There is quite a large history behind the freight carrier industry and many things have changed in the time since it first started out. For example the way in which the goods are transported where as originally it was mainly via railway they now have a choice between rail, road, sea or air.

Below is a brief history on how the freight carrier industry started and how it developed over the years;

It was during the 19th Century that they first started trying to ship produce in containers on ships and trains. The containers would be fairly small compared to the ones we have around today they would be transported by railway to the ships for them to be exported on. The trains had flat backs so the containers could just sit on the back of the train obviously fitted into place with fixtures. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that there were purpose built vehicles for transporting and storing the containers.

This is when they started to make the wagons that carried the containers specially and the containers were built so they could not only be pulled by the wagons but they could then sit comfortably in storage and transition. During later years it started to become common practice for people to transport goods to their destination then once the goods had arrived they would unload the carriers and then leave the container as abandoned, so during the 1960’s it became apparent that plenty of companies could make some money from renting these containers so they need not worry about what to do with it when they have the goods. The main reason people would dump their containers is because the cost they would have to pay if they were to transport them back would sometimes cost more than the container was even worth, so that is why something had to change in regards to the costs and how the carriers were transported.

As well as the way in which the goods are transported changing there have been many changes in the actual containers, there are now more types of container each one suitable for a different type of substance. Some of these different types of container are;

• Temperature controlled – These are for the transportation of goods that need to be kept at a set temperature most have the ability to keep the temperature as low as -25°c or as warm as 25°c.
• Ventilated – This type of container is usually used for organic produce that requires ventilation to stay fresh.
• Tanks – These would be used for large amounts of liquid or dangerous substances as they are very secure so would prevent leaks of the liquid and stop any of the dangerous substance getting out.