Every imaginable consumer-grade good you have ever utilized in life, whether food, fashion, or vehicle, was delivered to you in a shipping container.
It is a wonder more people do not consider how the integrity and quality of goods manufactured and ferried from the other side of the Earth stays in quality condition upon final delivery.
Think about it; a cargo container from the other side of the world and burdened with hundreds of individual containers ferried valuable merchandise in quality condition until it could be sold to you.
When it comes to international commerce, quality control standards for the consumer goods stored in containers don’t happen in a vacuum. Every container door on a cargo ship is cable-locked, padlocked, and delivery-certified with shipping container seals.
Every shipping container door globally is quality, corruption, and theft protected with a container seal.
Shipping container seals must be designated with a container seal number before a shipping voyage begins. Once locked and set with a container seal, a shipping container won’t be opened until the consignee’s final port delivery.
Container shipping seals can only be removed once by shipping regulatory decree.
Do you require assistance coordinating shipping container seal or seal number designations? Contact Alba Wheels Up today.
Before we get into the intricacies of shipping container seals and seal numbers, let’s talk more about containers.
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What is a Shipping Container?
A shipping container is a rectangular metal structure that is measured in TEU or FEU units of measure. The average shipping container is 20-feet long or 40-feet long.
So, a TEU is a Twenty-Foot Equivalent unit, which is 20-feet long and 8-feet wide. A TEU can carry about 48,600 pounds of cargo. An FEU is a Forty-Foot Equivalent Unit, which is 40-feet long and 8-feet wide. An FEU can hold about 80,350 pounds of cargo.
The average standardized shipping container is TEU-sized.
The larger cargo ships can carry anywhere between 12,000 to 14,000 TEUs.
Everything and anything can be shipped in a shipping container. One standard TEU shipping container can store 48,000 bananas, 400 flat-screen monitor TVs, or 100 washing machine units, for example.
American businessman Malcolm McLean invented the TEU and FEU standardized shipping container that is still used today in 1956. McLean reinvented the pre-WWII shipping container to uniform in shape to expedite unloading and make transport more efficient.
Almost 800 million TEUs of cargo were sent around the world via freighter ships in 2018.
While there are no hard estimates, especially when considering retired containers, there were probably 530 million+ shipping containers in the world in 2010.
About 700 shipping containers are lost at sea every year. That is a lot of merchandise to lose under legitimate circumstances.
And when you consider how much commercial merchandise traverses the world internationally and domestically, it’s important to remember that each container bore a container seal.
Domestic and International Shipping Containers
The majority of TEU standard container traffic in the world is centralized in Asia and various Oceania regions. Almost 500 million TEUs of container traffic originated or arrived in Asia and Oceania in 2018.
At the time, 500 million TEUs of marine container traffic were equivalent to 61% of all the world’s cargo traffic.
TEU standard container traffic centralized in North America in 2018 only accounted for 7% of global cargo traffic.
It is vital to appreciate such statistics when realizing that every shipping container, whether domestic or international, was bolted or cable-locked and designated with a shipping seal.
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What is a Shipping Container Seal?
A shipping container seal is an authoritative door seal affixed to the lock of a container seal. The container seal can only be removed once after fastening.
At least one container seal must be affixed to a container door before it is shipped. As many as six container seals can be attached to a shipping container door before shipping.
The shipping seal must be affixed throughout the journey and can only be removed by the consignee once delivered to the port.
A container with a broken or removed seal does not have to be accepted by the consignee. Or, such compromised containers may not be allowed to be unloaded by port authorities.
The Container Seal
A container seal is available in two different aesthetic variations: the bolt seal and the cable seal.
The bolt, or bullet seal, resembles a bullet encased in a colored plastic coating. A bolt seal can be attached to a container locked and inserted into a matching colored seal docking component.
The cable seal is a cable that can be used to lock a container door with a colored padlock mechanism.
Once sealed, these container seals can’t be removed until delivery. Removal of the seal can imply theft, corruption, or trafficking within the container may be occurring.
Container seals can also prevent containers from being used for the clandestine ferrying of drugs and other illegal substances.
What is a Container Seal Number?
A container seal number is a serial number visibly written on the colorful plastic coating portion of the container seal.
The container seal number must identically correspond to the seal number printed on paperwork before docking for unloading to occur.
A container seal number isn’t printed on a container seal for its own sake – it’s a document that the goods are legally bound to a specific consignee.
The Regulatory Necessity for Seal Numbers in Shipping
As of 2008, there are federal regulations, like the ISO/PAS 17712 Standard, which mandates that all shipping containers have container seals.
Also, container seals must be strong enough to stay locked, latched, and attached to container doors throughout the voyage.
Maritime Shipping Insurance, Loss, and Theft
Why are container seals and seal numbers necessary?
For one thing, they can lower your maritime shipping insurance premiums, especially when it comes to container loss or theft.
Consult Professionals for Your Shipping Container Seal Requirements
The regulatory implementation of container seals and seal numbers can be a complicated process to initiate on your own.
If you need assistance with container seals or seal numbers, contact Alba Wheels Up now.
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