ISO 6346

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BIC code on the end of a shipping container

ISO-code and dimension/load table at several newly washed containers

ISO 6346 is an international standard covering the coding, identification and marking of intermodal
(shipping) containers used within containerized intermodal freight transport. The standard establishes a
visual identification system for every container that includes a unique serial number (with check digit), the
owner, a country code, a size, type and equipment category as well as any operational marks. The
standard is managed by the International Container Bureau (BIC).

Contents
  [hide] 

1 Identification System

o 1.1 Owner Code
 o 1.2 Equipment Category

Identifier

o 1.3 Serial Number

o 1.4 Check Digit

 1.4.1 Calculatio

n Step 1

 1.4.2 Calculatio

n Step 2

 1.4.3 Calculatio

n Step 3

 1.4.4 Example

 1.4.5 Code

Sample

o 1.5 Practical Problems

2 Size and Type Codes

3 Country Code (Optional)

4 Mandatory Operational Marks

5 References

6 See also

7 External links

[edit]Identification System

Example of an ISO 6346 conform container number

[edit]Owner Code
The owner code consists of three capital letters of the Latin alphabet to indicate the owner or principal
operator of the container. Such code needs to be registered at the Bureau International des Conteneurs in
Paris to ensure uniqueness worldwide.

[edit]Equipment Category Identifier

The equipment category identifier consists of one of the following three capital letters of the Latin alphabet:

 U for all freight containers

 J for detachable freight container-related equipment

 Z for trailers and chassis

[edit]Serial Number
The serial number consists of 6 (Arabic) numeric digits, assigned by the owner or operator, uniquely
identifying the container within that owner/operator's fleet.

[edit]Check Digit
The check digit consists of one (Arabic) numeric digit providing a means of validating the recording and
transmission accuracies of the owner code and serial number.

[edit]Calculation Step 1

An equivalent numerical value is assigned to each letter of the alphabet, beginning with 10 for the letter A
(11 and multiples thereof are omitted):

A B C D E F G H I J K L M

10 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 23 24

N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 34 35 36 37 38

The individual digits of the serial number keep their numeric value.

[edit]Calculation Step 2

Each of the numbers calculated in step 1 is multiplied by 2position, where position is the exponent to basis 2.
Position starts at 0, from left to right.

The following table shows the multiplication factors:

1. nbr 2. nbr 3. nbr 4. nbr 5. nbr 6. nbr 7. nbr 8. nbr 9. nbr 10. nbr

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512

[edit]Calculation Step 3

a) Sum up all results of step 2

b) Divide them by 11
c) Erase all decimal digits of the division (i. e. make the result an integer value)
d) Multiply the integer value by 11
e) Subtract result of d) from result of a): This is the check digit!

If the final difference is 10, then the check digit becomes 0. To ensure that this does not happen, the
standard recommends that serial numbers should not be used which produce a final difference of 10,
however there are containers in the market which do not follow this recommendation, so handling this case
has to be included if a check digit calculator is programmed.

Notice that step b) to e) is a calculation of the remainder found after division of a) by 11. Most programming
languages have a modulo operator for this. Attention should be paid on how it is working in the language
chosen; i. e. if it is giving back the decimal rest or the integer rest in order to get proper results. 11 is used
as divisor because a container number has 11 letters and digits in total. In step 1 the numbers 11, 22 and
33 are left out as they are multiples of the divisor.

[edit]Example

C S Q U 3 0 5 4 3 8 Calc.

