Boats and Boxes

Boats and Boxes. A Simple Idea Revolutionizes Shipping. , Stacked like colorful packages on enormous freighters, steel shipping containers have revolutionized the way cargo is packed and shipped. Container ships from around the world move cargo in and out of the Port of New York and New Jersey, one of the busiest ports in the United States. With raising of the Bayonne Bridge, some of the world's larger container ships can now call on the Port., Stevedores Bore the Load , From the beginning of time, loading and unloading ships was a laborious task. Goods were packaged in crates, barrels, boxes and sacks of various shapes and sizes, requiring an immense amount of manpower. Day laborers who worked at the docks were called "stevedores" for the pieces of wood called "Steve's" they used to secure cargo in the holds of ships. As ships grew in size in the twentieth century so did technology, which revolutionized the industry., Forklifts and Pallets , During World War II, forklifts and pallets were introduced to increase the efficiency. At that time, the Port of New York and New Jersey handled over 30 percent of the seaborne trade of manufactured goods of the entire nation. Even with this new technology, thousands of stevedores labored day and night to move cargo throughout the Port region., From Factory to Ship , In the 1960s, shipping magnate Malcom P. McLean and engineer Keith Tantlinger developed the modern intermodal shipping container, and innovation that revolutionized shipping worldwide. McLean and Tantlinger developed standardized metal shipping containers enabling factory or farm products to be easily placed on trailers or train cars, off-loaded at port, and then quickly stacked on ships with specially designed "stacking" cranes. Likewise, containers could be moved from ship to shore, and then to inland destinations. The maiden voyage of shipping containers took place in 1956 when the Ideal-X carried 58 containers from the Port of Newark to Houston, Texas., Standardization and Automation , Today, container shipping accounts for approximately 60% of all seaborne trade. Ships are getting larger, allowing more cargo on fewer vessels. The largest ships can carry over 18,000 TEUs (20-foot-long cargo containers, the industry's standardized unit). Ports adjust by installing larger cranes and utilizing technology to manage greater volumes of cargo. Every container has an identification code enabling it to be tracked anywhere in the world. In port, the code, plus 3D-laser scanning technology, enables computers to locate a container and communicate to the stacking cranes the order it will be transferred to or from the ship. This technology continues to revolutionize the shipping industry by making it faster, safer, and less expensive.