Freight containers
A high proportion of what we need and use for work and home comes from somewhere else. In the case of the food we eat, or the clothes we wear, that "somewhere else" may mean to us a nearby shop. But to have reached that point, the goods in question may have travelled by road and rail, from one end of the country to another, or have been manufactured using raw material brought in by air and sea from the other side of the globe. The use of freight containers rationalizes the transport of this vast trade in goods. More than five million freight containers are in service throughout the world. But for the whole business of transporting goods and material between destinations near and far, there had to be in place international agreements that standardize and therefore facilitate handling requirements for freight containers - their lifting, loading, stacking, securing and storing.
Standards for freight containers cover terminology, classification, dimensions, specifications and test methods of Series 1 freight containers, handling and securing, marking and automatic identification.
The container codes, also known as BIC codes are recognized in ISO 6346 which sets up a system of identity allocation of freight containers in all international transport and customs declaration documents. Over 1 200 owners or operators representing 90% of the world container fleet use BIC codes in 110 countries.
More information on BIC and the list of freight container codes can be found on the BIC Web site, www.bic-code.org
The portfolio of technical committee ISO/TC 104, Freight containers, consists of some 50 ISO standards.
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