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Half a century of the box that changed the world


This article was noted in the publication TT Talk and we thought that it would be of interest to BIFA Members. Container shipping has come a


long way in the last 50 years, bringing revolution to the global supply chain and taking its part in facilitating unprecedented growth in world trade. Where next?


It is well over 50 years since the first containership took to the seas. However, it took until the late 1960s for the concept to gain traction, and even then many saw it as an investment risk too far, while almost certainly the early adopters would not have predicted that this method of carrying cargo would consume more than 50% of global seaborne trade alongside the explosive growth in trade itself. In 1968, fewer than 1 million 20 ft equivalent units (teu) of containerised cargo were moved, compared with 182 million teu


moved in 2016. Today, about 90% of non-bulk cargo (about 60% of the value of goods carried by sea) worldwide is transported by container. Recent years have seen an inexorable increase in the size of the largest deployed tonnage, with one hull now moving in excess of 20,000 teu, a size projected to grow further.


Trade: volume – and safety? Before the advent of containerisation, cargo was carried in breakbulk ships – loaded, lashed, unlashed and unloaded from the


10


August 2018


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