How to Open & Close Shipping Container
Doors when the Doors are Stuck

Shipping containers often take a beating, traveling around the world, being exposed to freezing conditions, and rust due to seawater or when the frost has melted.  Contents may shift, while some containers are even dropped, causing doors and lockrods to warp and the container frame is racked so that the door gear will not operate correctly.  Injuries often occur as a result of personnel trying to open and close difficult container doors, often the result of inappropriate techniques being used to open them.

Shipping container doors are not typical doors and there are 4-5 hinges per door.  The hinge pins must be lined up correctly for the doors to be free to fully open and close.

Why are the Doors of My Shipping Container Difficult to Open/Close?

Here are some likely reasons a shipping container door will not open or close. Our hand leverage tool / shipping container door extension handle helps to address these issues.

• Rust and Corrosion: The hinge pins and blade are seized due to corrosion.  As shipping containers navigate through diverse weather conditions and environments over time, they become susceptible to rust and corrosion. These corrosive agents can target the locking mechanisms and hinges, ultimately impeding the smooth operation of the container's doors. This accumulation of rust and corrosion introduces a layer of complexity to unlocking and opening the container.
• Maintenance Neglect: Regular maintenance is pivotal to sustaining the functionality of shipping containers. The absence of consistent upkeep can lead to complications with the locking mechanisms, hinges, and seals. Without proper lubrication and care, these components might stiffen or become challenging to manipulate, thereby escalating the difficulty of opening the container.
• Physical Impact: The nature of shipping exposes containers to a barrage of wear and tear, stemming from transportation and handling activities. Consequently, the containers might acquire dents, twists, or misalignments. These physical distortions can hinder the proper alignment of the doors, rendering the opening process arduous.
• Uneven Placement: Placing a shipping container on uneven ground can disrupt its frame's equilibrium. This misalignment can extend to the doors, making them difficult to open or close. The uneven stance of the container introduces an extra layer of complexity when trying to access its interior.  Doors and lock rods may warp or the container frame is racked so that the door gear will not operate correctly. This may be caused by cargo shifting during transit. Look at the container to make sure that the doors are aligned and level, both top, and bottom.
• Temperature Influences: Drastic temperature variations encountered during transportation can trigger material expansion and contraction. This phenomenon reverberates through the locking mechanisms and hinges, potentially impairing their normal operation. The impact of temperature fluctuations compounds the challenges associated with opening the container.  Water has become trapped between frozen shipping container doors, particularly relevant to refrigerated cargoes, or containers with moisture-releasing cargoes in cold weather.
• Inadequate Tools: The task of opening a shipping container may necessitate specialized tools such as heavy-duty bolt cutters or unique locking mechanism tools. In the absence of these tools, the process can become considerably more demanding.
• Sealing Complexity: Some shipping containers employ adhesive materials or seals to ensure the contents remain shielded from environmental elements. Over time, these seals can harden and resist breaking. Consequently, accessing the container requires overcoming this intricate sealing mechanism. 
• The door gasket has been damaged and is preventing opening. Door gaskets are designed to present two or more fins against the structure or adjacent door. These are generally flexible but when the gasket is damaged, they may become hard or blocked thus jamming the door closed, or preventing it from being closed. 
• Security Enhancements: Certain shipping containers incorporate robust security features to discourage unauthorized access and potential theft. Although these features are indispensable for safeguarding the contents, they can inadvertently increase the intricacy of opening the container.
• The Covid economy had also released many shipping containers in the world which are now often reused and the issue of hard-to-open/close used shipping containers is now a more common issue than ever.

How to Open Shipping Container Doors

PRECAUTION: Use optional provided lanyard and attach to OPNBar hook ring. Secure lanyard around wrist as an added measure to prevent tool from slipping from hand.  Use recommended quality gloves with grip when using OPNBar.  Use a shipping container strap and wrap around lockrods to prevent items that may have shifted from falling out.  Use caution using OPNBar for opening and closing shipping container door, and use of force is not recommended as this can bend shipping container door handles.

