container ship

American  

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

Or containership

noun

Transportation.

1. 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.

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Etymology

Origin of container ship

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

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

From there, one day a week, a large container ship departs on the 3,000-mile journey to Poole in Dorset.

From BBC • Feb. 18, 2026

A Chinese container ship sailed to Europe in half the time of traditional southern routes this fall.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 30, 2025

Goods that left Asia on a container ship might be subject to the rate of the month they left even if the items weren’t actually imported until months later.

From Barron's • Dec. 22, 2025

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