Editing Intermodal container (section)

==Small containers==
The [[ISO 668]] standard has so far never standardized {{cvt|10|ft|m|0|adj=on}} containers to be the same height as so-called "Standard-height", {{cvt|8|ft|6|in|2}}, 20- and 40-foot containers. By the ISO standard, 10-foot (and previously included 5-ft and 6{{1/2}}-ft boxes) are only of unnamed, 8-foot (2.44 m) height. But industry makes 10-foot units more frequently of {{cvt|8|ft|6|in|2}} height,<ref name=BoxSize/> to mix, match (and stack) better in a fleet of longer, 8 ft 6 in tall containers. Smaller units, on the other hand, are no longer standardized, leading to deviating lengths, like {{cvt|8|ft|2}} or {{cvt|6+1/2|ft|2}}, with non-standard widths of {{cvt|2.20|m|ftin|order=flip}} and {{cvt|1.95|m|ftin|order=flip}} in respectively, and non-standard heights of {{cvt|2.26|m|ftin|order=flip}} and {{cvt|1.91|m|ftin|order=flip}} respectively,<ref name=BoxSize/> for storage or off-shore use.

=== U.S. military ===

[[File:Retrograde Operations, Afghanistan 130922-F-YL744-210.jpg|thumb|Tri-con being loaded onto a [[Lockheed C-130 Hercules|C-130]] in Afghanistan]]

[[File:A U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter carries a sling-loaded shipping container during retrograde operations and base closures in the Wardak province of Afghanistan 131026-A-SM524-737.jpg|thumb|A U.S. Army [[Boeing CH-47 Chinook|CH-47]] Chinook helicopter carries a sling-loaded {{convert|20|ft|m|adj=on}}  shipping container during retrograde operations and base closures in the Wardak province of Afghanistan]]

The United States military continues to use small containers, strongly reminiscent of their Transporter and [[Conex box]]es of the 1950s and 1960s. These mostly comply with (previous) ISO standard dimensions, or are a direct derivative thereof. Current terminology of the United States armed forces calls these small containers [[Bicon box|Bicon]], [[Tricon box|Tricon]] and [[Quadcon box|Quadcon]], with sizes that correspond with (previous) [[ISO 668]] standard sizes 1D, 1E and 1F respectively. These containers are of a standard {{convert|8|ft|m|2|abbr=on}} height, and with a footprint size either one half (Bicon), one third (Tricon) or one quarter (Quadcon) the size of a standard 20-foot, one TEU container.<ref>[http://www.cmci.com/Bicons.aspx Bicon Transport Storage Units – Charleston Marine Containers Inc.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908054444/http://www.cmci.com/Bicons.aspx |date=8 September 2015 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.maloystorage.com/quadcon-tricon-1.php Tricon Dry Freight Container – Maloy Mobile Storage] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140411141111/http://www.maloystorage.com/quadcon-tricon-1.php |date=11 April 2014 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.maloystorage.com/quadcon-96-quadcon.php Quadcon Dry Freight Container – Maloy Mobile Storage] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140411143451/http://www.maloystorage.com/quadcon-96-quadcon.php |date=11 April 2014 }}</ref> At a nominal length of {{convert|10|ft|m|2}}, two Bicons coupled together lengthwise match one 20-foot ISO container, but their height is {{convert|6|in|mm|0}} shy of the more commonly available 10-foot ISO containers of so-called 'standard' height, which are {{convert|8|ft|6|in|m|2|abbr=on}} tall. Tricons and Quadcons however have to be coupled transversely&nbsp;– either three or four in a row&nbsp;– to be stackable with twenty foot containers.<ref>[http://www.matts-place.com/intermodal/part4/usau1186720.jpg A 20-foot module of USAU containers]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161024201000/http://www.matts-place.com/intermodal/part4/usau1186720.jpg |date=24 October 2016 }}</ref> Their length of {{convert|8|ft|m|2|abbr=on}} corresponds to the width of a standard 20-foot container, which is why there are forklift pockets at their ends, as well as in the sides of these boxes, and the doors only have one locking bar each. The smallest of these, the Quadcon, exists in two heights: {{convert|96|in|m|2|abbr=on}} or {{convert|82|in|m|2|abbr=on}}.<ref>[http://www.maloystorage.com/quadcon_tricon.php Quadcon and Tricon – Maloy Mobile Storage] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214151023/http://www.maloystorage.com/quadcon_tricon.php |date=14 February 2015 }}</ref> Only the first conforms to ISO-668 standard dimensions (size&nbsp;1F).

=== ABC bulk containers ===
ABC containers are small containers, typically 20 ft long and 5 ft high, used for hauling dense materials.  The smaller size reduces the tare weight (as compared to using a half-full standard height container).  They are normally shipped on specialized railroad flatcars, where 6 containers can be carried in the space of 4 standard containers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gatx.com/products/specialty-intermodal-cars/ |title=Specialty Intermodal Cars |access-date=2024-01-27 }}</ref>

=== Japan: 12-foot containers ===
In Japan's domestic freight rail transport, most of the containers are {{cvt|12|ft|m|2}} long in order to fit Japan's unique standard pallet sizes.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Wisinee Wisetjindawat|author2=Hiroki Oiwa|author3=Motohiro Fujita|title=Rare Mode Choice in Freight Transport: Modal Shift from Road to Rail|url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/bd47/8943c6a8113c8835c3b205f760071efc7f34.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200219105455/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/bd47/8943c6a8113c8835c3b205f760071efc7f34.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2020-02-19|doi=10.11175/easts.11.774|year=2015|journal=Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies|volume=11|s2cid=112515172}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="150" caption="Gallery: Small container size examples">
File:JR貨物【 鉄道代行船舶輸送 】岡山新港高島埠頭--③.jpg|{{convert|12|ft|m|2|adj=on}} the 19D-type container used by [[JR Freight]] in Japan
File:US Navy 051010-M-0596N-001 A tractor moves a quadcon container at Kin Red Port in Okinawa.jpg|U.S. Navy tractor moves Quadcon containers at Kin Red Port in Okinawa (2005)
File:US Navy 060831-N-3560G-052 Members of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Four (NMCB-4) load Tricon Containers loaded with construction equipment destine for field testing in Iraq, into a U.S. Air Force, Air Mobility Command, C.jpg|U.S. Navy load Tricon containers into a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy transport aircraft (2006)
File:US Navy 070820-F-8678B-050 Construction Mechanic 1st Class Kenneth E. Terlaan drives a extendable boom forklift through the mud to position a CONEX box containing the field armory during setup for a field exercise.jpg|U.S. Navy moving a Bicon box. Note the forklift pockets only in the sides, not at the ends.
</gallery>