Solar container equipment classification standards

What is a container registration system?

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 register of container owners is managed by the International Container Bureau (BIC).

What size & type codes should be displayed on a container?

When displayed on the container, the size and type codes shall be used as a whole. The letters and numerals of the owner code, equipment category identifier, serial number and check digit shall be not less than 100 mm (4 in) high.

What is the equipment category identifier?

The equipment category identifier consists of one of the following capital letters of the Latin alphabet: Presently, all official BIC container codes end in "U".

What is a shippers owned container (SoC)?

Usually these are "shippers owned" containers (SOC), 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.

What information should be included in a container identifier?

The letters and numerals of the owner code, equipment category identifier, serial number and check digit shall be not less than 100 mm (4 in) high. All characters shall be of proportionate width and thickness, they shall be durable and in a colour contrasting with that of the container. This information is mandatory.

What is a modulo operator for a container number?

Virtually all programming languages have a modulo operator for step 3; some languages (also) return the decimal portion which must be multiplied by 11 to get a proper modulo. 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.