South Korea's Jindo Corporation has built a new generation of ISO freight containers using Swedish steel manufacturer SSAB Tunnplt's extra-high-strength steel at its factory in Guangzhou.
The corporation completed the manufacture and full ISO testing of teu (20 ft equivalent unit) and feu (40 ft equivalent unit) prototypes last year.
Peter van Dijk from Adaptainer, a technical consultant who has worked closely with Jindo on the design of its new lightweight boxes, said the new containers were better boxes all round.
'The application of extra-high-strength steel supplied by SSAB Tunnplt, in particular for the main framework of the container, facilitates a significant reduction in the tare weight without compromising the integral strength,' he said.
The containers, developed in co-operation with SSAB Tunnplt, are also more durable.
They offer shippers of heavier commodities the prospect of reduced shipping costs as fewer containers will be needed for a given tonnage of cargo.