GB/T 35201-2017Series 2 freight containers - Classification, dimensions and ratings (English PDF)

Foreword

This standard was drafted in accordance with the rules given in GB/T 1.1-2009.

This standard was proposed by, and is under the administration of, the National Technical Committee on Containers of Standardization Administration of China (SAC/TC 6).

The drafting organisations of this standard are the Water Transport Science Research Institute of the Ministry of Transport, the China Academy of Railway Sciences, China Railway Container Transport Co., Ltd., CIMC Containers Holding Co., Ltd. and Shandong Expressway Standard Container Logistics Co., Ltd.

The main drafters of this standard are Fei Weijun, Jin Jing, Yang Lei, Tang Ruiying, Li Jichun, Zhao Jieting, Wang Jing, Xi Pei, Hu Jinping and Li Aihua.

1 Scope

China's national standard for the series 2 freight container, giving its classification and models, its size codes, its external and internal dimensions with the tolerances allowed on them, and its rated mass. Series 1 is the container everybody knows, the twenty and forty foot box dimensioned in feet because that is what the trade settled on in the nineteen sixties and 2 438 mm wide because that is what fits a ship's cell guides. Series 2 is the wider family, 2 550 mm across, built not to be stacked in a hold but to sit on a road vehicle or a rail wagon in domestic distribution. The extra width matters more than it sounds: it is the difference between a box that wastes space on a Chinese truck bed and one that uses all of it, and in a country where an enormous share of the freight never goes near a port, moving instead by rail and road between inland cities, that difference is worth standardising. This document does domestically what the series 1 standards did internationally. It fixes the models from the six metre 2C to the 13.716 metre 2EEE, the three standard heights, the size codes that identify each combination in a shipping document, the minimum internal and door opening dimensions that decide what will actually fit inside, the corner fittings by which every crane and every twist lock takes hold of the box, and the fork pockets and gooseneck tunnel where they are allowed. It also settles the rated mass at the usual 30 480 kg and requires a box rated above that figure to be marked differently from a series 1 container, so that a lifting appliance is never asked to handle more than it was designed for. The result is that terminals, wagons, trailers and handling equipment can be built once for a unit that will still fit twenty years from now.

This standard specifies the classification and models, the size codes, the dimensions, the tolerances and the rated mass of series 2 freight containers.

This standard applies to inland intermodal containers.

2 Normative references

The following documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document, including all amendments, applies.

GB/T 1413 Series 1 freight containers - Classification, dimensions and ratings

GB/T 5338 Series 1 freight containers - Specification and testing - Part 1: General cargo containers

3 Classification and models

The width of the series 2 freight container is uniformly 2 550 mm.

Series 2 freight containers are divided into different models according to their nominal length, as set out in Table 1.

Table 1 gives the models and their nominal lengths: 2CCC, 2CC and 2C have a nominal length of 6 m, that is 20 ft; 2BBB, 2BB and 2B have a nominal length of 9 m, that is 30 ft; 2AAA, 2AA and 2A have a nominal length of 12 m, that is 40 ft; and 2EEE and 2EE have a nominal length of 13.716 m, that is 45 ft.

4 Size codes

The size codes of series 2 freight containers are given in Table 2.

Table 2 sets out, for each model, the width, the length, the height and the resulting size code. All models are 2 550 mm wide. The 2CCC, 2CC and 2C models are 6 058 mm long and are coded 2N at a height of 2 896 mm, 2L at 2 591 mm and 2R at 2 438 mm. The 2BBB, 2BB and 2B models are 9 125 mm long and are coded 3N, 3L and 3R at the same three heights. The 2AAA, 2AA and 2A models are 12 192 mm long and are coded 4N, 4L and 4R. The 2EEE and 2EE models are 13 716 mm long and are coded LN at a height of 2 896 mm and LL at 2 591 mm.