5 Little-Known Facts About the Development of the First Container Standards

1. The first container was invented for the railroad, not for ships.

Although standard containers are now associated with shipping, their origins date back to the mid-19th century in the British railway industry. In the 1840s, containers were used to facilitate the transfer of goods between railroads and freight carriages. However, these containers came in different sizes and standardization was not a priority.

This began to change in the 1920s in the United States, as shipping companies looked for ways to simplify freight transport by rail and automobile. It was then that the first unified containers suitable for multimodal transport appeared.

2. Malcolm McLean invented the concept of a standardized container out of practical necessity

Malcolm McLean, an American entrepreneur and truck driver, is considered the father of the modern container. He initially developed the concept of containerization to reduce the time it takes to load and unload trucks.

McLean noticed that much of the time was spent carrying goods by hand. Instead, he proposed transporting goods in standardized boxes that could be moved quickly between vehicles. In 1956, his company produced the first container that was suitable for use on both ships and trucks.

3. Opposition from shipping companies has slowed the implementation of standards

Early experiments with containers met with considerable resistance from traditional shipping companies. For them, standardization meant costly changes to the infrastructure and fleet.

In 1957, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) began developing container standards to facilitate the integration of multimodal transport. But it wasn't until 1968 that the first international standard (ISO 668) was adopted, thanks to the efforts of companies like McLean's Sea-Land.

4. Container sizes depended on railway cars

Interestingly, the standard container sizes (20 and 40 feet) were not chosen by chance. They were based on the length of railroad platforms in the United States, which could carry two 20-foot containers or one 40-foot container.

In addition, the proportions of the containers were adapted to the space between the tracks and the dimensions of the bridges. This allowed containers to move easily by rail without additional infrastructure upgrades.

5. The first standardized batch of containers changed the global shipping market

In 1956, a tanker Ideal X became the first ship loaded with standardized containers. The ship was carrying just 58 containers between Newark and Houston.

Although this event seemed like an experiment, it demonstrated the revolutionary benefits of containerization. Loading time was reduced from several days to several hours, and the cost of transportation decreased by 5 times. This experiment convinced the industry of the need to implement standards.