing and commercial buildings. |