13 30 28 32 3 0 5 4 3 8

x x x x x x x x x x

1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512

= = = = = = = = = =

13 60 112 256 48 0 320 512 768 4096 6185 [a)]

b) Division by 11: 562.272...

c) Erase decimal digits: 562

d) Multiply by 11: 6182

 a) minus d) = Check Digit: 3

[edit]Code Sample

Below is a code Snippet implementing the above algorithm in MATLAB validating string "cid":

%% Step 1
char2num = [10 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 34
35 36 37 38];
msk = logical([1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0]); % mask separating digits from numbers
cid( msk) = char2num(cid( msk)-'A'+1); % letters to numbers conversion
cid(~msk) = cid(~msk)-'1'+1; % digit characters to numbers
conversion
vec = double(cid);
%% Step 2
num = sum(vec(1:10).* 2.^(0:9));
%% Step 3
check_digit = mod(mod(num,11),10);
valid = (check_digit==vec(11));
[edit]Practical Problems
In day-to-day business it happens that containers do appear which do not follow the ISO 6346 identification
at all, however they are fully CSC safety approved containers. Usually these are "shippers owned"
containers, which means that they are not owned by the carrier but supplied by the cargo owners
(shippers). They may have no registered owner code and no category identifier and have no check digit.
Generally it is not advisable not to follow ISO 6346 as this causes problems for the carriers and container
terminals to correctly identify the equipment and to properly deliver the cargo, because computer systems
require ISO 6346 conformant naming and as such missing prefixes are invented. For example YYYY at the
carrier and XXXX at the terminal causes the equipment to mismatch.

[edit]Size and Type Codes

ISO 6346 also gives size and type codes for containers. When displayed on the container, the size and
type codes shall be used as a whole.

The codes are compiled of the following elements:

 First character, representing the length (coded)

 Second character, representing the width and height (coded)

 Third and fourth character indicating the type of the container

The following is an overview of the most common codes:

ISO Type Group ISO Size Type

 Code Description Code Description

20G0 GENERAL PURPOSE CONT.

20GP GENERAL PURPOSE CONT.

20G1 GENERAL PURPOSE CONT.

20HR INSULATED CONTAINER 20H0 INSULATED CONTAINER

20PF FLAT (FIXED ENDS) 20P1 FLAT (FIXED ENDS)

20T3 TANK CONTAINER

20T4 TANK CONTAINER

20TD TANK CONTAINER

20T5 TANK CONTAINER

20T6 TANK CONTAINER

20T7 TANK CONTAINER

20TG TANK CONTAINER

20T8 TANK CONTAINER

20T0 TANK CONTAINER

20TN TANK CONTAINER 20T1 TANK CONTAINER

20T2 TANK CONTAINER

22BU BULK CONTAINER 22B0 BULK CONTAINER

22GP GENERAL PURPOSE CONT. 22G0 GENERAL PURPOSE CONT.

22G1 GENERAL PURPOSE CONT.

22HR INSULATED CONTAINER 22H0 INSULATED CONTAINER

22P3 FLAT (COLLAPSIBLE)

22PC FLAT (COLLAPSIBLE) 22P8 FLAT (COLL.FLUSH FOLDING)

22P9 FLAT (COLLAPSIBLE)

22P1 FLAT (FIXED ENDS)

22PF FLAT (FIXED ENDS)

22P7 FLAT (GENSET CARRIER)

22RC REEFER CONT.(NO FOOD) 22R9 REEFER CONT.(NO FOOD)

