Since the 1950s, steel shipping containers have been used mainly for International Ocean Shipping – but they are also used for truck and train freight, and sometimes storage too.
Most are about 40 by 20 feet, and the term TEW (meaning 20 foot container) is used when describing them, with 2 TEW referring to a 40-foot container.
Standardized containers speeded up the packing process and allowed more efficient loading and unloading techniques to take place from trucks to ships and warehouses. A secure, stable storage receptacle, they can also be boxed to be stacked onto another, up to ten high.
The first shipping container was patented in 1956 by Malcolm McLean, an American trucker from North Carolina, working with engineer Keith Tantlinger. McLean brought his first truck in 1934 and by 1956 owned the largest trucking fleet in the South – the fifth largest in the US.
He took over the Pan Atlantic (Steamship) Tanker Company, which owned some old tankers. He renamed his company Sea-Land Shipping, and after further development work, designed a shipping container that could be lifted directly from a vehicle onto a ship, without first having to load and reload the content.
This shipping container was a uniform size, strong, theft-resistant, stackable, easy to load and could be used on roads, rail, ship and truck. The stacking system was called ‘intermodalism’. A revolution in cargo transportation had begun. The speed at which cargo could now be loaded, reduced costs by more than 90 per cent and because the containers were robust, the goods arrived at their destination in better condition.
Contribution to Retail History
Standardized shipping containers established faster, more efficient loading, enabled a massive growth in international trading, and created more streamlined supply chain possibilities. Retailers and manufacturers were able to get goods faster and cheaper from major ports worldwide. As a result, lower costs enabled retailers to offer lower prices to consumers. Today, electronic tracking and barcodes allow retailers and suppliers to monitor delivery of goods from country of origin to warehouse.