Container phenomenon turns 45

Containerization has turned 45.

The use of the first container by Sea Land at Port Newark, April 26 1956, fist signalled a huge change in global commercial trade in the free market. Moving cargo in large, standardized steel and aluminium containers, eliminated having longshoremen manually load and unload thousands of individual crates, barrels and bales, and radically reduced the cost of ocean shipping, while increasing the movement of goods across the docks.

“The effects of the container revolution are still unfolding, and the benefits are still being reaped. The cost of the shirt on your back and the food on your table would be considerably higher were it not for containerisation,” said Ummo Bruns, Port of New York and New Jersey’s European business development director, who was quoted on schednet.com.