11 Facts About Container ships

Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal freight transport and now carry most seagoing non-bulk cargo.

Container ships vessels eliminate the individual hatches, holds and dividers of the traditional general cargo vessels.

Many container ships have cargo cranes installed on them, and some have specialized systems for securing containers on board.

Container ships are distinguished into 7 major size categories: small feeder, feeder, feedermax, Panamax, Post-Panamax, New Panamax and ultra-large.

Slightly less than a third of the very smallest Container ships are geared, and almost no Container ships with a capacity of over 4,000 TEU are geared.

Stowage inside the holds of fully cellular ships is simplest, typically using simple metal forms called container guides, locating cones, and anti-rack spacers to lock the containers together.

Container ships have typically had a single bridge and accommodation unit towards the rear, but to reconcile demand for larger container capacity with SOLAS visibility requirements, several new designs have been developed.

Some smaller container ships working in European ports and rivers have liftable wheelhouses, which can be lowered to pass under low bridges.

Since even very large container ships are vessels with relatively low draft compared to large tankers and bulk carriers, there is still considerable room for vessel growth.

In 2016, some experts believed that the current largest container ships are at the optimum size, and could not economically be larger, as port facilities would be too expensive, port handling too time consuming, the number of suitable ports too low, and insurance cost too high.

Outside special bulk cargo markets, Container ships are hired by three types of charter agreements: the voyage charter, the time charter, and the bareboat charter.