Encyclopedia > Containerization

Article Content

Containerization

Containerization is a system of freight[?] transport using standard containers that can be loaded on ships, freight train wagons, and trucks. There are two standard sizes, one 20 feet long and the other twice as long at 40 feet. Container capacity (of ships, ports, etc) is measured in TEUs, Twenty-foot Equivalent Units. Most containers today are of the 40 foot variety and thus are 2 TEUs.

It is an important element of the logistics revolution that changed freight handling in the 20th century. Malcolm McLean[?] invented the shipping container in the 1930s in New Jersey, and later founded Sea-Land corporation.

It is said that while sitting at a dock waiting for cargo he trucked in to be reloaded onto a ship, McLean realized that rather than loading and unloading the truck, the truck itself, with some minor modifications, could be the container that is transported.

Containerization revolutionized cargo shipping. Today, approximately 90% of cargo moves by containers stacked on transport ships. Over 200 million containers per year are now moved between those ports.