All About Shipping Containers-  
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Their history
Shipping Containers have many names, which can be a bit confusing. However shipping containers 
are standard shapes, sizes and construction everywhere in the world. When a container is used 
solely for shipping, it can have four main names.
 - Shipping Container
 - ISO Container
 - Cargo Container
 - Conex Box

When an ISO Shipping Container is used for building or storage it is called an ISBU, or
 - ISBU 
 - Intermodal Steel Building Unit
 - C-Blox

ISBU is from the name Inter-modal Steel Building Unit, and now also commonly referred to as C-Blox,
a short name for Container Blocks.  Since 2006, the Shipping Containers are becoming very  popular
and trendy for use as home, storage, prefab, and business construction purposes.

Since 1954 the principle use for Shipping Containers is for International ocean shipping, truck, or 
train freight, and occasional secure storage. Only recently has the world begun to realize their value 
in housing and office construction. The possibilities for C-BLOX is virtually endless.

Sizes- The common shipping containers are 20' and 40' dry containers and the shipping industry
refers to all containers and statistics as TEW, meaning twenty foot containers. A 40' shipping 
container would be referred to as 2 TEW for your easy calculating. Other sizes of containers are 
certainly available such as 8', 10' and 53'. These sizes are specially made but are a minority. 
The common  types of ISO shipping containers are:
 - 20' GP
 - 40' GP
 - 40' HQ  (meaning High Cube. The difference is 1 foot taller than a standard 40' GP)
 - Open top
 - Open side
 - Freezer, or Refrigerated are also common.

 Brief Specifications:

                                 LxWxH                                   LxWxH                               Weight                           
         20 GP   20-0 x 8-0 x 8-6 External, 19.4 x 7-8 x 7-10 Internal,   6,460 lbs.    > Details... 
         40 GP   40-0 x 8-0 x 8-6 External, 39.6 x 7-8 x 7-10 Internal,   8,300 lbs.    > Details... 
         40 HQ   40-0 x 8-0 x 9-6 External, 39.6 x 7-8 x 7-10 Internal,   8,600 lbs.    > Details... 








      [ see All Shipping Container Specifications ]

History of Shipping Containers-

Many people think the Shipping Container was invented in China. ...not true. The first shipping 
container was invented and patented in 1956 by an American named Malcolm Mc Lean.
Mc Lean was not an ocean shipper, but was a trucker and by 1956 he owned the largest trucking 
fleet in the South and the fifth largest trucking company in all the United States. He saved his money 
and bought his first truck in 1934. During those years all cargo was loaded and unloaded in odd 
sized wooden crates. The process was very slow and certainly not standardized.

After observing this slow and inefficient process for 20 years, he finally decided to step back and 
develop some standardized way of loading cargo from trucks to ships and warehouses.

Malcolm then purchased Pan Atlantic Tanker Company, which owned a bunch of fairly rusted tankers. 
He re-named the new shipping company Sea-Land Shipping. With this shipping company he could 
finally experiment with better ways to load and un-load trucks and ships. After many experiments, 
his final design is what we know now as the Shipping Container. ...super strong, uniform design, 
theft resistant, and easy to load, unload, truck, rail, ship, and certainly store.

Matson, on the West coast of the US also attempted the container concept, but failed sorely. The final
boost to standardize Mc Lean's concept was the US Navy, and by the early 70's were globally accepted.
So in fact, although Mc Lean had the first concept and working system in 1956, it was the US military
who finally did what was necessary to make the ISO shipping container accepted by every shipping
line and every country of the world.

Because it was so much faster and organized to load-unload, the cost of loading freight was reduced
by more than 90%. Thus, the cost of products you sell or buy were reduced greatly because of the 
invention and standardization of the ISO shipping container. 

         In 1956, loose cargo cost $5.86 per ton to load.  Using an ISO shipping container,
         the cost was reduced to only  .16 cents per ton.

The shipping container invention of Malcolm Mc Lean hascertainly changed the world and thus, has 
changed the lives of every human on the planet.

    [ see Malcolm Mc Lean ]


The Strongest Box In the World-

The global transportation industry responded rapidly to this new invention of the Shipping Container 
and the rest of the world also began to find more uses for this"super box", not just for shipping. The 
new shipping container was so well designed that it could hold tons of cargo inside, but also can 
easily withstand the weight of 8 or 10 more fully loaded containers on the top of it. ISO shipping 
containers are he strongest mobile or stationary modular structure in the world.

    [ see Benefits of ISBU Housing ]

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        Click below to see Specifications and Photos INDEX of 50 types of ISO Shipping Containers.