Fleets of containers criss-cross the world every day on-board freight ships. They're then offloaded and stationed within port terminals or intermodal yards. There's hardly one person that hasn't witnessed some part of this sequence, but how many of us have stopped to wonder what's inside these containers? When the container in question is a reefer, a refrigerated storage unit, then we're gifted with clues as to what lays within. The cargo is comprised of perishable content, and the thermal variations within the insulated containers are receiving a temperature-controlled flow of air that's monitored by sensors.
We'd be repeating past information if we were to recite the contents of a reefer container. They hold meat and produce, temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical products and materials that require either advanced chilling or freezing technology. Moving on to general-purpose cargo storage, such containers are as sealed as their 'reefer' cousins, but they lack the cooling units and compact ductwork that define these temperature-management containers. Instead, dryness and rigidity is the focal point upon which the standard container functions. Imagine one of these containers holding bulk content, unconstrained mountains of grain or seed. Just as easily, mechanical components or completely assembled devices can be stored in these units. They're built to hold vehicles, boxed dry goods, bulk materials, and a dizzying array of packaged goods. This includes pallets, drums full of liquid goods, and bags. In fact, it's hard to imagine a cargo that isn't suitable for a dry container, since their multi-purpose design is the main feature of their construction.
Our previous bulk material example does present a few obstacles, most notably the method of extracting the material from the container. End walls with top-to-bottom security doors would obviously fail miserably when loading and unloading grain or powdered cargo. Instead, it's common to place this type of material in standard-sized containers and then option out the end doors in favour of an open-top door configuration. Transverse unloading procedures are used in this instance, with the top-mounted sealing mechanism sliding open to allow access to bulk material. Optionally, the doors can hinge or be formed as a removable header, thus maximizing the productive unloading cycle, though a crane or rolling bridge is required at the port if the bulk matter happens to be a heavy aggregate. Mined minerals and ore-heavy rock is an example of this heavy-duty unloading cycle.
The aim of the intermodal container model in service today is to store any cargo over short and long term periods, thus keeping all material forms and sizes in place and intact until the unloading stage arrives.
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