Shipping containers are regulated.
Finding a shipping container's size without measuring is actually quite simple. You just read the container code painted on the container's side. All shipping containers, including 40-foot containers, are required to display their model-specific number on their side panels for ease of transportation. The number allows port workers in any country to know a container's dimensions so they can account for its size in port planning.
Instructions
1. Locate the container information label on a side of the container. If you are far away, use binoculars or a telephoto lens on a camera. The label has black lettering on a white background most of the time, but that format may depend upon the container's country of origin and owner.
2. Find the four-digit alphanumeric code that is by itself on the label. That code usually is the biggest code on the label. Its first two characters are numbers, the third character is a letter and the last character is a number.
3. Write down the four-digit alphanumeric code. If you want to know the size of all the containers in a stack, you need only one label's code because only the same size of containers can be stacked on each other.
4. Compare the alphanumeric code to an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) container code chart. Such a chart is available for free at port master offices. The chart provides the container size as well as its type, such as refrigerated, liquid or dry.
