Research and development are continually producing new steel grades. The performance of today's modern, extra high strength steels is far beyond that of standard steels. SSAB Tunnplåt in Sweden is world leader in developing and supplying such steels which combine the following characteristics:

- extra high strength and impact resistance

- exellent weldability and formability

- weather resistant properties ("W" series)By using modern SSAB extra high strength steels for containers, great gains can be made by reducing the tare weight. SSAB Tunnplåt can now offer newly developed extra high strength steels such as Domex 700 MC, Domex 550 W and Docol 700 W, all of which offer new opportunities to container users. The container tare can be reduced by around 15 percent, or by around 20 percent if combined with laminated longitudinal spruce flooring, without compromising the integral box strength.

These tares were previ-ously only achievable in aluminium containers.

-With a lower box weight:

- more payload can be carried, so fewer shipments will be needed

- freight rates can be increased, combined with lower costs

- more containers can be carried on a vessel before its deadweight is reached
A container made of SSAB extra high strength steels could be slightly more expensive than a container made of standard steel. However the pay back period for this extra cost should be no more than in between one and two years, which of course is highly dependent on the trade route and frequency of use. The useful life of a container is generally around ten years. So a container made of Domex 700 MC, Domex 550 W or Docol 700 W will be more profitable over the whole of its useful life than a container made of standard steel.

Extra high strength steels is used in thousands of boxes already. For instance mainly specials as 45 ft Euro-pean and 53 ft USA domestic containers.

SSAB Tunnplåt AB is the largest Scandinavian steel sheet manufacturer and a leader in Europe in the development of high strength, extra and ultra high strength steels.

SSAB Tunnplåt, which is a member of the SSAB Swedish Steel Group, has around 4 400 employees in Sweden. The company's annual production capacity is around 2.5 million tonnes of steel sheet