The widespread availability and relative cheapness of used intermodal shipping containers meant that architects began to consider them as an alternative to traditional building materials. Transport truck of the Swiss Army with field hospital in container. Over time, the invention of the modern telecommunications of the late 20th-century made it highly beneficial to have standardized shipping containers, and made these shipping processes more standardized, modular, easier to schedule and easier to manage.

It took some time for businesses to devise a structured process to utilize and to get optimal benefits from the role and use of shipping containers. Reusable steel boxes for use as truck-sized shipping containers first came into use around 1956. The tank can be used to transport and store bulk fuels as well as dangerous liquids, by road, rail and sea.

The hybrid bulk fuel tank is originally intended for the construction, mining, logging and farming sectors. Another specialized container, known as Transtainer, is a portable fuel and oil freight container. Specialized shipping containers include: high cube containers (providing an extra 1 ft (305 mm) in height to standard shipping containers), pallet wides, open tops, side loaders, double door or tunnel-tainers, and temperature controlled containers. Their invention made a major contribution to the globalization of commerce in the second half of the 20th century, dramatically reducing the cost of transporting goods and hence of long-distance trade. In addition, it is estimated that several million of these containers have now been discarded due to the shipping cost of sending them back to their port of origin. There are about seventeen million intermodal containers in the world, and a large proportion of the world's long-distance freight generated by international trade is transported in shipping containers. A flatcar with a 20 ft tanktainer and an open-top 20 ft container with canvas coverįreight containers are a reusable transport and storage unit for moving products and raw materials between locations or countries.

Shipping container construction specs