Container Shipping Connecting the World

Container Shipping Connecting the World. Hudson River Pk. , For centuries, the cost of overseas shipping was often very expensive. Because goods needed to be crated, loaded, transported, and unloaded by hand, the labor and insurance costs frequently exceeded the value of the goods themselves. The first container ships were converted oil tankers outfitted to carry aluminum containers above deck, where they could be easily loaded directly onto trucks and trains by cranes., Container shipping lowered the cost of transportation dramatically, making oceanic trade cheaper and easier. Pier 76 was a hybrid design for handling both bulk and container freight. This design failed to fully capitalize on the efficiencies of containerized shipping, and Pier 76 quickly became obsolete., [Captions:] , The SS Ideal-X, a World War II oil tanker converted by Malcom McLean's Pan-Atlantic Steamship Company, was the world's first commercially successful container ship. Its first voyage as a containership was from New Jersey to Texas. McLean later bought the United States Lines, the shipping company for which Pier 76 was rebuilt in 1964., The United States Lines's American racer was the first ship to dock at Pier 76. Like the pier, the American Racer- class was built on a hybrid model, and unloading its bulk cargo remained inefficient, even as its container cargo was quickly transferred., To load, the containers are brought shipside by a special truck and lifted onto the boat by a massive container crane. They are placed in a precise location on the ship based on weight and final destination. In New York Harbor, large port facilities like this are found on the Brooklyn and New Jersey waterfronts., Today, containers are kept in stacks at the port until the designated ship arrives. Much of the storage and unloading process is managed by computers and carried out by stevedore steams.