Marine Transport by Container – Moisture and Condensation Damage

Marine transport by container is the most economical and safe way of shipping for almost any kind of cargo. But putting cargo into a closed steel box also entails a permanent risk of moisture damage for the majority of cargoes carried by sea. Such damage may result in substantial losses and costs. Certainly not every shipment suffers moisture damage, and most of those that do, suffer only limited damage. However, lots of moisture damage remains unrecognized, because it is considered “normal” and only few shippers have a good system of feedback from the receivers of their goods. There may be lots of things they don’t know and thus no adequate steps are taken to reduce or even eliminate risk of damage. Although along the years the subject has been covered by extensive literature, due to continuous technological progress and implementation of modern shipping techniques, there is a need to highlight those developments which bring an improvement to the marine transport by containers, and this is main purpose of this paper.