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The Company and Nature of Operations	12 Months Ended
The Company and Nature of Operations	Dec. 31, 2011
The Company and Nature of Operations [Abstract]
The Company and Nature of Operations	(1) The Company and Nature of Operations CAI International, Inc. (CAI or the Company) operates in the international intermodal marine cargo container leasing business. Within this single industry sector, the Company generates revenue from two reportable segments: container leasing and container management. The container leasing segment specializes primarily in the ownership and leasing of intermodal dry freight standard containers, while the container management segment manages containers for container investors. The Company leases its containers principally to international container shipping lines located throughout the world. The Company sells containers primarily to investor groups and provides management services to those investors in return for a management fee. On December 20, 2011, the Company formed CAI Rail Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, to purchase and lease-out railcars in North America. The Company's common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “CAP”. The Company's corporate headquarters are located in San Francisco, California.