BUILT-IN GEN. F. POWER SPLY OF BUILT-IN GEN. F. POWER SPLY

22RS 22R7
REEF OF REEF

22RT REEFER CONTAINER 22R1 REEFER CONTAINER

22SN NAMED CARGO CONTAINER 22S1 NAMED CARGO CONTAINER

22T3 TANK CONTAINER

22T4 TANK CONTAINER

22TD TANK CONTAINER

22T5 TANK CONTAINER

22T6 TANK CONTAINER

22TG TANK CONTAINER 22T7 TANK CONTAINER

 22T8 TANK CONTAINER

22T0 TANK CONTAINER

22TN TANK CONTAINER 22T1 TANK CONTAINER

22T2 TANK CONTAINER

22UP HARDTOP CONTAINER 22U6 HARDTOP CONTAINER

22UT OPEN TOP CONTAINER 22U1 OPEN TOP CONTAINER

22V0 VENTILATED CONTAINER

22VH VENTILATED CONTAINER 22V2 VENTILATED CONTAINER

22V3 VENTILATED CONTAINER

25GP GP-CONTAINER OVER-HEIGHT 25G0 GP-CONTAINER OVER-HEIGHT

26GP GP-CONTAINER OVER-HEIGHT 26G0 GP-CONTAINER OVER-HEIGHT

26HR INSULATED CONTAINER 26H0 INSULATED CONTAINER

28TG TANK FOR GAS 28T8 TANK FOR GAS

28UT OPEN TOP (HALF HEIGHT) 28U1 OPEN TOP (HALF HEIGHT)

VE-HALF-HEIGHT =1448 MM VE-HALF-HEIGHT =1448 MM

28VH 28V0
HEIGHT HEIGHT

29PL PLATFORM 29P0 PLATFORM

 GEN. PURP. WITHOUT VENT
2EGP 2EG0 HIGH CUBE CONT. (WIDTH 2.5M)
WIDTH 2.5M

42G0 GENERAL PURPOSE CONT.

42GP GENERAL PURPOSE CONT.

42G1 GENERAL PURPOSE CONT.

42HR INSULATED CONTAINER 42H0 INSULATED CONTAINER

42P3 FLAT (COLLAPSIBLE)

42PC FLAT (COLLAPSIBLE) 42P8 FLAT (COLL.FLUSH FOLDING)

42P9 FLAT (COLLAPSIBLE)

42PF FLAT (FIXED ENDS) 42P1 FLAT (FIXED ENDS)

42PS FLAT (SPACE SAVER) 42P6 FLAT SPACE SAVER

42RC REEFER CONT.(NO FOOD) 42R9 REEFER CONT.(NO FOOD)

42RS REEFER CONT.(DIESEL GEN.) 42R3 REEFER CONT.(DIESEL GEN.)

42RT REEFER CONTAINER 42R1 REEFER CONTAINER

42SN NAMED CARGO CONTAINER 42S1 NAMED CARGO CONTAINER

42T5 TANK CONTAINER

42TD TANK CONTAINER

42T6 TANK CONTAINER

42TG TANK CONTAINER 42T8 TANK CONTAINER

42TN TANK CONTAINER 42T2 TANK CONTAINER

42UP HARDTOP CONTAINER 42U6 HARDTOP CONTAINER

42UT OPEN TOP CONTAINER 42U1 OPEN TOP CONTAINER

45BK BULK CONTAINER 45B3 BULK CONTAINER

45G0 HIGH CUBE CONT.

45GP HIGH CUBE CONT.

45G1 HIGH CUBE CONT.

45PC FLAT (COLLAPSIBLE) 45P3 FLAT (COLLAPSIBLE)

45P8 FLAT (COLL.FLUSH FOLDING)

45RC REEFER CONT.(NO FOOD) 45R9 REEFER CONT.(NO FOOD)

45RT REEFER HIGHCUBE CONTAINER 45R1 REEFER HIGHCUBE CONTAINER

45UT OPEN TOP CONTAINER 45U1 OPEN TOP CONTAINER

45UP HIGH CUBE HARDTOP CONT. 45U6 HIGH CUBE HARDTOP CONT.

46HR INSULATED CONTAINER 46H0 INSULATED CONTAINER

48TG TANK FOR GAS 48T8 TANK FOR GAS

49PL PLATFORM 49P0 PLATFORM

4CGP GP CONTAINER 4CG0 GP CONTAINER (WIDTH 2.5 M)

L0GP HIGH CUBE CONT. L0G1 HIGH CUBE CONT.

L2GP HIGH CUBE CONT. L2G1 HIGH CUBE CONT.

L5GP HIGH CUBE CONT. L5G1 HIGH CUBE CONT.

Use the below to calculate Length/Height/Type of a l