New maximum container length of 50' rather than 45'?

[themiller]

Today on a southbound container train through Carlisle, I spotted a 50' container. Is this a new development? I thought that the longest containers on rail in the UK were 45'.

 

[furnessvale]

Today on a southbound container train through Carlisle, I spotted a 50' container. Is this a new development? I thought that the longest containers on rail in the UK were 45'.

They have been running for around 12 months with WH Malcolm. I believe Russell are following suit. 50ft nicely fills the deck of a megafret wagon.

50ft containers are an offshoot of the fairly recent increase in road semitrailer lengths from 13.6m to 15.65m. Malcolms saw this as an opportunity for better productivity in their rail operations so they worked with a trailer manufacturer to build a compliant skeletal trailer and 50ft containers.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

45ft is the longest box that can be carried on container shipping services; any longer and they won't fit in the cell guides on the ships. But there's no reason why you can't have different lengths for boxes that never take to the sea - 53ft is quite a popular length in US domestic transportation; I believe it may have something to do with the maximum allowable length of trucks there.

 

[AnonymousUser1]

45ft is the longest box that can be carried on container shipping services; any longer and they won't fit in the cell guides on the ships. But there's no reason why you can't have different lengths for boxes that never take to the sea - 53ft is quite a popular length in US domestic transportation; I believe it may have something to do with the maximum allowable length of trucks there.

i believe this is the case

20 / 30 /40 ft are the standard lengths , increasingly 45 ft containers are in use ( with 40 ft centres for the twist locks when used on ships , as well as having end twist locks )

 

[furnessvale]

i believe this is the case

20 / 30 /40 ft are the standard lengths , increasingly 45 ft containers are in use ( with 40 ft centres for the twist locks when used on ships , as well as having end twist locks )

Deep sea shipping is virtually 100% 20/40ft.

European is a mixture of 20/40 and 45ft with a few 30ft.

The 50ft boxes are purely domestic taking advantage of the new British HGV length regs.