The message contains an order to release, to make available, to accept or to call down containers or to announce the impending arrival of containers.
This message is part of a total set of container-related messages. These messages serve to facilitate the intermodal handling of containers by streamlining the information exchange. The business scenario for the container messages is clarified in a separate document, called: ‘Guide to the scenario of EDIFACT container messages’.
The order may pertain to cargo related containers (full container load and less than container load), the arrangement of empty containers prior to loading and after stripping, as well as the arrangements for leasing the empty containers (on-hire and off-hire of containers).