Reference
Container hardware glossary
The full vocabulary of container hardware used across this site.
Terms
- Aperture
- The opening in a corner casting into which a twistlock, lug or shackle fits.
- Automatic twistlock
- Locks automatically as the container lands, and is released by hand — speeds up stacking on vessels and in the yard.
- Bridge fitting
- A clamp joining the tops or bottoms of two containers standing side by side; also called a bridge clamp.
- Corner casting
- The cast-steel fitting at each of the eight corners of a container, as specified by ISO 1161.
- Corner fitting
- Another name for corner casting.
- Corner post
- The vertical column at each corner of a container, carrying the stacking and racking loads.
- Corten steel
- A weathering steel used in container construction that develops a protective surface patina over time.
- CSC plate
- The safety-approval plate a container carries under the CSC Convention.
- Dovetail
- A tapered socket built into a trailer bed or slab that locates and holds a twistlock.
- Flat rack
- A container with no sides and collapsible or fixed ends, built to carry over-dimension loads.
- GP
- General Purpose container, standing 2.59 m tall externally.
- Gross mass (max)
- The heaviest a container and its contents together are permitted to weigh.
- HC
- High Cube container, standing 2.90 m tall externally.
- ISO 668
- The standard that sets container external and internal dimensions and ratings.
- ISO 1161
- The standard that sets corner-casting dimensions and apertures.
- ISO 1496
- The standard that sets container test loads and structural strength requirements.
- Lashing
- Securing containers or cargo in place with bars, chains, rods or turnbuckles.
- Lock rod
- The vertical bar-and-cam mechanism that locks a container door to its frame.
- MBL
- Minimum Breaking Load; see Units & Load Terminology.
- Payload
- The cargo weight a container can carry — its maximum gross mass minus its tare.
- Proof load
- A test load applied above SWL and below MBL, without causing damage.
- Racking load
- The horizontal force a container structure has to resist, from sources such as ship motion or wind.
- Reefer
- A temperature-controlled, refrigerated container.
- Semi-automatic twistlock
- Engages automatically as the container lands but is released by a pull-wire — common in marine lashing gear.
- Shackle
- A U-shaped connector closed with a pin, used to join lifting or lashing components together.
- Stacking cone
- A cone placed between stacked containers to line up their corner castings.
- Stacking load
- The vertical load a corner casting bears from containers stacked on top, per ISO 1496-1.
- SWL
- Safe Working Load; see Units & Load Terminology.
- Tare mass
- A container's weight when empty.
- TEU
- Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit — one 20 ft container equals 1 TEU, a 40 ft container equals 2 TEU.
- Turnbuckle
- An adjustable tensioning device used within a lashing system.
- Twistlock
- A rotating-cone fitting that locks into a corner casting to connect or secure containers together.
- WLL
- Working Load Limit; see Units & Load Terminology.