Brief History of A Shipping Container

Brief History of A Shipping Container

Nearly since the beginning of time, people have traded goods. Starting from the trading of luxury commodities back in the 1st century BC, to spices, tea, and precious metals. There are more product demands between nations as globalization grows. Any type of packaging used to load goods, starting from sacks, barrels, and wooden crates were manually loaded onto cargo vessels which were known as break-bulk shipping. Whether it’s for necessities like perishable goods (raw meat, fish, dairy, fruits, and vegetables), electronics, vehicles, or many more types of goods; more demands keep coming and continue to grow every year. Each of these products is essential to the economy. A longer delivery process was needed back in the days because people had to load sacks, barrels, and wooden crates in small quantities or sometimes one by one and arrange them inside the ship. Nowadays using shipping containers is faster for international goods to ultimately arrive at your doorstep. Today shipping containers were largely used, but how were they first created? Let’s look back at the history of shipping containers before understanding their specific use in this article.

How Was the Shipping Container Created?

Let’s get acquainted with an American entrepreneur, Malcolm McLean, who first invented the idea of shipping containers in global trade back in 1956. Just like before any other inventions were initiated, they were sparked by tiny wonders of how things work. He pondered how to efficiently and quickly load the entire cargo from a truck onto a shipping vessel and started his collaboration with engineer Keith Tantlinger to make the world’s first shipping container. The invention turned out to be very useful which helped reduce unused space and save up time for the loading and unloading process. It also brought a significant change by enabling seamless cargo transportation between land, rail, and water.

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Source: www.shippingcontainersusa.com

A Trade Revolution

In ancient times, it was presumed that goods were traded and transported between lands by dugout canoes or boats which earlier people independently developed. Basic commodities were carried over long distances, like farming crops, livestock, and textiles. With limited resources, shipping time could take a very long time. While looking back, we could feel a sense of relief with current technology and convenience. Today the industry continues to boom and a trade revolution has been made. There are currently numerous numbers of shipping containers moving between nations. Shipping cost has become relatively cheap and more products are easily brought by shipping containers. 

Current Use of Shipping Containers

As the whole world around us has changed significantly over the past few years, the world of international trade has been handier when it comes to keeping up with the development and technological improvement of shipping containers. Tradecorp’s shipping containers are made of sturdy materials that are rust-resistant, secured, and durable for multiple uses. Storage containers are also relatively sustainable for delivering goods internationally, which makes them an ideal choice to transfer in big volumes. Many types of shipping containers can be provided by Tradecorp, starting from standard dry conex containers to offshore DNV, reefer containers, tank containers, specialized ones, and more. Our shipping containers are also available for lease for any kind of use. Used and new ones are available to purchase which you can check out for more details here. If you still need some assistance, do not hesitate to contact us we will respond to you promptly. 

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