Our blog offers a series “Do you know that?”, where we cover some of the most interesting information from the transport and logistics industries. In the first post, we present the history of sea containers used for transportation across the world. When were they made for the first time? Why and how did they grow so popular and come to dominate the shipping market?
Our blog offers a series “Do you know that?”, where we cover some of the most interesting information from the transport and logistics industries. In the first post, we present the history of sea containers used for transportation across the world. When were they made for the first time? Why and how did they grow so popular and come to dominate the shipping market?
A shipping container is just a metal box with a standard size and structure. Why is it standardized? In order to facilitate handling operations at the port and reduce transportation time as well as costs. Standardization of the container method has made it immensely popular, though in the beginning vessel operators were skeptical about introducing the new technology.
Who created and promoted this methodology? It was an American Malcolm McLean, seen as the pioneer of the modern container system. McLean launched a company Sea-Land that set the container technology in motion. In 1956, he converted a tanker to transport containers. Named “Ideal X,” the ship was capable of transporting 35-foot containers. With this operation, the cost of handling was reduced from nearly $6 to 16 cents per ton. The idea of putting small general cargo (previously requiring costly and time-consuming trans-shipment) in large metal boxes quickly proved very useful. With door-to-door shipping now available, nobody is surprised at a container being delivered to a given place to be filled with cargo and then shipped to a port and by sea to the destination port and finally to the place of destination.
Containerization is going to see continued growth. It is expected that the demand for this technology will grow for the next 20 years. Nothing shows that the means of transport devised by McLean could be driven out of the market. You can check the basic types of containers here.