1. Begin with the right door.  Swivel the custom catches up, there’s one on each handle.
2. You’ll notice that your container is fitted with lock rods that run all the way from the bottom of the doors through to the top. At each end of the lock rod is a cam and a keeper which engage to allow the door to lock.
3. Slide the OPNBar (hook side) over the door handle and grip the extended leverage handle with both hands.  When using leverage bar, make sure the rectangular mouth of the bar is snug on the container door handle. For best results firmly insert OPNBar and apply forward pressure when operating. OPNBar should be tight and should not wobble. Failure to do so can result in the tool, or the operator to slip resulting in injury. The tool must be operated by using 2 hands with a firm grip at all times to reduce the risk of injury; when using the tool the operator must have both feet planted firmly on the ground while wearing dry work gloves with the safety strap so the tool will not slip out of one’s hand.

   

   

   

   

   

   
   

   Lift up the door handles while gripping OPNBar and twist slightly to make sure the cams and keepers are disengaged.

   Next take hold of the inner door handle first and pull out slightly followed by the outer handle and then pull them in tandem.

For more information, click here

Please be sure to read OPNBar Extended Instructions & Precautions

How to Close Shipping Container Doors

Closing the doors is just a reverse process of course, start with the left-hand door, engage the cams and keepers, and then twist both door handles.  Slide the OPNBar (hook side) over the door handle to provide leverage.

Please be sure to read OPNBar Extended Instructions & Precautions

How to Open & Close Difficult Shipping Container Doors

This hand leverage tool / shipping container door extension handle uses the principles of leverage to do the difficult work. By providing an extended area on which to grasp, with both hands, a more stable platform to manipulate the latch handle is achieved.

Designed to fit and extend the door latch handles on side-by-side doors found on the following units with the safety of the truck driver, operator, and worker foremost in mind:

• Standard Shipping Containers
• Conex Boxes
• Intermodal Containers
• ISO Containers
• Reefer Containers
• Military Containers
• Waste Management Containers
• Dismountable Shipping Cargo Containers
• Refrigerated Shipping Cargo Containers
• Semitrailer Dry Freight Cargo Vans
• Semitrailer Refrigerated Freight Cargo Vans

This intermodal container (also known as ISO Container, Conex Box, or Railroad Container) cargo inspection tool hand leverage tool / shipping container door extension handle is to aid in opening and closing side-by-side doors found within Dismountable Shipping Cargo Container Trailer Transportation Industries (Railroad, Harbor, and Trucking Industries).

Eliminates the Need for a crescent wrench, screwdriver, hammer, and crowbar which are commonly needed/used to open stuck shipping container doors.

Injuries from Opening/Closing Hard-to-Open/Close Shipping Container Doors

On a freezing morning, when ice has seized a car door shut, one would never consider using a crowbar to open a car door.  The same thing goes for shipping containers.   While conditions may be more extreme in container operations, is it reasonable to use that kind of force to open or close container doors? Experience suggests that it is not, and often ends with someone being hurt.

Injuries to personnel involved with container door opening and closing are increasing, and often it is as a result of an inappropriate technique that is being employed. We might expect container doors to open and close as if they were car doors, without understanding why this might not be the case.

Starting with the structure of container doors, most will have four or five hinges per door. The mechanics at the point of manufacture is that the hinge pins must be all aligned on the same plane (vertical and horizontal) and in line. Offset hinge pins will result in the blade binding when it is rotated about the pin – the more the misalignment, the greater resistance will be encountered during operation. At the time of manufacture, therefore, it might be expected that the hinge pins on every door are aligned and free to fully open (270º of operation).

Let’s assume that the container is presented in pristine or well-maintained condition; why might the door not open with ease? Containers are generally either on a trailer/chassis or on the ground, and in both cases, the position of the locking gear handles are at an inconvenient height. For best results, the handles should be directly in front of you and at a height that is above the waist and below the shoulders.

The technique is all-important. Start with the two lock rods on the right-hand door, lift the handles out of the retainers and rotate them together as far as they will go. This should be more than 90º and rotation beyond 90º often initiates the container door opening process by forcing the cams out of their keepers. Then grasp the vertical locking bars, one in each hand, so that your hands are just below shoulder height and pull back with your body, using your leg muscles rather than your back.

If the door is still stuck, unless specifically advised against doing so (ie. the container is carrying a flexitank or bulk cargo), open the locking bars on the left-hand door and then grasp the inner locking rod of both doors and pull back, again using your body not your back. If the door still will not open, ask a colleague to pull on one door while you pull on the other.

Injuries almost always occur at the point frustration takes over and mechanical means are employed – the crowbar or a fork truck. So why will the door not open? Generally, this can be attributed to one of four reasons:

• The container frame is racked so that the door gear will not operate correctly. This may be caused by cargo shifting during transit. Look at the container to make sure that the doors are aligned and level, both top, and bottom.
• The hinge pins and blade are seized due to corrosion.
• The door gasket has been damaged and is preventing container door opening. Door gaskets are designed to present two or more fins against the structure or adjacent door. These are generally flexible but when the gasket is damaged, they may become hard or blocked thus jamming the door closed, or preventing it being closed.
• Water has become trapped between the doors and frozen, particularly relevant to refrigerated cargoes, or containers with moisture-releasing cargoes in cold weather.

 Doors that open but are stiff to move may suffer from the first two reasons above, along with possible misaligned hinge pins. Pins can become misaligned by damage to the ‘J-bar’ which has twisted one or more pins, or a hinge blade or pin has incorrectly aligned the blade with the hinges on the door.  Adding a backing plate under a single hinge blade may help take the blades out of alignment.  When a hinge blade needs to be refitted because of damage or corrosion and a doubler plate is required, plates should be inserted under all the blades on that door.

The safe operation of doors requires that some attention be given to them. Many hinges have coatings on the inner surface of the hinge blade, while others use plastic liners, both of which are designed to protect against corrosion. Some designs are fitted with greasing apertures. Fundamental to success are the examination and maintenance processes.

Typically, doors will be opened for in-service inspections and off-hires. Where oil does not free the hinges, repair work is probably necessary. An inspection is required to check that the hinges and hinge pin welds are not broken or cracked. Opening doors could be done when a depot releases a unit for packing, since it may have been in the stack for a prolonged period.

If the doors cannot be opened to pack a container, send the unit back! If it is already packed and you need to open the doors, but they will not open by hand, try to pull both doors open at the same time with increasing power. If you need more than two people, ensure you tell the container operator, especially if, as a result of container door opening, the locking gear or doors are or become damaged.

And, when you are opening a packed container, remember to watch out for those packages that are just about to fall out. In all these matters, be alert that the doors are big and heavy – treat them with respect and report anything unusual.

Source: TT Club

Equip operators with the proper tools needed and promote safety to help them avoid injury.

Related: Injuries from Opening/Closing Hard to Open/Close Shipping Container Doors

Citations

Opening and closing stuck shipping container doors can pose significant health and safety risks, particularly related to musculoskeletal injuries and exposure to hazardous substances. To mitigate these risks, consider the following guidelines:

Ergonomic Practices:

• Use of Proper Techniques: Applying excessive force to open or close jammed container doors can lead to musculoskeletal injuries. Implementing ergonomic interventions can reduce the physical demands of manual material handling tasks, thereby lowering the incidence and severity of such injuries. cdc.gov

Safety Recommendations:

• Training: Workers should be trained in proper manual handling techniques to minimize the risk of injury. This includes understanding the principles of ergonomics and the correct use of equipment.
• cdc.gov
• Use of Equipment: Employing mechanical aids, such as levers or specialized tools, can assist in opening stubborn container doors, thereby reducing physical strain.
• cdc.gov