One of things I often took for granted was the container. By the time I entered the industry, the container was a staple, but it's critical role in making global logistics 'a thing' is often overlooked. By the late 60's, containers were prevalent in both the Atlantic and Pacific trades. In 1970 the ISO created standards for container sizes. It was these standards for containers that really enabled global trade to take off. Today, Global trade represents 15% of the US GDP, or nearly $3 trillion dollars.

If you are interested in going deeper on the history of containers past to present, please check out this excellent post and infographic by Judah Levine of Freightos.

So how exactly did the humble container enable global trade to take off?

Loading. Prior to containers, products had to be hand loaded and unloaded onto ships in bulk. The time and expense of this process made scale and efficiency difficult. With containers, companies could engineer their products and packaging to maximize the space inside a secure space for transport. The work shifted from the port to the factory or distribution centers at origin and destination, creating further efficiencies. IKEA has perfected this, but please don't get me started on having to re-assemble what they have 'optimized for shipping' : ) If you want a good laugh check out a parody on YouTube by Charlie Berens called 'How IKEA was invented.'

Engineering. This is the big one. Once a standard unit of measure was created for the container, every other logistics asset could be engineered to accommodate it, which by default meant a global shipping standard. Ships could create the perfect size slots, cranes could be designed to efficiently lift and lower them, chassis could be designed to hold them, distribution centers could be designed to receive them. This ability to engineer predictability and efficiency across the globe, drove the cost to ship a container to extremely affordable levels.

Two other huge benefits were security and storage. Containers are made of steel, and they are sealed, limiting theft. The containers themselves could also be efficiently stored, further reducing costs.

This powerful combination of being able to securely, efficiently, and cost effectively ship products around the globe, happened in large part, due to the simple but amazing introduction of the container.

Cheers to the pioneer Malcom McLean, and to the humble container.