Why Don't These Containers Fall Off? 

Everstuck is a nice touch ;)

"Why Don't These Containers Fall Off?" As a matter of fact, sometimes they do. I sailed on container ships for many years and, although it never happened on any ship I was on, I have heard of many instances of containers going overboard. The problem is that the container terminals are always in big hurry to finish loading ship and move it out to make room for the next one. The Mate of Watch is supposed to check EVERY ONE of the twist locks prior to sailing. However, since multiple cranes frequently work on a ship simultaneously, sometimes as many as five at once, and the terminal is always in a big hurry for the ship to sail, that is often not possible. Another big problem is the "reefer" (refrigerated) containers. Some ships carry hundreds of those, and the cargoes inside them are perishable and high-value. The Mate on Watch is supposed to ensure that ALL of the reefers are plugged, running properly and maintaining the required temperature prior to sailing. However, again, the terminals are in such a hurry to get the ship away that it is not always possible to do that.

35+ years ago when I was in my early teens I was walking along the railroad tracks near my home and I found one of the manual twistlocks on the side of the right of way, it must have come off some container passing by but at the time I didn't know what it was. I was mystified by this thing and even took it home to try to figure out what it was, of course this was before you could google things, then one day I saw a train go by and saw one in place holding two containers together and immediately realized the genius simplicity of the thing. I've been fascinated by the humble shipping container ever since.

The long stick used to lock and unlock the twisters can generally, at least from my experience, only be used at the first 3 stories up, if it's over that like say 4 or 5 the ground crew placing the locks on shore will be lifted up in a cart flying next to the containers and unlock them, which is pretty fun actually as long as you're not scared of heights or the fact that a man in a crane is lifting you high up in a cart that swings and the only thing keeping you from dying is his ability to control the damn thing

I was a stevedore on container ships for about 8 years. The semi automatic twistlock you described is like the ones we used on Maersk vessels, whilst Hamburg vessels had a fully automatic type with no toggles at all. On the section about container bays, bay 01 would be the forward 20', the aft 20' would be bay 03, and the 40' would be bay 02. The walkway between the next bay would be 04 so the next 20' section is an odd number again.

I work in a train yard, We use manual twist locks that are part of the wagon, the container guys usually just walk along the train length dragging a hammer across the lock handles to rotate them to either the locked or unlocked position depending on what they are doing.

It's estimated that on the order of 1500 containers are lost at sea every year. While I know that this is a small number compared to the number shipped, it still represents a huge hazard to ships and small craft. A floating container is very difficult to see as most of it is normally submerged. Thanks for your explanation but I wish these numbers were much smaller.

Been working on a container ship for more than a year now. But never imagined understanding of a container lashing in better way than this. Amazing job🙌🏻

The more I learn about shipping containers, the more I think the inventor of these standardized boxes needs a raise.

Actually, I have wondered how they stayed on. The “Everstuck” was amusing. Thanks for sharing this with us.

At 3:16 - I'd say the lock didn't work all that well, considering it got left behind when the container was lifted onto the ship 😀

If you notice these containers tend to flip over when a truck driver exits an on or off ramp, or takes a corner to fast, the reason is that unlike regular trailers with a heavy floor and light sides and roof, the sea container is solid all the way around making them much easier to flip, top heavy, I drove both for decades, with sea container you have to slow way down on any corner.

Please never ever stop using the Everstuck ship. It'll be even more hilarious when some people start forgetting the "incident"...

On the Ever Stuck: Commander: "I bet you can't turn around in the suez canal" 1st Lieutenant: "Hold my beer"

That accounts for them being vertically locked together. But a tall stack can topple more easily than just the one at the top. Would you not need to secure each stack to its neighbor also?

Another system used on some ships that don’t stack as high are Fully automatic twist locks (FATS). They don’t require any crewmember to lock or unlock them onboard and are spring actuated to so once the container is placed down, the weight of the top container locks it. Once the crane lifts the container for discharge, the vertical release in pressure unlocks the twist lock and it is free to go. They are always attached/locked into the upper container

My TV was in one of those containers. Crazy seeing the scale of the ship and its containers layout. It is still impressive to know my thin TV was shipped and delivered to me from a giant container ship.

