Editing Intermodal container (section)

==History==
{{Main|Containerization|Conex box}}
<gallery mode="packed" heights="130px">
File:LMS freight containers on lorry and rail wagon (CJ Allen, Steel Highway, 1928).jpg|Transferring freight containers on the [[London, Midland and Scottish Railway]] (LMS; 1928)
File:Gueterwagen anagoria.JPG|Freight car in railway museum [[Bochum Dahlhausen Railway Museum|Bochum-Dahlhausen]], showing four different UIC-590 pa-containers
File:Conex box.jpeg|Side of Vietnam era U.S. Army steel 'CONEX' box container (3D)
File:Maersk Line containers in late 1960s (7312784586).jpg|In 1975, many containers still featured riveted aluminum sheet-and-post wall construction, instead of welded, corrugated steel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.matts-place.com/intermodal/part1/modelerseras.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150814124136/http://www.matts-place.com/intermodal/part1/modelerseras.html|url-status = dead|archive-date=14 August 2015|title=Frequently Asked Questions – Modeling Eras|date=14 August 2015}}</ref>
</gallery>

===Origins===
Containerization has its origins in early [[Coal mining in the United Kingdom|coal mining regions in England]] beginning in the late 18th century. In 1766 [[James Brindley]] designed the box boat 'Starvationer' with ten wooden containers, to transport coal from [[Worsley]] Delph (quarry) to Manchester by [[Bridgewater Canal]]. In 1795, [[Benjamin Outram]] opened the Little Eaton Gangway, upon which coal was carried in [[wagons]] built at his Butterley Ironwork. The horse-drawn wheeled wagons on the gangway took the form of containers, which, loaded with coal, could be transshipped from canal [[barge]]s on the [[Derby Canal]], which Outram had also promoted.<ref>Ripley, David (1993). ''The Little Eaton Gangway and Derby Canal'' (Second ed.). Oakwood Press. {{ISBN|0-85361-431-8}}.</ref>

By the 1830s, railways were carrying containers that could be transferred to other modes of transport. The [[Liverpool and Manchester Railway]] in the UK was one of these, making use of "simple rectangular timber boxes" to convey coal from Lancashire collieries to Liverpool, where a crane transferred them to horse-drawn carriages.<ref>Essery, R. J, Rowland. D. P. & Steel W. O. ''British Goods Wagons from 1887 to the Present Day''. Augustus M. Kelly Publishers. New York. 1979 p. 92 {{ISBN?}}</ref> Originally used for moving coal on and off barges, "loose boxes" were used to containerize coal from the late 1780s, at places like the [[Bridgewater Canal]]. By the 1840s, iron boxes were in use as well as wooden ones. The early 1900s saw the adoption of closed container boxes designed for movement between road and rail.

===Creation of international standards===
The first international standard for containers was established by the [[Bureau International des Containers]] et du Transport Intermodal in 1933, and a second one in 1935, primarily for transport between European countries. American containers at this time were not standardized, and these early containers were not yet stackable – neither in the U.S. nor Europe. In November 1932, the first container terminal in the world was opened by the Pennsylvania Rail Road Company in [[Enola, Pennsylvania]]. Containerization was developed in Europe and the US as a way to revitalize rail companies after the [[Wall Street crash of 1929]], in New York, which resulted in economic collapse and a drop in all modes of transport.<ref name="logistica2014a" >{{Cite journal |first=Krzysztof |last=Lewandowski |title= Czechoslovak activity to prepare European norms for containers before the Second World War |journal=Acta Logistica |volume=1 |year=2014 |issue=4 |pages=1–7 |doi=10.22306/al.v1i4.25 |issn=1339-5629 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270794211|doi-access=free }}</ref>

===Mid 20th century innovations===
In April 1951 at [[Zürich Tiefenbrunnen railway station]], the [[Swiss Museum of Transport]] and the ''Bureau International des Containers'' (BIC) held demonstrations of container systems for representatives from a number of European countries, and from the United States. A system was selected for Western Europe, based on the Netherlands' system for consumer goods and waste transportation called ''Laadkisten'' (lit. "Loading chests"), in use since 1934. This system used [[roller container]]s for transport by rail, truck and ship, in various configurations up to {{convert|5500|kg|lb|order=flip}} capacity, and up to {{cvt|3.1|x|2.3|x|2|m|ftin|frac=8|order=flip}} in size.<ref>{{cite journal |author=M.K. |title=Vorläufer der heutigen Container: pa, BT und B900 | trans-title=Predecessors of today's containers: pa, BT and B900 |language=de |url=http://s1gf.de/index.php?page=Attachment&attachmentID=15438&h=baff58dff7aacd89e3c5f73a93e2a6f668971165 |journal=MIBA |issue=Special 54 |pages=12–19 |access-date=23 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nicospilt.com/index_laadkisten.htm |title=Laadkistvervoer – Langs de rails |author=Nico Spilt |language=nl |trans-title=Loading bin transport |access-date=20 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150720180139/http://www.nicospilt.com/index_laadkisten.htm |archive-date=20 July 2015}}</ref> This became the first post World War&nbsp;II European railway standard of the [[International Union of Railways]] – ''UIC-590'', known as "pa-Behälter". It was implemented in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, West Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark.<ref name="PojazdySzynowe2015a" >{{Cite journal |first=Krzysztof |last=Lewandowski |title=Wymagania Organizacyjne Stosowania Systemu ACTS |language=pl |trans-title=Organizational Requirements Use the ACTS System |journal=Pojazdy Szynowe |volume=2 |year=2014 |pages=1–14 |issn=0138-0370 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269251044 }}</ref>

