container ship

American

[kuhn-tey-ner ship] / kənˈteɪ nər ˌʃɪp /

Or containership

noun

Transportation.

a large ship that transports its cargo in truck-size containers that can be transferred from ship to train to truck without unloading and reloading the contents.

Container ships may be a common sight today, but the arrival of the first American ones in European ports made headlines in the shipping journals of the time.

Etymology

Origin of container ship

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

A Hapag-Lloyd container ship chartered to Maersk was one of several vessels reportedly struck by Iran during the war.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 16, 2026

DBS economists expect export growth to accelerate to 8.4% in April from 2.5% in March, noting that container ship deadweight tonnage at 20 major ports rose during the period.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz as well as tensions in the Red Sea are reshaping trade routes, with Africa becoming a hub of global container ship traffic, according to logistics and maritime sources.

From Barron's • May 1, 2026

The Malta-flagged container ship owned by French company CMA CGM crossed the strait, media organisation BFM TV - which is owned by the shipping company - confirmed on Friday.

From BBC • Apr. 3, 2026

My father had told us about the actual, real-life Grande Gongo, a cutting-edge container ship docked in Korea and flying the Italian flag.

From "Confessions of a Murder Suspect" by James Patterson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023