4 ms·

How can the number "307703" uniquely identify a container owned by a company that "owns more than 2.4 million boxes just like it"? (SSCC-18 codes are all-numeri

How can the number "307703" uniquely identify a container owned by a company that "owns more than 2.4 million boxes just like it"? (SSCC-18 codes are all-numeric.)

ejames 15y ago
By having a 7-digit serial and omitting leading zeroes, perhaps?
- nobody31 15y ago
  No - spec calls for 6 digits.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
cshesse 15y ago
Well as long as they add more digits for longer numbers, I foresee no problems.
- nobody31 15y ago
  200 million container movements across 100 countries - all computerized, all labelled with a fixed format ID. And you don't see the problem with expanding a serial number field in the middle of the code?
nobody31 15y ago
You only strictly need to use code for transhipping containers on another carrier - if you own the container and the ship you don't need to label it - although it causes no end of problems if you don't! What tends to happen is that an 'owner' will have multiple owner codes for different subsidiaries or companies they have taken over/merged. The containers also have a lifetime of 10-20years so presumably you can reuse numbers of containers that have been lost or scrapped.
rbanffy 15y ago
They can have more than one company ID
Retric 15y ago
They might own 2.4 million boxes but they don't own 2.4 million "22G1" aka unventilated, 20-foot-long dry shipping container boxes. Worst case they just add another company code to handel the next million unventilated, 20-foot-long dry shipping container boxes.
- nikcub 15y ago
  The '22G1' isn't part of the ISO 6346 code that is used to identify containers
  - Retric 15y ago
    No, your incorrect:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_6346 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_6346 Size and Type Codes ISO 6346 also gives size and type codes for containers. When displayed on the container, the size and type codes shall be used as a whole.
    - nikcub 15y ago
      this image shows pretty clearly what is part of the ISO code that is required: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Containernumber.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Containernumber.jpg the size and type codes aren't used in the check digit, are not required, and are usually displayed on a separate line: http://www.containerking.co.uk/buy-cabins/images/Shipping%20Container%20001.jpg http://www.containerking.co.uk/buy-cabins/images/Shipping%20... anyway, back to the original question, you can't have two containers with the same owner code, same container ID and made unique through the size and type codes the problem is solved because the large shipping firms (ie. the 5 or 6 that control the industry) each have dozens of manufacturing codes. see my answer in the other part of this thread
      - Retric 15y ago
        Hmm, I maintained software dealing with shipping containers for the trucking industry and occasionally there where identical boxes that had different size and type codes. Granted they could have been data entry errors, but the software used the size and type codes to uniquely identify things.
defectivemonk 15y ago
There's a four digit alpha prefix. For this container it's TGHU.
nikcub 15y ago
Like with barcodes, they just allocate more top-level identifiers as part of the company G1 code. For eg. Textainer are also CLHU, AMFU, GAEU, WCIU, XINU, AMZU, GATU, etc. amongst many others. That is why they also color-code the containers and put their logos on them. The code is ISO 6346[1] and was defined a long, long time ago and didn't scale very well (or you could say that is scaled perfectly well - nobody imagined that 5-6 companies would control most of shipping). The container ID part, ie. the '22G1', that the article mentions actually isn't part of the ISO code and is usually printed below the ISO code. So the container needs to be identified between the top-level company ID and the 6-digit container ID, hence lots of top-level ID's for the big companies. The whole topic of containerization and how the world came to agree on standards is interesting and has a parallel in web standards[3]. You can ship a container from Canada to Niger and know that when it gets off a ship they will have a crane to pick it up, a barcode to scan and lookup its contents, the right power plugs to power it if it is refrigerated, a way to identify the destination, owner, etc. Fascinating stuff. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_6346 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_6346 [2] http://www.containerking.co.uk/buy-cabins/images/Shipping%20Container%20001.jpg http://www.containerking.co.uk/buy-cabins/images/Shipping%20... <- see the '22G1' is printed below the ID [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Containerization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Containerization

