The advent of shipping containers in the modern shipping industry has played a vital role in influencing the growth curve of the global economy. It has not just transformed the shipping industry but had its effect on many other industries worldwide. It has led to an exponential increase in the global supply and demand chain which in turn has spurred the domestic and international economy by generating revenue worth trillions. This blog has been written with a focus on the history of containerization.
The stuff that you have, things that you possess and need on a day-to-day basis, all have one thing in common. At some point in time, they were carried in a colorful metal cargo container. Recent studies have indicated that nearly 90% of the products that average consumer purchases have been shipped via container. For anyone who wants to learn more about the shipping industry and essential terms and jargon used, this is just about the right place for that.
It turns out that the evolution of shipping containers has played a major role in shaping the past, present, and future of commerce. Shipping containers being versatile, economical, and flexible have a history of transformations that have made them a huge success over the past few decades. The history of containerization also helped to evolve intermodal transportation as with the help of shipping containers, the cargo could now be transported via different means of transportation.
It would be no exaggeration to say that the shipping containers have created a business platform that is unparalleled in terms of generating profits. The shipping container depot service, port management, and warehouse work were exclusively manual and time-consuming in the earlier decades as it involved dozen of people.
Hence, the mystery around the evolution of shipping containers from barrels and boxes is intriguing.
The 1950s
The idea of using some kind of container for transportation wasn’t exactly alien. Boxes and barrels similar to modern shipping containers have been used for rail transport or horse carriages ever since the early 1790s.
It was in the 1950s, a trucking merchant traded his successful trucking business and used that capital to invent the shipping containers. His approach and design enabled the cargoes to be transported from one mode to another stacked on each other without disturbing the contents of packaged freight while loading and unloading. It helped in cutting costs, mitigating risks, and avoiding unwanted frustration involved in the container trade business.
This idea was so much applauded in the market then that soon containers were being utilized for transporting almost everything from cosmetics and electronics to perishable fruits and vegetables. It was this decade when the containers were utilized for ocean freight, few regulations regarding international shipping were laid down and Mclean purchased a steamship and railroad company to support intermodal container shipping.
The 1960s
Following the footsteps of Mclean, this decade witnessed many ‘firsts’ as container services developed and container depots flourished with the rapid expansion of the container fleet. In 1962, a patent was filed proposing the use of containers as touring exhibition booths. It was during this decade that the first dedicated container terminal, Elizabeth-Port Authority Marine terminal was established at N.J. The beginning of the booming of the Asia-Advanced Economies trade was also witnessed. The demise of traditional cargo shipping commenced. International Standards Organization took many steps to favor intermodal container shipping.
The 1970s
Once this concept received validation of masses, it witnessed exponential growth in the 70s & 80s. As an outcome of containerization, a significant reduction in dockworkers at container depots was reported. The impact of intermodal container shipping became evident during this phase. As a result, companies now owned stakes in various transport modes. By the end of the 1970s, most of the international ocean cargo was containerized.
The 1980s
As a result of containerization, shipping container depots experienced increasing co-ordination between seaports all over the world. For instance, shipping container depots in California were trying to strengthen their connections with shipping container depots in Hamburg, Germany.
Carriers looked forward to improvements in the shipping process to enhance their container cargo shipping.
In 1989, the world’s largest shopping mall built out of containers with a vendor capacity of 16000 was opened in Odessa, USSR.
The 1990s
During this decade, nearly all kinds of goods and commodities were in transit via containers. Many nations took advantage of this fact and intensively invested in expanding their container fleet throughout the world to simultaneously boost their economy and provide employment to millions of citizens to curb poverty. It was observed that the growth in trade due to containerization was much more than the bilateral free-trade agreements or GATT memberships. The ideas such as utilizing containers for office space and utilizing vacant dockland for urban inhabitation got pitched during this time.
The 2000s
In 2001, Mclean was given the title of “Father of Containerization”. In 2006, the golden jubilee of the first commercial intermodal container was celebrated. This decade observed the development of potentially more advanced containers minimizing the cost of unnecessary repositioning and storage of vacant shipping containers and inventing features to maximize the load space. Modern container shipping has improved employment statistics.
The 2010s
By 2013, approximately 90% of the global trade was carried out via marine container shipping. It was this decade that extensively witnessed repurposing containers for agriculture, disaster relief, utilized as server bases and also as a backdrop for K-pop videos.
Modern container shipping has successfully transformed the global economic structure and with the advent of technology, service reliability and ease has increased manifolds.
The 2020s
But it was during the earlier part of this decade that global trade experienced a major decline due to the widespread pandemic. But statistical data revealed that despite the dramatic slowdown due to the imposition of lockdown in many parts of the world in the initial months of 2020, the third quarter observed a recovery which was only 3% below the pre-pandemic levels. Container shipping played an invigorating role in successfully sustaining the global demand and supply chains during these testing times.
Well, this decade has just commenced and there will be a lot more extraordinary growth and modifications in the ever-flourishing shipping industry.
History of shipping containers – in a nutshell
The evolution of boxes and barrels into modern-day shipping containers is overwhelming. Over the years, shipping containers have become more reliable, eco-friendly, less expensive, available in significant numbers and desirable sizes in any part of the world, and has helped in shaping the modern global shipping economy. And the purpose of shipping containers hasn’t remained limited to shipping anymore. They are now repurposed for inhabitation, office spaces, agriculture, etc.
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