Container Transport

currently the most economical type of cargo transportation. Container transport is used in domestic and international traffic. It involves the use in various types of land, sea, and air transport of removable devices known as containers. Containers may be used for any sort of cargo allowed by the rules of transport; using containers reduces the cost significantly in comparison to conventional transport.

The first container transport was used in Russia in 1889, the early 1930’s saw the appearance of universal containers for trans-porting unpacked piece cargoes by rail. A very extensive container transport system has been created in the USSR. At the beginning of the 1970’s more then 1,200 railroad stations and the overwhelming majority of sea and river ports had container facilities. More than 8,000 railroad cars, 10,000 trucks, and hundreds of seagoing ships and riverboats are used daily in container transport. More than 3,000 lifting and transporting machines are used to reload containers. Much of the container transport of the USSR is handled by express container trains, with an average daily run of more than 1,000 km. Container transit across the USSR from Japan to Western Europe and back takes no more than 13 days.

The development of container transport determines the level of technological progress in the organization of freight transport. The USSR is planning to develop cargo transport and increase its capacity by developing middle-tonnage and especially heavytonnage containers. In order to control container transport, the All-Union Association for Container and Package Cargoes (Soiuztranskonteiner) was formed in 1972 within the Ministry of Railroads of the USSR, with a wide network of peripheral enterprises.