Bulk Container
A Bulk Container is a container adapted to carry free-flowing dry bulk cargo — such as grain, malt, resins, powders and granules — rather than packaged goods. It is fitted with loading hatches in the roof, through which the commodity is poured in, and discharge ports or hatches (often in the doors or lower end) through which it is emptied by gravity or tipping.
Bulk containers let dry commodities move through the standard intermodal container system instead of needing a bulk vessel or silo trucks, combining the economics of bulk with the flexibility of containers. Some use fitted liners for food-grade or fine products. They occupy a niche between fully packaged cargo and true bulk shipping, and are chosen when a commodity is best moved loose but in container-sized parcels door to door.
Moving grain or resin in bags wastes labour and packaging; moving it by bulk vessel needs volume and silos. The bulk container bridges the two — loose commodity in a container-sized parcel that runs door to door on the intermodal network. It opens containerised logistics to dry bulk shippers who fall between those two worlds.
What cargo goes in a bulk container?
Free-flowing dry commodities such as grain, malt, resins, powders and granules, loaded through roof hatches and discharged by gravity or tipping.
How is a bulk container different from a tank container?
A bulk container carries dry bulk solids via roof hatches; a tank container carries bulk liquids and gases in a cylindrical tank.