Containerization and globalization
Before containers were invented, most goods were transported as break-bulk cargo, a time-inefficient, cost-inefficient and unreliable way of cargo transportation. These disadvantages are caused by its transportation process, where the cargo had to be loaded and unloaded multiple times, and vessels will often be calling at many different call points before arriving at its final destination. Theft is also very commonly seen because all the cargo is stacked together on the deck. These are the problems containers aim to solve. The origin of containerization could be found in 1830s northern England, where coal mining was the dominant industry. In England’s first inter -city railway, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, early containers could be found used to transfer coal between different means of transport. ‘ Simple rectangular timber boxes, four to a wagon, they were used to convey coal from the Lancashire collieries to Liverpool, where they were transferred to horse-drawn carts by crane. ’ 3 Although containers were being used throughout the period, the first purpose-built container vessel wasn’t built until 1955, when the ‘ Clifford J. Rodgers ’ owned by the White Pass and Yukon Corporation was finished in Montreal, Canada. 4 The ship was also written into the history of containers by being involved in the world’s first intermodal service, using different means of transportation including ships, trucks and railroad cars. The adva ntage of container shipping is that these boxes don’t have to be opened while being loaded and unloaded, which not only reduces port-time of the vessel significantly but also saves an enormous amount of labour, improving both time and cost-efficiency. 5 In April 1956, American trucking entrepreneur Malcom McLean put 58 containers (which were still called ‘ trailer vans ’ at the time) 6 into a refittedWWII tanker ship called ‘ SS Ideal X ’ and sailed them from Newark, New Jersey to Houston, Texas. 7 It was a truly successful practice on reducing shipping costs, as the cost of loading loose cargo on a medium-size cargo ship was $5.83 per ton back in 1956, while the cost of loading the new Ideal-X was only 15.8 cents per ton. 8 The success of McL ean’s Sea -Land Service (hereinafter called Sea-Land) attracted more and more competitors into the market and multiple incompatible standards of container appeared in the USA alone. For example, Sea-Land used 35-foot containers while Matson Navigation Company (hereinafter called Matson) used 24-foot containers. As standardization was one of the most essential purposes of containerization, a standard for the whole industry was needed. Between January 1968 and October 1970, the International Organization for Standardization (hereinafter called ISO) gradually sat standards for containers, including its size (ISO 668), identification marking (R-790), corner fitting (R- 1161) and more, which sat 20- and 40-foot as main standard length for a container, 9 a huge step made 3 Essery, R., Rowland. D. & Steel W. (1979). British Goods Wagons from 1887 to the Present Day. New York, p. 92. 4 Hougen Group of Companies. ‘ White Pass the Container Pioneers ’ . https://hougengroup.com/yukon-history/yukon- nuggets/white-pass-the-container-pioneers. 5 Yukon museum guide . ‘ Cargo Container ’ . https://yukonmuseums.ca/treasures/ytm/09.html. 6 New York Times. (April 27, 1956). ‘ TANKERS TO CARRY 2-WAY PAY LOADS; Filled Trailer Vans to Form Cargoes for Vessel That Normally Carry Ballast’ . 7 Levinson, M. (2006). The Box: How he Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger. Princeton, p. 68. 8 Levinson ibid.: 68. 9 European Conference of Minister of Transport. (1969) Fifteenth Annual Report and Resolutions of the Council of Ministers. OECD Publishing, p. 68.
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