History of The Container part 2

History of The Container part 2

[Music] History of the container part two. The Army put the service out to bid and Sealand Industries won with the lowest proposal. Sealand’s founder Malcolm McClean was a North Carolina trucker nicknamed Mr. Box for his container idea. In April 1956 at Newark, he first loaded 58 converted truck trailers directly onto a ship. He proclaimed it combined the economy of sea transport with the speed and flexibility of road transport. By 1967, Sealand handled around 40% of its revenues from Vietnam container shipments alone. Yet, empty return trips from Vietnam wasted capacity and cut profitability sharply. Mlan responded by loading Americanbound lowcost goods from Japanese ports on the return line. Hob and Yokohama converted to container terminals and contracted sealand for discounted rates. [Music]

The fascinating story begins of how Sea-Land’s revenue boom—driven by containerization—led to Japan’s economic growth.