The use of standardized steel [[shipping container]]s began during the late 1940s and early 1950s, when commercial shipping operators and the US military started developing such units.<ref>Intermodal Marine Container Transportation: Impediments and Opportunities, Issue 236 // [[United States National Research Council|National Research Council]]: [https://books.google.com/books?id=FmZsxfFs-zIC&pg=PA18 The container revolution] (page 18): "This [Army] box in turn served as a model for the small containers that most major ship operators began using during the late 1940s and early 1950s. These however, were mainly loaded and unloaded at the docks, and not used intermodally."</ref> In 1948 the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] [[Transportation Corps]] developed the "Transporter", a rigid, corrugated steel container, able to carry {{convert|9000|lb|kg}}. It was {{cvt|8|ft|6|in|1}} long, {{cvt|6|ft|3|in|1}} wide, and {{cvt|6|ft|10|in|1}} high, with double doors on one end, was mounted on skids, and had lifting rings on the top four corners.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.transportation.army.mil/museum/transportation%20museum/CONEX.htm |title=History & Development of the Container – The 'Transporter', predecessor to the CONEX |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=15 May 2013 |website=transportation.army.mil |publisher=[[U.S. Army Transportation Museum]] |access-date=20 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150720104152/http://www.transportation.army.mil/museum/transportation%20museum/CONEX.htm |archive-date=20 July 2015}}</ref> After proving successful in Korea, the Transporter was developed into the Container Express [[Conex box|(CONEX) box]] system in late 1952. Based on the Transporter, the size and capacity of the Conex were about the same,{{#tag:ref|8&nbsp;ft 6&nbsp;in length, 6&nbsp;ft 3&nbsp;in width and 6&nbsp;ft {{frac|10|1|2}}&nbsp;in height, and 9000&nbsp;lb capacity<ref name=Heinsthesis>{{cite thesis |last=Heins |first=Matthew |date=2013 |title=The Shipping Container and the Globalization of American Infrastructure |type=dissertation |chapter=2 |publisher=[[University of Michigan]] |page=15 |chapter-url=http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/102480/mheins_1.pdf |access-date=21 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Levinson |first=Marc |date=2006 |title=The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger |location=Princeton, New Jersey |publisher=Princeton University Press |chapter=Chapter 7: Setting the Standard |page=[https://archive.org/details/boxhowshippin00levi/page/127 127] |isbn=978-0-691-12324-0 |access-date=21 July 2015 |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/boxhowshippin00levi/page/127 }}</ref>|group="nb"}} but the system was made modular, by the addition of a smaller, half-size unit of {{cvt|6|ft|3|in|1}} long, {{cvt|4|ft|3|in|1}} wide and {{cvt|6|ft|10+1/2|in|1}} high.{{sfnp|van Ham|van Ham|Rijsenbrij|2012|p=8}}{{sfnp|Monograph 7: Containerization|1970|p=10|ps=, "The dimensions of the CONEX II are 75 by {{frac|82|1|2}} by 102 in. The CONEX container is a metal reusable shipping box. The most common type has a 295-cu. ft. capacity, is about {{frac|8|2|2}} by 6 by 7 ft, and can carry 9,000 lbs. The dimensions of the Half-CONEX or CONEX I container are 75 by {{frac|82|1|2}} by 51 in."}}{{#tag:ref| Some sources also mention a 12-foot version.<ref>{{cite book|title=Falloff|first=Robert|last=Flanagan|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=nuTu4FIZdhoC&pg=PA7|chapter=Fleeing G.o.D.|page=7|date=2011|publisher=AuthorHouse |isbn=978-1-4670-7295-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://everhartfamily.com/vietnam1970.html |title=My Vietnam Tour – 1970 |author=Michael J. Everhart |date=7 July 2014 |access-date=21 July 2015 |quote= CONEX ... container that ... was about 7' high by 8' wide and about 12' long...}}</ref>|group="nb"}} Conexes could be stacked three high, and protected their contents from the elements.<ref name=Heinsthesis/> By 1965 the US military used some 100,000 Conex boxes, and more than 200,000 in 1967,{{sfnp|van Ham|van Ham|Rijsenbrij|2012|p=8}}{{sfnp|Monograph 7: Containerization|1970|pp=9–11}} making this the first worldwide application of intermodal containers.<ref name=Heinsthesis/> Their invention made a major contribution to the [[globalization]] of commerce in the second half of the 20th century, dramatically reducing the cost of transporting goods and hence of long-distance trade.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s9383.html|last=Levinson|first=Marc|title=[[The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger]]|chapter=Chapter 1: The World the Box Made |publisher=Princeton University Press|access-date=17 February 2013|url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130122131825/http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s9383.html|archive-date=22 January 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/how-the-invention-of-a-box-changed-our-world/2006/06/11/1149964409162.html|title=How the invention of a box changed our world |last=Gittins|first=Ross|work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|date=12 June 2006|access-date=17 February 2013}}</ref>

