Standardized shipping container
Contenedor marítimo estandarizado
- Date
- 1956 · confidence high
- Place
- Port of Newark, New Jersey, United States (SS Ideal X, 26 April 1956)
- Credited to
- Malcom McLean (Sea-Land); ISO standards in 1968-1970
- People
- 👤 Keith Tantlinger1919–2011
- Field
- Movement
What it is
A standard-sized metal box transferred unopened between ship, train and lorry. It cut the cost of maritime transport by an order of magnitude and is the physical basis of globalisation.
What it led to
- The globalisation of supply chains and the industrialisation of Asia
- The disappearance of dockworkers and traditional urban ports
- Mega-ships and automated ports
Built on
- railway
- crane
- cargo ship
Made possible
- just-in-time logistics
- automated ports
- global e-commerce