Shipping container carriers have their own fleet of container equipment, which they provide to the cargo owner for rent for the delivery of cargo to the destination.

There are container operators who own containers, which also lease their containers to cargo owners or the same shipping companies. Each container owner is assigned a unique 4-letter code (BIC-code), which marks all containers of this container owner. The code is assigned by the International Bureau for Containers and Intermodal Transport (BIC) and is entered in the international register of container owners. This code, also called a prefix, is present on all sea containers and is a mandatory part of the container number. For example, a container with the number GMU5624738 has the prefix CGMU and belongs to the maritime company CMA CGM.

Container codes and their owners