By Vincent Wen    Photo：CANVA

"Is my container released?" This is the most frequently asked question by importers and exporters to freight forwarders. Manufacturers constantly monitor whether their containers have set sail, arrived safely, and if the goods inside are intact, as these big metal boxes hold their hard-earned money.

All of this started with one person: Malcolm McLean, the inventor of the shipping container.

In 1913, Malcolm was born in the small town of Maxton, North Carolina, USA. At the age of 18, after finishing high school, Malcolm, as the eldest son, had to drop out of school and work because he could not afford the high university tuition fees.

In 1935, Malcolm used his savings to buy a second-hand truck and started a freight company with his siblings. Soon, the company had five trucks, with Malcolm driving one himself, becoming a busy truck driver. During that period, trade in the United States was flourishing, with goods like cotton and food often transported by sea, making docks major cargo hubs. In 1937, while transporting cotton at the dock, Malcolm noticed that dockworkers spent a lot of time loading cotton onto ships. At that time, goods were stored in warehouse docks until the ship arrived. Workers then manually loaded the goods into sacks, barrels, or wooden boxes, which were then moved onto the ship one by one. This process was labor-intensive and time-consuming, often taking up to three weeks to load and unload a ship with various sizes of goods. With the development of the Second Industrial Revolution, rail transport became increasingly common. It took up to a week to unload and load sea freight onto trains, causing port congestion and shipping delays.

"This is just a waste of time and money," Malcolm instinctively thought.

By 1950, Malcolm's transportation company had grown to own 1,750 trucks. However, transport taxes and truck weight limit fines meant the company was not making much profit. At this time, Malcolm had an idea: "Can I abandon full land transport for shipping cargo? Can I use ships for the parts of the journey along rivers and seas?" Water transport not only had no fines, but also allowed for more cargo and saved fuel, presenting an opportunity to reduce costs and speed up cargo flow.

Malcolm devised a plan to switch the company's freight from road transport from North Carolina to New York to first transporting by truck to a ship on the Atlantic coast, then shipping it to New York. This idea was ridiculed by many at the time. Although sea transport was cheaper, using the loading and unloading methods of the time meant workers had to move goods one by one onto and off the ship, making labor costs very high. Additionally, due to the varying sizes of goods, stacking was difficult, wasting much space on the ship, so not much cargo could be loaded. Ultimately, calculating all factors, the cost could still be higher than road transport.

At 39, Malcolm insisted on his idea: "If that's the case, then let's find a way to avoid having workers move goods one by one. What if I install a crane at the dock to lift the entire truck trailer onto the ship?" Thus, the concept of containerization began to take shape.

Perhaps, at that time, even Malcolm himself did not realize that this idea would one day change the world.

Appreciate if you could share TGL Blog among your friends who are interested in first-hand market information of supply chain and updated economic incidents.

Related Articles to Read