The first step in transporting cargoes by ship is the shipper (or his agent) making a booking request with the shipping company that operates the ship. Once this is done, an empty container is prepared and the shipper picks it up. The cargo is loaded into the container at a plant or warehouse and the loaded container is transported to the terminal. The container passes through the in-gate and is delivered to a specified location within the yard. When it arrives at the designated site, the container is removed from the chassis using a transfer crane and is temporarily stored in the yard.
After storage in the yard, when the ship arrives in port, the container is transported by transfer crane or trailer to a berth as close to the ship as possible and loaded onto the ship using a gantry crane. For this reason, containers that are for export are stored near a berth as close as possible to the ship, and imported containers are stored close to the gate for easy pick-up by chassis. Empty containers are stored at an intermediate location.