From 1949 onward, engineer [[Keith Tantlinger]] repeatedly contributed to the development of containers, as well as their handling and transportation equipment. In 1949, while at Brown Trailers Inc. of [[Spokane, Washington]], he modified the design of their [[Semi-monocoque|stressed skin]] aluminum 30-foot trailer, to fulfil an order of two-hundred {{convert|30|x|8|x|8.5|ft|m|1|adj=on}} containers that could be stacked two high, for Alaska-based ''Ocean Van Lines''. Steel castings on the top corners provided lifting and securing points.{{sfnp|van Ham|van Ham|Rijsenbrij|2012|p=14}}

In 1955, trucking magnate [[Malcom McLean]] bought [[Pan-Atlantic Steamship Company]], to form a container shipping enterprise, later known as [[Sea-Land Service|Sea-Land]]. The first containers were supplied by Brown Trailers Inc, where McLean met [[Keith Tantlinger]], and hired him as vice-president of engineering and research.{{sfnp|van Ham|van Ham|Rijsenbrij|2012|p=18}} Under the supervision of Tantlinger, a new {{cvt|35|x|8|x|8.5|ft|1}} <!-- {{convert|8|x|8.5|x|35|ft|m|2|abbr=on}} --> Sea-Land container was developed, the length determined by the maximum length of trailers then allowed on Pennsylvanian highways. Each container had a frame with eight corner castings that could withstand stacking loads.{{sfnp|van Ham|van Ham|Rijsenbrij|2012|p=20}} Tantlinger also designed automatic [[Spreader (container)|spreaders]] for handling the containers, as well as the [[twistlock]] mechanism that connects with the corner castings.

===Modern form===
Containers in their modern 21st-century form first began to gain widespread use around 1956. Businesses began to devise a structured process to use and to get optimal benefits from the role and use of shipping containers. Over time, the invention of the modern telecommunications of the late 20th century made it highly beneficial to have standardized shipping containers and made these shipping processes more standardized, modular, easier to schedule, and easier to manage.<ref name="vox article">{{Cite web |last=Heilweil |first=Rebecca |date=2021-12-14 |title=The history of the metal box that's wrecking the supply chain |url=https://www.vox.com/recode/22832884/shipping-containers-amazon-supply-chain |website=Vox |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Recklinghausen - Uferstraße - Umspannwerk 22 ies.jpg|thumb|Every international shipping container must have a "CSC-Plate"]]
Two years after McLean's first container ship, the [[SS Ideal X|''Ideal X'']], started container shipping on the US East Coast,<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/trnews/trnews246.pdf|title=The Containership Revolution: Malcom McLean's 1956 Innovation Goes Global|first=Brian J.|last=Cudahy|magazine=TR News|number=246|date=September–December 2006|access-date=2011-03-01|url-status=live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304190442/http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/trnews/trnews246.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref> [[Matson, Inc.|Matson Navigation]] followed suit between California and Hawaii. Just like [[Pan-Atlantic Steamship Company|Pan-Atlantic]]'s containers, Matson's were {{convert|8|ft|2|abbr=on}} wide and {{convert|8|ft|6|in|2|abbr=on}} high, but due to California's different traffic code Matson chose to make theirs {{convert|24|ft|2|abbr=on}} long.{{sfnp|van Ham|van Ham|Rijsenbrij|2012|p=26}} In 1968, McLean began container service to South Vietnam for the US military with great success.

