The World Shipping Council (WSC) is the peak industry trade group

Industry trade group

A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association or sector association, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry...

 representing general cargo and container

Containerization

Containerization is a system of freight transport based on a range of steel intermodal containers...

 shipping line

Shipping line

-History of shipping lines:Large-scale shipping lines became widespread in the nineteenth century, after the development of the steamship in 1783. At first, Great Britain was the centr of development; in 1819, the first steamship crossing of the Atlantic Ocean took place and by 1833, shipping lines...

s. The WSC is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 and is headed by Chief Executive Christopher Koch, formerly the General Counsel for the Sea-Land Corporation.

Membership

Council membership includes the world's ten largest container shipping companies as well as smaller firms collectively comprising 90 percent of global container shipments.

Activities

The Council was formed in 2000 to lobby national governments regarding container and cargo shipping regulation, generally in favour of improved maritime security coupled with deregulation of ports and transport routes. The Council also develops draft standards on vessel air emissions and pollution, improvements to seaport customs procedures

Customs

Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...

 and international standards for container design and handling.

In 2007, in response to continued problems with containers lost overboard during heavy seas, the WSC and the International Chamber of Shipping

International Chamber of Shipping

The International Chamber of Shipping is the world's principal shipping organisation, representing around 75% of the world’s merchant tonnage; through membership of national shipowners' associations, concerned with all regulatory, operational and legal issues....

began work on a code of practice for container storage, including crew training on parametric rolling, safer stacking and marking of containers and the securing of above-deck cargo.