CONTAINER HISTORY

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Malcom Purcell McLean, the "Father of Containerization" was born on November 14, 1913 and died on May 25, 2001(87 years old).He had idea of rationalizing goods transport by avoiding the constant loading and unloading from one means of transport to another way back at the end of the 1930 at the port of Hoboken.

He would load complete trucks onto ships, in order to transport them a close as possible to their destination.

The development of standardized containers and trailers, move by tractors, made it possible to ship just the trailer with the containers, so saving on space and cost.

He become a shipowner himself and he appropriately named his company Sea-Land Inc.

At 1990, he sold his company to the Maersk Shipping

Company, but his company name lives in the name Maersk Sealand.

The "Ideal X" is mentioned as the first container freighter.

This ship left Newark on 26/04/1956 carrying 58 container, which it transported to Housten. First ship designed to carry only containers is the "Maxton". The first container on German sail was set down by the "Fairland". The first container used by Sealand were 35' ASA Container. Then afew later,

ISO stabdard provided for length of 10', 20', 30', and 40'.

Ideal X
(Source: The geography of transport systems)

Ideal X with the world's first load of containers.
(Source: http://www.worldtrademag.com)