Ref.: 1045

New edition available of ISO's collection of freight container standards

2007-01-23

ISO International Standards for freight containers have allowed "the box" to become the backbone of global supply chains. The organization has just issued a new collection of these ISO standards that have facilitated the expansion of the freight transport sector over the last 30 years, with more than 13 million freight containers in service around the world.

To date, over 30 International Standards exist in this domain. They cover a wide variety of aspects of different types of freight containers which include air/surface/(intermodal) containers, containers on board vessels, tank containers, platform and platform-based containers.

The handbook includes the new ISO standards for 45-feet containers, as well as those for 20 and 40 feet. It covers standards for special containers such as tank containers for liquids, gases, non-pressurized dry bulk and pressurized dry bulk, and thermal containers.

Container aspects addressed by the standards include:

• classification,
• dimensions,
• specifications,
• test methods
• handling and securing of containers,
• container equipment,
• coding, identification and marking, and
• data exchange (CEDEX).

This handbook will be of value to anyone working in the transport sector and it is an important contribution to help ensure the safety, quality and usability of the containers that ship the goods around the world which fuel the global economy.

The standards in the handbook were mainly developed by ISO technical committee, ISO/TC 104, Freight containers, with the exception of one which was prepared by ISO/TC 111, Round steel link chains, lifting hooks and accessories, and another developed by ISO/TC 104 jointly with ISO/TC 20, Aircraft and space vehicles.

The ISO Standards Handbook – Freight Containers, which is published in English only, and is available in paper ( ISBN 92-67-10426-8) or CD-ROM (ISBN 92-67-10427-6) format at 216 Swiss francs. The CD-ROM version includes intuitive navigation and advance search functionalities.