How can the number "307703" uniquely identify a container owned by a company that "owns more than 2.4 million boxes just like it"? (SSCC-18 codes are all-numeric.)

ejames 15y ago

By having a 7-digit serial and omitting leading zeroes, perhaps?

nobody31 15y ago
No - spec calls for 6 digits.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]

cshesse 15y ago

Well as long as they add more digits for longer numbers, I foresee no problems.

nobody31 15y ago
200 million container movements across 100 countries - all computerized, all labelled with a fixed format ID. And you don't see the problem with expanding a serial number field in the middle of the code?

nobody31 15y ago

You only strictly need to use code for transhipping containers on another carrier - if you own the container and the ship you don't need to label it - although it causes no end of problems if you don't! What tends to happen is that an 'owner' will have multiple owner codes for different subsidiaries or companies they have taken over/merged. The containers also have a lifetime of 10-20years so presumably you can reuse numbers of containers that have been lost or scrapped.

rbanffy 15y ago

They can have more than one company ID

Retric 15y ago

They might own 2.4 million boxes but they don't own 2.4 million "22G1" aka unventilated, 20-foot-long dry shipping container boxes. Worst case they just add another company code to handel the next million unventilated, 20-foot-long dry shipping container boxes.

nikcub 15y ago
The '22G1' isn't part of the ISO 6346 code that is used to identify containers
- Retric 15y ago
  No, your incorrect:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_6346 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_6346 Size and Type Codes ISO 6346 also gives size and type codes for containers. When displayed on the container, the size and type codes shall be used as a whole.
  - nikcub 15y ago
    this image shows pretty clearly what is part of the ISO code that is required: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Containernumber.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Containernumber.jpg the size and type codes aren't used in the check digit, are not required, and are usually displayed on a separate line: http://www.containerking.co.uk/buy-cabins/images/Shipping%20Container%20001.jpg http://www.containerking.co.uk/buy-cabins/images/Shipping%20... anyway, back to the original question, you can't have two containers with the same owner code, same container ID and made unique through the size and type codes the problem is solved because the large shipping firms (ie. the 5 or 6 that control the industry) each have dozens of manufacturing codes. see my answer in the other part of this thread
    - Retric 15y ago
      Hmm, I maintained software dealing with shipping containers for the trucking industry and occasionally there where identical boxes that had different size and type codes. Granted they could have been data entry errors, but the software used the size and type codes to uniquely identify things.

defectivemonk 15y ago

There's a four digit alpha prefix. For this container it's TGHU.

nikcub 15y ago

Like with barcodes, they just allocate more top-level identifiers as part of the company G1 code. For eg. Textainer are also CLHU, AMFU, GAEU, WCIU, XINU, AMZU, GATU, etc. amongst many others. That is why they also color-code the containers and put their logos on them. The code is ISO 6346[1] and was defined a long, long time ago and didn't scale very well (or you could say that is scaled perfectly well - nobody imagined that 5-6 companies would control most of shipping). The container ID part, ie. the '22G1', that the article mentions actually isn't part of the ISO code and is usually printed below the ISO code. So the container needs to be identified between the top-level company ID and the 6-digit container ID, hence lots of top-level ID's for the big companies. The whole topic of containerization and how the world came to agree on standards is interesting and has a parallel in web standards[3]. You can ship a container from Canada to Niger and know that when it gets off a ship they will have a crane to pick it up, a barcode to scan and lookup its contents, the right power plugs to power it if it is refrigerated, a way to identify the destination, owner, etc. Fascinating stuff. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_6346 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_6346 [2] http://www.containerking.co.uk/buy-cabins/images/Shipping%20Container%20001.jpg http://www.containerking.co.uk/buy-cabins/images/Shipping%20... <- see the '22G1' is printed below the ID [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Containerization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Containerization