World Transportation Partners (WTP) offers three different intermodal container sizes that clients rent and pack with freight for shipping over- seas. Intermodal containers are measured in TEUS (twenty-foot equivalent units), and WTP offers three sizes. The 1 TEU container can hold 1,100 cubic feet of freight, while a 2 TEU container can hold 2,200 cubic feet and a 2.5 TEU container can hold 2,750 cubic feet. Every container in WTP's inventory weighs approximately 4,000 lbs. per TEU when empty and is designed to be safely loaded with 50,000 lbs. of additional weight per TEU. In addition, WTP does not allow a container of any size to be loaded past a total combined weight of 60,000 lbs., allowing each container the option of being transferred to a truck trailer for delivery, without violating maximum weight limits for roadways in most countries. WTP charges \($800\) per TEU to ship containers along its major routes, and rents those containers for \($150\) per container, per shipment.

Questions 

1. Prepare a table that provides both the design and the effective capacity of each con- tainer size, in terms of the weight of cargo it can hold. Which container size has the greatest effective capacity in terms of weight?

2. Suppose a 2.5 TEU container were filled to its effective weight capacity with cargo that weighed 25 lbs. per cubic foot. What would the utilization of that container be, in terms of weight? What would its utilization be in terms of volume?

3. One of WTP's clients, Bankston Industries, must ship 120,000 lbs. of cargo on one of WTP's major routes. This cargo weighs 50 lbs. per cubic foot. Which container size would be best for Bankston Industries to rent for this shipment, based on cost?

4. Bankston Industries is trying to convince WTP that restricting a container's loaded weight to a total of 60,000 lbs. should not apply to the shipment mentioned in ques- tion 3, because that shipment will be delivered by railroad car after its arrival in port, and one railcar can legally handle over 280,000 lbs. in weight. If WTP agrees to waive its policy of restricting a container to 60,000 lbs. total weight, which container size would be best for Bankston Industries to rent for this shipment, and how much will Bankston be saving from this agreement?