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The World the Box Made

In: The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger

Author

Listed:
  • Marc Levinson

    (The Economist)

Abstract

In April 1956, a refitted oil tanker carried fifty-eight shipping containers from Newark to Houston. From that modest beginning, container shipping developed into a huge industry that made the boom in global trade possible. The Box tells the dramatic story of the container's creation, the decade of struggle before it was widely adopted, and the sweeping economic consequences of the sharp fall in transportation costs that containerization brought about. But the container didn't just happen. Its adoption required huge sums of money, both from private investors and from ports that aspired to be on the leading edge of a new technology. It required years of high-stakes bargaining with two of the titans of organized labor, Harry Bridges and Teddy Gleason, as well as delicate negotiations on standards that made it possible for almost any container to travel on any truck or train or ship. Ultimately, it took McLean's success in supplying U.S. forces in Vietnam to persuade the world of the container's potential. Drawing on previously neglected sources, economist Marc Levinson shows how the container transformed economic geography, devastating traditional ports such as New York and London and fueling the growth of previously obscure ones, such as Oakland. By making shipping so cheap that industry could locate factories far from its customers, the container paved the way for Asia to become the world's workshop and brought consumers a previously unimaginable variety of low-cost products from around the globe. Published in hardcover on the fiftieth anniversary of the first container voyage, this is the first comprehensive history of the shipping container. Now with a new chapter, The Box tells the dramatic story of how the drive and imagination of an iconoclastic entrepreneur turned containerization from an impractical idea into a phenomenon that transformed economic geography, slashed transportation costs, and made the boom in global trade possible.

Suggested Citation

  • Marc Levinson, 2016. "The World the Box Made," Introductory Chapters, in: The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger, Princeton University Press.
    • Handle: RePEc:pup:chapts:10724-1
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Takuma Matsuda & Suguru Otani, 2022. "Unified Container Shipping Industry Data From 1966: Freight Rate, Shipping Quantity, Newbuilding, Secondhand, and Scrap Price," Papers 2211.16292, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2023.
    2. Gerhard Streicher & Andreas Reinstaller, 2021. "Die Auswirkungen der Digitalisierung in der Industrie auf den Gütertransport in Österreich," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 67332, April.
    3. Ernest Czermański & Giuseppe T. Cirella & Aneta Oniszczuk-Jastrząbek & Barbara Pawłowska & Theo Notteboom, 2021. "An Energy Consumption Approach to Estimate Air Emission Reductions in Container Shipping," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-18, January.
    4. Nowińska, Agnieszka & Schramm, Hans-Joachim, 2021. "Uncertainty, status-based homophily, versatility, repeat exchange and social exchange in the container shipping industry," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 524-536.
    5. Jaller, Miguel & Otero-Palencia, Carlos & D’Agostino, Mollie C., 2022. "Jobs and Automated Freight Transportation: How Automation Affects the Freight Industry and What to Do About It," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt0vk5t0rw, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    6. Andreas Baur & Lisandra Flach & Jasmin Katrin Gröschl, 2021. "Containerschifffahrt in stürmischen Zeiten – Analyse und Ausblick," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 74(05), pages 59-65, May.
    7. Cooper, Adam C.G. & Lioté, Laurent & Colomer, Chloé, 2023. "We need to talk about engineering policy," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    8. Marta Gonzalez-Aregall & Kevin Cullinane & Inge Vierth, 2021. "A Review of Port Initiatives to Promote Freight Modal Shifts in Europe: Evidence from Port Governance Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-19, May.
    9. Alejandra Gómez-Padilla & Rosa G. González-Ramírez & Fernando Alarcón & Stefan Voß, 2021. "An option contract model for leasing containers in the shipping industry," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 23(2), pages 328-347, June.
    10. Niclas Hoffmann & Robert Stahlbock & Stefan Voß, 2020. "A decision model on the repair and maintenance of shipping containers," Journal of Shipping and Trade, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 1-21, December.
    11. Rosolino A. Candela & Peter J. Jacobsen & Kacey Reeves, 2022. "Malcom McLean, containerization and entrepreneurship," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 35(4), pages 445-465, December.
    12. B. Adenso-Díaz & N. García Álvarez & J. A. Lago Alba, 2020. "A fuzzy AHP classification of container terminals," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 22(2), pages 218-238, June.
    13. Notteboom, Theo E. & Parola, Francesco & Satta, Giovanni & Pallis, Athanasios A., 2017. "The relationship between port choice and terminal involvement of alliance members in container shipping," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 158-173.
    14. Panagiotis Ypsilantis & Rob Zuidwijk, 2019. "Collaborative Fleet Deployment and Routing for Sustainable Transport," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-26, October.
    15. Camélia Dadouchi & Bruno Agard, 2021. "Recommender systems as an agility enabler in supply chain management," Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Springer, vol. 32(5), pages 1229-1248, June.
    16. Håkon Osland Sandvik & David Sjödin & Thomas Brekke & Vinit Parida, 2022. "Inherent paradoxes in the shift to autonomous solutions provision: a multilevel investigation of the shipping industry," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 16(2), pages 227-255, June.
    17. Shih-Liang Chao & Hsin-Cheng Kang & Hsin-Yi Wei Chen, 2019. "Applying data envelopment analysis to evaluate of operational efficiency of the container terminals," Journal of Advances in Technology and Engineering Research, A/Professor Akbar A. Khatibi, vol. 5(4), pages 174-179.
    18. Peter A.G. van Bergeijk, 2019. "Deglobalization 2.0," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 18560.
    19. Peter North, 2017. "Local economies of Brexit," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 32(3), pages 204-218, May.
    20. Bauer, Johannes M., 2018. "The Internet and income inequality: Socio-economic challenges in a hyperconnected society," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 333-343.
    21. Gmeiner, Robert & Gmeiner, Michael, 2021. "Encouraging domestic innovation by protecting foreign intellectual property," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).

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