Everstuck. Great name for a boat. Why didnt someone think of that

MSC ZOE springs to mind here. You also need steel lashing rods to secure the containers to the deck in case of heavy rolling. ZOE didn’t have this and lost her cargo that way. I have to secure the lashings onboard the container feeder I’m doing my internship on almost on a daily basis. Is a good workout!

I'll probably never be a sailor, but man. This channel is amazing.

I can't help but wonder about the bottom container of a stack on the outermost row as the ship rolls. Is the container really rated to handle ALL that torque or are there extra lashings etc used while at sea then removed before making port? To my mind, if the ship rolls even a little, the stack will topple as the locks are ripped through the container corners

I love how you address questions I have never even asked but really want to know the answer to. Also I almost spit my drink out when I saw the name Everstuck on the side of the ship in the animation.

As a train fan, I've always wondered how they stack the containers without them falling on curves. For a while, I thought they were magnetic.

I appreciate the EVERSTUCK. So the lever twist locks are generally utilized on the deck, so they can manually control the pitch and angle of the container if the operator has difficulty loading. Semi-auto twist locks come in two primary types: Single stem (pig tail) & dual stem. The longshoremen utilize a locking pole, that resembles a fireman's pole hook or halberd. The single stem in pulled down, and held in place by a fork cast snagging onto a collet that is viced onto the stem in manufacturing. These have a top and bottom. Dual stems have a top and bottom as well, but pulling the left stem will unlock the top and lock to the bottom. Pulling the right unlocks the bottom and locks to the top for ease of extraction. If the stems are aligned with one another, both containers are locked onto one another. Auto locks, are another beast in themselves and too much for this comment. Appreciate the light you've shown on the simplicity and genius of the containerization of cargo.

The forward locks on trailers are actually a pin position horizontally and the container is inserted at a slight angle to catch underneath of the pins in the front and then it uses the standard locking in the rear only since once it's past the pin it can't go in any direction except for backwards

Hello, I think the description of manual twistlocks is great and is a good resource I wish I had a couple months ago when I was talking about them! With that said, I do have some comments/corrections on the video: 3:40 Bay 01 is correctly described. That would be a 20 ft container at the front of the hold. But a 20 ft container in the back would be Bay 03. Bay 02 would only be a 40 ft container filling bays 01 and 03. Given the title of video is about cargo securing (and not limited to twistlocks), I also think it is worth mentioning the use of turnbuckles on the first 2 or 3 tiers above maindeck. The twistlocks do nothing to reduce container sway, so the turnbuckles are essential to preventing accidents like what happened on the vessel EVER SMART. I was an engineer, and have limited familiarity on auto-twistlocks. And I wasn't involved in cargo loading/discharging, but I have never seen a container pulled off a ship and put onto a mount/stand by the gantry crane. There is usually a line of trucks, and the container goes straight from ship to truck (or vice versa). I'm not really sure how a ship gets their auto-twistlocks back, but there are usually not crew members standing on the dock collecting them from containers.

I’m a truck driver and I’ve done some container hauling in the past. The frame chassis that the containers are loaded into have built in manual twist locks on the back corners and manual peg front locks on the front corners.

I love the name of the ship, Ever Stuck. A nice jibe at Ever Given, which got stuck in the Suez Canal.

My grandmother lives in an apartment overlooking Commencement Bay in Tacoma Washington and the Port of Tacoma. I love to watch the huge ships come to port and I’ve always wondered how they keep all those stacks of containers onboard ship like that. Thanks for the explanation! Very fascinating! You’ve got a sub out of me!

That was high-value content for me- I never really needed to know, but have always wondered how this worked. Every image of a container ship makes me want to wait and watch for it to dump its cargo in a light breeze. Good to know for sure that it would take more than that.

Everstuck... now that's a great Easter egg! Well done man!

