Who Invented the Shipping Container and Why It Became So Important

What starts as a small idea in someone's mind can grow into something much bigger and change history. That is what happened with shipping containers. Here is their whole story.

The box that revolutionized the international transport of goods

While waiting to unload his truck at the port in North Carolina, Malcom McLean noticed that moving goods from trucks to the ship by hand, with longshoremen, was a waste of money and time.

It was then, in 1937, that this 21-year-old asked himself: "What if my truck could be loaded onto the ship, cargo and all, in one go?"

At the time it was just a wild idea, and 19 years went by before it started to become reality. He first approached a railroad and proposed loading his trailers onto rail cars, but they turned him down.

Undeterred, McLean bought a couple of old ships that had been used in the Second World War. He then had metal boxes built to the same size as his trailers, but without wheels, and added fittings so they could be handled by the corners.

The first metal box he designed was 35 feet long and 8 feet wide and high. That is how he began his path to becoming a major transport entrepreneur and the first to load complete cargo units onto a ship.

He named the ships he had bought Ideal X and Alameda; they could carry up to 58 metal boxes. The first sailed in April 1956 from New York to Houston on a six-day voyage.

By then, what had been an idea was already a reality. But that was not enough for McLean. Looking to grow his venture, he bought the shipping company Pan-Atlantic Steamship Company, which he later renamed SeaLand.

The company became famous during the Vietnam War for transporting military equipment and supplies to US soldiers.

Ideas kept coming to this entrepreneur, so he devised a way for the boxes not to return empty: they would stop in Japan and bring products back to the United States.

Over the years this invention has evolved with the needs of what is being transported. Containers carry ISO certification, which makes them an indispensable means of transporting every kind of goods.

What made them so indispensable to industry?

The most widely used way to transport everything that is traded today is by sea, because it can move a huge volume of cargo. It is also very economical compared with other modes of transport.

The container's structure is highly resistant to bad weather and to the knocks and impacts that may occur during the voyage. Containers are also very secure, thanks to locking systems that require proper authorization to be opened.

They are versatile, which is why today you find them as:

• Standard: built in steel without ventilation or refrigeration, used for dry cargo.
• Refrigerated: hold temperatures below zero, ideal for the food and pharmaceutical sectors.
• Tanks: allow bulk liquid goods to be transported without losses.
• Open top: open at the top, used for heavy, bulky cargo.

There are other variants too, and all of them guarantee that the goods reach their destination in good shape. This invention marked a before and after in the industry, don't you think?

Source: BBC News (in Spanish)

From McLean's first box to your site: see our new and used shipping containers.