1. What is containerization? 2. How did transform the global shipping industry? 3. In your opinion, how has containerization transformed the California economy both historically and in the...

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Containerization
Table of Contents
Introduction    2
Answer 1    3
Answer 2    3
Answer 3    4
Conclusion    5
References    6
Introduction
The shipping container industry has changed the shape of the world in terms of trade. The industry has a huge impact. The impact of the industry may even be larger than the impact of the airplane. The container was the invention of McLean and he was named as the ‘man of the century’ by the International Maritime Hall of Fame. The impact of containerization was felt throughout the world.
Answer 1
Containers are essentially large steel boxes. They are designed to be tough enough to be filled with heavy goods and lugged around by massive cranes. Even before the advent of containers, the idea of boxes to carry cargo was used. The rail and horse transport drawn used as early as 1792 to carry these boxes. The US government did use small standard size shipping containers during the Second World War. These were efficient and fast. However, in 1995, Malcolm P. McLean realized that it would be much simpler and quicker to have one container rather than separate small boxes that could be loaded directly on to a ship. These could move seamlessly from trucks, to trains to ships. This led to the container revolution (“History of Containerization”).
Answer 2
The shipping industry changed a lot after the container was born. The major breakthrough that happened was the result of the ‘intermodal container’. This helped to achieve integration of all the transport chain. It was not just the ease of putting cargo in the containers. It was the ease of transporting using ships, port terminals, trucks and trains. All these had to be adapted. The revolution in global economy could not have been possible without the concept of intermodal container. The next revolution in the industry was due to the standardization of containers. The container sizes are currently of two common sizes. The 20-foot and the 40-foot container. Thus, the containers...