Meaning & use
container shipping
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountable
the business or system of carrying goods in large metal boxes on ships
Grammar: Uncountable, so it has no plural and takes a singular verb: Container shipping is growing.
Patterns
- container shipping industry
- container shipping company
- container shipping rates
Container shipping has made it cheaper to send goods around the world.
The port handles container shipping for the whole region.
Many online stores depend on container shipping to move their products.
Common combinations
- container shipping industry
- She works in the container shipping industry.
- container shipping company
- The container shipping company added three new routes this year.
- container shipping rates
- Container shipping rates rose sharply during the holiday season.
- global container shipping
- Global container shipping connects factories in Asia with buyers in Europe.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- container ship noun
- A ship built to carry containers.
- shipping noun
- The general activity of sending goods, often by sea or another route.
Commonly confused: container shipping or containership?
container shipping vs containership
Containership is a single word for a ship that carries containers, while container shipping is the industry or activity.
Practice
Container shipping ______ grown rapidly in the last twenty years.
Choose one answer.
Container shipping is uncountable and takes a singular verb, so 'has' is correct. 'Have' and 'are' are plural forms and do not agree with an uncountable noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “container shipping”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.