The Shipping Container Revolution

Before the 1950s, loading a cargo ship meant dockworkers handling thousands of separate sacks, barrels and crates, a slow and costly process that also invited theft. In April 1956 American trucking entrepreneur Malcom McLean sent the converted tanker Ideal-X from Newark to Houston carrying 58 metal containers that could be lifted directly between ships, trucks and trains. Standardized containers, agreed internationally in the late 1960s, slashed loading costs and times, allowing ships to turn around in hours rather than days.

Ports were transformed: old waterfront docks in cities like New York and London declined, while vast new container terminals rose elsewhere, and dockworker jobs fell sharply. Cheaper and more reliable shipping made it practical to split production across continents, a precondition for modern global supply chains. Historian Marc Levinson argues that this unglamorous metal box did as much to globalize the economy as any trade agreement.