Containerisation
Topic: Infrastructure: Transport, Communications and Energy · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 4 "Globalisation and the Indian Economy"
Meaning
Containerisation means packing goods into large containers of standard size. A container is loaded once and then moves intact between ships, trains, planes and trucks, without being unpacked. This greatly reduced the cost and time of handling cargo at ports. That in turn helped make globalisation possible. Container traffic is measured in TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit). 1 TEU ≈ 33 cubic metres.
Example
A container of garments is sealed at a factory in Tiruppur. It goes by truck to a railway, by rail to a port, and by ship abroad, and it is never opened on the way.
Don't confuse with
- Transshipment: transshipment is moving cargo from one ship to another at a hub port on the way to its destination. Containerisation is the method of packing cargo that makes such transfers quick.