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container ship
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A large container ship is docked at the port of Veracruz, Mexico, with cranes loading cargo containers onto the vessel and workers and vehicles on the dock. shipping lane cranes unloading containers Port of Seattle Cargo ship loaded with stacked shipping containers docked beside large red cranes at a container port in Vancouver, British Columbia, with mountains in the background. Port Sudan tugboat
The breathtaking journey of a giant container ship
Navigating the Panama Canal: A captain's perspective
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container ship

transportation
Also known as: containership
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History

container ship, oceangoing vessel designed to transport large, standard-sized containers of freight. Rail-and-road containers were used early in the 20th century; in the 1960s containerization became a major element in ocean shipping as well. Container ships, which are large and fast, carry containers above deck as well as below, and their cargoes can be loaded and unloaded rapidly.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn.