Container terminals store and organize shipping containers, using cranes to load them onto trucks, trains, and ships. Some terminals are located at airports or specialize in rail or maritime transport. They also store and repair containers, including refrigerated ones. Some terminals have stationary gantry cranes, while others have mobile cranes.
A container terminal is a place where shipping containers are stored and placed on the appropriate vehicle or vessel to complete delivery. There are a wide variety of container designs and styles in which goods are shipped, however the typical container holds as much cargo as a truck bed trailer. The container terminal uses special overhead cranes to stack and organize the containers, as well as load them onto trucks, trains and ships. Most container terminal locations are adjacent to both a railway and a highway, while some marine terminals are also close to a large body of water.
A shipping container resembles the bed of a semi-trailer. The container is attached to a trailer at each corner and can be unbuckled and lifted from the trailer to be stacked on top of another container or placed on a train carriage or ship deck. The busy container terminal will have many trucks that put the numerous containers in position for the overhead crane to place them in the proper mode of transportation. Some major manufacturing plants may take the truck out of the shipping equation. By loading the containers onto a rail car at the manufacturing site, products can be transported to a seaside container terminal and placed on a ship, without having been loaded onto a truck.
Some very specialized container terminal locations are located at major airports around the world. Air shipping using containers is not common and is reserved for the most critical shipment due to its higher cost. Rail container terminal sites are often called intermodal. An inland container terminal is where container shipment between rail and truck is directed. The terminals that include the transport of ships are called maritime terminals.
Both loaded and empty containers are stored at a terminal, and loaded containers are shipped to meet contractual deadlines. Empty containers are stored in piles and can take up space in a terminal for long periods of time. The larger terminals include repair facilities where damaged containers are returned to industry standards. Refrigerated containers have fuel tanks and refrigerated refrigeration units known as “refrigerators” that maintain cold temperatures inside the container. These units can be refueled and maintained at repair facilities.
Marine terminals are often equipped with large stationary gantry cranes. Many intermodals have mobile cranes. This type of container terminal can pick up a container at one end of the terminal and transport it through the terminal to be loaded onto a train on the other side.
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