===Modern ISO standards===
ISO standards for containers were published between 1968 and 1970 by the International Maritime Organization. These standards allow for more consistent loading, transporting, and unloading of goods in ports throughout the world, thus saving time and resources.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bartsch|first=Butsri|title=Sea freight – somehow antique yet modern!|url=http://www.transport-bbhandel.de/en/blog/detail/sCategory/199/blogArticle/21#|access-date=20 May 2013|url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130608071732/http://www.transport-bbhandel.de/en/blog/detail/sCategory/199/blogArticle/21|archive-date=8 June 2013}}</ref> 
 
The International Convention for Safe Containers (CSC) is a 1972 regulation by the [[International Maritime Organization|Inter-governmental Maritime Consultative Organization]] on the safe handling and transport of containers. It decrees that every container traveling internationally be fitted with a CSC safety-approval plate.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.imo.org/About/Conventions/ListOfConventions/Pages/International-Convention-for-Safe-Containers-(CSC).aspx |title=International Convention for Safe Containers (CSC) – Adoption: 2 December 1972; Entry into force: 6 September 1977 |publisher=International Maritime Organisation |access-date=1 February 2013 |archive-date=10 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130710214258/http://www.imo.org/About/Conventions/ListOfConventions/Pages/International-Convention-for-Safe-Containers-(CSC).aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://www.admiraltylawguide.com/conven/containers1972.html International Convention for Safe Containers] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305131303/http://www.admiraltylawguide.com/conven/containers1972.html |date=5 March 2016 }} (Geneva, 2 December 1972)</ref> This holds essential information about the container, including age, registration number, dimensions and weights, as well as its strength and maximum stacking capability.

===Impact of industry changes on workers===
Longshoremen and related unions around the world struggled with this revolution in shipping goods.<ref name=NLRB-1980-AMLG>{{cite web|title=''NLRB v. Longshoremen'', 447 U.S. 490|url=http://www.admiraltylawguide.com/supct/NLRB1980.htm|via= Admiralty and Maritime Law Guide}}</ref><ref name=NLRB-1980-Justia>{{cite web|title=''NLRB v. Longshoremen'', 447 U.S. 490|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/447/490/|via=Justia: U.S. Supreme Court}}</ref> For example, by 1971 a clause in the [[International Longshoremen's Association]] (ILA) contract stipulated that the work of "stuffing" (filling) or "stripping" (emptying) a container within {{convert|50|mi}} of a port must be done by ILA workers, or if not done by ILA, that the shipper needed to pay royalties and penalties to the ILA. Unions for truckers and consolidators argued that the ILA rules were not valid work preservation clauses, because the work of stuffing and stripping containers away from the pier had not traditionally been done by ILA members.<ref name=NLRB-1980-AMLG/><ref name=NLRB-1980-Justia/> In 1980 the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] heard this case and ruled against the ILA.<ref name=NLRB-1980-AMLG/><ref name=NLRB-1980-Justia/>

===Impact in worldwide supply shortage of 2020 to present===
{{update|section|date=May 2025}}
Some experts have said that the centralized, continuous shipping process made possible by containers has created dangerous liabilities: one bottleneck, delay, or other breakdown at any point in the process can easily cause major delays everywhere up and down the supply chain.<ref name="vox article" />

The reliance on containers exacerbated some of the economic and societal damage from the [[2021 global supply chain crisis]] of 2020 and 2021, and the resulting [[shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic]]. In January 2021, for example, a shortage of shipping containers at ports caused shipping to be backlogged.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Partners|first=McAlinden Research|date=2020-11-16|title=Shipping Container Shortage Could Last Until Next Year, Boosting Container Leasing Stocks|url=https://mcalindenresearchpartners.com/2020/11/16/shipping-container-shortage-could-last-until-next-year-boosting-container-leasing-stocks/|access-date=2021-02-03|website=McAlinden Research Partners|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=cameronc86|date=2020-12-31|title=Container Shortage – The Reasons Behind It|url=https://www.clearfreight.com/post/container-shortage-the-reasons-behind-it|access-date=2021-02-03|website=ClearFreight|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-11-09|title=Shipping companies box clever to overcome container shortages|url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/economy/shipping-companies-box-clever-to-overcome-container-shortages-1.1108049|access-date=2021-02-03|website=The National|language=en}}</ref>

Marc Levinson, author of ''Outside the Box: How Globalization Changed from Moving Stuff to Spreading Ideas'' and ''[[The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger]]'', said in an interview:<ref name="vox article"/>

<blockquote>Because of delays in the process, it's taking a container longer to go from its origin to its final destination where it's unloaded, so the container is in use longer for each trip. You've just lost a big hunk of the total capacity because the containers can't be used as intensively.

We've had in the United States an additional problem, which is that the ship lines typically charge much higher rates on services from Asia to North America than from North America to Asia. This has resulted in complaints, for example, from farmers and agricultural companies, that it's hard to get containers in some parts of the country because the ship lines want to ship them empty back to Asia, rather than letting them go to South Dakota and load over the course of several days. So we've had exporters in the United States complaining that they have a hard time finding a container that they can use to send their own goods abroad.<ref name="vox article"/></blockquote>