Please make longer videos about things I never knew I wanted to know. Your voice is very soothing. Love your vids. 👍🏻

"Next time you see a container ship..." Me, living in a landlocked country: 😔

Ah, the return of the Everstuck, haha! And yet another video on something in logistics that I never thought about before 👍

This is the best! Detail, Simple, and best of all! Compact!

'Everstuck' is priceless. Well played. 😎

Those cargo ships are MASSIVE. Honestly, you could use it as a runway for small planes, if the deck was flat.

For you new junior mates out there, always be mindful of the bins of twistlocks collected on shore during cargo ops and be sure to get them back on board before the cranes are secured. Even the manual locks aren't cheap and the gear is easily sold off on the cheap to unscrupulous ships coming in after you. Anyone remember the little side gig some Felixstowe longshoremen had going on in the 90s?

I love it. "Everstuck". Nice touch.

Having worked as a stevedore for 14 months with a focus on container ships, the container "corner locks", or "pins" (as we called them) were always handled by the people on the wharf either after the container has just been unloaded off the ship onto the easy-loader, or just before it was loaded onto the ship. We've only ever used the cast single-piece "German lashing" corner locks (or pins) on the containers above the deck, which are designed to allow the container to be lifted directly vertically (as the crane would), but not allow it to disengage if there are any lateral forces on it (tbh I'm not even sure how it works), so there was never any locking or unlocking done by ourselves or crew involved (apart from lashings). Never used any kind of dynamic locks (what you call manual or semiautomatic twistlocks), though I have seen them around; we just never used them. We did use lashings of course (which was done by stevedores), but once the containers were above certain height it would be simply impractical for us to use a man-cage to be carting crew/stevedores around to be locking/unlocking pins if we wanted to meet the schedule, so we relied on the passive locks (pins). Edit: Also, in regards to the 6-digit code, the container ships I've dealt with had three numbers for a single bay - for example, bay 1-3 would signify that numbers ether 1 or 3 would mean 20-foot, whereas number 2 would mean 40-foot; or for bay 13-15, numbers 13 or 15 would mean 20-foot, but 14 would mean 40-foot. You described it correctly, but the example was a bit off. Anyway, appreciate all your videos, been watching and learning from them for a while.

You forgot the lashing rods I think. Also there are many circumstances in which container ships loose containers

Thanks for explaining how to vertically connect containers together. Is there a standard for connecting containers horizontally?

Loved the "Everstuck" on the Evergreen Expy

Strange as it may seem, but I’ve always wondered why containers don’t slide off each other, now I know. Love your channel!

I‘m a little bit confused about the vertical numbering. Odd and even numbering is used for everything else. But the vertical numbering just has even numbers below and on deck? Seems rather confusing.

Smart, yet it seems there is room for human error since a person must place the locks before stowing the container. Does it happen often? What measures are in place to avoid missing one?

You are answering the ship questions I always had.

03:16 oh nooo, the lock was left behind lol. just having some fun here, great video, keep them comming and I'll keep watching 🙃

Video idea: How do shipping companies (either those who produce or manage the ships) know how many crew are needed to run the ship?

Are the horizontal facing holes use to lock adjacent columns of containers together? Why are containers only ever placed directly on top of each other rather than staggered as you would with bricks when making a wall?

I live near a major shipping ports, with various cargo ships lined along the coast. While containers falling off is rare, they do occur. And often makes a huge mess along the shoreline.

This is one of those things I've wondered about from time to time and then forgot about before getting around to looking up

Another great video! I love the 'Everstuck'. Question: a while ago, north of the Netherlands in strong winds a container ship lost many containers. Was this a case of misuse or misfunction? Best!

3:56 Are there container ships that have a row of containers in the centre? What happens then?

Thank you for answering something I had always wondered!

I feel like your animations are getting better and better. Really nice work. :)

They do fall off.. "The World Shipping Council (WSC) reported that an average of 1,382 containers were lost at sea between 2018 and 2019."

Bro. I love your channel. Keep up the great work! I’ve learned so much that I didn’t even know I wanted to know. Thank you!

I love the everstuck name on the ship at the beginning!

This vid quite politely explained a doubt I didn't even know I had

I have always wondered how this works. Thank you for sharing this!

This was such an interesting video. It actually makes me think of a ways I may incorporate these ideas in my own projects.

i was literally wondering about this yesterday, thank u for making a video!

I didn't know I wanted to know about this until today. Lovely job.

The "EVERSTUCK" always gets me

On the trucks and trains we have locks that we press up through the wholes of the containers, and then screw it tight down, so when we back under a container, precision is the king and queen of the game :D Depending on the length I either use 4 or 8 locks on the container.

This channel is so cool everything is well put together and informative

Great content man. Always wondered about this

Back in the day i always thought that they had some kinda sticky bottom on there or their humping speed was high.. thank you casual navigator!!!!

"Everstuck" 😂😂😂 That's hilarious!

Always been curious about locking mechanisms. Thanks!

Longshoreman here from Los Angeles. Good video. Don't forget about lashing. 20 foot long bars.

Always love the little Easter eggs hidden throughout your channel

The comments for this video are top shelf. Excellent video and you have pretty cool subscribers.

The "everstuck" was the cherry on top in this video 😀

The RU-vid algorithm shall bless this video as you will see.

I can't be the only person who started laughing uncontrollably when I clocked the name of the ship. Well played!! 😂🤣😂

Another great video and explanation! As Kaine has already explained elsewhere, the bay counting system is slightly different from what your video says. And it’s usually (but not always) stevedores who are responsible for the placement and locking of twist locks, as well as for lashing the container stacks. Crew members normally do a check before the ship leaves port, and daily on the voyage to the next port.

I always wondered why they didn’t fall off. Thanks for enlightening me.

Chassies have manual locks built in. The nose is a sliding long bar from the front and the rear is ovals from underneath. They are immobilized with zipties.

Often wondered how it was done. thanks for educating me. 60 tomorrow and still learning.

Oh, I've wondered about this in the past. Interesting !

Thanks i was thinking about this

Along with cones, Lashing the cans down usually hold them together. Twist locks are put on by swingmen on the dock. Auto cones are my favorite. No lock-ups when we’re discharging new vessels

Thanks for another informative video and I just LOVE the name of your example ship 😁

Cool video The containers are also lashed together to keep them in place

Great video as always!

You talked about internal lashing but there is also external lashing where bars are placed into the pockets and then crossed to the opposite side and tightened down with a turnbuckle! Those have to be manually delashed and relashed when a ship arrives and before it leaves

Great video, thanks!

Hahaha, the fact that I saw that exact type of Ever(stuck)green at Hamburg a while ago and wondered the exact question.

Ok. Thanks for information.

My science teacher in 6th once told us on Container ships: "Container ships do lose containers. But why don't they strap them?" I don't remember this part of what he said, "So they added more containers because if 1 falls, you still have more on board and make profit." Then we get to talk about rubber ducks and how scientists discovered wind circulation

I operated a container handler in the Marine corps. We called our automatic locks "pineapples"

Amazing animation and story!

I love how Everstuck is now a recurring character.

Again a very detailed and informative video. Thank you for that! Just for the completion of the picture: the landside part of the transportchain uses mostly specialised semitrailers or rail cars, usually equiped with attached but moveable locks which can be adjusted to different containerlenghts or those which are fixed in different standard positions and can be lifted or retract/turned when or where needed. Those locks are normally operated manually by pulling a simple lever or small handwheel. As they can be reached easily by drivers or loading personnel, there is seldom (if ever) automation for the lockingfunction involved. If I may give some buzzwords for possible future videos about container shipping: stowage planning, dangerous goods positioning, containertypes. ;-) Please keep on with your good work!

I lol'd at "Everstuck."

You forgot about the lashing rods, adding another level of security to the bottom layers on deck. Also not to forget so called hooks and cones for securing containers agains the guides. Then the placement of containers according to weight, heaviest at the bottom/ middle and lighter to the top/ sides. All of this helps the cans from coming of in heavy seas. Communications between the stevedores/ tallyman/ crane operator on unevenly loaded containers is a pretty important thing as well.

Shipping container width is the only standard completely accepted everywhere.

Shipping containers are insane for their versatility